BRETWALDA: Kings of Northumbria Book 3

by H A CULLEY

  Finan had just started to replace the original timber church on Lindisfarne with one built of stone and Oswiu agreed that the new church at Whitby should also be constructed out of stone.

  It took three months for Oswiu’s leg to mend; three months when he fretted at remaining inactive. He worried about what Penda was up to and he was concerned that the Witan of Deira would elect someone else as king.

  Penda had been weakened by his abortive siege of Bebbanburg and, in any case, was busy completing his subjugation of East Anglia, but Oswiu was right to worry about Deira. When he heard that the Witan had met and elected a new king he was furious. He was even angrier when he found out that they had chosen Œthelwald instead of him. The two might have developed a reasonable working relationship recently but Oswiu still didn’t completely trust his nephew. Furthermore, his dream of creating a united Northumbria seemed as far away as ever. He called his clerks together and dictated a letter to go to each member of the Deiran Witan.

  ~~~

  Œthelwald was, unsurprisingly, delighted by his election as King of Deira. He had pretended to support Oswiu for the past few years but, in reality, he had used his position as confidante to get to know the nobles of Deira and to enlist their support. As the son of Oswald, the king before Oswine, and the grandson of Acha of the original royal house of Deira, he was an obvious choice.

  However, his euphoria was short lived. In January 652 a messenger made his way through the snow and arrived at Eoforwīc with a letter from Oswiu.

  My dearest nephew,

  I know that you will delighted to hear that I am fully recovered and able to discharge my duties as King of Northumbria and Bretwalda of the North properly once more. I rejoiced to hear of your election as Sub-king of Deira and I look forward to your arrival at Bebbanburg so that you can swear your oath of loyalty to me as your overlord and king.

  Should this be inconvenient please do not concern yourself. It’s time I visited Eoforwīc again and it will give me the opportunity to conduct some long overdue business with the Witan of Deira.

  If for some reason I don’t hear from you before the start of Lent, I will journey south and join you for Easter, if I may. Of course I mean Easter as observed by our Northumbrian Church and not that celebrated by the Romans.

  I look forward to hearing from you,

  Your affectionate uncle,

  Oswiu.

  Œthelwald read the missive with mounting rage. It was Oswiu’s unsubtle way of telling him that he would only accept him as King of Deira if he became his vassal. The Easter visit was a thinly veiled threat to invade if he didn’t do as he was told. He had no idea what his uncle wanted with the Witan but he was willing to gamble that he wanted to further weaken Deira’s position as an independent kingdom somehow.

  Once he’d had a night to sleep on it he came to the conclusion that he had little option but to submit gracefully – or at least appear to do so. That would give him time to make secret contact with Penda and plot to get rid of Oswiu.

  CHAPTER TWELVE – WAR AND PEACE

  652/3 AD

  Talorgan was finding that ruling the Picts was anything but straightforward. He knew that Talorc was causing mischief but he couldn’t prove anything. Although the former high king had been deprived of his mighty fortress of Stirling, he still ruled the rest of Hyddir and his cousin was King of Pobla. Both Cait in the north and Uuyannid on the north coast of the Firth of Forth had accepted him as high king but that was as far as their support went. However, Ardewr and Penntir were fully behind him.

  The problem had unexpectedly come from Dalriada. The death of Fergus of the Isles, one of the sub-kings of Dalriada, had sparked a row over the succession. His clan, known as the Cenél nGabráin, dominated Kintyre, Knapdale, Arran, Jura and Gigha. They supported Máel Dúin mac Conall, the son of a previous King of Dalriada, as his replacement, whereas the present king, Domangart, and the people of Islay and the rest of the isles chose Ferchar Fota, the chieftain of the Cenél Loairn.

  Talorc had used the unrest in Dalriada to his own advantage and had paid Máel to launch raids against the south west coast of Cait. This had infuriated its king, Bran, and he was threatening to invade Dalriada if Talorgan didn’t do something about it. Talorgan had contacted Domangart but he was too preoccupied with preventing a full scale civil war from breaking out to be overly concerned about a few small raids. So Talorgan did the only think he could think of. He wrote to Oswiu to ask him to come north as Bretwalda and sort out the growing chaos.

  ‘This couldn’t have come at a worse time,’ Oswiu told his wife. ‘Penda is growing in strength again now he has subdued East Anglia. I was sure that he would attack Wessex next as Cenwalh gave sanctuary to Anna but, if I go north, he might well be tempted to take advantage of my absence to invade Northumbria.’

  ‘What will you do?’

  ‘Take a chance and go to Stirling I suppose. I can’t afford to have instability on my northern borders whilst I still have Penda thirsting for my blood in the south. If he attacks then you and Ceadda will have to hold Bebbanburg for me. He couldn’t take it last time and he won’t this.’

  ‘But he’ll despoil not only Bernicia but also Deira on his way here.’

  Oswiu shrugged. ‘It’ll be up to Œthelwald and the eorls to stop him. Let’s see what my nephew is made of.’

  It was early summer by the time that Oswiu reached Stirling. Oswiu didn’t delay. He summoned Domangart, Máel, Ferchar and Talorc to meet him and Talorgan there within the week. All but Máel obeyed the summons and so Oswiu dealt with Talorc first.

  ‘You can deny it all you like, but everyone here knows that you paid Máel to launch raids along the western coast of Cait.’

  ‘You have no proof of that and I take exception to your insinuations, Oswiu.’

  ‘You can take what stance you damned well like, Talorc, I don’t care. I don’t have to prove anything. If you weren’t here under the protection of my nephew’s safe conduct I’d have you taken out and executed. As you are, I’ll give you one final warning. If you play any more silly games I’ll hunt you down and take your head from your shoulders myself. I’ll also kill every member of your immediate family, including your cousin, to make sure there is no more dissent within my nephew’s kingdom. Do we understand one another?’

  Talorc gave him a murderous glare but said nothing.

  Oswiu’s fist thumping the table hard made everyone jump.

  ‘I said do we understand one another?’ he said quietly.

  Talorc nodded and looked at the ground.

  ‘I’m sorry; I must be going deaf in my old age. I didn’t hear you.’

  ‘Yes, I agree, damn you.’

  ‘Just to make sure you keep your word, you’ll hand your eldest son, Uurad, over to me as a hostage. You’ll stay here as my guest until the boy is delivered to me.’

  ‘But he’s a child; he’s only seven years old.’

  ‘Good, you obviously care for him. It should ensure your future good behaviour. I wouldn’t want to hang such a young boy.’

  ~~~

  Oswiu turned his attention next to Máel. He’d based himself at the almost impregnable Dùn Averty perched on a rock at the end of the Mull of Kintyre. It was a mistake. Oswiu bottled him up there whilst Domangart and the Cenél Loairn pillaged the mainland and the isles where the Cenél nGabráin lived. The men were sold into slavery and the women were married to men loyal to Domangart. It was at the feast held to celebrate the crowning of Ferchar as Sub-king of Islay and the Isles that the messenger from Œthelwald arrived.

  Oswiu, it began without the usual flowery preamble, nor did it accord Oswiu the courtesy of being address as Cyning.

  Penda has invaded Deira. I met him outside my capital of Eoforwīc but I regret to say that, after a hard fought battle, we were forced to withdraw and took refuge inside the town. Penda, to my surprise, didn’t lay siege to me and moved on, presumably to attack Bebbanburg once more.

  By the time this reaches yo
u I would expect him to have reached there and, perhaps even have taken it. I’m told that, without your leadership, your eorls couldn’t agree on a strategy and failed to mount much of a challenge to Penda’s advance.

  He is accompanied by his son Peada and his Middle Angles as well as by the East Saxons and some Welshmen under their king, Cadafael ap Cynfeddw.

  Your nephew,

  Œthelwald,

  King of Deira

  Oswiu’s heart sank. Because of the losses the Mercians had sustained during their last campaign against Bernicia, Penda had evidently needed to recruit the East Saxons and, more worryingly, the Welsh to help him. This was beginning to look like a re-run of the last time that Penda had invaded with Cadwallon of Gwynedd twenty years ago.

  ‘I’m sorry, nephew, I’m going to have to return to Bernicia as soon as possible. Penda has invaded again.’

  ‘I’ll send a contingent of my Picts with you.’

  ‘Thank you. I’ll call out the fyrds in Rheged, Goddodin and northern Bernicia on the way south. With my warband that should give me enough men to match Penda’s army.’

  ‘I’ll send a contingent as well, Oswiu,’ Domangart told him. ‘I’ve still got to winkle Máel out of Dùn Averty but I can afford to send a fleet of birlinns to relieve Bebbanburg.’

  ‘Thank you both for your support. I’ll contact Guret of Strathclyde and ask him if he can spare a few ships to join yours.’

  Penda was finding Bebbanburg as hard a nut to crack as he had two years ago. When he heard reports from his scouts of an army four thousand strong approaching down the coast from the north he prepared for battle. He had five thousand and so outnumbered Oswiu; however, two thousand of those were unarmoured Welsh and another two thousand were poorly armed and trained members of the fyrd.

  When a fleet of twenty ships appeared north of Bebbanburg he began to rethink his strategy. His own ships, which had been blockading the fortress from the sea, beat a hasty retreat and an hour later the new arrivals started to ferry supplies in to the beleaguered garrison. The Mercian king gnashed his teeth but there was nothing he could do about it.

  ‘We’re going to have to retreat,’ Peada told him bluntly.

  ‘Have you forgotten the last time?’ his brother Wulfhere spat at him angrily. ‘I say we stay and fight. With Oswiu dead Bebbanburg will surrender and his kingdom will be ours.’

  ‘You see yourself as King of Northumbria do you boy?’ Penda said scathingly.

  Wulfhere blushed. That was exactly what he’d been thinking.

  ‘Well, I’ve got news for you. I’m not prepared to risk everything on one throw of the dice. No, I’ve got another solution to our problem.’

  Two days later Penda and Oswiu met on relatively neutral ground – inside the stone church that Finan had recently completed on Lindisfarne.

  ‘This conflict is bleeding both of us dry.’

  ‘If you’d have stayed out of Northumbria there would have been no conflict,’ Oswiu replied bluntly.

  ‘In that event Edwin would probably still be on the throne and you and your brother Oswald would still be in exile. Let’s deal with the present and forget about what might have been.’

  ‘Very well. I want to make sure that you never invade my lands again. In return I won’t interfere south of the Humber and the Mersey.’

  ‘You’ll let me have Lindsey?’

  ‘Provided you retain Hengist as king and he is willing to become your vassal, yes.’

  ‘Hmmm. We will need to find a way to cement our treaty. Oaths are not enough.’

  ‘Not from a pagan, no.’

  Penda shot Oswiu a look of hatred but bit back the retort he was about to utter. He was anxious to conclude matters in Northumbria so that he could return south and deal with Wessex. Later on, in a year or two when he was stronger, he would return and settle matters with Oswiu. He would have to gamble that he wouldn’t kill Æthelred in retribution.

  ‘I suggest that we arrange a marriage or two between our houses to bolster our new found friendship,’ Oswiu continued.

  This was something that Penda hadn’t considered. He was silent for a while before he replied.

  ‘Who were you thinking of?’

  ‘Your heir, Peada is unmarried. I have a daughter, Alchflaed, who is eleven. I suggest they marry here, in this church. She is too young to bed as yet, but I’m sure that your son can curb his carnal lust for a year or two.’

  ‘Very well, but I’ll have to ask him.’

  Owiu knew very well that Peada would do what his father told him or Wulfhere would replace him as King of the Middle Angles.

  ‘You also have an unmarried daughter, Cyneburgh. I’d like her to marry my son, Elhfrith, whose fourteen and just starting his training to be a warrior. He’s a little young but I’m sure he’d welcome bedding her.’

  ‘She’s twelve. I’m not against the match but not until next year. Peada is a man who can control his passions but a boy in the throes of puberty is a different matter.’

  How little the father knew his son.

  ‘Very well,’ Oswiu conceded. ‘But she is to enter the hall of my wife until she is ready to marry.’

  Penda nodded. ‘I’ll go and tell my son the good news. However, I expect you to return Æthelred to me now we have concluded this new arrangement.’

  ‘Very well. Provided you return my chests of silver to me.’

  Penda had already spent some of the silver but he nodded. Hopefully Oswiu wouldn’t notice that they’d lost weight.

  ~~~

  ‘No, my men came here for plunder and we won’t go home without it.’

  Penda was learning that Cadafael was a stubborn, pig-headed man.

  ‘Are you prepared to fight me and Oswiu then?’

  ‘Why would you side with the Northumbrians? They’re your enemies; always have been.’

  ‘Not any longer. We are at peace, at least for now.’

  Cadafael snorted. ‘It won’t last. Do you really think that Oswiu has forgiven you for killing his precious brother?’

  ‘No, I’m not a fool, but, like me, he’s a pragmatist. Over the past few years we’ve weakened each other and that makes us vulnerable to our other enemies and, at the moment, I have a lot more of those than he has.’

  ‘Including me if you don’t let me have my way over this.’

  ‘Do you think I’m so weak that I’ll change my mind because of your threats?’

  Cadafael didn’t reply. He turned on his heels and stalked away. The next morning he and his men were gone. Oswiu sent Dunstan and the mounted members of his warband to shadow the Welshmen and to kill any who left the main body to plunder or forage. Inevitably some isolated farms and settlements were pillaged and burned as the men of Gwynedd marched south through Bernicia and Rheged but Dunstan’s attacks hastened the withdrawal, especially as the inability to do much foraging kept the Welshmen hungry. Then they found their way south blocked by the fyrd of Rheged on the south bank of the River Ribble.

  By this time Cadafael’s men had been reduced to sixteen hundred and, although the host facing them across the river numbered no more than a thousand, they had the advantage of holding the only two fords. Then the true nature of his predicament struck Cadafael as another thousand men joined his enemy. The newcomers puzzled the King of Gwynedd at first because, although they were Britons like the men of Rheged, their banner was the same as that which his predecessor, Cadwallon, had fought under. Then he realised who the leader of the new host was - Cadwaladr, Cadwallon’s son. In his absence he must has enlisted the support of some of his chieftains who had remained behind.

  Cadafael wasn’t about to risk a battle when the odds were so unfavourable. That night, leaving his campfires burning, he led his men quietly away to the east. Just as dawn was breaking they reached another ford and, under cover of the early morning mist, he crossed the river and turned back to the west.

  The men of Rheged had also crossed the river. They launched a night-time attack on the camp
but found it deserted. They’d been tricked. However, they were content to leave the pursuit of Cadafael in the hands of Cadwaladr and, as most lived to the north of the Ribble, they returned home, leaving Dunstan to carry shadowing the Welshmen’s retreat.

  Cadwaladr realised that Cadafael was now almost certainly on his side of the river and was probably heading towards him along the south bank to teach him and his supporters a lesson. He therefore found a good defensive position on top of a small conical hill and dug ramparts and a ditch behind which he would fight.

  As the day drew to a close Cadafael’s army arrived at the base of the hill and made camp. A couple of hours into the night one of his chieftains came to see Cadwaladr.

  ‘My sentries report that there seems to be something going on. Men are sneaking down the hill and then coming back up again.’

  ‘It sounds as if someone is trying to do a deal with Cadafael.’

  ‘I fear so. You are about to be betrayed, Cadwaladr.’

  ‘Thank you, Owain. Your loyalty won’t be forgotten. The next man to leave our camp is to be seized and brought to me.’

  Owain nodded and half an hour later a struggling man was dragged before him.

  ‘Hywel,’ he said in surprise. ‘Why is one of my chieftains sneaking off to treat with Cadafael?’

  ‘Because your cause is doomed. I’m only being sensible and trying to save my men.’

  ‘You own neck more like.’

  ‘So? There are several others who think like I do.’

  ‘I see. Owain, would you please ask all the chieftains to come and see me?’

  When they had all gathered outside his tent his gaze swept over them and he made a mental note of those who were looking apprehensive and talking urgently amongst themselves. They were all armed and the two groups seemed more or less equally balanced.