BRETWALDA: Kings of Northumbria Book 3 Page 6

  ‘I gather that their grasp of English is poor.’

  ‘Yes, but they’re quick learners and good mimics. They already understand the basics and can make themselves understood.’

  ‘How old are they?’

  ‘Fourteen and twelve.’

  ‘Why don’t you send them to me and I’ll educate them as novices for a year or two? Then they can decide whether they want to train as warriors or to become monks.’

  ‘That’s kind of you. I’ll arrange for them to be ready to accompany you when you leave. I’ll be coming too – for Oswald’s funeral.’

  A hundred and twenty miles away Penda was raging against Oswiu – who else would have had the temerity to ride through Mercia unopposed gathering up the dismembered parts of his brother’s body? He vowed that one day he’d do the same to him as he’d done to Oswald.

  His first task was to find someone close to Oswiu who he could subvert and use against him. He considered all the possible contenders and finally decided on Œthelwald. He didn’t need to be turned against his uncle: they detested each other already. Œthelwald would need to become powerful enough so that his eventual betrayal of Oswiu would bring about the latter’s downfall. He grinned in anticipation, but he knew he’d need to be patient.

  CHAPTER FOUR – LOVE AND WAR

  643 AD

  ‘This is my third son, Cuthbert, Cyning. I hope that he will be able to enter the monastery at Lindisfarne when he is older.’

  Oswiu smiled at the nervous nine year old boy.

  ‘Don’t worry, Cuthbert, I don’t bite, contrary to what you may have heard. Why do you want to be a monk and not a warrior like your father?’

  He and Aidan were visiting the north east corner of his kingdom and were staying with Kenric, the Eorl of Dùn Barra in Goddodin.

  ‘I would quite like to be a warrior, Cyning, but I really want to be like Bishop Aidan and convert the heathens to Christianity. It’s still fighting, but in a different way. But I wouldn’t mind being a warrior first.’

  Oswiu laughed at the boy’s precociousness and Aidan looked at him with interest.

  ‘You see spreading the Word of God and his Holy Son, Jesus, as a fight do you, Cuthbert?’

  ‘I do, as a struggle at any rate.’

  ‘That’s not a bad analogy, though I hadn’t thought of myself as one of Christ’s warriors before.’

  ‘When would you be able to take him as a novice?’ Kenric asked.

  He was rewarded by a startled gasp from his wife.

  ‘You sound as if you can’t wait to get rid of him, husband. He’s only nine,’ she said.

  ‘He’ll soon be ten and I believe that the king went off to Iona to be educated when he was eleven?’

  ‘That’s correct, but I was big for my age and there were other reasons why I was sent away early,’ Oswiu replied.

  ‘Twelve is normally the youngest we take boys, though we have accepted some as young as eight if they are orphaned and it was the dead parents’ wish.’

  ‘What about Melrose instead of Lindisfarne? You must need novices there.’ Oswiu said.

  The settlement of Melrose was some forty miles due west of Lindisfarne. Aidan had recently proposed to Oswiu that a daughter house of Lindisfarne be established on land that the king owned near the settlement.

  ‘Yes, work will start on constructing the essential buildings soon and I have already selected the man I would like as abbot as well as the first few monks. It’s true that we’ll need a large number of novices to build up the community quickly. We should be ready to admit the first cohort of boys in a year or so. Cuthbert could go there as a novice for a couple of years and then decide whether he wants to train as a warrior or not when he reaches fourteen. At least then he’d have a basic education behind him.’

  ‘Who have you selected as abbot, you haven’t mentioned it to me?’

  ‘I apologise. I shouldn’t have said anything. I did want to discuss it with you first, especially as it affects you personally.’

  ‘Offa? You mean to suggest my brother as abbot?’

  Oswiu looked around him as Offa had come north with him and Aidan. However, his brother wasn’t in the hall. No doubt he was still praying in the nearby church. He often disappeared for hours at a time to meditate.

  ‘Have you mentioned it to him?’

  ‘Not yet.’

  ‘What makes you think he’ll accept?’

  Aidan shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

  ‘I’m his confessor so I can’t say anymore, except that I have reason to believe he might find the idea attractive.’

  ‘Ah! He finds his brother a trifle too warlike and he seeks a more tranquil community than my court?’

  ‘Something like that.’

  ‘I think it’s an excellent idea. If Offa is happy with it, then I’m content.’

  Aidan did his best to hide his surprise. Oswiu had been one of six brothers. Now, at barely thirty one, apart from his sister, only his youngest brother and he survived. He had thought that he’d want to keep Offa by his side and was pleased that Oswiu seemed to be putting his brother’s feelings first.

  Kenric’s wife, relieved that she would have her youngest son for at least another year, left the men to talk of other matters, taking her son with her; though he’d have preferred to remain and listen to the men.

  ‘I’m heading south soon - to Kent - and I need someone to act as regent. I’d like you and Aidan to look after things whilst I’m away. Things are quiet at the moment but both Oswine and Penda will be smarting after the events of last year and my absence might tempt them to get up to some mischief.’

  ‘Wouldn’t one of the other eorls…’ Kenric began.

  ‘No, they are good administrators but some are old now and the younger ones lack your military experience.’

  ‘Have you thought about making Melrose a mixed house?’ Oswiu asked Aidan a little later when they were on their own.

  Aidan frowned. ‘No, why do you suggest it? I know that there are other mixed houses of monks and nuns elsewhere but I always thought it better to keep men and women segregated.’

  ‘I suggest we visit Æbbe at Coldingham on our way south and see what my sister thinks. I’d like to see her again in any case.’

  Aidan grunted in a non-committal way before quickly changing the subject.

  ‘You haven’t told me why you are intent on visiting Kent. Œthelwald may have been more of a hindrance to you than a help but at least he seems to have cemented an alliance with Eorcenberht.’

  ‘I’m thinking of asking for the hand of Eanflæd, not just because she’s the king’s cousin, but because she’s Edwin’s daughter and therefore of Deira’s royal house.’

  ‘So you hope that by marrying her it will strengthen your claim to Oswine’s throne, I suppose? I see. Well, I support your aim to re-unite Northumbria, of course, but I hope you are not thinking of deposing Oswine by force. He is a Christian king who was duly elected by the Witan of Deira.’

  Oswiu was beginning to realise that using Aidan as his counsellor had its drawbacks.

  ‘No – at least not at the moment, but individually we aren’t strong enough to stand up to Penda and his allies. Northumbria needs to be ruled by one man if it’s to survive.’

  The two said nothing for a while then Aidan broke the silence.

  ‘I hear that Hengist is now King of Lindsey.’

  ‘Yes, his predecessor was always a sickly boy. He was the last of the old royal line and it seemed natural for their Witan to elect the man who had been regent.’

  Neither mentioned the rumour that the boy king had been killed by Hengist.

  ‘Hengist was ever Oswald’s man but Oswine will no doubt try and forge an alliance with him now.’

  ‘And you think I should approach him first? Perhaps. I’ll call in and see him on my way south. It may be sensible to visit Anna of East Anglia as well. If I can form an alliance with all three kingdoms I may be able to contain Penda’s ambitions.’<
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  ~~~

  Offa was only too happy to exchange the role of king’s chaplain and return to a quieter monastic life, even if it did mean that he would have to take on the responsibility that being an abbot entailed.

  ‘Who do you recommend as my brother’s replacement?’ Oswiu asked Aidan just before he was about to set out by sea for the south.

  ‘Yes, I’ve been giving that some thought. I think that the vills around Bebbanburg need a priest separate from your chaplain. You are often on the road these days and that leaves them without a spiritual leader. I have a monk who would make a good priest and I have approached Utta to see if he would be your chaplain. I would have suggested Ròidh had he not already left to be Bishop of Dùn Dè. Utta is a strong character as well as a devout Christian and I think you’ll find him useful.’

  ‘Um. I don’t think I’ve met Utta. I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve done so. Can you arrange for him to visit me here tomorrow morning? We leave the day after.’

  ‘He’s waiting outside the hall, if you’d like to meet him now?’

  ‘Yes, by all means.’

  Utta was a tall bull of a man. Oswiu couldn’t help but think that he’d be a formidable foe in a fight. Then he noticed the cut on his cheek and the fact that two of his fingers were missing from his right hand.

  ‘I assume that you used to be a warrior before you became a monk, Utta?’

  ‘Yes, Cyning; as did many who are now monks.’

  ‘Whose warband were you in?’

  ‘That of King Eochaid. I was in his gesith until I lost these fingers so I couldn’t hold a sword properly anymore.’

  ‘Eochaid? How come you ended up at Lindisfarne then?’

  Eochaid had been his brother Oswald’s closest friend until he’d become King of the Uliadh in Ulster.

  ‘I became a novice on Iona after I was wounded and then I was sent here when the monastery was established.’

  ‘I’m surprised that we haven’t met before then.’

  ‘I’ve seen you and King Oswald plenty of times at Lindisfarne but I’m nobody important so I kept in the background.’

  ‘And do you want to be my chaplain?’

  The man nodded and smiled for the first time, revealing a row of teeth sharpened to a point. It was something that some Irish warriors did; it turned a smile into a frightening grimace.

  Oswiu laughed. ‘Yes, I think we’ll get along well.’

  ~~~

  The visit to Hengist had been a success. The former captain of Oswald’s gesith had been only too happy to conclude a treaty of mutual assistance whereby Oswiu would come to his assistance if he was attacked by either Penda’s Mercians or Peada’s Middle Angles. Oswiu also promised to send him a few of the more experienced warriors from his warband to help Hengist train his own men.

  However, when he arrived at the court of King Anna of the East Angles he found a messenger waiting for him. Cadafael ap Cynfeddw, King of Gwynedd and successor to Cadwallon who Oswald and Oswiu had defeated at Heavenfield eleven years previously, had invaded Rheged from the south. This had to be at Penda’s instigation, or at least his with his connivance.

  He stayed only long enough to secure an alliance with Anna and then he returned in his birlinn to Bebbanburg whilst sending Utta on to Kent with an offer for Eanflæd’s hand in marriage and to negotiate a new treaty of friendship.

  Arriving back at Bebbanburg, he assembled his warband and sent out messengers: to Caer Luel to say that he was on his way and to the Eorls of Hexham and Hawick to call out the fyrd and muster at Hexham. He also sent them to every other eorl asking them to join him with their war bands and to King Guret of Strathclyde asking him to come with his war band to meet him at the ford over the River Esk six miles north of Caer Luel. He believed that he would have enough men to defeat Cadafael without the sixteen year old Guret, but it would be a useful test of the alliance they had agreed the previous year. He had no doubt that Guret would want to help him, but whether he was yet strong enough to impose his will upon his nobles was another matter.

  He was pleased to see that his nephew had joined the army with his war band. To keep Œthelwald out of mischief Oswiu had made him Thegn of Yeavering. Apart from being custos of the royal palace, he had been given two vills as well, centred on the settlements at Akeld and Yetholm. It was a large area, but populated more by sheep than by men. It was a backwater except for the times that the king was there in the summer months and Oswiu thought that it would prevent him from building up a power base from which he could challenge him.

  When he reached Hexham he found that he had two hundred and fifty experienced warriors in the various noble’s gesiths and war bands and another six hundred members of the fyrd. His scouts came back to report that the Welshmen of Gwynedd were besieging Caer Luel with about a thousand men but half of those were absent during daylight raiding and foraging in the surrounding countryside.

  Oswiu wasn’t sure how many men the Eorl of Rheged would have inside the walls but at least three hundred was a reasonable assumption. He made his plans accordingly.

  He was relieved to find Guret waiting for him on his side of the border at the crossing over the Esk. He was accompanied by about fifty men wearing some form of body protection - leather jerkins or byrnies - and helmets, and about three times that number who wore little or no armour. All carried a spear and a small shield and had a sword or a seax at their side.

  ‘I’ve only brought two hundred men with me but they are all mounted and are experienced warriors.’

  ‘Guret, I’m delighted to see you again. Have you brought Brandon, Cunobelinus and Nechtan with you?’

  The three nobles had been Guret’s council of regency the last time they had met.

  ‘No, I’m sad to say that all three met with an untimely death. I now rule alone.’

  ‘I see, and how did your other nobles react to that?’

  ‘None of my other nobles seemed very keen on insisting on another regency. Oh, I didn’t have them killed secretly or anything. I found out that they had been plotting with an agent of Penda’s to kill me and invade Rheged from the north, whilst the Welsh did so from the south. I had them formally tried and executed and their families were exiled. They fled to Gwynedd or Powys I believe. So, when your request for help came I was in the right mood to do anything I could to thwart Penda’s machinations.’

  ‘I’m impressed. I always thought that you were a more astute man than your father.’

  The youth was pleased at being called a man, especially by someone he admired. He was short of stature and looked a year or so younger than his actual age. Most Anglo-Saxon men had now eschewed the beard and grew a long moustache instead. A good growth on the upper lip was a sign of manhood. His lack of facial hair was therefore something he was embarrassed about.

  ‘What is your plan? You don’t seem to have that many men with you?’

  Oswiu had only brought his own warband and that of Œthelwald with him – about a hundred men in all, all mounted.

  ‘Oh, by the way, this is my nephew, Œthelwald, Oswald’s son.’

  The two nodded at one another, Guret with a smile and Œthelwald somewhat sulkily. Guret didn’t take offence; he was well aware that the young man must have resented the fact that the throne had gone to his uncle instead of him.

  Oswiu, Ceadda, Œthelwald, Guret and the captain of his warband dismounted and stood around a bare patch of earth in which Oswiu drew a crude map.

  ‘Cadafael’s men are camped to the south of Caer Luel between the Rivers Eden and Caldew. My main army, numbering about seven hundred, is here at Thursby. It’s six miles from the enemy camp and it’s on the old Roman road, so it shouldn’t take them much longer than two hours to cover that distance. We’ll cross the Eden here to the east of Caer Luel where there is a good ford, so I’m told, and then cross the Caldew, which isn’t very deep, to the east of the Welsh Camp. The rest of my men will take up a position to the west of the camp and we’ll trap them between o
ur forces and the walls.’

  ‘Excellent,’ Guret grinned. ‘We should be able to slaughter them easily, if it works. When do we attack?’

  ‘Mid-morning tomorrow.’

  ‘Why not attack at dawn?’ Œthelwald asked.

  ‘Because men can get lost during a night approach and there’s more chance of some of the enemy escaping in the chaos of a mass attack on their camp. This way they’ll form up when they see our main army approach. Only when they’re committed do we appear and take them in the flank. Hopefully the garrison will sally forth as well so that Cadafael is surrounded.’

  ‘But the forage parties will have gone forth to plunder by then?’ Guret said.

  ‘Precisely. So the enemy will have no more than half their strength on the field. We can deal with the foraging parties later.’

  ~~~

  Aldin, the Mercian thegn that Penda had sent with Cadafael to make sure he did what he wanted him to, was sitting morosely on his horse wondering when Oswiu would appear. Penda was no fool. He knew that Oswiu would rush to relieve Caer Luel and had planned a trap for him. Instead of going off to forage and pillage the surrounding vills, half of Cadafael’s army was waiting three miles to the west together with a hundred well-armed Mercians. Their intention was to sweep in and trap Oswiu’s men between them and the Welsh besieging the old Roman city.

  As soon as the Bernicians appeared and took up their position several hundred yards from the Welsh camp, Cadafael moved into formation to oppose them. It looked like a traditional struggle between two shield walls supported by the less experienced fyrd on one side and the ill-disciplined Welsh tribesmen on the other. The archers on both sides opened proceedings but then the gates swung open and three hundred men of Rheged tore into the rear of the Welsh formation, where the more cowardly men always gravitated to.