Battle of the Winwæd

Battle of the Winwaed
Stained glass window from the cloister of Worcester Cathedral showing the death of Penda of Mercia.
Date 15 November 655/654 Location Possibly the Cock Beck in present-day Yorkshire Result Northumbrian victory
Belligerents
Northumbria	Mercia
Commanders and leaders
Oswiu of Bernicia	Penda of Mercia †
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The Battle of the Winwaed (Welsh: Maes Gai; Medieval Latin: Strages Gai Campi) was fought on 15 November 655 (or 654) between King Penda of Mercia and Oswiu of Bernicia, ending in the Mercians' defeat and Penda's death. The battle marked the effective demise of Anglo-Saxon paganism.

Winwœd or winwæd Old English, from the elements ("strife", "fight") and ("shallow water", "ford").

Although the battle is said to be the most important between the early northern and southern divisions of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, few details are available. The two armies met on the banks of a river named the "Winwaed", but this river has never been identified. Possibly it was a tributary of the Humber. There is reason to believe it may have been the river now known as Cock Beck in the ancient kingdom of Elmet, which passes Pendas Fields, Leeds, before joining the River Wharfe (which eventually feeds into the Humber). Another possibility is the River Went, a tributary of the River Don, situated to the north of modern-day Doncaster. It could also be in Oswestry or Winwick.

The roots of the battle lay in Penda's success in dominating England through a number of military victories, most significantly over the previously dominant Northumbrians. In alliance with Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd he had defeated and killed Edwin of Northumbria at Hatfield Chase in 633, and subsequently he defeated and killed Oswald of Northumbria at the Battle of Maserfield in 642. Maserfield effectively marked the overthrow of Northumbrian supremacy, and in the years that followed the Mercians apparently campaigned into Bernicia, besieging Bamburgh at one point; the Northumbrian sub-kingdom of Deira supported Penda during his 655 invasion.

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