Penda of Mercia - Campaigns Between Maserfield and The Winwaed

Campaigns Between Maserfield and The Winwaed

Defeat at Maserfield must have weakened Northumbrian influence over the West Saxons, and the new West Saxon king Cenwealh—who was still pagan at this time—was married to Penda's sister. It may be surmised that this meant he was to some extent within what Kirby called a "Mercian orbit". However, when Cenwealh (according to Bede) "repudiated" Penda's sister in favour of another wife, Penda drove Cenwealh into exile in East Anglia in 645, where he remained for three years before regaining power. Who governed the West Saxons during the years of Cenwealh's exile is unknown; Kirby considered it reasonable to conclude that whoever ruled was subject to Penda. He also suggested that Cenwealh may not have been able to return to his kingdom until after Penda's death.

In 654, the East Anglian king Anna, who had harboured the exiled Cenwealh, was killed by Penda. He was succeeded by a brother, Aethelhere; since Aethelhere was subsequently a participant in Penda's doomed invasion of Bernicia in 655 (see below), it may be that Penda installed Aethelhere in power. It has been suggested that Penda's wars against the East Angles "should be seen in the light of interfactional struggles within East Anglia." It may also be that Penda made war against the East Angles with the intention of securing Mercian dominance over the area of Middle Anglia, where Penda established his son Peada as ruler.

In the years after Maserfield, Penda also destructively waged war against Oswiu of Bernicia on his own territory. At one point before the death of Bishop Aidan (31 August 651), Bede says that Penda "cruelly ravaged the country of the Northumbrians far and near" and besieged the royal Bernician stronghold of Bamburgh. When the Mercians were unable to capture it—"not being able to enter it by force, or by a long siege"—Bede reports that they attempted to set the city ablaze, but that it was saved by a sacred wind supposedly sent in response to a plea from the saintly Aidan: "Behold, Lord, how great mischief Penda does!" The wind is said to have blown the fire back towards the Mercians, deterring them from further attempts to capture the city. At another point, some years after Aidan's death, Bede records another attack. He says that Penda led an army in devastating the area where Aidan died—he "destroyed all he could with fire and sword"—but that when the Mercians burned down the church where Aidan died, the post against which he was leaning at the time of his death was undamaged; this was taken to be a miracle. No open battles are recorded as being fought between the two sides before the Winwaed in 655 (see below), however, and this may mean that Oswiu deliberately avoided battle due to a feeling of weakness relative to Penda. This feeling may have been in religious as well as military terms: N. J. Higham wrote of Penda acquiring "a pre-eminent reputation as a god-protected, warrior–king", whose victories may have led to a belief that his pagan gods were more effective for protection in war than the Christian God.