BRETWALDA: Kings of Northumbria Book 3

by H A CULLEY

  The angry East Anglians rushed towards where the arrows emanated from and tried to close with the archers but Catinus had trained his men to execute a fighting withdrawal. One half would rush back to a clearing in the scrub and trees and form up on the far side. The other half would leapfrog them and do the same thing at the next open space. When their pursuers entered the clearing the leading warriors walked into a hail of arrows. It didn’t matter that the archers were now firing by the light of a feeble moon, filtered through the clouds overhead. They aimed towards the shadows and the sound. They were bound to hit a few East Anglians and that made the rest wary.

  After a while they became loath to venture into the next area of open ground and eventually Catinus’ men managed to break contact with them a mile before they reached the ford. It wasn’t until after the battle that Oswiu found out that the night-time raid on the East Anglian camp had resulted in the death of their king, Æthelhere, and over fifty of his men. Another thirty or so had been wounded.

  The nobles with the army had elected the late king’s brother, Æthelwold, to succeed him. The new king, being a devout Christian, had no love for the pagan Penda. After so many casualties he had little trouble in persuading his demoralised army to desert Penda and return home. When they saw them leaving the East Saxons took fright, thinking the whole army was breaking up, and they too deserted Penda.

  When Oswiu marched down the incline to the north of the River Winwaed the next morning he was pleased to see the area that had been occupied by the East Anglians and the East Saxons was deserted. Only five hundred and fifty men followed him whereas Penda still had nearly three thousand. However, all of the Northumbrians were trained and well equipped warriors. Penda’s army included the fyrds from Mercia and Middle Anglia and they made up two thirds of his army so, in terms of trained warriors, the Northumbrians were merely outnumbered by two to one. Such odds would still have daunted most men but Oswiu had a surprise or two up his sleeve.

  For some reason Penda had left it until the morning to start to cross the river. The Winwaed was only a tributary and not wide, but it was more than waist deep and fast flowing after the recent rain. He was therefore constrained to use three fords: one in front of his camp, the one that Catinus had used to attack the East Anglian camp about five miles to the east, and another eight miles to the west.

  He put Wulfhere in charge of the Middle Anglians, much to the annoyance of Peada’s hereræswa who resented the imposition of a stranger, however royal, to command his men. They set off for the eastern ford. Half of the Mercian fyrd was sent hot foot to cross the river via the ford to the west. This left Penda with a thousand men to force the crossing in the face of Oswiu’s opposition. Half of these were trained warriors and the rest members of the fyrd. The former led the way.

  Penda sent for Œthelwald and his men but no-one emerged from their camp. He was perturbed but he didn’t have time to worry about them; he had enough men in any case.

  When he received the summons Œthelwald had called his eorls together intending to set off to find out what part Penda wanted him to play in the coming battle but, as soon as they were gathered, they started to argue amongst themselves. Arthius led the opposition against the coalition with Penda with many of the other eorls supporting him. His views had changed dramatically during the time he’d been eorl and he now saw Oswiu as the man most likely to give Elmet peace and prosperity.

  Those who were in favour of accepting Œthelwald’s alliance with the Mercians were in the minority and had little to offer by way of argument save that it was the king’s will. Arthius countered that by pointing out that Œthelwald was Oswiu’s nephew and the son of Oswald, who Penda had dismembered. He should therefore support his uncle, and certainly not his enemy. This only enraged Œthelwald, who had to be physically restrained by the other eorls from attacking Arthius.

  Œthelwald angrily shook himself free of the men who had held him back and ordered his gesith to arrest the Eorl of Elmet. However, the other eorls stood between them and Arthius saying they wouldn’t permit it. The gesith were beginning to have doubts about their king and, in any case, were unwilling to attack the eorls, so they backed down.

  The outcome was a stalemate. Œthelwald knew he couldn’t commit himself to the fight without his full strength behind him and finally decided that his best course of action was to wait and see who prevailed, then join the winning side. His men therefore packed up their camp and withdrew to a nearby hilltop to watch the battle unfurl beneath them.

  As Oswiu’s army advanced men ran ahead of the main body carrying hurdles made of wicker which were strong enough to stop penetration by most arrows and spears. These were set up fifty yards from where the ford emerged onto the north bank. Once the hurdles were in position the archers took position behind them and prepared to let loose at the Mercians as they attempted to cross the river.

  Oswiu noted that Penda never tried to press home an attack. As soon as his men started to take casualties he would order them to withdraw. He was playing cat and mouse with the Northumbrians; keeping them occupied until the men who’d crossed the river to the east and west could outflank Oswiu and trap him in a pincer movement. It was a good plan, but it was obvious and it was exactly what he had expected Penda to do.

  Had Penda bothered to estimate the strength of Oswiu’s forces opposite him he would find that they totalled three hundred and fifty and not the six hundred he’d been told that Oswiu had at his disposal. Some of the missing men were members of the warband who could ride, a score of Catinus’ men who’d recently been taught the basics and a number of Picts mounted on surefooted ponies. They had all crossed the river under cover of darkness and now, under Catinus’ leadership, they kept up pinprick attacks on the Middle Anglians as they made their way to the ford. They would suddenly appear, cast spears and javelins into the column of marching men causing a dozen or so casualties, and then disappear just as quickly as they had appeared.

  Wulhere got increasingly frustrated by these tactics and sent men chasing after them. They disappeared into the trees and scrub that bordered the track and were never seen again. Peada’s men, already disheartened by their king’s absence, the East Saxons’ defection and the imposition of the irascible Wulfhere as their commander, grew increasingly morose and disillusioned by their mounting losses with, as far as they knew, no casualties amongst the Northumbrian horsemen in return.

  By the time they got to the ford morale as at a low ebb. Catinus had crossed ahead of them and, when they saw the mass of horsemen waiting for them on the far bank, Wulfhere’s men refused to fight their way across. He called them all the names under the sun, but to no avail. He then tried bribing them with the promise of a chest of silver for the first man to reach the far bank and kill a Northumbrian. The men stood there in sullen silence and even defied their own nobles and the Hereræswa until eventually the threat of banishment for them and their families changed their minds.

  In such circumstances it wasn’t surprising that the attack wasn’t pressed home with any vigour. As groups of men emerged onto the far bank the horsemen charged into them and cut them down before they could form a shield wall. Had they been able to form a bridgehead and hold it with a shield wall the outcome might have been very different, but the Northumbrian attacks started before they could get organised.

  Eventually Wulfhere called a halt and glared balefully across the water at the triumphant horsemen. He had never encountered warriors on horseback before. He’d heard of the tactic as it had been used before in Ireland, but he’d no real idea how to counter a cavalry charge. The Northumbrians had suffered some casualties but nothing like the numbers of his men who’d been killed or seriously wounded.

  Meanwhile to the west the second group who were meant to outflank Oswiu had also found their ford held against them. This time their enemy had built an earthworks from behind which the archers under Ceadda’s command kept up a slow but steady attack on the Mercian fyrd via arrows fired at high trajectory.


  The fyrd made one attempt to cross and, because of their vastly superior numbers, they made it to the far bank though they lost dozens of men on the way. However, once they had scrambled up the bank they found themselves hemmed into a small area by the earthen ramparts surmounted by a wicker palisade, which was all the defending warriors had had time to prepare.

  The unarmoured men of the fyrd swarmed up the steep slope to try and tear down the sections of wicker which protected the Northumbrians. The archers had retreated behind the fortifications and were now firing blindly at high trajectory at the men still crossing over the ford. As the first of the Mercians reached the top of the earthen mound the defenders stabbed them with spears. The men they killed rolled down the slope, taking those still trying to ascend with them. None managed to tear the wicker sections down and so the Northumbrians suffered relatively few casualties.

  Ceadda watched with some satisfaction as the Mercians eventually withdrew leaving behind hundreds of dead and seriously wounded. The Mercians watched helplessly from the far bank as a few of their enemy removed a section of their palisade and slithered down the slope to finish off the wounded by slitting their throats. They looted the dead and then climbed back up the ramparts with the aid of a rope, which was withdrawn before the section of wicker was tied back in place.

  Whilst Penda waited impatiently for his two flanking forces to appear he kept up his desultory attempts to attack Oswiu across the central ford. Eventually his impatience got the better of him and he sent men to find out what was happening. When they came back to report that both his detachments had failed to force their crossing points he flew into a rage and ordered an all-out assault on Oswiu’s main force.

  It was a disaster. His men were demoralised, knowing that Penda should have secured the ford when he’d had the chance. He hadn’t because he didn’t want to risk being trapped with the river at his back. His whole strategy had depended on the flank attacks and now that they had failed he was getting desperate. Surely with an army six times the size of Oswiu’s he could defeat him? It seemed not as his men streamed back across the river after another failed attempt. He now saw the problem. The Northumbrians had selected their ground carefully so that he couldn’t bring more than a third of his army to bear in the space between the ford and their shield wall. The rest of his army were forced to wait, either standing in the river or on the south bank.

  He couldn’t go on losing men at the rate he was doing and so shortly after noon he ordered a withdrawal. Penda intended to find a suitable place to reform his army south of the Winwaed. With his vastly inferior numbers Oswiu would then be at a tremendous disadvantage.

  ~~~

  As soon as the messenger told Wulfhere to withdraw he did so, which allowed the Northumbrian horsemen to cross the river and re-commence harassing his column as he retreated. Eventually the men of Middle Anglia had had enough and they broke, fleeing south as fast as they could go.

  With a whoop of delight the horsemen chased after them, cutting them down like a scythe reaping crops. This increased the panic amongst the routed enemy and they ceased to be any form of threat. Wulfhere and his companions were the only group to stay together and Catinus’ men gave them a wide berth and went in search of easier prey. Had they managed to kill him the history of England might have been very different.

  Catinus eventually managed to regain control of his exuberant men and they headed west to find out what had happened in the centre.

  Oswiu watched Penda withdraw and sent men over the ford to secure the south bank, but he didn’t immediately follow up the Mercians’ retreat. An hour later Ceadda re-joined him and told him that the Mercian fyrd had also retreated to the south. A little while later Catinus and his victorious horsemen also arrived.

  Oswiu turned his attention to the army of his nephew, which still sat on a hill half a mile away. He decided to tackle the Deirans first and his men advanced towards them. Seeing this, and knowing now that his men wouldn’t fight other Northumbrians, Œthelwald decided to flee. However, he and his gesith were quickly surrounded by Catinus’ men and they kept him hemmed in until Oswiu arrived.

  ‘Well nephew. What are you doing skulking here when the real men are fighting for their homeland against the invading Mercians?’

  ‘Penda will win,’ Œthelwald spat back at him. ‘You and your pitiful handful of men haven’t got a chance once you engage him in open countryside.’

  ‘Very true, which is why I have no intention of doing so,’ Oswiu replied with a smile. ‘The question is, what do I do with you?’

  He turned to the assembled Deirans.

  ‘Do you still want this feckless coward as your king?’

  The roar that came back indicated all too clearly to Œthelwald that he had gambled and lost.

  ‘I release your gesith from their oath of loyalty to you. When you took it you were led to believe that your lord was an honourable man who was king of a region of Northumbria. That is no longer the case and you cannot therefore be held to your oath. How many of you wish to go into exile with this man and how many wish to serve me?’

  Only the captain of his gesith and his brother elected to stay with Œthelwald. The rest declared their loyalty to Oswiu. He turned to Catinus.

  ‘Disarm these three and escort them to the nearest port,’ he told him so that everyone could hear what he said, then in a much quieter voice he added ‘kill them on the way and bury them where no-one will ever find them. Make sure your men don’t loot the bodies and make sure they hold their tongues. I want my nephew to vanish without trace.’

  He handed Catinus a pouch of silver before turning away and leading his army back down the hill. Arthius took command of the Deirans and followed him. Now Oswiu had a thousand men behind him.

  Catinus left with the surviving fifteen horsemen from the garrison of Bebbanburg. He was unhappy about murdering Œthelwald in cold blood; it went against everything he stood for. On the other hand he owed everything to Oswiu. He decided to compromise. When they reached a dense wood he halted and told the three prisoners to dismount. He took a sword and shield from one of his men and handed them to the former King of Deira.

  ‘I’m giving you a chance. I’ll fight you hand to hand. If you win you must swear to become a monk and live out your life in a monastery; if I win, you die.’

  Œthelwald’s eyes lit up. He had resigned himself to being murdered; Oswiu’s talk about exile hadn’t fooled him. Now it seemed that this idiot was giving him a chance to escape. He grasped the sword eagerly but before the fight could commence the captain of Œthelwald’s gesith spoke.

  ‘What about us? Don’t we get a chance to give our lives defending our lord?’

  Members of any gesith took an oath to save their lord’s life at the expense of their own and many were even prepared to go down fighting if their master was killed.

  ‘Very well. You can fight me afterwards.’

  ‘Catinus this is madness. You’ll be tired and perhaps wounded after you’ve killed this scum,’ one of his men protested as Œthelwald went red with rage at his insult. ‘Let two of us fight beside you and kill all three.’

  ‘No, I won’t ask you to risk your lives. This is my decision and my fight.’

  In response the man who’d spoken nodded to the others; they drew their seaxes and killed the two gesith where they stood.

  ‘I’m sorry, Catinus. We couldn’t let you do that.’

  ‘Very well. What’s done is done and it’s on your consciences.’

  As he was speaking Œthelwald leaped forward and punched him with his shield so that he stumbled backwards and fell. He brought his sword down on the prone man but Catinus rolled out of the way. As Œthelwald straightened up and was turning to strike at Catinus again the latter swung his sword in a scything motion from where he lay. The blade bit into the back of Œthelwald’s thighs, hamstringing him. He collapsed and Catinus thrust the point of his sword through his throat from the kneeling position. He got up and removed
the head from the body with one tremendous blow, picked up the head and spat in Œthelwald’s face before throwing it aside.

  ‘Dig a deep pit and bury them,’ he ordered. ‘Then dig around a few plants and saplings so you can pull them up with their roots attached. Plant them over the grave so that no-one will ever find it. No-one speaks of this, ever, or you will join him in Hell.’

  He went over to a nearby brook that ran through the woods and washed his hands and face before cleaning his sword. Œthelwald had died in a fair fight, at least on his side, but he felt that it would be a long time before he could forgive himself for killing him.

  ~~~

  Oswiu’s army caught up with Penda’s by the late afternoon. The Northumbrians set up camp on the other side of the valley from the Mercians and proceeded to erect a wall made of willow hurdles. They weren’t much of a defence but they were better than nothing. They probably looked more effective than they were in reality. At any event the night passed peacefully.

  When Penda awoke shortly after dawn a frost had coated the ground in white. He was puzzled by the lack of activity in the camp opposite until his scouts returned to report that it was deserted. The temporary fortifications had been a ruse. Now he had no idea where the Northumbrian army was.

  Two days later the scouts returned to report that Oswiu was now to the south of them across their line of retreat back into Mercia. Almost at the same time scouts returned from the north to report that the Northumbrian fyrd were crossing the River Winwaed in their thousands.

  As soon as rumours began circulating that they were trapped, the Mercian fyrd started to slip away. By the time that the two Northumbrian armies had advanced to within sight of Penda’s camp he had less than six hundred men left. Any sensible man would have surrendered but Penda was now an old man and he had no intention of spending his declining years as Oswiu’s captive.