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Heavenfield, battle of   Quick reference

A Dictionary of British History (3 ed.)

..., battle of , 634 . Fought near Hexham. Oswald of Northumbria defeated and killed Cadwallon of Gwynedd, who had been ravaging the province after slaying Osric of Deira and Eanfrith of Bernicia (brother of Oswald) the year before. Through this victory Oswald secured his own position as king of both Bernicia and Deira and ensured that Northumbria would return to Christianity after a year of...

Heavenfield, battle of (634)   Reference library

Barbara Yorke

The Oxford Companion to British History (2 ed.)

..., battle of , 634 . Fought near Hexham, Oswald of Northumbria defeated and killed Cadwallon of Gwynedd , who had been ravaging the province after slaying Osric of Deira and Eanfrith of Bernicia (brother of Oswald) the year before. Through this victory Oswald secured his own position as king of both Bernicia and Deira and ensured that Northumbria would return to Christianity after a year of apostasy. The battle takes its name from the place where Oswald erected a wooden cross and prayed for victory before the engagement; the monastery of Hexham...

Cadwallon   Quick reference

A Dictionary of British History (3 ed.)

...( d. 634 ), king of Gwynedd. With his ally Penda of Mercia, Cadwallon was responsible for the death of Edwin of Northumbria at the battle of Heathfield in 633 and for those of his successors Osric of Deira and Eanfrith of Bernicia the following year. In 634 he was himself defeated by Eanfrith 's brother Oswald at the battle of Heavenfield , near...

Cadwallon (633)   Quick reference

A Dictionary of World History (3 ed.)

... (or Cadwalader ) (died 633 ) King of Gwynedd , north Wales . His hatred of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria intensified when his attempts at invasion (629) failed and he was forced to flee to Ireland. Although a Christian, he next allied with the heathen King Penda of Mercia. Their victory at Hatfield Chase (632) over Edwin of Northumbria was followed by the devastation of Northumbria. Thereafter Northumbrian fortunes recovered and Cadwallon was killed in battle by Edwin’s nephew Oswald at Heavenfield, near...

Oswald, St (c.605–42)   Quick reference

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3 ed.)

...St ( c. 605–42 ), King of Northumbria. Forced to flee to Scotland after his father's death in 616, he was converted to Christianity by the monks of Iona . He returned in 634 and, after erecting a wooden cross on the battlefield, defeated the British king, Cadwallon, at Heavenfield, near Hexham. He began to establish Christianity in his kingdom, giving his full support to St Aidan . He was killed in battle against the pagan Penda of Mercia and is honoured as a martyr. Feast day, 5 Aug.; in some places, 8 or 9...

Cadwallon (d. 634)   Reference library

Barbara Yorke

The Oxford Companion to British History (2 ed.)

...of Gwynedd. With his ally Penda of Mercia , Cadwallon was responsible for the death of Edwin of Northumbria at the battle of Heathfield in 633 and for those of his successors Osric of Deira and Eanfrith of Bernicia the following year. In 634 he was himself defeated and slain by Eanfrith’s brother Oswald at the battle of Heavenfield , near Hexham. Not surprisingly Cadwallon gets a consistently bad press in Bede ’s Ecclesiastical History , especially for his brutal ravaging within Northumbria. In Welsh poetry he is celebrated as a ‘lion of...

Oswald   Quick reference

The Kings and Queens of Britain (2 ed.)

..., son of Aethelfrith , reunited Deira and Bernicia when he succeeded his brother Eanfrith in 634 . He defeated and killed the redoubtable Cadwallon at a battle on the Deniseburn, known as Heavenfield, near Hexham. Bede recorded many instances of Oswald's trust in Christianity. Having been in exile among the Picts and Irish in his youth, he brought in Aidan as bishop, who established his see on Holy Island (Lindisfarne). Bede included Oswald as the sixth bretwalda of southern Britain. On 5 August 642 he was killed by Penda of Mercia at...

Commemoration of Battles and Warriors   Reference library

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology

...suggested for their foundation. The pilgrimage of the monks of Hexham to the new church at Heavenfield focused on the iconic role of Saint Oswald’s cross, while the fulfillment of a penitential vow has been suggested for Battle Abbey at Hastings ( 1066 ). For churches built on the battlefield itself, the motive, divinely inspired or not, was usually triumphal. The tit-for-tat building of memorials in the Frankish east tellingly reveals that the vocabulary was widely appreciated. Baldwin IV founded the Monastery of Saint Catherine in campo belli [on the...

Penda   Quick reference

The Kings and Queens of Britain (2 ed.)

...wresting from him much of the territory of the Hwicces in the Avon valley. The son and successor of Cynegils , Cenwealh , married a sister of Penda, presumably as part of a negotiated settlement. After Edwin's death at Hatfield in 633 , Penda suffered some setbacks. His ally, Cadwallon, was defeated and killed at Heavenfield in 634 by Oswald (of Bernicia), who reconstructed Northumbrian power. It has been suggested that Penda's murder of Edwin's son, Eadfrith , who had taken refuge in Mercia, was an attempt to buy off Oswald. Penda's campaign...

Oswald, St (605–42)   Reference library

Sarah Foot

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (4 ed.)

...St ( c. 605–42 ) King of Northumbria and martyr. The son of Æthelfrith, king of Northumbria, Oswald was forced to flee to Scotland when Edwin seized the kingdom after his father’s death in 616. He was converted later to the Christian faith by the monks of Columba at Iona . After Edwin was killed in 633, Oswald returned in 634 and, having erected a wooden cross on the battlefield and commanded his soldiers to pray, defeated the British king, Cædwallon, at Heavenfield, near Hexham. Encouraged by his victory, he began to establish Christianity in his...