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Penda of Mercia

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Historical figures

   Stained glass window from the cloister of Worcester Cathedral showing
   the death of Penda of Mercia.
   Enlarge
   Stained glass window from the cloister of Worcester Cathedral showing
   the death of Penda of Mercia.

   Penda (died November 15, 655) was a 7th-century King of Mercia, a
   kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when
   Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda
   participated in the defeat of the powerful Northumbrian king Edwin at
   the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633. Nine years later, he defeated and
   killed Edwin's eventual successor, Oswald, at the Battle of Maserfield;
   from this point he was probably the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon
   rulers of the time. He defeated the East Angles, drove the king of
   Wessex into exile for three years, and continued to wage war against
   the Bernicians of Northumbria. Thirteen years after Maserfield, he
   suffered a crushing defeat and was killed at the Battle of the Winwaed
   in the course of a final campaign against the Bernicians.

Descent, beginning of reign, and battle with the West Saxons

   Penda was a son of Pybba and said to be a descendant of Icel, with a
   lineage purportedly extending back to Woden. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
   gives his descent as follows:

          Penda was Pybba's offspring, Pybba was Cryda's offspring, Cryda
          Cynewald's offspring, Cynewald Cnebba's offspring, Cnebba Icel's
          offspring, Icel Eomer's offspring, Eomer Angeltheow's offspring,
          Angeltheow Offa's offspring, Offa Wermund's offspring, Wermund
          Wihtlaeg's offspring, Wihtlaeg Woden's offspring.

   The Historia Brittonum says that Pybba had twelve sons, including
   Penda, but that Penda and Eowa were those best known to its author.
   (Many of these twelve sons of Pybba may in fact merely represent later
   attempts to claim descent from him.) Besides Eowa, apparently Penda
   also had a brother named Coenwalh, from whom two later kings were
   descended.

   The time at which Penda became king is uncertain, as are the
   circumstances. Another Mercian king, Cearl, is mentioned by Bede as
   ruling at the same time as the Northumbrian king Æthelfrith, in the
   early part of the 7th century. Whether Penda immediately succeeded
   Cearl is unknown, and it is also unclear whether they were related, and
   if so how closely; Henry of Huntingdon, writing in the 12th century,
   claimed that Cearl was a kinsman of Pybba. It is also possible that
   Cearl and Penda were dynastic rivals.

   According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Penda became king in 626, ruled
   for thirty years, and was fifty years old at the time of his accession.
   That he ruled for thirty years should perhaps not be taken as an exact
   figure, since the same source says he died in 655, which would not
   exactly correspond to the year it gives for the beginning of his reign
   unless it is considering him to have died in the thirtieth year of his
   reign. Furthermore, that Penda was truly fifty years old at the
   beginning of his reign has generally been considered doubtful by
   historians, mainly because of the ages of his children—the idea that
   Penda, at about eighty years of age, would have left behind children
   who were still young (his son Wulfhere was still young three years
   after Penda's death, according to Bede) has been widely considered
   implausible. The possibility has been suggested that the Chronicle
   actually meant to say that Penda was fifty years old at the time of his
   death, and therefore about twenty in 626.
   A map showing the general locations of the Anglo-Saxon peoples around
   the year 600
   Enlarge
   A map showing the general locations of the Anglo-Saxon peoples around
   the year 600

   Bede, in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, says of Penda that
   he was "a most warlike man of the royal race of the Mercians" and that,
   following Edwin of Northumbria's defeat in 633 (see below), he ruled
   the Mercians for twenty-two years with varying fortune. The noted 20th
   century historian Frank Stenton was of the opinion that the language
   used by Bede "leaves no doubt that … Penda, though descended from the
   royal family of the Mercians, only became their king after Edwin's
   defeat". The Historia Brittonum accords Penda a reign of only ten
   years, perhaps dating it from the time of the Battle of Maserfield (see
   below) around 642, although according to the generally accepted
   chronology this would still be more than ten years. Given the apparent
   problems with the dates given by the Chronicle and the Historia, Bede's
   account of the length of Penda's reign is generally considered the most
   plausible by historians. Nicholas Brooks noted that, since these three
   accounts of the length of Penda's reign come from three different
   sources, and none of them are Mercian (they are West Saxon,
   Northumbrian, and Welsh), they may merely reflect the times at which
   their respective peoples first had military involvement with Penda.

   The question of whether or not Penda was already king during the late
   620s assumes greater significance in light of the Chronicle's record of
   a battle between Penda and the West Saxons under their kings Cynegils
   and Cwichelm taking place at Cirencester in 628. If he was not yet
   king, then his involvement in this conflict might indicate that he was
   fighting as an independent warlord during this period—as Stenton put
   it, "a landless noble of the Mercian royal house fighting for his own
   hand." On the other hand, he might have been one of multiple rulers
   among the Mercians at the time, ruling only a part of their territory.
   The Chronicle says that after the battle, Penda and the West Saxons
   "came to an agreement." It has been speculated that this agreement
   marked a victory for Penda, ceding to him Cirencester and the areas
   along the lower River Severn. These lands, to the southwest of Mercia,
   had apparently been taken by the West Saxons from the British in 577,
   and the territory eventually became part of the subkingdom of the
   Hwicce. Given Penda's role in the area at this time and his apparent
   success there, it has been argued that the subkingdom of the Hwicce was
   established by him; evidence to support this is lacking, although the
   subkingdom is known to have existed later in the century.

Alliance with Cadwallon and the Battle of Hatfield Chase

   At some point in the late 620s or early 630s, Cadwallon ap Cadfan, the
   British (Welsh) king of Gwynedd, became involved in a war with Edwin of
   Northumbria, the most powerful king in Britain at the time. Cadwallon
   apparently was initially unsuccessful, but he joined with Penda, who is
   thought to have been the lesser partner in their alliance, to defeat
   the Northumbrians in October 633 at the Battle of Hatfield Chase. Penda
   was probably not yet king of the Mercians at this time, but he is
   thought to have become king soon afterwards, based on Bede's
   characterisation of his position. Edwin was killed in the battle, and
   one of his sons, Eadfrith, fell into Penda's hands.

   One manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that, following the
   victory at Hatfield Chase, Cadwallon and Penda went on to ravage "the
   whole land" of the Northumbrians. Certainly Cadwallon continued the
   war, but the extent of Penda's further participation is uncertain. Bede
   says that the pagans who had slain Edwin—presumably a reference to the
   Mercians under Penda, although conceivably it could be a derisive
   misnomer meant to refer to the Christian British—burned a church and
   town at Campodonum, although the time at which this occurred is
   uncertain. Penda may have withdrawn from the war at some point before
   the defeat and death of Cadwallon at the Battle of Heavenfield, about a
   year after Hatfield Chase, since he was not present at this battle;
   furthermore, Bede makes no mention of Penda's presence in the preceding
   siege and battle in which Osric of Deira was defeated and killed.
   Penda's successful participation in the battle of Hatfield Chase may
   have elevated his status among the Mercians and enabled him to become
   king, and he may have withdrawn from the war prior to Heavenfield in
   order to secure or consolidate his position in Mercia. Referring to
   Penda's successes against the West Saxons and the Northumbrians, D. P.
   Kirby writes of Penda's emergence in these years as "a Mercian leader
   whose military exploits far transcended those of his obscure
   predecessors."

During the reign of Oswald

   Oswald of Bernicia became king of Northumbria after his victory over
   Cadwallon at Heavenfield. Penda's status and activities during the
   years of Oswald's reign are obscure, and various interpretations of
   Penda's position during this period have been suggested. It has been
   presumed that Penda acknowledged Oswald's authority in some sense after
   Heavenfield, although Penda was probably an obstacle to Northumbrian
   supremacy south of the Humber. It has been suggested that Penda's
   strength during Oswald's reign could be exaggerated by the historical
   awareness of his later successes. Kirby says that, while Oswald was as
   powerful as Edwin had been, "he faced a more entrenched challenge in
   midland and eastern England from Penda". Oswald's moves toward alliance
   with the West Saxons, who occupied territory to the south of the
   Mercians, could be seen as an attempt to counter Mercian power.

   At some point during Oswald's reign, Penda had Edwin's son Eadfrith
   killed, "contrary to his oath". The possibility that his killing was
   the result of pressure from Oswald—Eadfrith being a dynastic rival of
   Oswald—has been suggested; since the potential existed for Eadfrith to
   be put to use in Mercia's favour in Northumbrian power struggles while
   he was alive, it may not have been to Penda's advantage to have him
   killed. On the other hand, Penda may have killed Eadfrith for his own
   reasons. It has been suggested that Penda may have been concerned that
   Eadfrith could be a threat to him because Eadfrith might seek vengeance
   for the deaths of his father and brother; it is also possible that
   Mercian dynastic rivalry played a part in the killing, since Eadfrith
   was a grandson of Penda's predecessor Cearl.^,

   It was probably at some point during Oswald's reign that Penda fought
   with the East Angles and defeated them, killing their king Egric and
   the former king Sigebert, who had been brought out of retirement in a
   monastery against his will in the belief that his presence would
   motivate the soldiers. The time at which the battle occurred is
   uncertain; it may have been as early as 635, but there is also evidence
   to suggest it could not have been before 640 or 641. Presuming that
   this battle took place before the Battle of Maserfield, it may have
   been that such an expression of Penda's ambition and emerging power
   made Oswald feel that Penda had to be defeated in order for
   Northumbrian dominance of southern England to be secured or
   consolidated.

   Penda's brother Eowa was also said by the Historia Brittonum and the
   Annales Cambriae to have been a king of the Mercians at the time of
   Maserfield. The question of what sort of relationship of power existed
   between the brothers prior to the battle is a matter of speculation.
   Eowa may have simply been a sub-king under Penda and it is also
   possible that Penda and Eowa ruled jointly during the 630s and early
   640s, and joint kingships were not uncommon among Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
   of the period. They may have ruled the southern and northern Mercians
   respectively. That Penda ruled the southern part is a possibility
   suggested by his early involvement in the area of the Hwicce, to the
   south of Mercia, as well as by the fact that, after Penda's death, his
   son Peada was allowed to rule southern Mercia while the northern part
   was placed under direct Northumbrian control—this may indicate a
   special hereditary claim over southern Mercia by Penda's line that it
   did not have over the north.

   Another possibility was suggested by Brooks: Penda might have lost
   power at some point after Heavenfield, and Eowa may have actually been
   ruling the Mercians for at least some of the period as a subject ally
   or puppet of Oswald. Brooks cited Bede's statement implying that
   Penda's fortunes were mixed during his twenty-two years in power and
   noted the possibility that Penda's fortunes were low at this time. Thus
   it may be that Penda was not consistently the dominant figure in Mercia
   during the years between Hatfield and Maserfield.

Maserfield

   On August 5, 642, Penda defeated the Northumbrians at the Battle of
   Maserfield, which was fought near the lands of the Welsh, and Oswald
   was killed. Surviving Welsh poetry suggests that Penda fought in
   alliance with the men of Powys—apparently he was consistently allied
   with some of the Welsh—perhaps including Cynddylan ap Cyndrwyn, of whom
   it was said that "when the son of Pyb desired, how ready he was",
   presumably meaning that he was an ally of Penda, the son of Pybba. If
   the traditional identification of the battle's location with Oswestry
   is correct, then this would indicate that it was Oswald who had taken
   the offensive against Penda; it has been suggested that he was acting
   against "a threat posed to his domination of Mercia by a hostile
   alliance of Penda and Powys." According to Reginald of Durham's 12th
   century Life of Saint Oswald, Penda fled into Wales prior to the
   battle, at which point Oswald felt secure and sent his army away; this
   explanation of events has been regarded as "plausible" but is not found
   in any other source, and may therefore have been Reginald's invention.

   According to Bede, Penda had Oswald's body dismembered, with his head,
   hands and arms being placed onto stakes (this may have had a pagan
   religious significance); Oswald thereafter came to be revered as a
   saint, with his death in battle as a Christian king against pagans
   leading him to be regarded as a martyr.

   Eowa was killed at Maserfield along with Oswald, although on which side
   he fought is unknown. It may well be that he fought as a dependent ally
   of Oswald against Penda. If Eowa was in fact dominant among the
   Mercians during the period leading up to the battle, then his death
   could have marked what the author of the Historia Brittonum regarded as
   the beginning of Penda's ten-year reign. Thus it may be that Penda
   prevailed not only over the Northumbrians but also over his rivals
   among the Mercians.

   The Historia Brittonum may also be referring to this battle when it
   says that Penda first freed (separavit) the Mercians from the
   Northumbrians. This may be an important clue to the relationship
   between the Mercians and the Northumbrians prior to and during Penda's
   time. There may have existed a "Humbrian confederacy" that included the
   Mercians until Penda broke free of it. On the other hand, it has been
   considered unlikely that this was truly the first instance of their
   separation: it is significant that Cearl had married his daughter to
   Edwin during Edwin's exile, when Edwin was an enemy of the Northumbrian
   king Æthelfrith. It would seem that if Cearl was able to do this, he
   was not subject to Æthelfrith; thus it may be that any subject
   relationship only developed after the time of this marriage.

   The battle left Penda with a degree of power unprecedented for a
   Mercian king—Kirby called him "without question the most powerful
   Mercian ruler so far to have emerged in the midlands" after
   Maserfield—and the prestige and status associated with defeating the
   powerful Oswald must have been very significant. Northumbria was
   greatly weakened as a consequence of the battle; the kingdom became
   fractured to some degree between Deira in its southern part and
   Bernicia in the north, with the Deirans acquiring a king of their own,
   Oswine, while in Bernicia, Oswald was succeeded by his brother, Oswiu.
   Mercia thus enjoyed a greatly enhanced position of strength relative to
   the surrounding kingdoms, and Stenton wrote that the battle left Penda
   as "the most formidable king in England", and observed that although
   "there is no evidence that he ever became, or even tried to become, the
   lord of all the other kings of southern England … none of them can have
   been his equal in reputation".

Campaigns between Maserfield and the Winwaed

   Defeat at Maserfield must have weakened Northumbrian influence over the
   West Saxons, and the new West Saxon king Cenwealh—who was still pagan
   at this time—was married to Penda's sister. It may be surmised that
   this meant he was to some extent within what Kirby called a "Mercian
   orbit". However, when Cenwealh (according to Bede) "repudiated" Penda's
   sister in favour of another wife, Penda drove Cenwealh into exile in
   East Anglia in 645, where he remained for three years before regaining
   power. Who governed the West Saxons during the years of Cenwealh's
   exile is unknown; Kirby considered it reasonable to conclude that
   whoever ruled was subject to Penda. He also suggested that Cenwealh may
   not have been able to return to his kingdom until after Penda's death.

   In 654, the East Anglian king Anna, who had harboured the exiled
   Cenwealh, was killed by Penda. He was succeeded by a brother,
   Aethelhere; since Aethelhere was subsequently a participant in Penda's
   doomed invasion of Bernicia in 655 (see below), it may be that Penda
   installed Aethelhere in power. It has been suggested that Penda's wars
   against the East Angles "should be seen in the light of interfactional
   struggles within East Anglia." It may also be that Penda made war
   against the East Angles with the intention of securing Mercian
   dominance over the area of Middle Anglia, where Penda established his
   son Peada as ruler.

   In the years after Maserfield, Penda also destructively waged war
   against Oswiu of Bernicia on his own territory. At one point prior to
   the death of Bishop Aidan (August 31, 651), Bede says that Penda
   "cruelly ravaged the country of the Northumbrians far and near" and
   besieged the royal Bernician stronghold of Bamburgh. When the Mercians
   were unable to capture it—"not being able to enter it by force, or by a
   long siege"—Bede reports that they attempted to set the city ablaze,
   but that it was saved by a sacred wind supposedly sent in response to a
   plea from the saintly Aidan: "Behold, Lord, how great mischief Penda
   does!" The wind is said to have blown the fire back towards the
   Mercians, deterring them from further attempts to capture the city. At
   another point, some years after Aidan's death, Bede records another
   attack: he says that Penda led an army in devastating the area where
   Aidan died—he "destroyed all he could with fire and sword"—but that
   when the Mercians burned down the church where Aidan died, the post
   against which he was leaning at the time of his death was undamaged;
   this was taken to be a miracle. No open battles are recorded as being
   fought between the two sides prior to the Winwaed in 655 (see below),
   however, and this may mean that Oswiu deliberately avoided battle due
   to a feeling of weakness relative to Penda. This feeling may have been
   in religious as well as military terms: N. J. Higham wrote of Penda
   acquiring "a pre-eminent reputation as a god-protected, warrior–king",
   whose victories may have led to a belief that his pagan gods were more
   effective for protection in war than the Christian God.

Relations with Bernicia; Christianity and Middle Anglia

   Despite these apparent instances of warfare, relations between Penda
   and Oswiu were probably not entirely hostile during this period, since
   Penda's daughter Cyneburh married Alhfrith, Oswiu's son, and Penda's
   son Peada married Alhflaed, Oswiu's daughter. According to Bede, who
   dates the events to 653, the latter marriage was made contingent upon
   the baptism and conversion to Christianity of Peada; Peada accepted
   this, and the preaching of Christianity began among the Middle Angles,
   whom he ruled. Bede wrote that Penda tolerated the preaching of
   Christianity in Mercia itself, despite his own beliefs:

          Nor did King Penda obstruct the preaching of the word among his
          people, the Mercians, if any were willing to hear it; but, on
          the contrary, he hated and despised those whom he perceived not
          to perform the works of faith, when they had once received the
          faith, saying, "They were contemptible and wretched who did not
          obey their God, in whom they believed." This was begun two years
          before the death of King Penda.

   Peada's conversion and the introduction of priests into Middle Anglia
   could be seen as evidence of Penda's tolerance of Christianity, given
   the absence of evidence that he sought to interfere. On the other hand,
   an interpretation is also possible whereby the marriage and conversion
   could be seen as corresponding to a successful attempt on Oswiu's part
   to expand Bernician influence at Penda's expense; Higham saw Peada's
   conversion more in terms of political manoeuvring on both sides than
   religious zeal.

   Middle Anglia as a political entity may have been created by Penda as
   an expression of Mercian power in the area following his victories over
   the East Angles. Previously there seem to have been a number of small
   peoples inhabiting the region, and Penda's establishment of Peada as a
   subking there may have marked their initial union under one ruler. The
   districts corresponding to Shropshire and Herefordshire, along Mercia's
   western frontier near Wales, probably also fell under Mercian
   domination at this time. Here a king called Merewalh ruled over the
   Magonsaete; in later centuries it was said that Merewalh was a son of
   Penda, but this is considered uncertain. Stenton, for example,
   considered it likely that Merewalh was a representative of a local
   dynasty that continued to rule under Mercian domination.

Final campaign and the battle of the Winwaed

   In 655, Penda invaded Bernicia with a large army, reported to have been
   thirty legions strong, with thirty royal or noble commanders (duces
   regii, as Bede called them), including rulers such as Cadafael ap
   Cynfeddw of Gwynedd and Aethelhere of East Anglia. Penda also enjoyed
   the support of Aethelwald, the king of Deira and the successor of
   Oswine, who had been murdered on Oswiu's orders in 651; Bede says
   Aethelwald acted as Penda's guide during his invasion.

   The cause of this war is uncertain. There is a passage in Bede's
   Ecclesiastical History that suggests Aethelhere of East Anglia was the
   cause of the war, but it has been argued that an issue of punctuation
   in later manuscripts confused Bede's meaning on this point, and that he
   in fact meant to refer to Penda as being responsible for the war.
   Although, according to Bede, Penda tolerated some Christian preaching
   in Mercia, it has been suggested that he perceived Bernician
   sponsorship of Christianity in Mercia and Middle Anglia as a form of
   "religious colonialism" that undermined his power, and that this may
   have provoked the war. Elsewhere the possibility has been suggested
   that Penda sought to prevent Oswiu from reunifying Northumbria, not
   wanting Oswiu to restore the kingdom to the power it had enjoyed under
   Edwin and Oswald; a perception of the conflict in terms of the
   political situation between Bernicia and Deira could help to explain
   the role of Aethelwald of Deira in the war, since Aethelwald was the
   son of Oswald and might not ordinarily be expected to ally with those
   who had killed his father. Perhaps, as the son of Oswald, he sought to
   obtain the Bernician kingship for himself.

   According to the Historia Brittonum, Penda besieged Oswiu at Iudeu;
   this site has been identified with Stirling, in the north of Oswiu's
   kingdom. Oswiu tried to buy peace: in the Historia Brittonum, it is
   said that Oswiu offered treasure, which Penda distributed among his
   British allies; Bede states that the offer was simply rejected by
   Penda, who "resolved to extirpate all of [Oswiu's] nation, from the
   highest to the lowest". Additionally, according to Bede, Oswiu's son
   Ecgfrith was being held hostage "at the court of Queen Cynwise, in the
   province of the Mercians"—perhaps surrendered by Oswiu as part of some
   negotiations or arrangement. It would seem that Penda's army then moved
   back south, perhaps returning home, but a great battle was fought near
   the river Winwaed (the identification of the Winwaed with a modern
   river is uncertain, although the River Went is a possibility) on a date
   given by Bede as November 15. It may be that Penda's army was attacked
   by Oswiu at a point of strategic vulnerability, which would help
   explain Oswiu's victory over forces that were, according to Bede, much
   larger than his own.

   The Mercian force was also weakened by desertions: according to the
   Historia Brittonum, Cadafael of Gwynedd, "rising up in the night,
   escaped together with his army" (thus earning him the name Cadomedd, or
   "battle-shirker"), and Bede says that at the time of the battle,
   Aethelwald of Deira withdrew and "awaited the outcome from a place of
   safety". If Penda's army was marching home, it may have been for this
   reason that some of his allies were unwilling to fight, according to
   Kirby; it may also be that the allies had different purposes in the
   war, and Kirby suggested that Penda's deserting allies may have been
   dissatisfied "with what had been achieved at Iudeu". At a time when the
   Winwaed was swollen with heavy rains, the Mercians were badly defeated
   and Penda was killed, along with the East Anglian king Aethelhere. Bede
   says that Penda's "thirty commanders, and those who had come to his
   assistance were put to flight, and almost all of them slain," and that
   more drowned while fleeing than were killed in the actual battle. He
   also says that Penda's head was cut off; a connection between this and
   the treatment of Oswald's body at Maserfield is possible. Writing in
   the 12th century, Henry of Huntingdon emphasised the idea that Penda
   was suffering the same fate as he had inflicted on others.

Aftermath and historical appraisal

   With the defeat at the Winwaed, Oswiu came to briefly dominate Mercia,
   permitting Penda's son Peada to rule its southern portion. Two of
   Penda's other sons, Wulfhere and Æthelred, later ruled Mercia in
   succession after the overthrow of Northumbrian control in the late
   650s. The period of rule by Penda's descendants came to an end with his
   grandson Ceolred's death in 716, after which power passed to
   descendants of Eowa for most of the remainder of the 8th century.

   Penda's reign is significant in that it marks an emergence from the
   obscurity of Mercia during the time of his predecessors, both in terms
   of the power of the Mercians relative to the surrounding peoples and in
   terms of our historical awareness of them. While our understanding of
   Penda's reign is quite unclear, and even the very notable and decisive
   battles he fought are surrounded by historical confusion, for the first
   time a general outline of important events regarding the Mercians
   becomes realistically possible. Furthermore, Penda was certainly of
   great importance to the development of the Mercian kingdom; it has been
   said that his reign was "crucial to the consolidation and expansion of
   Mercia".

   Penda was the last great pagan warrior-king among the Anglo-Saxons.
   Higham wrote that "his destruction sounded the death-knell of English
   paganism as a political ideology and public religion." After Penda's
   death, the Mercians were converted to Christianity, and all three of
   Penda's reigning sons ruled as Christians. His daughters Cyneburh and
   Cyneswith became Christian and were saintly figures who according to
   some accounts retained their virginity through their marriages. There
   was purportedly even an infant grandson of Penda named Rumwold who
   lived a saintly three-day life of fervent preaching. What is known
   about Penda is primarily derived from the history written by the
   Northumbrian Bede, a priest not inclined to objectively portray a pagan
   Mercian who engaged in fierce conflict with Christian kings, and in
   particular with Northumbrian rulers; indeed, Penda has been described
   as "the villain of Bede's third book" (of the Historia Ecclesiastica).
   From the perspective of the Christians who later wrote about Penda, the
   important theme that dominates their descriptions is the religious
   context of his wars—for instance, the Historia Brittonum says that
   Penda prevailed at Maserfield through "diabolical agency"—but Penda's
   greatest importance was perhaps in his opposition to the supremacy of
   the Northumbrians. According to Stenton, had it not been for Penda's
   resistance, "a loosely compacted kingdom of England under Northumbrian
   rule would probably have been established by the middle of the seventh
   century." In summarising Penda, he wrote the following:

          He was himself a great fighting king of the kind most honoured
          in Germanic saga; the lord of many princes, and the leader of a
          vast retinue attracted to his service by his success and
          generosity. Many stories must have been told about his dealings
          with other kings, but none of them have survived; his wars can
          only be described from the standpoint of his enemies…

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