Battle of Chester

Battle of Chester
Date circa. 615/16 Location Chester Result Northumbrian victory
Belligerents
Northumbria	Powys Rhôs (Gwynedd cantref) Mercia?
Commanders and leaders
Æthelfrith of Northumbria	Selyf ap Cynan Iago ap Beli? Cearl of Mercia?
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Selyf ap Cynan Iago ap Beli?

The Battle of Chester (Old Welsh: Guaith Caer Legion; Welsh: Brwydr Caer) was a major victory for the Anglo Saxons over the native Britons near the city of Chester, England in the early 7th century. Æthelfrith of Northumbria annihilated a combined force from the Welsh kingdoms of Powys, Rhôs (a cantref of the Kingdom of Gwynedd) and possibly Mercia. It resulted in the deaths of Welsh leaders Selyf Sarffgadau of Powys and Cadwal Crysban of Rhôs. Circumstantial evidence suggests that King Iago of Gwynedd may have also been killed.

According to Bede, a large number of monks from the monastery at Bangor on Dee who had come to witness the fight were killed on the orders of Æthelfrith before the battle. He told his warriors to massacre the clerics because although they bore no arms, they were praying for a Northumbria defeat.

The strategic significance of the battle remains unclear as Æthelfrith died in battle soon after the victory. It has been suggested that Cearl, the Anglo Saxon king of Mercia, may have also been involved and shared in the Britons' defeat because his overkingship of eastern Wales and Mercia effectively ended until the rise of his successor, Penda by 633.

Historian Charles Plummer, best known as an editor of Bede, believed that the battle occurred around 615 or 616. But near contemporary annals give a variety of dates. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says, for year 605 in one version and year 606 in another version:

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