Welsh/ Saxon conflicts timeline part 1
The Welsh conflict with the Saxons of England don't seem to get much attention compared to those against the Norman/English so i thought i would put this together.
I decided to start with the battle of Chester, which was an extremely significant battle in Welsh history, there were battles before but because the Saxons called all Britons Welsh it is hard to tell if they mean the Welsh of Wales or not, the battle of Chester is significant in the fact it cut the Welsh of Wales off from the Britons of North West England , Battle of Deorham is said to have cut the Welsh off from those of south West England but this didn't have any involvement from the kingdoms in Wales.
616
The Battle of Chester where the Anglo Saxons beat native Britons near the city of Chester,. Æthelfrith of Northumbria annihilated a combined force from the Welsh kingdoms of Powys, Rhôs, and Mercia. It resulted in the deaths of Welsh leaders Selyf Sarffgadau of Powys and Cadwal Crysban of Rhôs. Evidence suggests that King Iago of Gwynedd may have also been killed.
According to Bede, a large number of monks from the monastery at Bangor on Dee who had come to witness the fight were killed on the orders of Æthelfrith before the battle. He told his warriors to massacre the clerics because although they bore no arms, they were praying for a Northumbria defeat.
Bede mentions the killings of British monks by the Anglo-Saxons. He wrote that the monks:
"resorted...to pray at the...battle...King Æthelfrith being informed [of this]...said, "If then they cry to their God against us, in truth, though they do not bear arms, yet they fight against us, because they oppose us by their prayers." He, therefore, commanded them to be attacked first ... About twelve hundred of those that came to pray are said to have been killed".
This episode was also noted in the Annals of Ulster s.a. 612 (recte 613):
Bellum Caire Legion ubi sancti occisi sunt (The battle of Caer Legion, in which holy men were slain)
The battle's led to the severing of the land connection between Wales and the Old North - the Brythonic kingdoms of Rheged and Kingdom of Strathclyde, as The Battle of Deorham is held to have separated the Welsh peninsula from the West Country (all these kingdoms covered land where Brythonic/Welsh languages were spoken)
620 - 626
King Edwin of Deira invades the Isle of Man and then Anglesey. Cadwallon is defeated in battle and is besieged on Puffin Island. He eventually flees to Brittany.
630
The Battle of Pont y Saeson, Tewdrig King of Gwent together with son Meurig, took up arms and drove back the Saxons. But Tewdrig was wounded and had to be taken to Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel for treatment. An ox-cart was called to take him there but, on their journey, the oxen stopped at a spring (now known as St.Tewdrig's Well), where Tewdrig's wounds were cleansed.
However he died soon after, so Meurig built a great church on the spot which became known as Merthyr-Teyryn (Mathern). Tewdrig later became known as St Tewdrig
630
"The Battle of Cefn Digoll, also known as the Battle of the Long Mynd was a battle fought in 630 at Long Mountain near Welshpool . The battle was fought between the Northumbrian army of King Edwin and an anti-Northumbrian alliance between King Cadwallon of Gwynedd and Penda of Mercia.
The battle ended the Northumbrian domination of Gwynedd, and preceded a Welsh campaign into Northumbria, which led to Edwin's death at the Battle of Hatfield Chase."
"(Britannia History) King Penda of Mercia besieges Exeter (possibly held by King Clemen of Dumnonia). King Cadwallon of Gwynedd lands nearby, from his Deiran imposed exile in Brittany. He negotiates an alliance with King Penda of Mercia and a united British and Saxon force moves north to re-take Gwynedd. The Deirans are defeated at the Battle of the Long Mountain and Cadwallon chases them back to Northumbria. The British ransack Northumbria and bring the kingdom to its knees. ""
632
The West Saxons cross into Wales and defeat King Idris of Meirionydd on the Severn.
633
The Battle of Hatfield Chase on 12 October 633 ended in the defeat and death of King Edwin and his son Osfrith. After this, the Kingdom of Northumbria fell into disarray, divided between its sub-kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia, but the war continued: according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "Cadwallon and Penda went and did for the whole land of Northumbria".
After this, according to Bede, Cadwallon ruled over the "provinces of the Northumbrians" for a year, "not like a victorious king, but like a rapacious and bloody tyrant. Furthermore, Bede tells us that Cadwallon, "though he bore the name and professed himself a Christian, was so barbarous in his disposition and behaviour, 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.
The new king of Bernicia, Eanfrith (son of former king), was also killed by Cadwallon when the former went to him in an attempt to negotiate peace.
"Bede reports that Eanfrith went to Cadwallon "with only twelve chosen soldiers" in an attempt to negotiate peace, but Cadwallon had him killed"
A 3rd king put the Welsh under siege but they rode out and defeated them too.
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.
that was 3 kings killed by the Welsh.
633
Battle of Heavenfield
Cadwallon was finally defeated by an army under Eanfrith's brother, Oswald
Eanfrith's brother, Oswald, returned from seventeen years exile in Dál Riata to claim the crown of Northumbria.
The battle
It seems that the Welsh army advanced northward from York along the line of Dere Street. Oswald, who may have been accompanied by a force of Scots, took up a defensive position beside the Roman Wall, about four miles north of Hexham. It was claimed that the night before the battle, Oswald had a vision of Saint Columba, in which the saint foretold that Oswald would be victorious. Oswald placed his army so that it was facing east, with its flanks shielded by Brady's Crag to the north and the Wall to the south. According to Bede, Oswald raised a cross, and prayed for victory alongside his troops.
It is believed that the Welsh had greater numbers, but they were forced to attack from the east along a narrow front, where they were hemmed in and unable to outflank the Northumbrians. It is not known how long the battle lasted or what the losses were, but the Welsh line finally broke. This began a headlong flight southward by the Welsh, pursued by the vengeful Northumbrians. Many Welsh soldiers were cut down as they ran, and according to Bede, Cadwallon was caught and killed at a place called the 'Brook of Denis', now identified as the Rowley Burn. The battle was a decisive victory for Oswald, and it was likely that the Welsh losses must have been substantial. Afterwards, the site was known as Heavenfield (Hefenfelth).
"though he had most numerous forces, which he boasted nothing could withstand". Cadwallon was killed at a place called "Denis's-brook"
642
Battle of Maes Cogwy /Battle of Maserfield
near Oswestry where Penda along with his Welsh allies defeated Northumbria and killed its king Oswald.
Oswald had defeated Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd, King of the Britons (Penda's ally at Hatfield) at Heavenfield in 634,
Penda's Welsh allies may have included Cynddylan ap Cyndrwyn of Pengwern Powys, and Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon (son of Cadwallon ap Cadfan who was killed by Oswald in an earlier battle) is also thought to have donated reinforcements to Penda from the Kingdom of Gwynedd
655
Battle of the Winwaed in which King Oswiu of Bernicia defeated and killed King Penda of Mercia. King Cadafael ap Cynfeddw of Gwynedd was allied with Penda but stayed out of the battle.
658
Battle of Peonnum in Somerset where an allied force of the West Welsh and Cadwaladr of Gwynedd are defeated. The West Saxons move to conquer western Somerset.
658
A Northumbrian raiding party led by Oswiu of Northumbria overran Cynddylan's palace at Llys Pengwern in a surprise attack. Caught completely off guard and without defence, the royal family, including the king, were slaughtered. .
Princess Heledd was the only survivor and fled to western Powys. After this the region associated with Pengwern seems to have been shared between Mercia and Powys; part of it remained in Welsh hands until the reign of Offa of Mercia and the construction of his dyke. Part of it consisted of the Anglian sub-kingdom of the Magonsæte.
Princess Heledd went on to write Canu Heledd (modern Welsh /'kani 'hɛlɛð/, the songs of Heledd) are a collection of early Welsh englyn-poems. They are rare among medieval Welsh poems for being set in the mouth of a female character. One prominent figure in the poems is Heledd's dead brother Cynddylan.
wiki
Dorothy Ann Bray summarised the cycle thus:
As with the other so-called 'saga englynion’ (pre-eminently Canu Llywarch Hen and Canu Urien), there is considerable uncertainty and debate as to how the poems of Canu Heledd might originally have been performed. It is usually assumed that they must have been accompanied by some kind of prose narrative, to which they provided emotional depth; but this is not certain
Part 2 to follow.........
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