The Fall of the House of Æthelfrith

by H A CULLEY

  At first Lugh didn’t react. Catinus worried that he’d flee back to their base, in which event they would be formed up and ready to oppose his men as they disembarked unless the Mercians had been successful in taking the place. Thankfully Lugh wasn’t a man to avoid a fight just because he was outnumbered.

  One of his birlinns turned to engage the one approaching from the east and another headed for the one coming in from the west. Lugh himself continued on course to meet the two approaching from the south.

  Catinus watched Lugh’s ship carefully. If he was Lugh he wouldn’t place his birlinn in the middle of two enemy ships. Although Lugh’s birlinn was a little larger than either of Catinus’, with two more oars a side, he was bound to be overwhelmed by the combined Northumbrian crews.

  ‘What do you expect him to do?’ Catinus’ helmsman asked.

  ‘Turn at the last moment to run down the side of one or other of our birlinns, sheering off our oars so we’d be immobilised,’ Catinus replied. ‘Then he could attack and take our second ship before we could go to its aid.’

  The helmsmen nodded in understanding.

  ‘Be ready to pull in your oars on my order,’ he shouted to his rowers.

  Catinus’ second birlinn was now closer, ready to trap the Hibernian ship between them. He waited until they were within hailing distance and then warned them what he expected the enemy to do. He didn’t need to explain what he wanted the other birlinn to do, they had practiced the manoeuvre several times.

  When Lugh was a hundred yards away his helmsman put his steering oar hard over. The rowers on his port side backed their oars whilst those on the starboard side give one last pull and then raised their oars. The birlinn turned sharply to port ready to run down the starboard side of Catinus’ ship.

  However, both Northumbrian birlinns swung to starboard at practically the same time, taking Lugh by surprise. Once Catinus’ birlinn had passed in front of the Hibernian ship his helmsman swung the steering oar hard over to starboard and the oars on that side pulled harder. At the same time the port side rowers pulled in their oars and grabbed their weapons and shields.

  The port side of the Northumbrian birlinn smashed the oars on the port side of the pirate, crushing the rowers’ ribs and breaking bones as it did so. A little later the second Northumbrian ship did the same to the starboard side. This time some of the enemy rowers had managed to pull their oars inboard in time but many hadn’t. With half his crew incapacitated and with two birlinns secured to his ship with grappling irons, the outcome was a forgone conclusion.

  Catinus still limped from the wound to his thigh so he wisely left the fighting to others. Eadstan therefore led his warriors onto the enemy ship. As he landed, seax in hand as it was much better for close quarter fighting, he was faced with a giant Hibernian wielding an axe. Eadstan stumbled as he landed on the walkway between the rowing benches, which saved his life as the axe whistled over his head.

  The axeman had expected his weapon to connect with Eadstan’s body and, when it didn’t, he had trouble keeping his balance. Eadstan seized the opportunity to thrust his seax into the giant’s belly. At first he thought that his thrust hadn’t done much damage as the man gave a roar of fury and raised his axe to chop Eadstan’s head in two. But then his eyes glazed over as he looked at the seax buried up to its hilt in his guts. He roared again, this time in pain and toppled off the walkway down into the space where the rowers sat.

  Eadstan drew his sword as his seax was now out of reach and looked around for his next opponent, but the only fight still in progress was on the aft deck where the helmsman stood. Lugh was the last of the enemy standing. He had managed to kill two men but then, as Eadstan watched, one of Catinus’ warriors put a spear through his throat.

  The wounded and those injured when the ships had come together were quickly dispatched and then, leaving half a dozen men and two ships boys as a skeleton crew to take the birlinn back to Duboglassio, Catinus sent the other birlinn to help the one that was engaged with a pirate ship to the east whilst he set sail for the battle taking place to the west.

  By the time he got there it was all over. The Northumbrian birlinn had been bigger than the Hibernian and, although they’d lost ten men with another half a dozen wounded, they had managed to capture the Hibernian ship.

  ‘Catinus, our other ship is in trouble.’ Eadstan pointed towards the last Hibernian birlinn and he saw that his fourth ship had managed to ram it, but now both ships were slowly sinking. A fierce battle was raging and, to his dismay, he saw that it was taking place on his birlinn. The ship that had been with him initially was coming towards them but they were headed into the wind and were reliant on the rowers only. They arrived just as the holed Hibernian sank, pulling the other ship, which was lashed to it, under as well.

  When they got there they rowed around rescuing the survivors from the sunken Northumbrian birlinn although, as pitifully few could swim, there weren’t many of them. By the time that Catinus had arrived the others had picked up ten in all out of a crew of over thirty. Their foes were left to drown.

  When his three birlinns and the two captured ones arrived at the jetty at Duboglassio he found a grinning Ethelred waiting for him. He had lost a few men but eventually the battering ram had broken the bar holding the gates closed and they had swarmed into the settlement. It had taken them over an hour to root out and kill or capture the defendants and now his men were busy rounding up the Hibernian families to be sold into slavery.

  Just at that moment Alweo arrived on one of the birlinns from Rhumsaa. Leaving most of his men to clear up, he’d decided to see how things were going at the main settlement.

  ‘Well, I suppose I’d better call you Cyning now,’ Ethelred laughed, throwing his arm around the new King of Man.

  ‘Thank you both of you. I’ve brought the treasure we found in Rhumsaa with me. I suppose we had better start to decide what constitutes the various shares. Have you found much plunder here?’

  ‘We have, not just silver and a little gold and a few jewels, but fine cloth and even some spices. However, that can wait,’ Ethelred said. ‘I’m so thirsty I could drink a barrel of ale in one go. Let’s celebrate our victory first.’

  It took another month to scour the island for fugitives and impose Alweo’s rule over all of the Isle of Man so it was early June before Herewith arrived with their son and her servants. She brought Headda, Bishop of Lichfield, with her to crown Alweo and the ceremony took place two days after that.

  However, by that time Catinus had returned to Bebbanburg with his birlinns, taking Lugh’s captured ship to replace the one he’d lost. He’d managed to recruit a few young men and several boys to partly replace those he’d lost but he still couldn’t man all the oars for the return journey. Therefore they made slow progress when the wind was against them.

  On the other hand Ethelred had no reason to hurry back to Mercia and so he decided to stay and travel back with Headda after the coronation. The ceremony took place in the king’s hall; a timber building of a design that was peculiar to Man. The walls were made of upright logs with a mixture of straw, mud and dung forced into the gaps between the logs to keep out the wind. Outside of the walls there was a colonnade of timber columns which supported the roof frame. This was made of curved timbers with horizontal battens to produce a cylindrical frame onto which panels of woven twigs had been tied; finally cut sods of turf had been laid on top.

  The door was located in the long side that faced away from the prevailing wind and the hall’s few windows had been cut into that side. There were shutters but they weren’t generally needed if it rained as the timber colonnade sheltered the windows.

  The interior was one big space, except for two rooms partitioned off along the far wall. These were a store room and the king’s private chamber. Smoke from the central hearth escaped from the hall via a square chimney built into the apex of the roof. This consisted of a pyramidal roof supported on four short uprights. The wind blew across the hole in t
he roof, drawing out the smoke, whilst the capping prevented most of the rain from entering. Ethelred thought it was a clever idea and intended to suggest that Wulfhere copy it when he returned to Tamworth.

  Alweo entered dressed in clothing made from the cloth which had been stolen by the Hibernian pirates. He was followed by Herewith, also wearing a new robe made from the same bolt of cloth as her husband tunic, holding little Æthelbald’s hand. The robe had been made a little fuller than her others as she was expecting their second child. The bishop and Ethelred, representing King Wulfhere, brought up the rear of the little procession. It took its time to reach the dais at the north hand end of the hall as Æthelbald could only take small steps but he’d refused to be carried.

  Alweo took the throne in the centre and his wife the chair beside it. Their son sat at her feet. Headda picked up the Manx crown, which had been recovered from the Hibernians’ hoard and lifted it above Alweo’s head.

  At the moment that the bishop crowned the new King of Man Catinus was on the last stretch of the long voyage around the north of Britain back to Bebbanburg. As Alweo took the oaths of his newly appointed thegns in the hall at Duboglassio, the fortress appeared out of the thin mist that hung over the sea, standing proudly on its rock. However, this time the elation Catinus always felt when he saw his home again was tempered by an uneasy feeling that all was not well.

  Chapter Five – The Battle of Loidis

  674 AD

  It had taken Catinus a long time to get over the death of Leoflaed. The baby had been born prematurely and it had been a breech birth. Her women had been unable to staunch the bleeding and she died ten hours later. The baby girl had stopped breathing almost as soon as her mother had breathed her last. They had been buried together in the same coffin on a cold, wet day in early May when Catinus was still on Man. A messenger had been sent to tell him but he’d arrived after Catinus had sailed.

  Catinus sank into despondency and it seemed that nothing interested him anymore. He had asked his chaplain why God had taken her from him but the priest had no answer. No one seemed able to comfort him. His daughter Hereswith was far away on Man and, although his elder son was given leave by Abbot Eata to leave Lindisfarne to visit him, Alaric failed to elicit much of a response from him.

  Osfrid had tried to talk to his father once but Catinus had rebuffed him and told him to leave him alone. He didn’t try again. The nine year old boy had taken the rejection badly and he hardened his heart against his father.

  Whilst Catinus was away Leoflaed had conducted the business of the shire, assisted by the new reeve, a young man called Morcar, and the captain of the garrison, Godwald. When she died Osfrid announced his intention of taking over, including presiding over the shire court. Many had laughed at the idea of a young boy sitting in judgement over them but they soon found out that he was clever, astute and fair.

  When his father had shut himself away to mourn his wife, Osfrid continued to run the shire and the fortress, assisted by the Morcar, Godwald and now that he had returned, Eadstan.

  ‘Lord, it’s been six months since we returned and it’ll soon be winter,’ Eadstan told Catinus one day. ‘We need to make preparation or people will die. Osfrid has done a remarkable job of managing the shire for you so far, but you need to help your thegns prepare for the coming winter. We also need to organise a wolf hunt or they’ll come down from the hills when they’re starving and decimate our livestock. We can advise Osfrid but it isn’t our responsibility, or his. It’s yours.’

  ‘Osfrid has been acting as Ealdorman?’

  ‘Who else, lord? Morcar, Godwald and I have done what we can to help but he has had to make the decisions. When I’ve asked you a question all you do is tell me to do what I think is best. I’m the leader of your gesith, I’m not a noble, nor would I wish to be one.’

  ‘Where is my son?’

  ‘He’s in the hall organising the collection of taxes.’

  ‘Send him to me when he is finished.’

  ‘Yes, lord. And don’t forget he’s not yet ten and he’s missing his mother just as much as you’re missing your wife.’

  Catinus nodded and engaged in some hard thinking whilst he waited for his son.

  ‘I’m sorry, Osfrid. I didn’t mean you to have to bear the burden of my duties. I just didn’t think about it.’

  ‘No, you didn’t,’ the boy replied coldly. ‘You were so absorbed in your own grief that you never thought about me and what I must be feeling. You neglected your responsibilities but I couldn’t. Consequently I felt duty bound to step in when mother died, but I expected you to take over when you returned. Instead I had to carry on acting as the ealdorman. I needed you to lift the burden from my shoulders and help me though my grief, but you did neither of these things.’

  The stare he gave Catinus showed more than any words how resentful he felt.

  ‘I know I was selfish and wrapped up in self-pity, but I loved your mother and I couldn’t bear living without her.’

  ‘And you think I didn’t?’

  ‘No, of course not.’

  ‘I’d just lost my mother and when you came back I thought that you would comfort me. Instead you treated me as if I didn’t exist. Do you know what that did to me?’

  ‘Yes, I can imagine. It’s no good telling you how sorry I am. All I can say is that I now realise that I need to pull myself together and be a proper father to you. Despite what you might think, I do love you. I can understand how bitter you feel at the moment; I can only hope you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me in time.’

  ‘I take it that I no longer need to act the ealdorman and that you’ll take over?’ his son said, his voice devoid of emotion.

  ‘Yes, most certainly, but I’ll need your help. I need to know what the current problems are and anything else you think I should know.’

  His son’s detachment hurt him nearly as much as his wife’s death had.

  Osfrid was a strong character and he didn’t readily forgive his father for his neglect, but by the time he turned ten they were beginning to behave towards each other like father and son again. Then the messenger from Ecgfrith arrived.

  ‘Osfrid, you need to hear this. Repeat what you have just told me.’

  ‘Yes lord, King Ecgfrith sends you his greetings and …’

  ‘No, not all the usual preamble, just the nub of the message.’

  ‘Sorry, lord. King Wulfhere has broken the truce that he had agreed with King Oswiu and has crossed into Deira to support a pretender to the Deiran throne. Ealdorman Catinus is to move with all speed to join King Ecgfrith with his warband at Eoforwīc and instruct his fyrd to follow on as soon as possible.’

  ‘Does that mean you are going to leave again?’ his son asked despondently.

  ‘I don’t have a choice, Osfrid. I must do as the king commands.’

  The boy nodded, his misery evident in his face. Catinus was going to ask him to take charge of the shire and the fortress whilst he was gone, but the rift between them was all too recently healed. Morcar and Godwald would just have to manage on their own whilst he was away.

  ‘Well what are you waiting for, boy. Go and get ready, and don’t forget to have the armourer sharpen your seax.’

  ‘You mean I’m to come with you?’

  ‘Of course, being ealdorman isn’t all sitting in judgement and collecting taxes. How else are you going to learn how to command warriors?’

  The smile that lit up his son’s face gladdened Catinus’ heart and gave him reason to hope that his son had managed to put the past behind him.

  ~~~

  In the same way that Ecgfrith had agents in Mercia and several other kingdoms in the south, so Wulfhere had agents in Northumbria. A rumour had recently been circulating in Eoforwīc that Ecgfrith had decided that it was time to take action against the Britons of Rheged in retaliation for their support of Alchfrith three years previously. The rumour was that he had ordered his Bernician and Lothian eorls and ealdormen to muster their men
at Yeavering ready to strike into Rheged.

  The first part of the rumour had some foundation in fact; Ecgfrith had been discussing with his Witan how to deal with the rebels in Rheged. However, no firm decision had been reached, no plans had been made and no muster at Yeavering had been ordered.

  The Mercians crossed the border and headed north east towards Loidis and Eoforwīc. The Deirans were outnumbered but they fought a series of delaying actions to give Ecgfrith the time to mobilise his army. By the time that Ecgfrith had assembled his nobles and their war bands, together with the fyrds of eastern Deira, Wulfhere was besieging his brother, the thirteen year old Ælfwine, in Loidis. Ælfwine should have been at Ripon Monastery, where he was being educated with the novices, but he’d gone to the capital of the kingdom of which he was the titular ruler for the funeral of the Eorl of Elmet.

  ‘Cyning, it would be better to wait until your full army has assembled,’ Octa, Redwald’s replacement as hereræswa, advised Ecgfrith.

  ‘I can’t wait. My brother is in Loidis. I won’t risk him being killed or captured.’

  Ecgfrith and Ælfwine had always been close and the king worried about him when they were apart, even when he wasn’t in danger as he was now.

  ‘I understand, but at least wait until Ruaidhrí gets here with his horsemen. We need his trained scouts.’

  Ecgfrith nodded. ‘How many men do we have here already?’

  ‘About fifty horsemen, four hundred warriors and nine hundred in the fyrd.’

  The king sighed. ‘And you say that the latest reports put Wulfhere’s strength at two thousand?’

  ‘Yes, but I’d rather wait for reports from Ruaidhrí’s scouts. The estimates we have now aren’t very reliable. Some say no more than fifteen hundred and other over three thousand.’