Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is episode 266.

The Rise of Atholflad and the Breaking of Northumbria.

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The Battle of Tent and Hall as we discussed last episode, in many respects remains a mystery

to us. We aren't certain of the circumstances that started the battle exactly where the

battle took place nor which Anglo-Saxon leaders actually fought in it. But one thing scholars

agree upon is that Mercia and Wessex won a resounding victory and that this victory meant that

the Danes were in for more war. At the time, Tent and Hall may have felt like just one

more battle, but it was about to set off a cascading chain of events that will eventually

lead to the formation of England. Because that battle, even though it's just lightly

mentioned in the Chronicle, would go on to cause a tectonic shift in the balance of power

between the Anglo-Saxon and the Danish kingdoms in Britain.

To begin to understand this domino effect, you have to know that this defeat was cattest

and straffic for Northumbria. In a single battle, they had lost two of their kings and

...