Dark Age Chester

From Chester Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

[edit] The Dark Ages

...if it was dark, it was the darkness of the womb. — Lynn White

Nowadays, the period of English history from the fall of Rome to the re-emergence of society is known as the "early mediaeval period", but it used to be called "The Dark Ages". Late 5th and 6th century Britain, for instance, at the height of the Anglo-Saxon invasions, might well be numbered among "the darkest of the Dark Ages," with the equivalent of a near-total "news blackout" in terms of historical records, compared with either the Roman era before or the centuries that followed. Despite the murk, its clear that Chester played quite a part in events. The main sequence of the history as applied to Chester, in three rough chunks, seems to run as follows:

  • Following the decline of Rome in the west, Chester at first (in 400~600) seems to have survived as an ecclesiastic centre of the Romano-British. This was not to do with the present cathedral - St Werbergh died in 597 although her relics were only taken to Chester in late 9th Century or early 10th Century. Very little is known about Chester during this period, however at the end of the period, around 616 there was both a major synod (involving Augustine of Canterbury) and a major battle at Chester.
  • There follows a confused period (600~800) with the growth of Mercia (Old English: Mierce, "border people") - one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy, centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the midlands. By the time of the death of Offa in 796, Mercia was the dominant power in Britain.
  • In the period 800-1000 the power of Wessex grew and reached far north. However during this period there was also significant Danish and other Scandinavian influence on Chester. Mercia had brief independence but in 973 King Edgar was declared kimg of all England, at Chester. After 980 in the reign of Ethelred the Unready the Danes renewed their raids on England, attacking Chester and Southampton. Three of the four Anglo-Saxon coin hoards found in Chester, those from Castle Esplanade, Pemberton's Parlour, and Eastgate Street are from the troubled end of the first millennium.

For a few years Scandinavian kings sat on the English throne, before Wessex re-asserted itself. Edward the Confessor (c. 1003/1004 – 4 January 1066), son of Ethelred the Unready, was the penultimate Anglo-Saxon King of England and the last of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 until his death in the year 1066.

What follows is only a brief sketch of this period. It is biased towards the history of Chester and events involving people associated with Chester. This is not an attempt to make Chester seem more important than it may actually have been but is intended to show how Chester fits into the course of history. Following the links will lead to a variety of other sources.

[edit] 400-600: The Immediate Post-Roman Period & The Coming Of The Saxons

The decline of Roman control over Britain was a drawn-out affair which created a twilight period in which Roman civilisation gradually dwindled and died away. Many theories have been put forward for the fourth century decline seen throughout the Western Roman Empire. These often reflect the prejudices of the times and have included:

  • Food Additives: In the form of lead poisoning of the middle classes by plumbing or the use of Sugar of Lead (an early "artificial sweetener").
  • Complacency: Edward Gibbon famously placed the blame on a loss of civic virtue among the Roman citizens - they entrusted defence to foreign troops who eventually turned on them. Gibbon also considered that Christianity had contributed to this as people became less interested in the worldly here-and-now and more willing to wait for the rewards of heaven.
  • Social Security: It has been proposed that immigration by Swedish Goths (and others "asylum seekers"), economic migrants etc meant that there were too many people wanting a slice of the tax income.
  • Ecological Collapse: Another theory suggests that waves of invading Huns and other Eastern European "immigration" were caused by (it is proposed) by ecological collapse in Asia.
  • Food Miles: Another school holds that the instability caused by usurpers throughout the Western Empire meant that the agricultural economy collapsed. As most of the economy was based upon agriculture (and high on "food miles") this was a severe economic blow once transport (for example of grain from Africa) became disrupted by Gaiseric's Vandals at Carthage.
  • Iran/Iraq: It has been suggested that the high cost of war in what is now Iraq/Iran against the Sassanid Persian empire (226–651) led to increased taxation and economic decline.

Whatever the cause, "barbarian" tribes continued to make deeper incursions into Gaul, Hispania, and Italy, and then began to settle. The rot had set in, and with it came rebellion, lost territory, and subsequent losses in vitally-needed manpower and resources. The empire shrank and support was withdrawn from far-flung outposts like Chester.

[edit] The departure of the Romans

[edit] Magnus Maximus

A significant turning point in the disintegration of Roman Britain was the revolt of Magnus Maximus (a Spaniard) in A.D. 383. After living in Britain as military commander for twelve years, Magnus was declared Emperor by his troops and began his campaigns to dethrone Gratian as Emperor in the West. Geoffrey of Monmouth gets this wonderfully mixed up and makes Gratian "King of the Britons" (Geoffrey also has Constantine the Great as a British king as well - see his legendary king list). Magnus took a large part of the Roman garrison in Britain with him to the Continent, and though he succeeded Gratian, he himself was defeated by the Emperor Thedosius. Maximus was captured and executed at Aquileia on 28 August 388.

Gildas (a later historian and author of "The Ruin Of Britain") puts it so:

  • ..new races of tyrants sprang up, in terrific numbers, and the island, still bearing its Roman name, but casting off her institutes and laws, sent forth among the Gauls that bitter scion of her own planting Maximus, with a great number of followers, and the ensigns of royalty, which he bore without decency and without lawful right, but in a tyrannical manner, and amid the disturbances of the seditious soldiery. He, by cunning arts rather than by valour, attaching to his rule, by perjury and falsehood, all the neighbouring towns and provinces, against the Roman state, extended one of his wings to Spain, the other to Italy, fixed the seat of his unholy government at Treves, and so furiously pushed his rebellion against his lawful emperors that he drove one of them out of Rome, and caused the other to terminate his most holy life.

Further detail of Magnus's career can be found here. A possible daughter of Magnus Maximus, Sevira, is mentioned on the on the Pillar of Eliseg, an early medieval inscribed stone in Wales (but close to Chester) which claims her marriage to Vortigern (another supposed King of the Britons). Magnus also features in the Mabinogion tale "The Dream of Macsen Wledig".

The "XXth" legion, Valeria Victrix, based at Chester, appears to have been recalled to the continent by Stilicho about 402. Claudian's poem, De Bello Getico, indicates that it had, before its withdrawal, done service against the Picts and Scots, as formerly, under Hadrian and Pius:

  • Venit et extremis legio praetenta Britannis; Quae Scoto dat frena truci, ferroque notatas; Pertegit exsangues Picto moriente figuras.

[edit] Constantine III

After the death of Theodosius (395), and the succession of his son Honorius, the situation in Britain was even more precarious:- the provinces were isolated, lacking support from the Empire, and the soldiers supported the later revolts of Marcus (406 - 407), Gratian (407), and Constantine "III".

Constantine III was a British common soldier and invaded Gaul in 407, eventually occupying Arles, but in the process drained Britain of the last of it's Roman legions. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth (who should seldom be believed), Constantine repelled the Huns and Picts (who had invaded Britain) and soon after his coronation, he fathered three sons: Constans, Ambrosius Aurelianus, and Uther Pendragon. According to the psuedo-history, Constantine dedicated Constans to the church then sent his other two sons away to Brittany to have them raised by the Bretons, himself reigned for ten years, but was fatally stabbed in a thicket by a traitorous Pictish servant in the employ of Vortigern, who eventually succeeded him as king.

In reality, upset that Constantine could no longer effectively defend them, the Roman inhabitants of Britain and Armorica rebelled and expelled his officials. The year 410 saw Honorius reply to a British plea for assistance against local barbarian incursions. Preoccupied with the Visigoths (who were in the process of sacking Rome) and lacking any real capabilities to assist the distant province, Honorius told the Britons to defend themselves as best they could. Meanwhile, by 410 Constantine had been beseiged at Arles and finally surrendered. He was beheaded in either August or September 411.

Gildas finally goes completely over the top at the desperate state of the British:

  • itemque mittuntur queruli legati, scissis, ut dicitur, uestibus, opertisque sablone capitibus, inpetrantes a romanis auxilia ac ueluti timidi pulli patrum fidissimis alis succumbentes, ne penitus misera patria deleretur nomenque romanorum, quod uerbis tantum apud eos auribus resultabat, uel exterarum gentium opprobrio obrosum uilesceret.
  • Again suppliant messengers are sent with rent clothes, as is said, and heads covered with dust. Crouching like timid fowls under the trusty wings of the parent birds, they ask help of the Romans, lest the country in its wretchedness be completely swept away, and the name of Romans, which to their ears was the echo of a mere word, should even grow vile as a thing gnawed at, in the reproach of alien nations.

[edit] The "Groans of the British"

The final appeal for help to the Roman commander in Europe took the form of the "Groans of the Britons". Dated to c. 446, the message is recorded by Gildas in his De Excidio Britanniae, and later by Bede. Gildas records it in his usual style:

  • igitur rursum miserae mittentes epistolas reliquiae ad agitium romanae potestatis uirum, hoc modo loquentes: ‘agitio ter consuli gemitus britannorum;’ et post pauca querentes: ‘repellunt barbari ad mare, repellit mare ad barbaros; inter haec duo genera funerum aut iugulamur aut mergimur;’ nec pro eis quicquam adiutorii habent. interea famis dira ac famosissima uagis ac nutantdibus haeret, quae multos eorum cruentis compulit praedonibus sine dilatione uictus dare manus, ut pauxillum ad refocillandam animam cibi caperent, alios uero nusquam: quin potius de ipsis montibus, speluncis ac saltibus, dumis consertis continue rebellabant.
  • Again, therefore, the wretched remnant, sending to Aetius, a powerful Roman citizen, address him as follow:—"To Aetius, now consul for the third time: the groans of the Britons." And again a little further, thus:—"The barbarians drive us to the sea; the sea throws us back on the barbarians: thus two modes of death await us, we are either slain or drowned." The Romans, however, could not assist them, and in the meantime the discomfited people, wandering in the woods, began to feel the effects of a severe famine, which compelled many of them without delay to yield themselves up to their cruel persecutors, to obtain subsistence: others of them, however, lying hid in mountains, caves and woods, continually sallied out from thence to renew the war.

Flavius Aetius had other concerns (he had his hands full with Attila the Hun) and no aid was forthcoming, other than perhaps the mission of St German of Auxerre - who defeated the Saxons and Picts at "Maes Garmon" near Mold. While it has been suggested that St German was the only aid that Aetius could send, his visit might actually predate the "Groans". Other Christian missionaries of the period include Patrick who (at least according to legend) landed in the Wirral.

Drained of troops by civil wars elsewhere in the troubled empire, the Romano-British were left to their own devices. Between 383 and 446, in less than a lifetime, Roman rule in Britain had collapsed.

[edit] sources and links

[edit] Vortigern

Britain in the year 500
Britain in the year 500

Despite the Roman departure, Chester and the Wirral continued to be important trading centres there were other trading centres on the Wirral at Hoylake and Meols. Very little is known about the two centuries from the Roman departure to around the year 600. One possible reason for at least the later part of the lack of written history may have been a climate change event possibly brought about by a volcanic eruption or other cataclysm in 535-536.

It has been long held that the Anglo-Saxons migrated to sub_Roman Britain in large numbers in the fifth and sixth centuries, substantially displacing the British people (who became the Welsh). However recent evidence may suggest that the Anglo-Saxon "invasion" was much more like the Norman "invasion" and that while it involved a change of ruling elite, it did not involve wholesale displacement or "ethnic cleansing" of Britains. In support of this, recent analysis of genetic evidence indicates than even in the east of England, where there is the best evidence for migration, no more that 10% of paternal lines can be designated as coming from an “Anglo-Saxon” migration event and that in the same English regions 69% of male lines are still of aboriginal British origin.

Gildas's "The Ruin Of Britain" is one of the few sources from this period but is a notoriously inaccurate "rant". Writing around 550, he places the guilt for the eventual invasion of Britain by the Anglo-Saxons firmly in the hands of the British ruler Vortigern

  • Then all the councillors, together with that proud tyrant Gurthrigern [Vortigern], the British king, were so blinded, that, as a protection to their country, they sealed its doom by inviting in among them like wolves into the sheep-fold), the fierce and impious Saxons, a race hateful both to God and men, to repel the invasions of the northern nations. Nothing was ever so pernicious to our country, nothing was ever so unlucky. What palpable darkness must have enveloped their minds-darkness desperate and cruel! Those very people whom, when absent, they dreaded more than death itself, were invited to reside, as one may say, under the selfsame roof. Foolish are the princes, as it is said, of Thafneos, giving counsel to unwise Pharaoh. A multitude of whelps came forth from the lair of this barbaric lioness, in three cyuls, as they call them, that is, in there ships of war, with their sails wafted by the wind and with omens and prophecies favourable, for it was foretold by a certain soothsayer among them, that they should occupy the country to which they were sailing three hundred years, and half of that time, a hundred and fifty years, should plunder and despoil the same. They first landed on the eastern side of the island, by the invitation of the unlucky king, and there fixed their sharp talons, apparently to fight in favour of the island, but alas! more truly against it. Their mother-land, finding her first brood thus successful, sends forth a larger company of her wolfish offspring, which sailing over, join themselves to their bastard-born comrades.

Hollinshead mentions an "Earl of Chester" in connection with the coming of the Saxons:

  • Amongst other of the Britains, there was one Edol earle of Glocester, or (as other say) Chester, which got a stake out of an hedge, or else where, and with the same so defended himselfe and laid about him, that he slue 17 of the Saxons, and escaped to the towne of Ambrie, now called Salisburie, and so saued his owne life. Vortiger was taken and kept as prisoner by Hengist, till he was constreined to deliuer vnto Hengist thrée prouinces or countries of this realme, that is to say, Kent &Essex, or as some write, that part where the south Saxons after did inhabit, as Sussex and other: the third was the countrie where the Estangles planted themselues, which was in Norfolke and Suffolke. Then Hengist being in possession of those thrée prouinces, suffered Vortigerne to depart, &to be at his libertie.
  • When this Aurelius Ambrosius had dispatched Vortigerne, and was now established king of the Britains, he made towards Yorke, and passing the Gal. Mon. riuer of Humber, incountred with the Saxons at a place called Maesbell, and ouerthrew them in a strong battell, from the which as Hengist was fléeing to haue saued himselfe, he was taken by Edoll earle of Glocester, or (as some say) Chester, and by him led to Conningsborrow, where he was beheaded by the counsell of Eldad then bishop of Colchester.

[edit] The Saxons Settle

By around the year 500 the Angles had settled the North Sea and Humber coastal areas, particularly around Holderness. The Angles appear to have suffered early setbacks - which may have become the basis for the Arthurian legends, especially as regards a battle known as "Mount Badon". Archaeological evidence from Anglo-Saxons graves suggests that some of their settlements were abandoned and the frontier between the invaders and the natives was pushed back around 500. However, the Anglo-Saxons held onto the present counties of Kent, Sussex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and around the Humber; while the native British controlled everything west of a line drawn from the mouth of the Wiltshire Avon at Christchurch north to the river Trent, then along the Trent to where it joined the Humber, and north along the river Derwent and then east to the North Sea, and an enclave to the north and west of London, and south of Verulamium (St Albans), that stretched west to join with the main frontier. The Britons defending this pocket could move their troops along Watling Street to bring reinforcements to London or Verulamium.

There is little archaeological evidence of activity at Chester in the sub-Roman period, but it is believed that the Roman site at Wroxeter (near Shrewsbury) was definitely still occupied. Opinion is divided as to when the Wroxeter was finally abandoned, but it is believed to be between AD500 - AD650, at around the same time that the Saxons were founding Shrewsbury (Anglo-Saxon Scrobbesburh = "fort in the scrub-land region" or "Scrobb's fort").

Britain around the year 600
Britain around the year 600

The arrival of the Saxons in Cheshire is revealed an the increase in Anglo-Saxon names for settlements, such as those ending in "wich" from the old word "wic" meaning trading village or "ton" from "tun" meaning village.

A Celtic monastery had been established at Bangor-on-Dee in about AD 560 by Saint Dunod and was an important religious centre in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

  • Towards the river Deva were situated, in the first place, the Carnabii. Their principal places were Benonse, Etocetum, and Banchorium, [Bangor on Dee] the last the most celebrated monastery in the whole island, which being overthrown in the dispute with Augustine was never afterwards restored; and the mother of the rest, Uriconium, esteemed one of the largest cities in Britain. In the extreme angle of this country, near the Deva, was the Roman colony Deva, the work of the twentieth legion, which was called Victrix, and was formerly the defence of the region. This place is supposed to be what is now termed West Chester - Richard of Cirencester - NB this work may be a forgery by Bertram

By 575 British defences in the Midlands collapsed, the Anglo-Saxons obliterated the British Watling Street salient and overran the London - Verulamium area and much of the plain of the Midlands. Around 584, the Kingdom of the Iclingas became Mercia. Mercia's evolution from the Anglo-Saxon invasions is more obscure than that of Northumbria, Kent, or even Wessex. The name Mercia is Old English for "boundary folk" (see marches), and the traditional interpretation was that the kingdom originated along the frontier between the Welsh and the Anglo-Saxon invaders. The earliest king of Mercia of whom any details are known was Creoda, said to have been the great-grandson of Icel, son of Eomer (see List of monarchs of Mercia). Creoda came to power about 585 and built a fortress at Tamworth, which became the seat of the Mercian kings. He was succeeded by his son Pybba in 593. Cearl, a kinsman of Creoda, followed Pybba in 606.

Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England was to expand greatly around AD 600, influenced by Celtic Christianity from the northwest and by the Roman Catholic Church from the southeast. The first Archbishop of Canterbury, Augustine took office in 597. In 601, he baptised the first Christian Anglo-Saxon king, Aethelbert of Kent. However, by the year 600, the "Briton's" of the western coast still had a continuous range from south Wales to Strathclyde. This was soon to change, at Chester.

[edit] Sources and Links

[edit] 600-800: The rise of Mercia

[edit] Augustine and The Battle of Chester (c. 616)

As noted above, the struggles of the period prior to 600 give rise to the legends of Uther Pendragon and King Arthur. It is sometimes said that Ambrosius Aurelianus, a possible leader of the Romano-British forces, was the model for the former, and that Arthur's court of Camelot is an idealised memory of pre-Saxon Romano-British civilisation.

The ninth battle of the legendary King Arthur was supposedly fought at The City of the Legion ("nonum bellum gestum est in urbe legionis"). Some have suggested that this is Chester, while others propose Caerleon, York or Carlisle. The list of battles is given by Nennius in his Historia Britonum compiled some time around 820, and whether Chester was the site has been the subject of conflicting theories. The legendary battle is not mentioned by Gildas writing in the early sixth century, who only mentions "Mons Badonicus", the last Arthurian battle.

What is known for a fact is that there was a major battle at Chester in post-Roman times, and that may have later been drawn into the Arthurian legends (despite it being a Northumbrian victory over the Welsh). Dates given for the Battle of Chester vary, but it is known that the combatants were led by Aethelfrith of Northumbria against the Celtic Christian Kings Selyf Sarffgadau of Powys (leading the army of Din Eirth) and Cadwal Crysban of Rhôs (with a smaller force from eastern Gwynedd).

The battle had consequences for the religious development of England, as the 600-800 period opened with an important synod of St Augustine with the British bishops at "Urbs Legion" (Chester). This was listed in the Annales Cambriae for the year 601. Augustine was a Benedictine monk who arrived in Britain 597 and became the first archbishop of Canterbury. While he is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church it should not be forgotten that the Celtic church was already flourishing, possibly as a survival of Christianity from Roman times, or possibly as a result to earlier waves of missionaries. St Patrick was Romano-British and had been active in the first half of the 5th century. By 600, in Kent, the Saxon king Aethelberht was in the process of converting to Christianity and obviously both the Celtic and the Roman Church saw the opportunities that this would bring.

Augustine, tried to reach an agreement with the Celtic bishops who would not cooperate with the new arrival from Rome, and refused to give up their existing traditions regarding baptism and the dating of Easter. That Chester was selected as the location of a synod suggests that some local infra-structure had survived. A Celtic monastery had been established at Bangor-on-Dee in about AD 560 by Saint Dunod and was an important religious centre in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

Augustine died in 604. Shortly thereafter in 616 the Battle of Chesterwas fought between Aethelfrith of Northumbria (a Pagan) against Kings Selyf Sarffgadau of Powys and Cadwal Crysban of Rhôs (and possibly also Iago ap Beli) - a large number of Saint Dunod's monks are slaughtered (said to be in keeping with Augustine's prophecy that if "they would not accept peace with their brethren, they should have war with their enemies"). Geoffrey of Monmouth (in History of the Kings of Britain) states that one of leaders of the British was "consul urbis" (Consul of the City) and that:

  • "After this all the princes of the Britons met together at the city of Legecester,(..possibly Chester/possibly Leicester..) and consented to make Cadwan their king, that under his command they might pursue Ethelfrid beyond the Humber. (Book XII part I)".

Holinshead repeats this:

  • After that the Britains had cōtinued about the space almost of 24 yéeres without anie one speciall gouernour, being led by sundrie rulers, euer sithens that Careticus was constreined to flée ouer Seuerne, and fought oftentimes not onelie against the Saxons, but also one of them 613 against another, at length in the yéere of our Lord 613, they assembled in the citie of Chester, and there elected Cadwan that before was ruler of Northwales, to haue the souereigne rule & gouernement ouer all their nation, and so the said Cadwan began to reigne as king of Britaine in the said yéere 613. But some authors say, that this was in the yéere 609, in which yéere Careticus the British king departed this life. And then after his deceasse the Britains or Welshmen (whether we shall call them) chose Cadwan to gouerne them in the foresaid yéere 609, which was in the 7 yéere of the emperour Phocas, and the 21 of the second Lotharius king of France, and in the 13 yéere of Kilwoolfe king of the Westsaxons.

While one generally accepted date is 616, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says in 605 (in one version and 606 in another version) that:

  • And her Æðelfrið lædde his færde to Legercyestre, & ðar ofsloh unrim Walena. & swa wearþ gefyld Augustinus witegunge. þe he cwæþ. Gif Wealas nellað sibbe wið us. hi sculan æt Seaxana handa farwurþan. Þar man sloh eac .cc. preosta ða comon ðyder þæt hi scoldon gebiddan for Walena here. Scrocmail was gehaten heora ealdormann. se atbærst ðanon fiftiga sum.

(a rather free translation reads...)

  • (And here Æthelfrith led his militia to the castle of the legions (Chester), and there slew innumerable Welsh. And so was fulfilled Augustinus's prediction (prophecy), that he said give the barbarians no peace with us, they shall owe their death to the hands of the Saxons. There were slain also 200 priests that came in order to pray for the Welsh soldiers. Brochfael was called their leader, and he escaped as one of fifty.)

The dates of the battle remains troublesome and the following sources differ:

  • Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - 607: This year Ceolwulf fought with the South-Saxons. And Ethelfrith led his army to Chester; where he slew an innumerable host of the Welsh; and so was fulfilled the prophecy of Augustine, wherein he saith "If the Welsh will not have peace with us, they shall perish at the hands of the Saxons." There were also slain two hundred priests, (18) who came thither to pray for the army of the Welsh. Their leader was called Brocmail, who with some fifty men escaped thence.
  • Annals of Tigernach - 611: The battle of Chester where the saints were slain; and [where]Solon, Conan's son, king of Britons, and king Cetula fell. Æthelfrith was the victor; and immediately afterwards he died.
  • Annals of Clonmacnoise - 613: The battle of Carleil or Carlegion, where Folinn, Conan's son, king of the Britons, was killed by Æthelfrith; who having the victory died himself instantly.
  • Annals Cambriae - 613: The battle of Caer Legion [Chester]. And there died Selyf son of Cynan. And Iago son of Beli slept [died].
  • Annals of Ulster - 613: The battle of Chester in which the saints were slain, and Solon, Conan's son, King of Britons fell.
  • Annals of Innisfallen - 614: The battle of Chester, in which hosts of saints fell, [was fought] in Britain between the Saxons and Britons.

[edit] Who was Brochmael?

Just who "Brochfael" was presents something of a problem. Some writers have suggested that "Brochfael" was Brochwel ap Cyngen, better known as Brochwel Ysgrithrog, was a king of Powys in Eastern Wales (the nickname Ysgithrog has been translated as ‘of the canine teeth’, ‘the fanged’ or ‘of the tusk’ - perhaps because of big teeth, horns on a helmet or an aggressive manner). However Brochwel is believed to have died c. 560.

Hollinshead writes thus:

  • It chanced that he had espied before the battell ioined (as Beda saith) where a great number of the British priests were got aside into a place somewhat out of danger, that they might there make their intercession to God for the good spéed of their people, being then readie to giue battell to the Northumbers. Manie of them were of that famous monasterie of Bangor, in the which it is said, that there was such a number of moonks, that where they were diuided into seuen seuerall parts, with their seuerall gouernors appointed to haue rule ouer them, euerie of those parts conteined at the least thrée hundred persons, the which liued altogither by the labour of their hands. Manie therefore of those moonks hauing kept a solemne fast for thrée daies togither, were come to the armie with other to make praier, hauing for their defender one Brocmale or Broemael, earle (or consull as some call him) of Chester, which should preserue them (being giuen to praier) from the edge of the enimies swoord.

The event is also mentioned in Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum:

  • ...rex Anglorum fortissimus Aedilfrid collecto grandi exercitu ad ciuitatem Legionum, quae a gente Anglorum Legacaestir, a Brettonibus autem rectius Carlegion appellatur, maximam gentis perfidae stragem dedit
  • (..the warlike king of the English, Ethelfrid, having raised a mighty army, made a very great slaughter of that perfidious nation, at the City of Legions, which by the English is called Legacestir, but by the Britons more rightly Carlegion.)

The "200 priests" mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are reputed, according to the historian Bede, to have come from Bangor-on-Dee. Bede does not seem to be quite right about his "Brochfael" who he has guarding the monks and fleeing at the first sign of trouble and, who is probably not be the same character mentioned on Eliseg's Pillar.

For further information see the last paragraph of Bede, Book II, Chapter II. If you are really interested in this confused period of history, see Vortigern on Wiki or see the Vortigern Studies website.

[edit] Did Geoffrey Get It Right?

Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his pseudohistorical History of the Kings of Britain describes the battle of Chester thus (and has "Brocmail" as consul of the city):

  • Therefore Ethelbert, king of Kent, when he saw that the Britons disdained subjection to Augustine, and despised his preaching, was highly provoked, and stirred up Ethelfrid, king of the Northumbrians, and the other petty kings of the Saxons, to raise a great army, and march to the city of Bangor, to destroy the abbot Dinooth, and the rest of the clergy who held them in contempt. At his instigation, therefore, they assembled a prodigious army, and in their march to the province of the Britons, came to Legecester, where Brocmail, consul of the city, was awaiting their coming. To the same city were come innumerable monks and hermits from several provinces of the Britons, but especially from the city of Bangor, to pray for the safety of their people. Whereupon Ethelfrid, king of the Northumbrians, collecting all his forces, joined battle with Brocmail, who, having a less army to withstand him, at last quitted the city and fled, though not without having made a great slaughter of the enemy. But Ethelfrid, when he had taken the city, and understood upon what occasion the monks were come thither, commanded his men to turn their arms first against them; and so two hundred of them were honoured with the crown of martyrdom, and admitted into the kingdom of heaven that same day. From thence this Saxon tyrant proceeded on his march to Bangor; but upon the news of his outrageous madness, the leaders of the Britons, viz. Blederic, duke of Cornwall, Margaduc, king of the Demetians, and Cadwan, of the Venedotians, came from all parts to meet him and joining battle with him, wounded him, and forced him to flee; and killed of his army to the number of ten thousand and sixty-six men. On the Britons' side fell Blederic, duke of Cornwall, who was their commander in those wars.

As usual Geoffrey is happy to mix fact with fiction: Æthelfrith wasn't a saxon and he wasn't marching south to destroy Bangor! However, there may just be more truth in Geoffrey than at first appears: Æthelfrith may however have been stirred into action by the activities of Edwin of Northumbria. Edwin had been disinherited by Æthelfrith. While the location of his early exile as a child is not known, later traditions, reported by Reginald of Durham (and Geoffrey of Monmouth), place Edwin in the kingdom of Gwynedd, fostered by king Cadfan ap Iago. By the 610s he was certainly in Mercia, under the protection of king Cearl, whose daughter Cwenburh he married. By around 616, Edwin was in East Anglia, under the protection of king Raedwald. Raedwald, despite his conversion to Christianity (Roman rather than Celtic) is the most likely contender for the Sutton Hoo ship burial (the sole surviving witness to the excavation of the Sutton Hoo boat burial was living in Chester c 2007).

Bede reports that Æthelfrith tried to have Raedwald murder his unwanted rival, and that Raedwald was minded to do so, only being persuaded otherwise by his wife (a woman of pagan custom and high moral principle whose name is unknown) with "Divine prompting". What Geoffrey seems to be hinting at is some clever manoeuvring by recent Christian converts to pit the pagans against the Celtic Christians.

(Regardless of the exact course of events, Raedwald was to face Æthelfrith in battle by the River Idle in 616, and there Æthelfrith was killed, along with Raedwald's son Raegenhere)

It is not known whether the battle of Chester was actually fought at the site of the castle, or to the south at or towards Heronbridge (where there are graves from the period). Raphael Holinshed suggests that the battle was fought outside the city:

  • "The Britains that dwelt about Chester, through their stoutnesse prouoked the aforesaid Edelferd king of the Northumbers vnto warre: wherevpon to tame their loftie stomachs, he assembled an armie & came forward to besiege the citie, then called of the Britains Chester. The citizens coueting rather to suffer all things than a siege, and hauing a trust in their great multitude of people, came foorth to giue batell abroad in the fields, whome he compassing about with ambushes, got within his danger, and easilie discomfited."

The battle formed part of a complex struggle between the Northumbrians, the Welsh, the Mercians and just about everyone else in Britain during the "Dark Ages", but Æthelfrith's victory at Chester has been seen as having great strategic importance, as it may have resulted in the separation of the British between those in Wales and those to the north. At the synod of Whitby in 664, King Oswiu of Northumbria ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Rome, rather than the customs practised by the Celtic Church. In 689 St John's Church was founded by Ethelred of Mercia.

  • dclxxxix Anno Domini d.c. octogesimo ix Rex Merciorum Ethelredus, avunculus beate Werburge, ope Wilfrici episcopi Cestriensis, ut reffert Giraldus, fundavit ecclesiam collegiatam in suburbio civitatis Cestrie in honorem Sancti Johannis Baptiste.
  • 689 In the year of our lord six hundred and eighty-nine Ethelred, king of the Mercians, the uncle of S. Werburg, with the assistance of Wilfric, bishop of Chester, as Giraldus [Cambrensis] relates, founded a collegiate church in the suburbs of Chester in honour of S. John the Baptist.

In Chester, the head pieces from several early "Celtic" stone crosses can be in the church of St John the Baptist. The Grosvenor Museum has another decorated cross head on display, which originally came from a "Celtic" monastic site on Hilbre Island.

[edit] Wulfhere's Daughter and the other Werburgh (650-750)

Werbergh (Werburga) Patroness of Chester, Abbess of Weedon, Trentham, Hanbury, Minster in Sheppy, and Ely, was born in Staffordshire early in the seventh century; and according to the Catholic Encyclopaedia died at Trentham, 3 February, 699 or 700. Her mother was St. Ermenilda, daughter of Ercombert, King of Kent, and St. Sexburga, and her father, Wulfhere, son of Penda. Initially Penda's son Peada became king under Oswiu of Northumberlands's overlordship, but was murdered a year later. Wulfhere came to the throne when Mercian nobles organized a revolt against Northumbrian rule in 658, and drove out Oswiu's governors.

Cenred (or Coenred, Coinred, Kenred) the son of Wulfhere, was probably too young to succeed to the throne when Wulfhere died in 675, and so his uncle Æthelred ruled until 704, when he abdicated. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions Cenred becoming "King of the Southumbrians" (a title of unclear meaning) in 702. According to Bede, Cenred abdicated in favor of Æthelred's son Ceolred after four years, went with Offa (an East Saxon ruler) to Rome and was made a monk by Pope Constantine. In 715, the Mercians under Ceolred fought a battle against the West Saxons under Ine at "Woden's Barrow" the outcome of this battle, the result of an invasion by Ceolred of West Saxon territory, was not recorded. In 716, Ceolred died; Saint Boniface later described him as dying in a crazed frenzy at a banquet, "gibbering with demons and cursing the priests of God". According to Britannica he was married to St. Werburga of Mercia (who is not the same as the St Werbergh of Chester). He was succeeded by Æthelbald, who, in 757, was "treacherously murdered at night by his own bodyguards". The ASC for 757 records:

  • 7 þy ilcan geare mon ofsloh Æþelbald Mearcna cyning on Sæcandune, 7 his lic ræsteð on Hreopandune, 7 he ricsade .xli. wintra. 7 Beornred feng to rice 7 lytle hwile heold 7 ungefealice, 7 þy ilcan geare Offa geflemde Beornred 7 feng to þam rice 7 heold .xxxix. wintra, ...
  • ... and in the same year Aethelbald, king of Mercia, was killed at Seckington, and his body rests at Repton; and he ruled 41 years. And then Beornred succeeded to the kingdom, and held it a little while and unhappily; and that same year Offa put Beornred to flight and succeeded to the kingdom, and held it 39 years...

[edit] Offa and his Dyke (750-800)

The late 9th- and early 10th-century Welsh writer Asser wrote that:

  • "there was in Mercia in fairly recent time a certain vigorous king called Offa, who terrified all the neighbouring kings and provinces around him, and who had a great dyke built between Wales and Mercia from sea to sea" (Asser, Life of Alfred, 14).

William Camden in the 1600's wrote:

  • The Britwales or Welchmen, a verie warlike nation, for many yeeres defended their libertie under Petie-kings: and albeit they were secluded from the English Saxons by a Ditch or Trench which King Offa cast (a wonderfull peece of worke), yet otherwhiles by fire and sword they spoiled their cities, and in like sort suffered at their hands all extremities of hostilitie whatsoever.

Offa ruled Mercia from 757 until his death in 796 and it has long been accepted that Offa's Dyke was a work which he commissioned. Marking borders with a rampart and a ditch wasn't a new thing - a number of other earthworks date from roughly this period, including the Danevirke in Holstein and the Devil's Dyke in Cambridgeshire. However Offa's Dyke is not now believed to have stretched continuously from "the Dee to the Wye", but rather provided a clear border where there was no topographic boundary. Parallel to the Northern part of Offa's Dyke is Wat's Dyke believed to be an older structure.

Offa's kingdom extended between the Trent/Mersey rivers to the Thames Valley, and from the Welsh border to the Fens. At the height of his power, he also controlled Kent, East Anglia and Lindsay (Lincoln).

Map showing the Kingdom of Mercia. Older part is darker.
Map showing the Kingdom of Mercia. Older part is darker.

Hollinshead writes the following about the size of Mercia

  • About the same time also, and 585 of Christ, the kingdome of Mercia began vnder CRIDA who was descended from Woden, and the tenth from him by lineall extraction. The bounds of this kingdome were of great distance, hauing on the east the sea vnto Humber, and so on the north the said riuer of Humber, and after the riuer of Mercia, which falleth into the west sea at the corner of Wirhall, and so comming about to the riuer of Dee that passeth by Chester, the same riuer bounded it on the west from Wales, and likewise Seuerne vp to Bristow: on the south it had the riuer of Thames, till it came almost to London. And in this sort it contained Lincolneshire, Notingamshire, Derbishire, Chesshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Glocestershire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertefordshire, Bedfordshire, Huntingtonshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, and Warwikeshire.

Offa had alliances with Northumbria and Wessex, confirmed by the marriage of two of his daughters to their Kings, Aethelred of Northumbria (who married Ælfflæd) and Beorhtric of Wessex (who married Eadburh).

There is perhaps more to this tale of dynastic weddings. Around 789 the Frankish king Charlemagne suggested that his son Charles the Younger should be married to Offa's daughters Ælfflæd. Offa insisted that the marriage could only go ahead if Charlemagne's daughter Bertha was married to Offa's son Ecgfrith. Charlemagne took offence, broke off contact, and closed his ports to English traders.

The Annals of Chester did not record this, only noting:

  • dcclxxxix Primus Danorum educatus [adventus] in Angliam qui docuerunt Anglos nimis potare.
  • 789 The first arrival in England of the Danes, who taught the English to drink too much.

Normal relations between Charlemagne and Offa were eventually reestablished, the ports were reopened, and a few years later, in 796, Charlemagne and Offa concluded the first commercial treaty known in English history, however it appears that the support of the Carolingians was thereafter with Wessex rather than Mercia. In 797 Offa founded St. Bridget's Church in Lower Bridge Street - this existed for over 1000 years, but was demolished in 1825 to make way for Grosvenor Street.

With the death of Offa and Beorhtric the focus of power shifted to the House of Wessex then headed by Egbert of Wessex who captured Chester in 828. Holinshead recounts the conquest as follows:

  • After that king Egbert had finished his businesse in Northumberland, he turned his power towards the countrie of Northwales, and subdued the same, with the citie of Chester, which till those daies, the Britains or Welshmen had kept in their possession. When king Egbert had obteined these victories, and made such conquests as before is mentioned, of the people héere in this land, he caused a councell to be assembled at Winchester, and there by aduise of the high estates, he was crowned king, as souereigne gouernour and supreame lord of the whole land.

In 830, Mercia (and presumably Chester) briefly regained its independence under Wiglaf — the Anglo Saxon Chronicle merely says that Wiglaf "obtained the kingdom of Mercia again" and it is not clear quite what had occurred. The most likely explanation is that this was the result of a Mercian rebellion against Wessex rule. Wessex's sudden rise to power, and its failure to retain this dominant position, have been explained by fluctuations in Carolingian support. It is known that the Franks supported Eardwulf when he recovered the throne of Northumbria in 808, so it is plausible that they also supported Egbert's accession in 802. Carolingian support was not to last. The Rhenish and Frankish commercial networks collapsed at some time in the 820s or 830s, rebellion broke out in February 830 against Louis the Pious, the first of a series of internal conflicts that lasted through the 830s and beyond until the Treaty of Verdun (843). These distractions may well have reduced Louis's ability to support Egbert leaving East Anglia, Mercia and Wessex to find a balance of power for themselves.

[edit] Sources and Links

[edit] 800-1000: The Growth of Wessex

[edit] The Mercian Collapse

[edit] Egbert(c. 837)

The Kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 828, Egbert, King of the West Saxons, took Chester.

Under Egbert, Wessex rose to become the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, overthrowing the supremacy of Mercia. In 837, Ethelwulf held the Witenagemot (meeting of the wise) in Chester, and, being crowned (in Kingston not Chester?), received at Chester the homage of tributary kings, "From Berwick to Kent." (Encyl Brit 1911 - not found in the A.S. Chron). In that same year, it is calculated that Comet Halley may have passed as close as 0.03 AU (3.2 million miles) from Earth, by far its closest approach - the tail of the comet may have stretched 90 degrees across the sky.

[edit] King Alfred at Chester (c. 894)

Britain in the year 878
Britain in the year 878

Alfred (Aelfred) the Great became ruler of the West Saxons after he and his brother defeated the Danes in 871 at the Battle of Ashdown in Berkshire. The death of his brother Ethelred, in 871, left Alfred as successor. Despite the victory at Ashdown, the West Saxons were forced to negotiate and pay tribute after losing further battles. For the year 876 the Chronicle of Chester Cathedral records:

  • Eodem anno hiemantibus Danis apud Rependon fugatoq: rege Merciorum Burdredo, Hamburgenses sibi timentes cum feretro corpus Divæ Werburgæ tunc primum in pulverem resolutum ad Legecestriam tanquam ad locum tutissimum contra stragem barbaricam confugerunt.
  • In the same year, when the Danes made their winter quarters at Repton after the flight of Burdred, king of the Mercians, the men of Hanbury, fearing for themselves, fled to Chester as to a place which was very safe from the butchery of the barbarians, taking with them in a litter the body of S. Werburg, which then for the first time was resolved into dust.

But Alfred refused to surrender and in 878, he rallied men from Somerset and Wiltshire and again defeated the Danes in the Battle of Edington. The Danes made peace and Guthrum, their king, was baptised with Alfred as his sponsor. By 886, Alfred had freed London from Danish occupation and a treaty was made with Guthrum and the East Anglians. England was divided, with the east (between the Rivers Thames and Tees) declared to be Danish territory - later known as the 'Danelaw' - where English and Danes were treated as equals by law.

Around 893, the Danes crossed to England in 330 ships of two divisions and attacked. They landed and entrenched themselves, a larger body at Appledore, Kent, and a lesser, under Haesten, at Milton, also in Kent. The invaders brought their wives and children with them, indicating their intention of conquest and colonisation. King Alfred, in 893 or 894, took up a position from where he could observe both forces, but while he was in talks with Haesten, the Danes at Appledore broke out and struck north-westwards. They were overtaken by Alfred's eldest son, Edward the Elder, and defeated in an engagement on the outskirts of Farnham in Surrey (Edward later died leading an army against a Cambro-Mercian rebellion, on 17 July 924 at Farndon, south of Chester). Meanwhile, the force under Haesten set out to march up the Thames Valley, but they were met by a large force under three great ealdormen of Mercia, Wiltshire and Somerset. The Danes were driven off to the north-west, before finally being overtaken and blockaded. An attempt to break through the English lines failed and, after collecting reinforcements, the Danes made a forced march across England to occupy the ruined Roman fortress of Chester, arriving late in the year. Just what the Danes are up to makes some sense when one realises that the Wirral had strong Viking connections after 902 and there may already have been some link ten years earlier.

The Victorian work Picturesque England describes the fortifications at this time of being a round sandstone castle:

  • The Danes, the following and more terrible invaders, who had been allowed by Alfred the Great to settle in Northumberland, next assailed Chester, and seized the fortress, which was circular and of red stone...

This may be an assumption on the part of the author that the present works are older than they actually are (his source is unknown). However a more interesting possibility is that the "fortress" was in fact the amphitheatre.

King Alfred (or possibly one of his sons) hastened to Chester. The English did not attempt a winter blockade, but besieged the Danes for two days, while they drove away all the cattle; burned the corn thereabouts and slaughtered every Dane that dared venture outside the encampment. Early in 894 (or 895), want of food obliged the Danes to retire once more to Essex (after a few raids on Wales).

Hollinshed describes the events as follows:

  • "Besides this, other armies there were sent foorth, which comming out of Northumberland tooke the citie of Chester, but there they were so beset about with their enimies, that they were constreined to eate their horsses. At length, in the 24 yéere of king Alfred, they left that citie, and fetcht a compas about Northwales, and so meaning to saile round about the coast to come into Northumberland, they arriued in Essex, and in the winter following drew their ships by the Thames into the water of Luie." (probably Leigh-on-Sea)

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells the story as:

  • Þa hie on Eastseaxe comon to hiora geweorce. 7 to hiora scipum. þa gegaderade sio laf eft of Eastenglum, 7 of Norðhymbrum micelne here onforan winter 7 befæston hira wif, 7 hira scipu, 7 hira feoh on Eastenglum, 7 foron anstreces dæges 7 nihtes, þæt hie gedydon on anre westre ceastre on Wirhealum, seo is Legaceaster gehaten; Þa ne mehte seo fird hie na hindan offaran, ær hie wæron inne on þæm geweorce; Besæton þeah þæt geweorc utan sume twegen dagas, 7 genamon ceapes eall þæt þær buton wæs, 7 þa men ofslogon þe hie foran forridan mehton butan geweorce, 7 þæt corn eall forbærndon, 7 mid hira horsum fretton on ælcre efenehðe. 7 þæt wæs ymb twelf monað þæs þe hie ær hider ofer sæ comon.
  • (As soon as they came into Essex to their fortress, and to their ships, then gathered the remnant again in East-Anglia and from the Northumbrians a great force before winter, and having committed their wives and their ships and their booty to the East-Angles, they marched on the stretch by day and night, till they arrived at a western city in Wirral that is called Chester. There the army could not overtake them ere they arrived within the ramparts: they besieged the ramparts though, without, some two days, took all the cattle that was thereabout, slew the men whom they could overtake outside the ramparts, and all the corn they either burned or consumed with their horses every evening. That was about a twelvemonth since they first came hither over sea.)

The Chronicle of Bishop Asser refers to similar tactics and events (although this almost certainly a different conflict):

  • He pursued them, killing them as they fled up to the stronghold, where he seized all that he found outside--men, horses, and cattle--slaying the men at once; and before the gates of the pagan fortress he boldly encamped with his whole army. And when he had stayed there fourteen days and the pagans had known the horrors of famine, cold, fear, and at last of despair, they sought a peace by which the king was to take from them as many named hostages as he wished while he gave none to them--a kind of peace that they had never before concluded with any one.

[edit] Æthelflæd

Æthelflæd (alternative spelling Aethelfled, Æthelfleda, Ethelfleda) (872/879 – 918) was the eldest daughter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex and his wife Ealhswith. She was born around AD 872. She had four or five younger siblings, including Edward the Elder and Ælfthryth.

She was 15 when she married Aethelred later the ealdorman or earl of Mercia, in about 886, and had one daughter, Ælfwynn. While travelling to Mercia for her wedding her party was attacked by the Danes in an attempt to kill her and so sabotage the alliance between Wessex and Mercia. Though half her company perished in the first attack, Ethelfleda used an old trench as a fortress, and defeated the Danes. Malmesbury relates, that after the birth of her first child she was:

  • " so much astonished at the pain, that ever after, she refrained the embraces of her husband for almost forty years, protesting often, that it was not fit for a king's daughter to be given to a pleasure that brought so much pain along with it; and thereupon grew an heroic virago, like the ancient Amazons, as if she had changed her sex, as well as her mind."

On her husband's death in 911 after the Battle of Tettenhall, she was elevated to the status of "Lady of the Mercians". This title was not a nominal position; she was a formidable military leader and tactician. Ethelfleda ruled for approximately eight years

[edit] Ingamund - the Viking "Invasion" (c902)

In 902, a Hiberno-Norse community settled in Wirral after its expulsion from Dublin, arriving somewhere between Vestri-Kirkubyr (West Kirby) and Melr (Meols). The exiles, led by one Hingamund, were granted land in Wirral by Æthelflæd and soon established a community with a clearly defined border, its own leader, its own language (Norse), a trading port, and at its centre a place of assembly or government - the Thing at Thingwall. They also brought their religion with them to "Thor's Stone" (Mjollnir) at "Thorsteinn's farmstead", now Thurstaston Hill. It is also possible that the Norwegian "Labskause" may have come to this part of the country at that time and survived as "scouse"

Archaeology confirms a Hiberno-Norse presence in Chester:a brooch with Borre-Jellinge ornament found at Princess Street is identical with a brooch found in Dublin, and must have derived from the same mould. So trade had been established with Chester but the Vikings cast covetous eyes on the wealth of the city. In 905, the Norsemen revolted and attempted to take the city of Chester. The opening of the story involve a certain amount of treachery:

  • At first, the Saxon inhabitants of Chester placed a force outside the city gates and then staged a mock retreat. The Norse followed and the gates were closed behind them, trapping them in the city where a great number were slain.
  • Following this, the Saxons came to an arrangement with the Irish, who were "no friends of the Saxons but hated the Norsemen more" to meet with the Norse and propose to betray Chester. Unfortunately this was a double-cross and the Norse that came (unarmed) to the meeting were also slain.

Their subsequent Norse attempt at taking the city took on all the elements of a farce:

  • The first Norse attack upon the walls was driven off by dropping rocks upon them. The Norse answer to this was to protect their heads with wooden hurdles supported by wooden beams;
  • The Saxon answer to the hurdles was to pour boiling beer on the Vikings (which of course ran through the hurdles). The Norse response to this was to cover the hurdles with animal skins;
  • Fire would have been the next Saxon weapon, and the Vikings would have countered this by protecting their assault on the wall with soaking-wet sails from their ships;
  • Unfortunately for the Vikings the Saxons has a secret weapon - they threw at the Vikings "all the beehives of the town". For the Vikings, trapped inside their heavy, soaking wet, hide and sail-covered siege shelters - now also filled with very agitated bees - that was enough, and the attempt on the city was abandoned.

While Alfred the Great (871–899) was the first to style himself "King of England" his son, Edward the Elder (899–924) went further by establishing his rule over the Danelaw. In 919, the year following the death of his sister Æthelflæd, Edward usurped the rule of Mercia from Æthelflæd's daughter Ælfwynn, and in 927, Northumbria (the last independent kingdom) fell to Edward's son Æþelstān. Æþelstān became the first King of a united England and it has been proposed that while Æþelstān was not the first de jure King of England, he was the first de facto one. The later fortunes of Ingamund's people is not entirely certain: there was a sizeable Scandinavian "ghetto" in the southern quarter of Chester later on, centred on the church of St Olaf, and it would appear that many of them settled down in the city as merchants.

[edit] Refortification And The "Dark Ages" Mint

[edit] Refortification (c907)

The Roman city was refortified around 907 by the Mercians. The event is recorded in the Chronicle (although versions vary) and a cryptic note from 907 that "Chester was restored" suggests more fighting in that year :

  • A.D. 907. This year died Alfred, who was governor of Bath. The same year was concluded the peace at Hitchingford, as King Edward decreed, both with the Danes of East-Anglia, and those of Northumberland; and Chester was rebuilt.

Raphael Holinshead also mentions the same, adding that this was when the walls were extended:

  • Not without good reason did king Edward permit vnto his sister Elfleda the gouernment of Mercia, during hir life time: for by hir wise and politike order vsed in all hir dooings, he was greatlie furthered & assisted; but speciallie in reparing and building of townes & castels, wherein she shewed hir noble magnificence, in so much that during hir government, which continued about eight yéeres, it is recorded by writers, that she did build and repare these Tamwoorth was by hir repared, Eadsburie and Warwike towns, whose names here insue: Tamwoorth beside Lichfield, Stafford, Warwike, Shrewsburie, Watersburie or Weddesburie, Elilsburie or rather Eadsburie, in the forrest of De la mere besides Chester, Brimsburie bridge vpon Seuerne, Rouncorne at the mouth of the riuer Mercia with other. Moreouer, by hir helpe the citie of Chester, which by Danes had beene greatlie defaced, was newlie repared, fortified with walls and turrets, and greatlie inlarged. So that the castell which stood without the walls before that time, was now brought within compasse of the new wall.

[edit] Brunanburh (c937)

In 937, at "Brunanburh" Æþelstān and his brother Edmund subjected the combined armies of Olaf III Guthfrithson (Viking King of Dublin), Constantine (King of Scotland) and Owian (King of Strathclyde) to a crushing defeat. The precise location of the battle has never been established, but some evidence (possibly) points to Bromborough on the Wirral, a few miles north-west of Chester. The importance of the battle cannot be denied - Athelstan's defeat of the combined Norse-Celtic force facing him irrevocably confirmed England as an Anglo-Saxon kingdom, forcing the Celtic kingdoms to consolidate in the positions that they occupy today.

This battle has been confused with the legendary Arthurian battle of "Mons Badonicus" which was already reported by Nennius/Gildas in De Excidio Britanniae ("The Ruin of Britannia") many years previously. However, the fact that Alfred fought the Danes at Chester, and that his son Edgar fought (and died) at Farndon, may have meant that if third-generation Æþelstān fought another battle near Chester, later legends would mix all these elements together. Bromborough is perhaps well worth a visit as there is compelling evidence that the Wirral was settled by the Vikings and an excellent guide can be found here. Tennyson translated an epic poem about the battle and the text can be found here.

As the Chronicle puts it:

  • 937 - Her æþelstan cyning, eorla dryhten, beorna beahgifa 7 his broþor eac, Eadmund æþeling, ealdorlangne tir geslogon æt sæcce sweorda ecgum ymbe Brunanburh.
  • A.D.937: Here, King Athelstan, leader of warriors, ring-giver of men, and also his brother, the prince Edmund, struck life-long glory in strife around Brunanburh

(The battle had an amusing sequel in April 2007 when "Dane Motors" wanted to build a showroom on the alleged site of the battle and people were once more "up in arms" about the "Viking invasion".)

Bromborough has some interesting sites including an ancient set of stones in the churchyard and the alleged landing place of St Patrick (his well is supposedly in Patrick's Wood in Brotherton Park)

Some writers state that the Chronicle for 942 has another possible entry for Chester (see Oman "England before the Norman Conquest (1910) page 525) but it is much more likely Leicester given the fact that it refers to years of oppression):

  • Her Eadmund cyning, Engla þeoden, mægþa mundbora, Myrce geeode, dyre dædfruma, swa Dor sceadæð, Hwitanwyllesgeat & Himbran ea, brada brymstream. burga fife, Ligereceaster & Lincolne, Snotingaham, swylce Stanford eac Deoraby. Dæne wæron æror under Norðmannum nyde gebæded on hæðenra hæfteclommum lange þrage, oð hy alysde eft for his weorðscipe wigendra hleo, afora Eadweardes, Eadmund(es) cyning
  • Here Edmund king, of Angles lord, protector of friends, author and framer of direful deeds overran with speed the Mercian land whete'er the course of Whitwell-spring, or Humber deep, the broad brim-stream, divides five towns. [Leicester/Chester?] and Lincoln, Nottingham and Stamford, and Derby. In thralldom long to Norman Danes they bowed through need, and dragged the chains of heathen men; till, to his glory, great Edward's heir, Edmund the king, refuge of warriors, their fetters broke.

From c.890, Chester was the most likely site of a mint which is known to have been operated in north-west Mercia. Under Æthelflæd, the coins minted were of a distinctive north-western design, but they reverted to more standard types under Edward the Elder (899–924). Under Edward's son, Æþelstān (924-939), a distinctive type was again issued: these did not feature the head of the "foreign" West Saxon king. The mint became one of the the most prolific centres of coin production in England, rivalling London in importance. Even Welsh coins (bearing the name of Hywel Dda (died 950) were minted here. It is not known for certain whether the original mint occupied the site of the castle, but given that "half the Saxon city" was demolished when the Norman castle was built, it seems possible. For more on the coins see COMPASS at the British Museum and the links here or do a search for 'Chester' at the Fitzwilliam Museum coin collection

Although Edgar the Pacific (959–975) did much to consolidate a fractured and factional Anglo-Saxon island, including his famous meeting at Chester on the Dee, the country remained troubled. The Chronicle records the meeting thus (versions again vary):

  • A.D. 972. This year Edgar the etheling was consecrated king at Bath, on Pentecost's mass-day, on the fifth before the ides of May, the thirteenth year since he had obtained the kingdom; and he was then one less than thirty years of age. And soon after that, the king led all his ship-forces to Chester; and there came to meet him six kings, and they all plighted their troth to him, that they would be his fellow-workers by sea and by land.

Picturesque England has a different slant on the story.

The Danes renewed their raids on England in 980, attacking Chester and Southampton. Manx Vikings led by King Godfred I allied themselves with Prince Custennin of Gwynedd and raided Anglesey and the Lleyn Peninsula. The AS Chronicle recorded that Vikings ravaged Chester, doing great damage:

  • "the county of Chester was plundered by the pirate-army of the North".

Three of the four Anglo-Saxon coin hoards found in the city, those from Castle Esplanade, Pemberton's Parlour, and Eastgate Street, have been assigned to roughly the same period and interpreted as linked to that raid.

[edit] Sources and Links

[edit] 1000-1100: The end of Anglo-Saxon England

[edit] Eadric, Leofric and Godiva

From the 990s the family of Leofwine of Mercia settled in Chester and helped to ensure the city's survival as a major provincial centre.

Wulfric, Earl of Chester and Chief Councillor of State to King Ethelred appears to have died on 12 October 1010 but before his death the earldom may have already passed to Eadric Streona - later voted the "worst britain of the 11th Century". William of Malmesbury describes Eadric Streona as "the refuse of mankind and a reproach unto the English". One parentage suggested for Eadric is that his father was Wulfric (which would make Aelfhelm of York - whom he assassinated - his own uncle). Another theory is that his father was Aethelric of Mercia (who was sacked in disgrace due to betraying naval secrets to the Danes and his son Aelfgar blinded, so this is unlikely).

In 1007 Eadric became Ealdorman of the Mercians, and subsequently married Ethelred the Unready's daughter Eadgyth. As Ealdorman, Eadric achieved a victory over the Welsh (See the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) through underhand means. He is described by Sir Frank Stenton as someone "to whom unknown crimes may be safely attributed". He appears to have endeared himself to Ethelred by arranging the assassinations of his internal opponents. When Ethelred in 1009 proposed a great attack on the Danes, Eadric dissuaded him from carrying it into effect. The kings nick-name Æþelræd Unræd is actually a play on words - Æþelræd means "noble counsel" in anglo-saxon and Unræd means "ill-advised" not "unready". When Ethelred the Unready died in 1016 he was succeeded by his son Edmund Ironside (Edmund II). Unfortunately, the bad advisor stayed on.

History becomes a little complicated in the ten-teens. Sweyn Forkbeard (a Swede) invaded England was accepted as King of England - following the flight to Normandy of Ethelred the Unready in late 1013. Sweyn didn't gain much as he died on February 3, 1014, having ruled England unopposed for only five weeks. He was succeeded as King of Denmark by his elder son, Harald II, but the Danish fleet proclaimed his younger son Cnut (Canute) as king. Early in 1016, Chester was ravaged by Edmund Ironside and Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria because Cheshire men would not fight against the Danes (under Cnut). Cnut was originally driven out of England but returned to defeat Edmund Ironside and become King of England later in 1016, while also ruling Denmark, Norway, parts of Sweden, Pomerania, and Schleswig. A popular story has it that soldiers acting in favor of Canute hid in the cess-pit of a lavatory and stabbed Edmund Ironsides in the bowels when he sat down to relieve himself (or that the Ealdorman of Chester Eadric Streona arranged for him to be shot from the midden with a primitive crossbow - the "Skåne Lockbow"), though this has never been proven and he may well simply have died of injuries sustained in battle.

Just for good measure, Cnut married Emma of Normandy Ethelred the Unready's widow - her great nephew would become Duke Willam, the Conqueror.

Eadric Streona's power saw its apogee and its fall under the Danish invader Cnut. In 1015 Eadric Streona deserted king Edmund II (King Edmund Ironside) and joined Cnut of Denmark. After the Battle of Otford (1016) he returned to Edmund, but only (supposedly by his treachery at the Battle of Ashingdon) to secure defeat of the English. At Christmas, 1017, fearing further treachery, Cnut had Eadric slain, "very rightly" according to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle - as a result of Eadric beating Cnut at chess and refusing to change the rules in Cnut's favour. During the row which followed Eadric is said to have argued that he had assassinated King Edmund for Cnut's benefit - a fact of which Cnut had been unaware - and Cnut had him axed down on the spot.

  • The king then commanded that his body thrown into the Thames, and that the head should be fixed upon the gate at the entrance of the palace, " for," said he, " I promised to advance him above all the peers of the realm."

Leofwine's son Leofric (married to the famous Godiva) was known as the "earl of Chester" (or "count of Chester"). Accordin to some sources, Leofric (Leof-dear (love), ric=ruler (reich)) was the third son of Leofwine, but as both his elder brothers were killed in battle Leofric succeeded his father. One version has it that Leofric's elder brother "Northman" was killed in 1017, in the losing battles against Cnut. Another source (Glover's, "The history and gazetteer of the county of Derby") tells a slighly more complex tale:

  • The successor to Edric, in the dukedom or earldom of Mercia, was Leofwine, descended from Leofric, earl of Chester, who distinguished himself in the reign of Ethelbald. Leofwine did not long enjoy this dignity, but, dying, left issue three sons, the eldest of whom was named Leofric. The second, named Norman, was in high military trust under Edric Streon, and on the execution of that nobleman, fell a victim to the violence of the people, although he had not participated in the crimes of his patron.

It is not known when Leofric became Earl of Chester but it may have been in 1017, as a result of the unfortunate chess match. Leofric's grand-daughter, Ealdgyth married firstly the Welsh prince Gruffyd (also known as "King Of The Britons" - killed 1063), and secondly 1066 Harold Godwinson (Harold II - killed 1066, Hastings) - Harold complicates matters by having a mistress also called Ealdgyth.

Leofric was obviously a man of considerable talent and statesmanship as no man could survive forty years as Earl without these qualities. Probably made Earl (a rank and title new to the English, replacing and enhancing the Anglo-Saxon "ealdorman") in 1017 by the Dane Cnut, Leofric thrived and survived through Cnut's reign. The next king was Harold Harefoot (1035-1040), in whose selection as successor Leofric was instrumental. Hardacnut, Cnut's other son, reigned next (1040-1042), and then came Edward the Confessor's rule (1042-1066) during which Leofric died (in 1057).

[edit] Godwin

Edward the Confessor and his brother Alfred made a failed attempt to displace Harold Harefoot from the throne in 1036. Edward returned to Normandy. Alfred, however, was captured by Godwin, Earl of Wessex who then turned him over to Harold Harefoot. Alfred was blinded to make him unsuitable for kingship and died soon after as a result of his treatment. When Harefoot's successor Harthacanute died (June 8, 1042), Godwin finally supported the cause of his half-brother Edward the Confessor. Despite his alleged responsibility for the death of Edward's brother Alfred, Godwin secured the marriage of his daughter Edith of Wessex (Eadgyth) to Edward in 1045.

Uneasy relations between Harold's family and the earl of Chester went back a long way. In 1051 a group of Normans (including the visiting Eustace II, Count of Boulogne), became involved in a brawl at Dover and several men were killed. Edward the Confessor ordered Godwin (Harold's father), as earl of Wessex, to punish the people of the town for this attack on his Norman friends. This was standard procedure: the previous King Harthacanute, made himself unpopular with heavy taxation in his short reign and two of his tax-collectors were killed at Worcester by angry locals. The king was so enraged by this that in 1041 he ordered Leofric and his other earls to plunder and burn the city, and lay waste the whole area. Godwin had helped Earl Leofric plunder Worcester, which could not have been pleasant for Leofric's as