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AC = "according to the Annales Cambriae".

The Battle of Hatfield Chase (O.E. Haethfelth) was fought on October 12, 633^[1] at Hatfield Chase near Doncaster, Yorkshire, in Anglo-Saxon England between the Northumbrians under Edwin and an alliance of the Welsh of Gwynedd under Cadwallon ap Cadfan and the Mercians under Penda. The site was a marshy area about 8 miles NE of Doncaster on the south bank of the River Don. It was a decisive victory for the Welsh and Mercians: Edwin was killed and his army was defeated, leading to the temporary collapse of the Northumbrian state.

Background

Edwin, the most powerful ruler in Britain at the time, had apparently defeated Cadwallon a few years before the battle. Bede refers to Edwin establishing his rule over what he called the Mevanian islands, one of which was Anglesey,^[2] and another source refers to Cadwallon being besieged on the island of Priestholm (AC: Glannauc),^[3] which is off the coast of Anglesey. Later, Cadwallon defeated and drove the Northumbrians from his territories and then allied with Penda (Cadwallon being the stronger member of the alliance). Penda's status in Mercia at this point is uncertain—Bede suggests he was not yet king, but became king soon after Hatfield;^[4] the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, however, says that he became king in 626.^[5] The Welsh-Mercian army met Edwin in battle at Hatfield, north of Doncaster.

Results of the battle

The battle was a disaster for Northumbria. With both Edwin and his son Osfrith killed, and his other son Eadfrith captured by Penda (and later killed), the kingdom was divided between its constituent kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira. Eanfrith, a son of the former king Æthelfrith, returned from exile to take power in Bernicia, while Edwin's cousin Osric took over Deira. Cadwallon continued to wage a war of ruthless slaughter against the Northumbrians, and was not stopped until he was defeated by Oswald at Heavenfield (also known as Deniseburna, AC : Cantscaul) a year after Hatfield.^[6]

The historian D. P. Kirby suggested that the defeat of Edwin was the outcome of a wide-ranging alliance of interests opposed to him, including the deposed Bernician line of Æthelfrith; but considering the subsequent hostility between Cadwallon and Æthelfrith's sons, such an alliance must not have survived the battle for long.^[7]

Notes and references

1. ^ Bede gives the date as October 12 in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People (book II, chapter 20), but the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives the date as October 14. Bede also gives the year as 633; however, a question about what Bede considered the starting point of the years as he used them has raised the possibility that the battle may have actually taken place in 622.
2. ^ H. E., book II, chapter 5; D. P. Kirby, The Earliest English Kings (1991, 2000), page 71.
3. ^ Annales Cambriae, year 629; Kirby, page 71.
4. ^ Bede, H. E., book II, chapter 20.
5. ^ ASC 626.
6. ^ Bede, H. E., book II, chapter 20; book III, chapter 1; book III, chapter 2.
7. ^ Kirby, page 73.