|
|
|
|
Battle of Brunanburh
|
| |
|
| |
The Battle of Brunanburh alternative spellings Brunanburg, Brunanburgh was a West Saxon victory in 937 by the army of Athelstan, King of England, and his brother, Edmund, over the combined armies of Olaf III Guthfrithson, Norse King of Dublin, Constantine II, King of Scots, and Owen I, King of Strathclyde (mention is also made in some sources of Irish, Welsh and Cornish mercenaries).
Athelstan had invaded the Kingdom of Strathclyde a few years previously (roughly 933-934). This provoked much anger across the British Isles among rulers no doubt fearing for their own positions.
There is some difficulty in determining the exact date of this celebrated engagement.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Battle of Brunanburh' Start a new discussion about 'Battle of Brunanburh' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Brunanburh alternative spellings Brunanburg, Brunanburgh was a West Saxon victory in 937 by the army of Athelstan, King of England, and his brother, Edmund, over the combined armies of Olaf III Guthfrithson, Norse King of Dublin, Constantine II, King of Scots, and Owen I, King of Strathclyde (mention is also made in some sources of Irish, Welsh and Cornish mercenaries).
Athelstan had invaded the Kingdom of Strathclyde a few years previously (roughly 933-934). This provoked much anger across the British Isles among rulers no doubt fearing for their own positions.
There is some difficulty in determining the exact date of this celebrated engagement. Sharon-Turner gives it as 934. Worsaae in his " Danes and Norwegians in England," says 937. Ethehverd's Chronicle says 939. Sharon-Turner refers to the fact that one MS. of the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives the date 937, notwith- standing which he prefers 934. Dr. Freeman in his " Old English History" adheres to 937, which seems to be the most probable date.
About 937 AD Scottish, Welsh, Norse and Irish formed an alliance to deal with the Anglo-Saxons of England. Their army was huge for the time. But they failed to estimate the resilience of the English, or the skill of the English King. King Athelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great had come to the throne in 924 and conquered the remaining Danish strongholds in England. He successfully campaigned in Scotland and Wales and received the homage of the respective Kings. He was an Anglo-Saxon King with a well deserved and fierce reputation, and across Europe too. The battle crushed the Brythons and led to the forming of England.
There could have been as many as 18,000 men deployed on each side. Some have said that the battlefront was as long as 30km.
Battle
Most of the information regarding the battle itself come from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the writings of Anglo-Norman historian William of Malmesbury, the Annals of Tigernach, the Brut y Tywysogion and sagas from Iceland, including Snorri Sturluson's Egils saga about Egill Skallagrimsson, a Viking who fought for Athelstan.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the event as follows:
- 937:
- Here, King Athelstan, leader of warriors,
- ring-giver of men, and also his brother,
- the aetheling Edmund, struck life-long glory
- in strife around 'Brunanburh'
"Anlaf, the son of Sihtric. who had become the head of the Ostmen in Ireland, leagued himself with Constantine, the king of the Scots, and prepared to recover Northumbria. He collected a large army in Ireland, and being joined by the Scots, landed in the Humber. Athelstan marched against them, accompanied by his brother Edmund, hut no battle was fought until they had reached the extremity of Northumbria.
There, at a place called the Brunanburg the Norsemen and the Scots had fortified themselves after the Noresman fashion. with a strong stockade of timber within a deep trench, and when attacked by the Saxons a most desperate contest ensued. The trench was passed, the "board wall" was cleft , and after a day's fighting the allies were put to flight. Five kings and seven earls lay dead on the field, beside an innumerable host of their men."ref The New School history of England James Parket 1870 pp42
The battle is considered one of the bloodiest of the period. Five "kings" and seven Viking jarls were killed in the battle. Two of Athelstan's cousins Alfric and Athelwin and a prominent Saxon bishop were also killed. Some sources claim that at one point the West Saxons deployed a cavalry charge, contradicting popular belief that the early English fought in infantry-based armies. Cavalry were a relatively insignificant part of the Saxon force and were likely mercenaries from any number of other kingdoms. However, the Anglo-Saxon text of the chronicle makes no such mention: Burton Raffel's translation of the poem, for instance, is misleading. His rendering "All the battle / Became the Wessex cavalry endlessly / Hunting a broken enemy" mistranslates the Anglo-Saxon 'eorodcistum,' which means 'troop' or 'company.'
The Livesay Historical Society says that the name LIVESAY/ey came from the Battle of Brunaburgh fought in 937 A.D. near Burnley in present day Lancashire, England. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle states that "At Brunaburgh did Aethalstan slay men all day". Here the native people led by Aethalstan against great odds defeated the invading Danes in the valley of the Darwin River. Historians say that so great was the victory that for generations people spoke of the event with great awe. A form of the name used very early was "Leofsiege" which meant "dear victory".
Aftermath
This poorly recalled battle is actually one of the most important in British history since Athelstan's crushing defeat of the combined Norse-Celtic force facing him irrevocably confirmed England as an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. He was militarily weakened however and the battle effectively forced all the kingdoms of the British Isles to consolidate in the positions they occupy today.
The Battle of Brunanburh still has a great deal of influence in the Wiltshire town of Malmesbury, 200 miles south of any probable site. The townsfolk of Malmesbury fought for King Athelstan, and he granted them 600 hides of land and gave them all freemen status. This status and the organisation formed then exists today, as the Warden and Freemen of Malmesbury, and Athelstan is remembered in their ceremonies. When Athelstan died, his body was transported from Gloucester to Malmesbury for burial.
Literature and art
English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson translated the poem from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1880, publishing it as part of his Ballads and Other Poems. Tennyson's son Hallam Tennyson published a prose translation of the poem. The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges wrote various poems about or mentioning the Saxons and their victory at Brunanburh.
Battle site
The location of Brunanburh has not been definitively identified though possible sites in Northumberland have been suggested as well as both Bromborough and Newton-le-Willows in Merseyside, Burnswark in Dumfries and Galloway, Tinsley Wood in South Yorkshire, Cuerdale in Lancashire where the Cuerdale Hoard was buried sometime after 910, Wood, Michael (2001). Tinsley Wood. In In Search of England: Journeys into the English past, pp203–221. Penguin Books Ltd (University of California Press in the United States). ISBN 0-520-23218-6 and Axminster in Devon. These are not the only sites suggested, but they are the most commonly accepted. The BBC documentary series "A History of Scotland", episode one "The Last of the Free", suggested that the battle of Brunanburh took place where "the Mersey estuary enters the sea", suggesting that Bromborough in Merseyside was a possible site of the battle. Alistair Campbell analysed all the sources, contemporary and later, and was not able to locate the battle.
One traditional story states that the Hill of Shelfield (North of Burnley) was the site of a battle in Saxon times. Burnley previously Brunley on the River Brun. This site is about ten miles east of Cuerdale near the River Ribble. A ancient ford at Cuerdale is the point at which the river would have been no longer navigible to viking Ships entering the Ribble estuary from Ireland. Nearby is a large mound, which according to the story, is the Knaves Hill or mound beneath which the warriors killed in the battle were buried. The Cuerdale Hoard is the largest Viking silver treasure found in Western Europe and contained around 8,600 silver items including coins and hack silver from locations including Ireland and Viking settlements in Western Europe.It seems possible to this author, that the hoard was intended to pay Viking conscripts during an intended extended military campaign and was deposited near a Viking camp when they arrived by boat at Cuerdale from Ireland before the battle to keep it safe should the battle go against them. It wasn't collected after the battle either because those who deposited it were killed or because it was heavy and they needed to leave in a hurry. The Saxon Chronicle records "There the North-men's chief was put to flight, by need constrained to the prow of a ship with little company:he pressed the ship afloat, the king went out on the dusky flood-tide, he saved his life."
Dr C H V Sutherland, in his English Coinage 600 to 900, (B T Batsford Ltd, 1973), is firmly of the opinion that almost half the coins of the Cuerdale hoard were minted by the Vikings in Northumbria and that the treasure was the property of a Viking chief and was intended for his military or administrative needs. Dr Sutherland is agreed, as so many other numismatists have been, that the secrets of the Cuerdale hoard have not yet been unveiled.The workmen who unearthed the hoard on that May evening in 1840 certainly confirmed the Lancashire tradition that there was a vast treasure buried on the banks of the Ribble, but how it came to be there, whose property it was, and even where the majority of the coins were minted: these are questions which still await an answer. Little archaeologcal investigation has been undertaken in Cuerdale valley surrounding the location of the treasure trove. A possible translation of Brunanburgh is "Dark Castle" or fort. Cuerdale Hall has evidence that there was a larger undated moated building once on the site and isolated bronze spear and axe heads have been found in the vicinity.
"Many opinions and speculations are afloat as to the original owner of the treasure, and the circumstances under which it was buried. With these vague surmises I will not trouble your readers, but rather consult the history of the eventful times in which the property in question appears to have been concealed. We find that in the reign of Athelstan, Northumbria, was in a very disturbed state, that the King of the Scots, eagerly sought to free himself from his dependence on the English monarch, and that, with this view, he entered into alliance with Howel, King of Wales; and although the powerful army of Athelstan was irresistible, that Anlaf shortly afterwards made a desperate attempt to reconquer the Northumbrian dominions. The celebrated battle of Brunanburgh was fought, and never before, it is stated, was such a carnage known in England. Does it not appear probable, then, that some poweful Northumbrian chieftain, relying on the numerous and hardy allies of Anlaf, might deposit his property in this solitary spot, to serve under the banners of the courageous Dane, and from which expedition he never returned. Athelstan was victorious, and to him belongs the glory of having established what has ever since been called the kingdom of England."
The Battle of Brunanburh: Epic Poem from the Saxon Chronicles
In this year King Aethelstan, Lord of warriors,
ring-giver to men, and his brother also,
Prince Eadmund, won eternal glory
in battle with sword edges
around Brunanburh. They split the shield-wall,
they hewed battle shields with the remnants of hammers.
The sons of Eadweard, it was only befitting their noble descent
from their ancestors that they should often
defend their land in battle against each hostile people,
horde and home. The enemy perished,
Scots men and seamen,
fated they fell. The field flowed
with blood of warriors, from sun up
in the morning, when the glorious star
glided over the earth, God's bright candle,
eternal lord, till that noble creation
sank to its seat. There lay many a warrior
by spears destroyed; Northern men
shot over shield, likewise Scottish as well,
weary, war sated.
The West-Saxons pushed onward
all day; in troops they pursued the hostile people.
They hewed the fugitive grievously from behind
with swords sharp from the grinding.
The Mercians did not refuse hard hand-play to any warrior
who came with Anlaf over the sea-surge
in the bosom of a ship, those who sought land,
fated to fight. Five lay dead
on the battle-field, young kings,
put to sleep by swords, likewise also seven
of Anlaf's earls, countless of the army,
sailors and Scots. There the North-men's chief was put
to flight, by need constrained
to the prow of a ship with little company:
he pressed the ship afloat, the king went out
on the dusky flood-tide, he saved his life.
Likewise, there also the old campaigner through flight came
to his own region in the north--Constantine--
hoary warrior. He had no reason to exult
the great meeting; he was of his kinsmen bereft,
friends fell on the battle-field,
killed at strife: even his son, young in battle, he left
in the place of slaughter, ground to pieces with wounds.
That grizzle-haired warrior had no
reason to boast of sword-slaughter,
old deceitful one, no more did Anlaf;
with their remnant of an army they had no reason to
laugh that they were better in deed of war
in battle-field--collision of banners,
encounter of spears, encounter of men,
trading of blows--when they played against
the sons of Eadweard on the battle field.
Departed then the Northmen in nailed ships.
The dejected survivors of the battle,
sought Dublin over the deep water,
leaving Dinges mere
to return to Ireland, ashamed in spirit.
Likewise the brothers, both together,
King and Prince, sought their home,
West-Saxon land, exultant from battle.
They left behind them, to enjoy the corpses,
the dark coated one, the dark horny-beaked raven
and the dusky-coated one,
the eagle white from behind, to partake of carrion,
greedy war-hawk, and that gray animal
the wolf in the forest.
Never was there more slaughter
on this island, never yet as many
people killed before this
with sword's edge: never according to those who tell us
from books, old wisemen,
since from the east Angles and Saxons came up
over the broad sea. Britain they sought,
Proud war-smiths who overcame the Welsh,
glorious warriors they took hold of the land.
Timeline
- Withdrawal of Roman forces (410)
- Anglo-Saxon settlement begins (c. 449)
- Legendary King Arthur (a Celt) battles the migrating Anglo-Saxons
- Conversion of Kent to Christianity (597)
- Conversion of Northumbria (625)
- Sutton Hoo ship burial (635)
- Caedmon’s Hymn written
- Danish raids begin (787)
- Viking raids on east coast (c. 865)
- Alfred the Great rules Wessex (871-99)
- Danelaw established (886)
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle begun
- Eadweard rules Wessex (899-924)
- Aethelstan (924-40) unifies England
- Battle of Brunanburh is won (and enshrined in verse)
- Norman Conquest (1066)
External links
|
| |
|
|
