Okay, welcome to the British History Podcast.

My name is Jamie, and this is episode 136, The Battle of Heaven Field.

The year was 633, or 634, and the tide was turning against Northumbria for the first

time in as long as anyone could probably remember.

I mean, Ethel Frith had united Northumbria, and then he had that victory at the Battle

of Chester, which wasn't just a problem for the Welsh, it was also a problem for Mercia

because of further established Northumbria and domination.

And while Ethel Frith was later killed by Raidwold and Battle, that balance of power really

didn't shift.

The North remained dominant, and we can see that evidence by the fact that Edwin immediately

took the throne and attacked El Met, and forced them into submission, and then went on something

of a rampage, dominating his neighbours, including the Mercians and the West Saxons.

Northumbria was definitely on an upswing, but now that balance of power was swinging

in the other direction.

Edwin was dead, Catwathlin was marching through Northumbria with his warbands, the males

of Edwin's line were dwindling fast with only Aidfrith left alive, and really he was

only barely alive considering that he was a prisoner of Penda.

When Aidfrith, son of Ethel Frith, was dead due to an overestimation of his own importance,

really all that was left for the North to rally around was Osric, the son of the old king

of Daera.

Sure, there were the other sons of Ethel Frith, Oswald and Oswiu, but they were up in the

region that would eventually become Scotland, here are a long ways away, so basically all

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