On this day in 654 or 655, we're told that the Winwaed was fought. The Winwaed can be counted among the most consequential English battles of the Middle Ages. Northumbria and Mercia had been fighting for decades over who would dominate the Heptarchy, and after innumerable nobles had lost their lives on both sides there was a brief respite, but now they were once again at each other's throats. Leading the Mercians was a powerful King named Penda, and leading the Northumbrians was the fearsome King Oswiu. You really couldn’t ask for two more different kings than Penda and Oswiu. Oswiu came from a long line of ruthless, authoritarian, and dynastically bloodthirsty kings… and he lived up to his birthright. By this point in his life, King Oswiu had already shown that he was perfectly satisfied killing even his own family members if it would in any way benefit the expansion of his power-base. And while King Penda clearly didn't have any issues with killing members of other people’s families…he seems rather protective of his own. He went to war with a neighboring kingdom when his sister was spurned, and he was definitely had a soft touch with his kids, even being rather relaxed and tolerant with their conversion to Christianity. Further, while Penda was incredibly warlike, he doesn't appear to have been interested in expansion or authoritarian rule. In fact, with only a few exceptions, Penda kept giving lands and kingdoms back after he won a battle or killed a king. But, one of those kings was Oswiu's brother, King Oswald, who Penda killed and then chopped up and displayed on spikes. So things were tense, but they tried to move past it through a series of political marriages. But it looks like it didn't work and by 654 or 655 things had come to a head. We’re even told that Ecgfrith, the son of Oswiu, was being held as a hostage by Penda’s wife, Cynewise. It's hard to say what caused it, but we're told by Bede that Penda marched into Northumbria, and Oswiu and his kingdom were “exposed to the cruel and intolerable invasions of Penda.” Of course, Penda wasn’t alone. He brought with him thirty royal commanders, from as far away as Gwynedd and including Kings such as King AEthelhere of East Anglia and King AEthelwald of Deira. That’s right… King Oswiu’s own nephew, the King of Deira, was on the side of King Penda of Mercia. This was bad, and so Bede tells us that King Oswiu begged for peace. “Compelled by his necessity, he promised to give him countless gifts and royal marks of honour greater than can be believed, to purchase peace.” All Oswiu wanted was for Penda to take his forces and march home. But Penda didn't get all dressed up for nothing. We’re told that “he had resolved to blot out and exterminate all his nation, from the highest to the lowest.” I don’t know what King Oswiu did, but I have a hard time imagining that this came out of nowhere, and Penda just suddenly became a homicidal maniac. From what the few remaining documents of this battle tell us, it sounds to me like King Oswiu was once again overstepping his bounds, looking to stretch it’s power towards the south and rebel against Mercia. And for Penda, this was just the last straw. The matter would have to be resolved in battle. The scene was set for the Battle of the Winwaed.
Here's a direct link to the episode detailing to this titanic struggle between Mercia and Northumbria.
Penda and Oswiu: The Winwaed - an episode dedicated to this titanic struggle between Mercia and Northumbria.
Find the whole show in iTunes.