Battle of Brunanburh AD937
Taken from the Wirral and West
Lancashire Viking Research Page
from The
Independent, 8th December 2004
BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH AD937
The Battle of Brunanburh
was one of the most defining battles in the history of the British Isles and,
as described by BBC Broadcaster Neil Oliver in History of Scotland it determined whether Britain would become one
imperial power or stay as separate identities.
Although the Northern Alliance of Scots, Strathclyde British and
Norsemen from Ireland lost the battle against a combined Anglo-Saxon army from
Mercia and Wessex - with heavy losses on both sides - the strong resistance
proved decisive in what was to follow.
The Battle of Brunanburh
is recorded as a contemporary (or near contemporary) poem in the Anglo Saxon
Chronicle, and almost certainly took place on Wirral. Compelling arguments had
earlier been made for other locations, notably in Lancashire, Yorkshire,
Lincolnshire, Northants and SW Scotland.
However the weight of scholarly opinion is now heavily on Wirral – the
debate now seems to be where on Wirral – and how did they get there.
The Wirral peninsula and Chester had not long
earlier witnessed another major battle between “the armies of the Norsemen and
the Danes” and the Mercian English – AD907.
Chester was also the place where the Anglo Saxons had one of their
earlier crushing and most significant victories against the British -
AD613. Brunanburh
was the old name until about 1732 for Bromborough. The poem also gives the location of the
coastal point of escape as Dingesmere – which has now been satisfactorily explained as
the “Things – mere or – marr”, the wetland or
marshland associated with the Thing – the Viking parliament, at Thingwall on Wirral (see cutting from the Independent
above).
The Anglo-Saxon
poem, in its translated version from William of Malmesbury
reads as follows (see Campbell, A. The Battle of Brunanburh, London 1938 and
Hamer, R. A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse, Selected, with an Introduction and a
Parallel verse translation, Faber and Faber 1970)
King Athelstan, the lord of warriors,
Patron of heroes, and his brother too,
Prince Edmund, won themselves eternal
glory
In
battle with the edges of their swords
Round
Brunanburh; they broke the wall of shields,
The sons of Edward with their well-forged swords
Slashed at the linden-shields; such was their nature
From boyhood that in battle they had often
Fought for their land, its treasures and its homes,
Against all enemies. Their foes fell dead,
The Scottish soldiers and their pirate host
Were doomed to perish; and with blood of men
The field was darkened from the time the sun
Rose at the break of day, the glorious star,
God the eternal Lord's bright candle passed
Across the land, until this noble creature
Sank to its resting-place. There many men
Lay slain by spears, and northern warriors
Shot down despite their shields, and Scotsmen too,
Weary, with battle sated.
The West Saxons
Throughout the whole long passing of the day
Pressed on in troops behind the hostile people,
Hewed fiercely from the rear the fleeing host
With well-ground swords. The Mercians refused
Hard battle-play to none among the fighters
Who came with Anlaf over rolling seas,
Bringing invasion to this land by ship,
Destined to die in battle. Five young kings
Lay dead upon the battlefield, by swords
Sent to their final sleep; and likewise seven
Of Anlaf's earls, and countless of his
host,
Both Scots and seamen. There the Norsemen's chief
Was put to flight, and driven by dire need
With a small retinue to seek his ship.
The ship pressed out to sea, the king departed
Onto the yellow flood and saved his life.
Likewise the wise old Constantinus
came,
The veteran, to his northern native land
By flight; he had no reason to exult
In that encounter; for he lost there
friends
And was deprived of kinsmen in the strife
Upon that battlefield, and left his son
Destroyed by wounds on that grim place of slaughter,
The young man in the fight. The grey-haired
man
Had little cause to boast about that battle,
The sly old soldier, any more than Anlaf;
They could not with their remnant laugh and claim
That they were better in warlike deeds
When banners met upon the battlefield,
Spears clashed and heroes greeted one another,
Weapons contended, when they played at war
With Edward’s sons upon the place of carnage.
The Norsemen left them in their well-nailed ships,
The sad survivors of the
darts, on Dingesmere
Over the deep sea back
they went to Dublin,
To Ireland they returned with shameful hearts.
The brothers also both went home together,
The king and prince returned to their own country,
The land of Wessex, triumphing in war.
They left behind corpses for the dark
Black-coated raven, horny beaked to enjoy,
And for the eagle, white-backed and dun-coated,
The greedy war-hawk, and that grey wild
beast
The forest wolf. Nor has there on this island
Been ever yet a greater number slain,
Killed by the edges of the sword before
this time, as books make known to us, and old
And learned scholars,
after hither came
The Angles and the Saxons
from the east
Over the broad sea sought
the land of Britain,
Proud
warmakers. Victorious warriors,
Conquered the Welsh, and
so obtained this land.
HOW DID THE BATTLE END UP ON WIRRAL?
The options seem
to be:
1. The Norse navy from Dublin
arrive and moor in the friendly Norse territory of Wirral (Meols
or Wallasey/Tranmere Pool), meet up with their
Scottish and Strathclyde British Allies and take on the Wessex and Mercian
forces coming from the South at Brunanburh (near Bromborough). They escape from Dingesmere
“The Things mere” – the River Dee back to Dublin.
2. The Norse navy arrive and moor up on
the banks of the Ribble (friendly Norse territory of
what is now W. Lancs) and meet up with their Scottish
and Strathclyde British Allies. They go
marauding deep into Mercia and then get surprised by the speed at which the
combined English armies assemble and move - outflanked they are forced into the
Wirral where at least they have friends and they know that there at least some
vessels there (at Meols) in case the leaders &
others need to escape. The battle takes place at Brunanburh
– near Bromborough (Higham
model).
3. The Norse navy arrive and moor up on
the banks of the Humber (friendly Danish territory) and meet up with their
Scottish and Strathclyde British Allies.
They move through the old Danelaw territories
recruiting Danes into their armies. Then
they go marauding deep into Mercia but then get surprised by the speed at which
the combined English armies assemble and move - outflanked they are forced into
the Wirral where at least they have friends and at least there are some vessels
(at Meols) in case the leaders need to escape. They
fight at Brunanburh (near Bromborough)
and escape from Dingesmere “The Things mere” – the
River Dee. This is our suggested
“consensus” model – a modified form of the Higham
model. A Humber entry point was
suggested by John of Worcester, but writing over 200 years after the battle. If
he was correct then this would seem to be the likely scenario, otherwise (the
Humber is not mentioned in the 10th
Century records) either “1” or “2” would seem possible.
The Wirral and Chester had not long earlier
witnessed another major battle between “the armies of the Norsemen and the
Danes” and the Mercian English – AD907.
Chester was also the place where the Anglo Saxons had one of their
earlier crushing and most significant victories against the British - AD613:
“… as books make known to us, and old
And learned scholars, after hither came
The Angles and the Saxons from the east
Over the broad sea sought the land of Britain,
Proud warmakers. Victorious warriors,
Conquered the Welsh, and so obtained this land”
Recent
Academic Papers:
Battle of Brunanburh: extract from book by Paul Cavill (English Place
Name Society) – Vikings: Fear and Faith
in Anglo-Saxon England, Harper Collins Publishers, London & Glasgow,
2001, pages 97-111.
The Context of Brunanburh. Chapter by Prof. N.J. Higham (University of
Manchester) in Names, Places,
People. An Onomastic Miscellany in
Memory of John McNeal Dodgson (ed. A.R. Rumble and A.D. Mills), Paul Watkins,
Stamford, 1997, pages 144-156 – places the “Plains of Othlynn” referred to in
Irish annals – in the region south of the Mersey – and gives a critical
appraisal of claims for a Yorkshire location for the battle.
Revisiting Dingesmere. Journal of the English Place Name Society, October
2004, volume 36, pages 25-38. Article by Paul Cavill, Stephen Harding and
Judith Jesch suggesting a solution to a mystery concerning the Battle of
Brunanburh – the identification of Dingesmere as the “Things – mere or – marr”,
the wetland or marshland associated with the Thing – the Viking parliament, at
Thingwall on Wirral.
The Wirral Carrs and Holms. Journal of the English Place Name Society, December 2007
volume 39, pages 45-57. Article by Steve Harding on the distribution of the carrs (ON kjarr) and holms (ON holmr) in Wirral - old Norse names
associated with marshland - and their significance in terms of dialect (and in
relation to the total absence of corresponding English names for the same
features) - and possible relevance to the Battle of Brunanburh.
The site of the
battle of Brunanburh: manuscripts and maps, grammar and geography. Article by
Paul Cavill in A Commodity of Good
Names. Essays in Honour of Margaret
Gelling (edited by O.J. Padek and D.N. Parsons), Shaun Tyas, Donington UK,
pages 303-319, 2008.
The Place-Name
Debate: Chapter by
Paul Cavill, in The Battle of Brunanburh. A Casebook (edited by Michael Livingston),
University of Exeter Press (May, 2011).
Concludes that Wirral was the site of the battle.
Wirral:
folklore and locations: Chapter
by Steve Harding, in The Battle of
Brunanburh. A Casebook (edited by
Michael Livingston), University of Exeter Press
(May, 2011). Assuming a Wirral location examines where “ymbe Brunanburh”
the battle may have been fought, two possible sites where Bruna’s “burh” may
have been and also the possible location for the “Thing’s mere”.
Lecture on Brunanburh
(Given by Dr. Paul Cavill at the Chester Viking
Conference, 20th November 2010)
New
Book: The Battle of Brunanburh. A Casebook (edited by Michael
Livingston, May, 2011), Exeter University Press. Amazon link (UK) and Amazon.com.
Popular Broadcasts:
Magnus on Brunanburh (1980)
Julian Richards
on Brunanburh – Blood of Vikings (2001)
BBC News at One. 20th December 2004 (3 min). Report following Steve’s initial
identification of Dingesmere in the Battle
of Brunanburh as Things-mere.
BBC Radio 4,
6pm News, 20th December 2004, Mark Simpson Reports on the Battle of Brunanburh.
BBC North West Tonight, 20th
December 2004,
News Item by Abbie Jones on the Battle of Brunanburh.
BBC Radio
Merseyside, Roger Phillips Show, 31st December 2004 (5 min) Report by Laura Fynn on
Dingesmere and the Battle of Brunanburh.
BBC1 Scotland
(and BBC2 all UK) – Neil Oliver gives the Scottish
perspective and emphasizes its crucial importance for Britain (2008). Describes the battle “on the banks of the
Mersey”.
Direct link to the BBC1 Scotland piece.
Amateur/Schools:
Bruna's Fortress
– one of two suggested sites on Wirral (2005)
Brunaburh (Battle of) – where on Wirral? (2005)
Dingesmere
– escape to the Thing’s mere or marr (2005)
Brunanburh – from Wirral
Schools Viking site
introduced by Wirral’s cultural Ambassador Mike McCartney (2006)
“King” Mike
introduces Brunanburh
Local
Magazine article:
Where Wirral's Vikings Fought. Cheshire Life, (2005)
Popular
Newspaper Reports:
Wirral News
(2004) – Dingesmere solved?
The Times
(2004)
The Independent
(2004)
1732 map of Wirral
showing possible escape route Bebington Heath today – main site on Wirral for the battle?
Heswall Point today Meols today
Possible
sites of Bruna’s burh: Bromborough Court House (L) & Poulton
Hall (R) – home of the Lancelyn Green family since
1093
Group of enthusiasts trace a possible route
from Poulton Hall … and several hours later … to Heswall point
Sunset over Heswall Point shortly after: ”The ship pressed out to sea, the king departed. Onto the yellow flood and saved his life”.
Link: Centre for the Study of the Viking Age, based at the
University of Nottingham
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