Penda of Mercia - Final Campaign and The Battle of The Winwaed

Final Campaign and The Battle of The Winwaed

In 655, Penda invaded Bernicia with a large army, reported to have been 30 warbands, with 30 royal or noble commanders (duces regii, as Bede called them), including rulers such as Cadafael ap Cynfeddw of Gwynedd and Aethelhere of East Anglia. Penda also enjoyed the support of Aethelwald, the king of Deira and the successor of Oswine, who had been murdered on Oswiu's orders in 651; Bede says Aethelwald acted as Penda's guide during his invasion.

The cause of this war is uncertain. There is a passage in Bede's Ecclesiastical History that suggests Aethelhere of East Anglia was the cause of the war. On the other hand, it has been argued that an issue of punctuation in later manuscripts confused Bede's meaning on this point, and that he in fact meant to refer to Penda as being responsible for the war. Although, according to Bede, Penda tolerated some Christian preaching in Mercia, it has been suggested that he perceived Bernician sponsorship of Christianity in Mercia and Middle Anglia as a form of "religious colonialism" that undermined his power, and that this may have provoked the war. Elsewhere the possibility has been suggested that Penda sought to prevent Oswiu from reunifying Northumbria, not wanting Oswiu to restore the kingdom to the power it had enjoyed under Edwin and Oswald. A perception of the conflict in terms of the political situation between Bernicia and Deira could help to explain the role of Aethelwald of Deira in the war, since Aethelwald was the son of Oswald and might not ordinarily be expected to ally with those who had killed his father. Perhaps, as the son of Oswald, he sought to obtain the Bernician kingship for himself.

According to the Historia Brittonum, Penda besieged Oswiu at Iudeu; this site has been identified with Stirling, in the north of Oswiu's kingdom. Oswiu tried to buy peace: in the Historia Brittonum, it is said that Oswiu offered treasure, which Penda distributed among his British allies. Bede states that the offer was simply rejected by Penda, who "resolved to extirpate all of nation, from the highest to the lowest". Additionally, according to Bede, Oswiu's son Ecgfrith was being held hostage "at the court of Queen Cynwise, in the province of the Mercians"—perhaps surrendered by Oswiu as part of some negotiations or arrangement. It would seem that Penda's army then moved back south, perhaps returning home, but a great battle was fought near the river Winwaed in the region of Loidis, thought to be somewhere in the area around modern day Leeds, on a date given by Bede as 15 November. The identification of the Winwaed with a modern river is uncertain, but possibly it was a tributary of the Humber. There is good reason to believe it may well have been the river now known as Cock Beck in the ancient kingdom of Elmet. The Cock Beck meanders its way through Pendas Fields, close to an ancient well known as Pen Well on the outskirts of Leeds, before eventually joining the River Wharfe. This same Cock Beck whilst in flood also played a significant role in the much later Battle of Towton in 1461. Another possibility is the River Went (a tributary of the River Don, situated to the north of modern-day Doncaster). It may be that Penda's army was attacked by Oswiu at a point of strategic vulnerability, which would help explain Oswiu's victory over forces that were, according to Bede, much larger than his own.

The Mercian force was also weakened by desertions. According to the Historia Brittonum, Cadafael of Gwynedd, "rising up in the night, escaped together with his army" (thus earning him the name Cadomedd, or "battle-shirker"), and Bede says that at the time of the battle, Aethelwald of Deira withdrew and "awaited the outcome from a place of safety". According to Kirby, if Penda's army was marching home, it may have been for this reason that some of his allies were unwilling to fight. It may also be that the allies had different purposes in the war, and Kirby suggested that Penda's deserting allies may have been dissatisfied "with what had been achieved at Iudeu". At a time when the Winwaed was swollen with heavy rains, the Mercians were badly defeated and Penda was killed, along with the East Anglian king Aethelhere. Bede says that Penda's "thirty commanders, and those who had come to his assistance were put to flight, and almost all of them slain," and that more drowned while fleeing than were killed in the actual battle. He also says that Penda's head was cut off; a connection between this and the treatment of Oswald's body at Maserfield is possible. Writing in the 12th century, Henry of Huntingdon emphasised the idea that Penda was suffering the same fate as he had inflicted on others.