When a Welsh kingdom conquered Saxon Northumbria

-

 Cadwallon ap Cadfan  Historia Regum Britanniae


We all know of the English invasions of our little old Cymru.
 The Saxons invaded a few hundred times and the Normans took 200 years of invasions to subdue the Welsh.
However, the traffic wasn’t always one way. On numerous occasions, the Welsh have taken the fight to the English/Saxon/Norman’s on English/Saxon/Norman soil.
I will cover many of these in future posts but I want to concentrate on what is probably the most successful (sadly very brutal) Welsh conquest. It is the invasion and occupation of the kingdom of Northumbria by King Cadwallon ap Cadfan.

 To the ancient Welsh, this occupation was hugely symbolic as to them it was the native Britons taking back land that belonged to them before the Saxons invaded.
Cadwallon was remembered as a national hero by the Welsh, naturally, the Saxons saw him as a brutal tyrant.

 The invasion took place around 633 where Cadwallon joined forces with King Penda of Mercia, to defeat King Edwin of Northumbria at the battle of Hatfield Chase.
The Welsh army took control of York, and they took Edwin’s head with them to parade to the people.

After killing king Edwin Cadwallon went onto occupy the kingdom. 
Soon after he was under attack, Bede says that Cadwallon was besieged by the new king of Deira, Osric, "in a strong town"; Cadwallon, however, "sallied out on a sudden with all his forces, by surprise, and destroyed him [Osric] and all his army''
Cadwallon then marched his troops all over the kingdom killing, raping and pillaging all who stood in their way, burning village after village after killing those who lived there.

 Bede also said Cadwallon ruled over the "provinces of the Northumbrians" for a year, "not like a victorious king, but like a rapacious and bloody tyrant. though he bore the name and professed himself a Christian, was so barbarous in his disposition and behavior, that he neither spared the female sex, nor the innocent age of children, but with savage cruelty put them to tormenting deaths, ravaging all their country for a long time, and resolving to cut off all the race of the English within the borders of Britain."

 All this comes to an end at the battle of Heavenfield (read more about the battle here link)

 The Welsh were routed and Cadwallon was caught and killed at a place called the 'Brook of Denis',.

 This brought to an end of the short occupation of an English kingdom by the Welsh.

 My next post will cover king Gruffudd ap Llywelyn's destruction of Hereford and Leominster.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

**UPDATED** WELSH BATTLES, WARS AND REBELLIONS FROM 616 to 1409

-
Image
WELSH WARS, BATTLES AND  REBELLIONS FROM 616 TO 1409. ****IF YOU FIND MISTAKES LET ME KNOW. ****   There is an article on wiki called 'list of anglo Welsh wars" it doesn't cover most of the conflicts, battles, wars that involve the Welsh so iv always intended on adding to it, but for now, I decided to put as many as I can find in one place.  All I'm doing (doing because iv not finished) is searching through the lives of the Welsh princes, primary sources, secondary sources, various articles and adding whatever I can find and trust me, the list as easily five or six times bigger than the wiki list so far. There are many medieval writers who describe the Welsh as brave and vicious fighters who dont often stick by the rules of war. They would often come out of nowhere and attack an invading army and disappear before the invaders knew what hit them. quote from Itinerarium Cambriae 1191 "My Lord King, this nation may now be harassed, ...
Read more

Battles all Welsh people should know about (no1 battle of Cadfan)

-
1257 Battle of Cadfan Who? Welsh from Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi vs the English Result Welsh victory numbers several thousand on each side Casualties and losses The English had up to 3000 casualties, the Welsh very few The Battle of Cadfan was two engagements, one was at Coed Llathen and the other at Cymerau. The word Cadfan translates to 'place of battle'. ****WIKI**** "In the years before the battle, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd prince of Wales had been rapidly gaining power. Llywelyn had received support from the lords of Deheubarth, and as a reward for their loyalty, he gave them land that he had stripped from their nephew, Rhys Fychan (who was a supporter of the English king). Prince Edward had noticed Llywelyn's growing power and raised an army in an attempt to counter the potential threat of Llywelyn. Edward had support from several English nobles. The forces of Edward led by Stephen Bauzan , Lord of Breigan and Llansannor and Nicholas ...
Read more

Events after the conquest of Wales by Edward Longshanks

-
Image
Upon the death of Llywelyn,  longshanks   did all he could to get rid of any sign of  A Welsh nation. Firstly, he dismantled most of llywelyn's halls and took over his castles.  He then tried to kill off the lineage by ensuring Llywelyn's only child  Gwenllian along with the daughters of her uncle Dafydd ap Gruffudd, were all confined for life in remote priories in  Lincolnshire  and never allowed freedom.  Dafydd ap Gruffudd   was dragged through the streets of Shrewsbury by a horse, hanged, revived and then disembowelled, He was the first recoded noble to be hung drawn and quartered.  Edward also took from the Welsh Llywelyn’s coronet, the matrix of his seal, the crown of Arthur and a sacred  cross that contained a  piece of the t rue Cross  known   as Y Groes Naid.   It is recorded that  ''Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales and Lord of Aberffraw had deposited this crown (W...
Read more