Introduction
Following the conversion of Ethelbert, King of Kent, in 597, one after another the Kings of England’s kingdoms were baptised; Sigeberht of the East Angles even resigned his crown to his brother Anna, in order to become a monk. But Cenwalh of Wessex remained unmoved, as did his brother-in-law Penda, mighty lord of Mercia.
IN 653, King Penda of Mercia defeated Anna, King of the East Angles, in a battle near Blythburgh in Suffolk. Penda thus revenged himself on Anna for sheltering Cenwalh of Wessex, who had dared to divorce Penda’s sister, and also for persuading Cenwalh to become a Christian.* Anna’s successor, his brother Athelhere, weakly pledged loyalty to Penda.
Satisfied, Penda turned his attention to another Christian kingdom, Northumbria.* He had already defeated two Northumbrian kings, Edwin at Hatfield Chase in 633 and Oswald at Maserfield in 642; recently, he had formed an unlikely pact with Oswald’s son Ethelwald, prince of Northumbria’s southern province, Deira. Now he swore he would utterly extinguish its greater northern realm, Bernicia, and slay every man from Oswald’s brother King Oswy down to the meanest peasant.*
Oswy had offered Penda increasingly unaffordable bribes to stay out of Bernicia, painfully aware that his son Egfrid was a hostage in the Mercian court.* Bede says the bribes were refused; Nennius says Penda took them;* but both agree the treacherous king then marched on Bernicia.*
According to Bede, Penda did not stop people converting to Christianity even in Mercia; he raised no objections when his own son Peada was baptised by Bishop Finan. But he despised those who converted for reasons of politics or expediency, or who did not keep the faith after baptism.
See A map showing the Kingdom of Northumbria as its borders were in about AD 700.
Bede indicated a series of raids on Bernicia and Bamburgh by Penda, including one witnessed by St Aidan in 651. See St Aidan Returns King Penda’s Fire. Soon afterwards the wooden church Aidan had built was destroyed in another raid. It is clear that by 655 Penda could come and go more or less as he pleased.
Egfrid or Ecgfrith (?-685) became King of Northumbria in 670, on the death of his father Oswy. He was very much the warrior, and though disappointed in his attempts to conquer Mercia in 679 he had more success in southern Scotland. Nonetheless, Egfrid overreached himself at Nechtansmere in 685, and he was killed in battle. See The Battle of Nechtansmere.
Nennius (early 9th century) says the bribe was paid over at ‘Urbs Iudeu’, the island in the Firth of Forth that Bede (early 8th century) called Giudi; Penda distributed it among princes loyal to him, but reneged on his bargain. That may explain why both Nennius and Bede called Penda ‘treacherous.’
Précis
In 655, King Penda of Mercia, a pagan, threatened to lay waste to Bernicia, northern province of Christian Northumbria. The Northumbrian King, Oswy, tried to buy him off but confident of help from Athelhere of East Anglia and from Oswy’s nephew Ethelwald, ruler of Northumbria’s southern province Deira, Penda marched north regardless. (52 / 60 words)
In 655, King Penda of Mercia, a pagan, threatened to lay waste to Bernicia, northern province of Christian Northumbria. The Northumbrian King, Oswy, tried to buy him off but confident of help from Athelhere of East Anglia and from Oswy’s nephew Ethelwald, ruler of Northumbria’s southern province Deira, Penda marched north regardless.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 45 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, despite, if, may, or, ought, until, who.
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