The Battle of Deorham (or Dyrham) is claimed as a decisive military encounter between the
West Saxons
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons
, common_name = Wessex
, image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg
, map_caption = S ...
and the
Britons
British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mod ...
of the
West Country in 577. The battle, which was a major victory for
Wessex's forces led by
Ceawlin
Ceawlin (also spelled Ceaulin and Caelin, died ''ca.'' 593) was a King of Wessex. He may have been the son of Cynric of Wessex and the grandson of Cerdic of Wessex, whom the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' represents as the leader of the first group ...
and his son,
Cuthwine
Cuthwine, born c. 565, was a member of the House of Wessex, the son of King Ceawlin of Wessex. Cuthwine's father Ceawlin was deposed from the throne of Wessex in 592 by his nephew Ceol. Therefore, Cuthwine never inherited the throne. Cuthwin ...
, resulted in the capture of the
Brythonic cities of (
Gloucester), (
Cirencester
Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...
), and (
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
). It also led to the permanent cultural and ethnic separation of (
Devon and
Cornwall) from
Wales.
Account
The ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...
'' (The A or 'Winchester Manuscript') entry for 577 reads:
"577 ''Here Cuthwine and Ceawlin fought against the Britons, and they killed 3 kings, Coinmail, Condidan and Farinmail, in the place which is called Deorham, and took 3 cities:
Gloucester and
Cirencester
Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...
and
Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
''"
''Deorham'' is generally taken to be
Dyrham in what is now South Gloucestershire, on the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Ju ...
escarpment a few miles north of Bath. This entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the only evidence for the battle.
Historicity
Some scholars have questioned whether the entry in the ninth-century ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' records a real event. Patrick Sims-Williams has argued that the entry may have been a later invention incorporating elements of an early Welsh source for the names of the kings. The purpose of the entry may have been to legitimate West Saxon claims on part of the territory of the Hwicce in the ninth century.
Presumed strategy and tactics
The
Severn Valley
The Severn Valley is a rural area of the West Midlands region of England, through which the River Severn runs and the Severn Valley Railway steam heritage line operates, starting at its northernmost point in Bridgnorth, Shropshire and running ...
has always been one of the military keys of Britain, and some of the decisive battles of the Saxon conquest were fought to control it. In 577 Ceawlin advanced from the
Thames Valley across the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Ju ...
to seize the area and break the power of the Britons in the lower Severn area.
Some historians (such as Welbore St Clair Baddeley in 1929) have concluded that the Saxons may have launched a surprise attack and seized the hill fort at Hinton Hill Camp (Dyrham Camp) because it commanded the
Avon Valley, and disrupted communications north and south between Bath and her neighbouring Romano-British towns of Gloucester and Cirencester. Once the Saxons were in occupation of the site (and had begun reinforcing the existing
Iron Age defensive structures at the site) the Britons of those three towns were compelled to unite and make a combined attempt to dislodge them. Their attempt failed and the three opposing British kings were killed (they are named as Commagil of Gloucester, Condidan of Cirencester, and Farinmagil of Bath). Their routed forces were driven north of the
River Severn and south of Bath where it appears they began the construction of the defensive earthwork called the ''
Wansdyke'' in a doomed attempt to prevent more territory from being lost.
The military historian Lieutenant-Colonel
Alfred Burne
Alfred Higgins Burne DSO (1886–1959) was a soldier and military historian.A.H. Burne''The Battlefields of England''. He invented the concept of Inherent Military Probability; in battles and campaigns where there is some doubt over what action ...
, employing his theory of 'Inherent Military Probability' opted for a simpler explanation for the battle than Baddeley.
[Burne, pp. 16–21.] In his view Ceawlin was methodically advancing towards the Severn and the three forces of Britons concentrated to stop him. Burne suggests that they formed up along two slight ridges across the trackway that skirted the
Forest of Braden, with Hinton Hill Camp behind them as their stores depot – a position similar to that adopted at the
Battle of Beranburh in AD 556.
Burne pointed out that if the Saxon attack drove the Britons back from their first line onto the second ridge near the edge of the escarpment, the slightest further retreat would leave their flanks open to a downhill pursuit. He speculates that this is what occurred, with the three Briton leaders and their main body being driven back into the fort while the flanking Saxons driving forwards swept round behind the promontory on which the fort stands. A last stand in this position would explain why none of the three Briton leaders was able to escape.
[
]
Outcome
The battle has been claimed as a major military, cultural, and economic victory for the early Kingdom of Wessex and a blow to the Romano-British because they lost the three cities of , a provincial capital in the Roman period
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
(Cirencester
Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...
); , a former '' colonia'' ( Gloucester); and , a renowned spa and pagan religious centre (Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
). However, archaeological evidence suggests that these towns had been largely abandoned in the early fifth century and lay in ruins by the late sixth century. Eventually the area became part of the minor Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom of ...
kingdom of Hwicce
Hwicce () was a tribal kingdom in Anglo-Saxon England. According to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', the kingdom was established in 577, after the Battle of Deorham. After 628, the kingdom became a client or sub-kingdom of Mercia as a result of the ...
.
Some academics believe the battle was also the starting point when Welsh and Cornish began to become two separate languages. Germanic-speaking Saxons now held the lands between the Celtic peoples in South West England and those in Wales and the English Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Mercia, Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in ...
, whose territory would be conquered
Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms.
Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, ...
by the Angles
The Angles ( ang, Ængle, ; la, Angli) were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name is the root of the name ' ...
of Mercia
la, Merciorum regnum
, conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia
, common_name=Mercia
, status=Kingdom
, status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex ()
, life_span=527–918
, era=Heptarchy
, event_start=
, date_start=
, ye ...
in the 8th century.[Finberg, pp. 22–3.] Others point out that, transport by water being then less costly than by land, contact by sea was still readily available, and indeed a Welsh genealogy record states that a cadet branch from the kings of Dogfeiling founded a dynasty in the Glastonbury region in the 6th century and which survived until the late 8th or early 9th century.
In popular culture
The Battle of Deorham and its aftermath features in the early chapters of Rosemary Sutcliff
Rosemary Sutcliff (14 December 1920 – 23 July 1992) was an English novelist best known for children's books, especially historical fiction and retellings of myths and legends. Although she was primarily a children's author, some of her novel ...
's historical novel '' Dawn Wind''.
Notes
References
''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''
From the ''Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society'' "The Battle of Deorham" by T. G. P. Hallett, 1883–84, Vol. 8, 62–73
From the ''Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society'' "The Battle of Dyrham AD 577" by Welbore St Clair Baddeley, 1929, Vol. 51, 95–101
Everything2 entry for the battle
* Lt-Col Alfred H. Burne, ''More Battlefields of England'', London: Methuen, 1952.
* H. P. R. Finberg
Herbert Patrick Reginald Finberg (1900–1974) was an English historian, typographer and publisher. After working at several publishing companies and founding his own (Alcuin Press), he joined the faculty of Leicester University in 1952. He became ...
, ''The Formation of England, 550–1042'', London: Hart-Davis, MacGibbon, 1974/Paladin, 1976.
* John Morris, ''The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1973, .
* J.N.L. Myres, ''The Oxford History of England: The English Settlements'', Oxford: Clarendon, 1986, .
The Modern Antiquarian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deorham
577
570s
570s conflicts
6th century in England
Battles involving the Britons
Battles involving Wessex
Military history of Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire District