Brunanburh - The Battle the Made England
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- Опубліковано 19 бер 2022
- More than 100 years before the Battle of Hastings in 1066 was an even more important battle, fought in the north. Long overlooked by the history books, the Battle of Brunanburh in 937 was the battle that MADE England in the first place - or at least made sure that the north was controlled by the southern Anglo Saxons, rather than the Scots or Scandinavians.
Imagine a battle so enormous that it was the biggest in British history until that date, one army bringing a fleet larger than any seen before. Imagine a battle so crucial that it gave birth to two independent national identities. A battle of four kings. A battle between Christian and Norse gods. A battle that defined Britain for the next thousand years, and therefore the rest of the world.
Fought between bastard King Aethelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great, King Constantine II of Scotland, King Owain of Strathclyde and Anflaf Guthfrithsson, king of Dublin and the Western Isles, Brunanburh was a battle royale to settle all scores. And it happened in the north!
Sadly we don't know exactly where it took place. In this video, I want to look at the two best competing ideas for a location: the Wirral and Yorkshire.
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'Last Kingdom' clip used for educational purposes only, credit to BBC.
The History of the Anglo-Saxons is a fascinating subject.
Excellent Podcast.
I am sending this Podcast to Danish Lads to know more about Britain.
The silting up of the Dee is a relatively recent event. I remember taking a photo of my sister sitting on the river wall at Parkgate in the early '80s, when I was stood on grassy sand and when the salt marsh was much smaller than it is today. The Irish ferries only stopped from Parkgate in the early 1800s. Dredging the Mersey to keep it open for international shipping, and dumping the silt further out in the Irish Sea probably hasn't helped the Dee, Ollie. Another one of your fascinating videos, again many thanks.
Yes, thats true, Parkgate (and i think Chester before) were the main shipping ports before Liverpool. It is said that Lord Nelson met with Lady Hamilton here i believe. My ancestors were fishermen in Parkgate and my Grt grandfather used to sail on the tea clippers - before he was killed on the Lusitania.
@@gwyneth7812 Meols was an old Roman port. Roman finds wash up there.
Maps are changing now as well to show this silting. We aren't going to be a rectangle for long
There's an old Viking Quay in Neston
The river dee was a major seaway at this particular time as others have verified 👍..the invasion of the Normans in 1066 and the resulting installation of lupus of Chester as overlord of this area ,had impact on the dee ..he installed a weir to help the flow of water into mills ,which still stands today and it effectively cut the original flow of water to the Irish sea ..plus in the 1720's ..Chester hired dutch engineers to change the course of the dee into Chester to secure important sae faring business ..so obviously today ,it's not the dee that was so vast and important at the time of battle
I have never heard of The Battle of Brunanburh, Time Team never covered it. "lol" Ollie, this should be shown is schools, it's top-notch. Sad to see all the abandoned boats, so much work to build one. Thanks for this look into the history of your country.
Cheers thanks Mike!
Hi Ollie, I was hoping you'd be back soon, and here you are. What a great bit of film making mate...Brilliant!!! I knew nothing about the battle so thanks for that. Stay happy and healthy!
Cheers mike,you too!
Hi ollie, the next time you are over on the wirral, I'd suggest catching up with a few people here. The believed battle site is about 1/2 a mile from brakenwood on the other side of storeton woods. There is s spring there too and prominent hills. When you see it the are ot makes more sense. As regards to where the ships would have anchored, there is an old harbour further down the coast around Parkgate and neston.
Very cool . I'm an American from New Jersey but I've been having this deep desire to learn about European history, specifically English/Irish and Germanic (Germany, Denmark, Scandinavia) history and cultures.. The same way that that Asians or Africans feel this desire to visit the land of their ancestors is exactly how I feel about Europe.
Actually, I think I feel a bit jealous of Europeans being born their while stuck In this dump lol
The Irish have history..?🤔
Well the Anglo saxons are not limited to England. They are a ppl that have spread across the world so it isn't a surprise that there are ppl in the new world who feel a connection to their mother lands.
@@oracle8589Open a book you mong. Irish history is incredible.
The whole of the British Isles are steeped in history.
I am such history nerd and I have to say this video has to be high on my list of favorites! I'll be watching this one over and over. Well done!
Hiya jayne if your a history nerd check out Neil Oliver the Scottish TV presenter
Thank you. History nerds are the best!
An excellent summarisation of a difficult and important part of history - almost forgotten. As an aside, if the population of those eras can be mentioned it would help enormously in giving context to the numbers of warring factions involved. Eg. Around 1480, the population of 'London was around 50,000 to 60,000 I believe and the whole Nation about 3.5 million! One hundred years is about four generations so two hundred about eight so handing down accounts of past events can be elaborated upon.
I am from Germany and we still use the words Brunn and Burgh. But a bit different. Brunnen means drilled or bricked well. And Burg means Castle.
Well done. teaching us about the beginnings of England whilst we live through it's end...
Such a fascinating subject and what a dedicated and interesting person Ollie is. Really enjoyed this! Thank you for your work.
Brilliant video. So enjoyable to learn more about some of the amazing history. Well done my friend.🌹
Really enjoyed the video ! I hadn't heard of that battle at all. Very informative and great as usual !
What a brilliant history lesson, I really enjoyed listening to this. Very well done!
I'm an enthusiast of this period myself; never thought you'd be covering the dark ages Ollie. My name is Waddington, yes my ancestors came from the little village just behind Clitheroe; which some say was originally the land belonging to Wada Dux, a big chieftain of about 800AD. There is a stain glass window in Waddington's south-west church with an image of Wada on it. His line can be traced back to Odin. I have him on my family tree.
Wow that's fascinating. Yeah I only got into dark age history about ten years ago but there are so many influences all around us even today.
Americans also focus on English history. I've learned so much as an enthusiast these past 20 yrs but i remain fairly ignorant of the Medieval history really anywhere outside British Isles.
Most Americans have SOME Anglo Saxon and or Celtic blood as i do. But it's less than 12.5% total and half of that is Irish so i guess we focus on it bc we are part of the greater Anglosphere.
I came here after watching recent Last Kingdom movie so our shared culture inspires interest i guess.
Through British (Briton, anglo saxon) history we're also tied to the Romans, who we seem to emulate more and more. I'm far more roman than Celtic/Britonic or Anglo-Saxon. But our history classes and our interest looks away from Rome after the 5th century, never to return aside from interest in the Church and maybe a few footnotes during the War.
And all that is just Western European! I know some interesting bits about the far east and obviously the Levant and Mesopotamia is important but other than that, we don't have much thirst for that history.
We all love Samurai and we know that Korea, China and Japan each have fascinating history and rich, old cultures.
I guess it's all one story: men fighting occasionally while the small folk try to survive long enough to breed and raise some whelps.
At least that's how it was until the War, after which major conflict stopped. Instead we found new ways to muck it all up. Almost as if the greatest period of peace and prosperity that's lasted nearly 80 yrs was actually the worst thing that could've happened. Idk my overall point so i apologize for rambling nonsense
Woden no odin
@@sheilamckenna9448 - Exactly, Woden-Town.
Although I've a little knowledge of King Alfred (who I believe should be our patron saint) I had even less knowledge of his grandson or the battle of Brunanburh until recently so thank you for a very well presented insight
In order to be considered a Saint, Alfred would have to have been canonised, which he wasn't, so there is absolutely no possibility of him being a Patron Saint of anywhere.
Alfred declared that St Cuthbert should be the patron saint.
The river dee was navigable up to the 18th century, it was a bigger and more important port than Liverpool until it slted up, the Romans used to sail right up in to Chester.
New digs this year have found more, so Bromborough is still looking most promising
A fantastic informative video mate.Brilliantly presented. Really enjoyed watching and learning at the same time. Thanks for sharing with us. 🙏🏻👍🏻🚶🏻♂️🚶♀️. Watto.
Thanks,
Really enjoyed,great research and background evidence.
I almost didn’t click on this and that would have been a shame because it is quite well done. English history is so cool because of its depth and citable references. Im fortunate I don’t live there or I would have been cursed to learn all of it. I’ll subscribe
Thanks for your time with this very good presentation freind 🏴
Great video, very informative.
Very interesting video. Never heard of the Battle of Brunanbruh. Awesome.
Really good content , thanks
Its amazing that the so called experts of history missed this period, underplayed its importance in English History .
Failed tp exband on the importance of how the Anglo Saxons period was a period of great change with Alfred The Great period one of consolidation & state building akin to the few in WW2 in the battle of Britain
Alfred war planning led to saving of the yet to be formed Engaland with the wars against the invading Vikings . It was his Grandson Athelstan that finally defeated them & other enemies Brunanbugh in 937 thus the last kingdom.was united into England .
Thank you Bernard Cornwell for Bringing this great period of change to public notice , its thanks to BC Our true history of Englands formation has been exsposed
Thanks for explaining this loved the video
Love this channel mate oner me fave. More medieval content would be cool
Bloody brilliant.
Why didn't i know any of this ? Fascinating.
Thanks mate
The River Dee over 1000 years was not so sandy. The filling up of the Dee led to Liverpool replacing Chester as a port.
Yes I believe so. This is something I learned after the video and totally overlooked in my research :/
The name brunanarh means Bromborough and the battle was from there up to Bidston with some of the losing side sailing from thingwall (dingesmere )to Dublin (dubb linn ) from were olaf the King of Ireland had came from
Better than how I put it! 😁
No were near your level great research and very informative videos good stuff 👏
Cheers mate, that's what I always thought too.
Interesting video and great to see some of the sites. One consideration though is that the area of the Dee you talked about looked very different and could have provided ample landing opportunities - evidence of this would include the facts of Chester previously being a Roman port highlighting the high waters of the past, also gradually over time trading ports moved down the wirral coast closer to the Irish sea. Access to that part of the Wirral coast would have been achievable for a viking landing during the time period, also trading with Ireland from this side of the Wirral continued right up until the 19th century until the silting and the new cut to Chester ended the access.
Real history right there
I think there might have been a mix up in thinking the allied fleet's route was into the Dee and not the Mersey. What about the river estuaries flowing into the Mersey on the eastern side of the Wirral -The Birket and The Diddin; could their estuary mouths not have sheltered the allied fleet? The Didden particularly is very close to Bromborough - and the larger Birket is only a few miles north.
Really a 'Let's go outside and sort this' type of battle!
Storeton Woods, Wirral, from the M53, turn off at Clatterbridge (large hospital nearby), head towards Birkenhead / Tranmere Rovers just a mile or so away, note Brackenwood Golf Course on the right / North, Red Hill Road, Left on the top - said to have run red with blood after the day long battle, the most bloody battle ever in England. Folk Lore always said there was a massive Battle way back in history in Storeton Woods (even told personally)..
Fascinating video! I grew up on the Wirral, living across the road from Brackenwood Golf Course before moving to Bromborough in 1970s. In the video, at 13.34 you incorrectly identify the location of Brackenwood GC. The area highlighted is actually Bromborough GC. Brackenwood GC is approx 2 miles up the motorway (visible next to the marked area), directly north of the junction seen at the top of the map.
This in no way takes away from the compelling story, but should be corrected for historical accuracy!
Well done with the pronunciations. I've no idea how accurate they were but they all sounded good to me.😁 I know precious little about English history and admit I'd never heard opf this battle but I did wonder, early on, if Bromborough would be the modern equivalent.
Maybe it's time to get yourself a metal detector; hjave a wander about and see what relics you find. A wee-researched piece though and enjoyable, as well as educational.👍😁
Good one :)
There has been substantial evidence found recently on the Wirral. Axe heads, remains of swords, mass graves basically debris left from a major battle all of the correct date and type. It's a fairly new discovery, so much work still to do, but what has been found so far has many acheologists and academics convinced that it was actually on the Wirral near modern Bromborough. The number of items found could only have come from a substantial battle.
History hit, with Dan Snow, has made a very informative documentary on the new discoveries on the Wirral.
Yes, and the team reckon that they have only looked at about a tenth of the full site as yet. They have already recovered over 2,000 artefacts, many of which have been corroborated by experts to date from the 10th century. It's beginning to look pretty conclusively that Bromborough is the site of the Battle of Brunanburh.
Thanks, a very interesting video. It makes me want to go back to uni but ive already got a £35000 loan student loan.
Has the Burnley connection been discounted these days? One thing that stood out to me, you didn't say "Vikings". How come?
excellent history lesson they should teach this in schools instead of going on and on about the tudors!
Great stuff that lad didn't even know 🤠
I am constantly amazed at the lack of knowledge given to kids. This should be prime teaching material!
....... but I (and I suspect many others) are kept in ignorance!
Keep up the good work matey!
Must be talking about liberal American schools.
@@jetsons101 No! Modern UK ones! ;o) Kids everywhere are being taught Not to think! Adults are fed a drivel of mind numbing pap to keep the status quo!
@@totherarf Trade our biden for your Queen???
@@jetsons101 No chance. We're getting 2 public holidays extra this year. You can have her next year.
@@jetsons101 Now that is a tough one! I'll take it if we can throw Charlie in as well! ;o)
Aged 57 love history but have never heard of this battle until I was talking to a metal detectorist yesterday , proves you never stop learning , I googled it and maybe this battle took place at morthern South yorks on a ridge above Whiston I understand morthern means meeting place or slaughterfield ? there's also a saxon cross , Hampole is a stones throw away realy could it be , thanks to the metal detectorist thas got meh thinkin 😁
I always thought it was fought at Bromborough thus giving Bromborough its name.
Christ, imagine you're on the back nine and suddenly a battle breaks out. "Do I play through?"... "Play through..."
All we know about the location is.. it was somewhere between the Mersey and Lancaster.. There is a clue on Winter Hill as the "Two Lads" cairns are supposedly memorials to two Saxon princes who fell in the battle... so I would guess they can be seen from the site of the battle somewhere on the flat land between Liverpool and Blackpool.. By the way... they are absolutely massive so may actually be covering older round barrows. I don't know of any archaeology having been done up there on them ever.
Ooo interesting thanks! I've not heard of that. I'll take a look.
Somewhere around the Preston area seems feasible. The fighters who came from Ireland could have sailed down the ribble. There was a huge silver hoard found in the banks of the ribble (cuerdale hoard) and this may have been deposited before or after this battle.
I recall reading - somewhere - that History is written by the side that won! As you noticed, both the Dee and Mersey estuaries are tidal mud-flats, so getting a larger (small by modern standards) boat in there wouldn't be too difficult, if it was timed correctly. - - - Did you go and have a look at Sarinda (You-tube Ship Happens) while you wre there? - - None of this was ever taught when I was at school, we did Hastings, but nothing much before or after, except a brief look at the Romans.
Yeah I never heard of this at school. It's been badly overlooked. I did see that boat but I only heard of the channel after I'd gone so it was funny timing. It looks cool though
@@BeeHereNowuk - They've got a lot of work to do, to bring Sarinda back to seaworthiness
Fascinating stuff. The river Dee may be silted up near Thingwall now but who nows how it was in 937. Parkgate which is upstream from Thingwall was used in 1690 by William of Orange (William III) to sail to Ireland, Parkgate is now "landlocked" by marshland and not suitable for navigation. Boats sailed from Parkgate up to about the 1860s.
Thingwall is in the middle of Wirral not on the coast.
A cracking story
The Dee has silted since the romans had a harbour in chester and especially since the Mersey harbour board works to create the Liverpool docks which accelerated the process leaving Parkgate, previously a significant port, landlocked.
During this time. Chester had a harbour. The Dee was navigable the same as the Mersey. The archaeologists a year on from this have since found a lot more iron work and feel confident that they have discovered a battle site. As you know they haven’t discovered any signs at battle. The ground of 1066 battle of Hastings. So it seems extremely hard to find these sights definitively. This battle also was the death nell of Britain Celtic gods as the Saxons made everyone believe in there foreign god. Or be killed. So it began a huge death toll on the peasants and warriors who believed so many other gods and sprites in thousands of woodlands and springs. So much local history destroyed
Ollie.
It`s just an idea that I wanted to run past you.
My name is George Walls and I live in Wigan.
Wigan is thought to have been a Roman Town on the Road running through Lancashire from Wilderspool on the River Mersey, North to Lancaster and then on to Scotland.
The Norse did come to Lancashire, landing on the Lancashire Coast.
If Constantine and Owen marched South, would it not be possible that they used the Road from Lancaster to Wigan?
That the Danes from Ireland landed either on the North Bank of the Mersey, or the Lancashire Coast?
Then the 3 Kings joined up in order to move South?
The Monk Nennius said that King Arthur fought the Anglo-Saxons near the River Dubglas on 4 occasions.
The River Douglas runs through Wigan.
One origin for the name Wigan says that Wigan is Anglo-Saxon meaning Battles.
It is believed that Roman Wigan may have been called Coccium.
Is it possible that the “Brun” may originate in the Welsh or Celtic word “Bryn” meaning hill.
I read somewhere that to pluralise a word in Anglo-Saxon you can use “an” as in Wigan.
If you mix the Welsh word Bryn and the Anglo-Saxons pluralised it to Brynan or Brunan and add “Burh” you could get Brunanburh.
Coccium is believed to have got it`s name from the Latin for red.
I think that the Anglo-Saxon Brún means to brown.
Brown is similar to red, if the buildings were brick and not stone.
Wigan is also built on a hill (Bryn), in a hilly area.
I read that the name of Brunanburh was lost as the place simply began toi be called the place of the Battle or Battles if it was fought over 2 days.
As I have said, it has been suggested that Wigan means place of Battles.
If the name of Brunanburh was lost, then I suspect that it is unlikely that it would have developed into Bromburgh.
As regards Dingesmere, there is an area on the North Bank of the Mersey called Dingle.
As regards the Danes landing in the Humber, I think that the Kingdom of Northumbria was named because it was North of the River Humber.
At one stage, I think that the Southern Border of Northumbria was the River Mersey.
If Northumbria was North of the Humber, could there not have been confusion and that the Mersey was the new “Humber”?
Hi George, thanks for watching my video. I love your idea, I think you've got some great arguments there about Wigan. I wonder what more scholarly people think about it as a potential site. It looks like a solid theory to me and the battle is so mysterious still that it could be anywhere within the North, though I personally think it was probably within Merseyside or Lancashire. I think the placename Brunanburh is probably more complicated, like your say. Thanks for the info. I might look into that myself!
Great video butt at 13:33 thats not Brackenwood golf course
Was watching last kingdom brought me to this
You must take into account that the coastline, due to erosion and the landscape, through land clearing, would have changed considerably since the battle.
Send the geophysics team of Time Team 😊
you beat me to it!
they are currently doing new digs on their channel, and if they get a lead, just maybe......
Baldrick finds Brunanburh!
Riveting.. that’s your PhD sorted. Thanks for the excellent graphics must have taken a mass of time.
Research paid off then. Great vid. You probably know but runcorn railway bridge is built on the site of a fortress belonging to Ethelfreya!
I notice one of the raiding partys landed not far from blackpool were i am , obviously way back then there was no such place as blackpool ,i noticed earl of the wyre on the map obviously in reference to the river wyre ,that comes from the irish sea to the fylde coast and fleetwood ,could they have gone fown the river wyre back then in low water ,they would carry there boats lol.
Great but I always for that battle was more north like Carlisle
A clue comes from Icelamdic. The word Brunanbur means fire pit in Icelandic.
Could it be Burnley was once called brunleigh
It’s 937 AD not CE
But chester was a port and the dee was free of mud etc
In the thumbnail image for this video the warrior has a “man-bun”. Surely he would have had a helmet or, at least , a manly haircut.
I think only one if any chose a site like this f or battle
HYPE🎉#YORK🏵️🇬🇧But .❔ WHAT IF Scottish Had WON😏🤔💭
Welcome to the world
Well The Battle for England, If it's a good thing or not is a matter of a viewpoints really.
It transcends good or bad, it’s the birthing of a nation
No Ireland without this battle, Ireland would have just been a viking land and possibly all Ireland taken as slaves to Iceland!!
Great video. Let’s claim it for Wirral anyway 👍
Mersey means Boundary River.. v mossy and boggy. Kjarr) Bescar, Hoscar, Ormskirk. R.Alt, R.Douglas. Hesketh, Toxteth.
the Dee has only recently been this silted
Looking at the various names of the location, I think I’ve used all of those after slicing my ball into the woods.
U
Eddington was 878
This is England.
I'm old enough to find the, 'CE', use, damned annoying.
Why do it?
Yep, that CE and BCE thing is so annoying. Tip toeing around the delicate feelings of non Christians. Pathetic.
I’m confused by the claim of the biggest battle and largest number of casualties to date. I would have thought Wattling Road and the destruction of Boudicca and her army would have claimed that title.
I believe research and debate have had an overwhelming Anglo/Scandinavian bias. Whereas a real indicator of where the battle took place would be to study the early medieval history of the Scots, in combination with an emphasis on the logistical limitations of all the armies involved. If the serious student followed my advice, they would almost certainly arrive at a conclusion very much at odds with a lot which has been said in the comments section.
Marston is important. Shame our ancestors let the royalist, aristocratic, masonic and oligarchic back in after defeating them in the Civil War. We pay for that mistake now.
Then the Normans French arrived and completely wiped out the English 😊
The Normans were “ Nortmanni” (Northmen) and were originally pagan pirates from Denmark, Norway and Iceland (Viking). They spoke Gallo-Roman and certainly did not see themselves as Franks ( French ). In their propaganda, they despised the Franks. The English had just destroyed a large Viking army at Stamford bridge that had landed a month earlier in October 1066. In that battle, Harold lost a lot of his soldiers. Those that he had left then had to walk over 270 miles to then fight William at Hastings, who’s troops were rested and fully prepared. The battle was going in Harold’s favour, with William unable to break the Saxon line and shield wall. He had to feign a retreat to cause the Saxon flank to pursue, thus resulting in them being cut down by horse and the battle lost. Utter bollox they were completely wiped out…far from it. Even as William made his way inland over the days later, the Saxons elected a new king..Edgar Aetheling.
That never happened, for one they were Vikings in 1066, you don't seem to notice we're still here.
I have nightmares about the Norman's...they've ruined my life...can l get reparations from France?
Really The Anglo saxons more less had to fight 2 Viking armies beat the first one chased back to the sea then had to march back 270 miles and still nearly beat the Norman's you obviously haven't got a clue about English history and yes like the other guy wrote we are still here 🏴⚔️
They didn't wipe out the English at all. You clearly don't have a clue about this period