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[Pertinax]

The battle which appeared to settle the fate of Britain , but which has been overshadowed by a more popularly notable date 130 years later.Lowland Britain was under the Wessex kings, but the peripheral areas had hopes of independence,an amalgam of strange political allies emerged, petty kings whose domains encircled the Irish Sea. Mercenary soldiery fought on both sides with various degrees of moral probity.The slaughter of the "peripheral" kingdoms nobility was vast.

The only problem is the supposed location-many areas in the Northern Pennines lay claim to the possible site, I am about a mile and a half away from one such ,the ridge at Cliviger between modern W Yorks and NE Lancs. I wondered if other members would care to furish information on possible sites for the conflict.

[Furius Venator]

As I understand it, nobody has the foggiest really though pet theories abound.

 

Burnswark in Dumfriesshire, Bridgenorth, Shelfield Hill (near Burnley I think), Doncaster(!), Brinkburn Priory and sundry others all claim the 'honour'.

 

I was under the impression that the 'enemy' were largely Norse and Scots, were there Welsh and Irish contingents present also?

[Pertinax]

the "near Burnley " one is my local "supposed" site, Rotheram (!) was another -Dumfries strikes me as plausible but youd expect an awful lot of finds . I wonderd if Longbow had any theories?

[longbow]

There's quite a few different theories to the sites Whereabouts but without any artifact finds its impossible to be sure,Somewhere on the Wirral is my best guess

The important thing about this battle is the unification of the southern Eanglish kingdoms,which was obviously nescessary to beat the King of Alba and the king of Dublin (viking)or Dyflin as the Saxons called Dublin (Eire).

 

I was under the impression that the 'enemy' were largely Norse and Scots, were there Welsh and Irish contingents present also?

 

The Irish contingents would be from King Olaf Guthfrithsson the Viking King of Dublin who was married to King Constantine of Alba's (Scotland) daughter.Constantine's Kingdom included parts of North west Wales but 'Welsh' is the Saxon word for Foreigner,the Saxons called the native Britons 'Welsh' so the welsh contingents in the army were not nescessarily from Wales,but some probably were.

 

Do you like the Poem?its obviously a piece of Saxon propergander and im not sure how much later than the battle it was actually added to the Chronicle,any ideas?

I still think its a good piece though.

Longbow

Edited May 17, 2006 by longbow

[Pertinax]

The Dublin Vikings were the main identifiable political opposition along with the Strathclyde Irish, but lots of other minor Kings wanted to join the party.

Egills Saga? Its an evocative piece and it inadvertently says a lot about "client" status as a valued mercenary.

[longbow]

Had a talk with a friend who's a lot more knowledgable than me on the Saxons and he favours Bromborough for the battle site.If not Bromborough then he thinks it would of been on the other side of the Pennines,in South Yorkshire.

 

Longbow.