Brunanburh 937 now available in MP!

[stockwellpete]

Design notes for Brunanburh 937 AD

There is very little definite information about the detail of this battle. We know the year, but not the exact date that the battle was fought. We know the main protagonists – Athelstan with his combined West Saxon and Mercian army on one side and an alliance of Olaf Guthfrithson's Dublin Norsemen, Constantine II's army from Alba (now Scotland) and the Welsh Strathclyders led by their king Owen, on the other. And we know the result. But that's about it.

The actual site of the battle is not known and there are several competing suggestions. Perhaps the most support is for the idea that the battle was fought somewhere in the Wirral near Bromborough, which is a close rendition of Brunanburh from the Old English. Michael Livingston's “The Battle of Brunanburh: a Casebook” (2011) argues very strongly for this location.

However, I am not convinced by this idea, not least because Bromborough does not appear in the Domesday Book of 1086. Also, as Michael Wood has recently pointed out, two 12thC chroniclers, John of Worcester and Symeon of Durham, record that Olaf Guthfrithson's fleet sailed up the Humber before the battle. Wood suggests that the battle was probably fought in south Yorkshire because Olaf was seeking to recapture York and press his claim for the kingship of Northumbria.
So for the terrain, I have chosen a rather bleak moorland for the battle. There is a reference to the battlefield in the largely unreliable “Egil's Saga”, which describes the battle has having taken place on moorland between a river on one side and a big forest on the other. So I have gone with this in the absence of anything more definite. The name Brunanburh has been translated as “Bruna's fort” but Wood also mentions that this fort was on a hill known as “Weondun” or “Holy Hill” that was the site of a pagan Roman temple. So I have included this on the map for a bit of atmosphere.

The other major problem was deciding how big the armies, and the various contingents within them would be. The various annals (e.g. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, The Annals of Ulster) suggest that it was a very bloody and hard-fought battle so I have made the armies a similar size, well over 10,000 soldiers on each side. For Athelstan's army, I have given the West Saxons slightly more soldiers than the Mercians to indicate they were the senior partners in this campaign. We do know that Olaf Guthfrithson was the leader of the combined forces seeking to defeat Athelstan and we also know that Owen's Strathclyders were likely to have been the smallest contingent in this alliance. So the Norse Vikings (including some Irish auxiliaries) and the Alba contingents are of a similar size, while the Strathclyder contingent is a bit smaller.

To balance the scenario I have included anonymous “West Saxon commander” and “Mercian commander” in Athelstan's army.

The banners were provided by Paul59.

The Battle of Brunanburh (a praise poem)
In this year King Aethelstan, Lord of warriors,
ring-giver to men, and his brother also,
Prince Eadmund, won eternal glory
in battle with sword edges
around Brunanburh. They split the shield-wall,
they hewed battle shields with the remnants of hammers.
The sons of Eadweard, it was only befitting their noble descent
from their ancestors that they should often
defend their land in battle against each hostile people,
horde and home. The enemy perished,
Scots men and seamen,
fated they fell. The field flowed
with blood of warriors, from sun up
in the morning, when the glorious star
glided over the earth, God's bright candle,
eternal lord, till that noble creation
sank to its seat. There lay many a warrior
by spears destroyed; Northern men
shot over shield, likewise Scottish as well,
weary, war sated.

The West-Saxons pushed onward
all day; in troops they pursued the hostile people.
They hewed the fugitive grievously from behind
with swords sharp from the grinding.
The Mercians did not refuse hard hand-play to any warrior
who came with Anlaf over the sea-surge
in the bosom of a ship, those who sought land,
fated to fight. Five lay dead
on the battle-field, young kings,
put to sleep by swords, likewise also seven
of Anlaf's earls, countless of the army,
sailors and Scots. There the North-men's chief was put
to flight, by need constrained
to the prow of a ship with little company:
he pressed the ship afloat, the king went out
on the dusky flood-tide, he saved his life.
Likewise, there also the old campaigner through flight came
to his own region in the north--Constantine--
hoary warrior. He had no reason to exult
the great meeting; he was of his kinsmen bereft,
friends fell on the battle-field,
killed at strife: even his son, young in battle, he left
in the place of slaughter, ground to pieces with wounds.
That grizzle-haired warrior had no
reason to boast of sword-slaughter,
old deceitful one, no more did Anlaf;
with their remnant of an army they had no reason to
laugh that they were better in deed of war
in battle-field--collision of banners,
encounter of spears, encounter of men,
trading of blows--when they played against
the sons of Eadweard on the battle field.

Departed then the Northmen in nailed ships.
The dejected survivors of the battle,
sought Dublin over the deep water,
leaving Dinges mere
to return to Ireland, ashamed in spirit.
Likewise the brothers, both together,
King and Prince, sought their home,
West-Saxon land, exultant from battle.
They left behind them, to enjoy the corpses,
the dark coated one, the dark horny-beaked raven
and the dusky-coated one,
the eagle white from behind, to partake of carrion,
greedy war-hawk, and that gray animal
the wolf in the forest.

Never was there more slaughter
on this island, never yet as many
people killed before this
with sword's edge: never according to those who tell us
from books, old wisemen,
since from the east Angles and Saxons came up
over the broad sea. Britain they sought,
Proud war-smiths who overcame the Welsh,
glorious warriors they took hold of the land.

Bibliography
Athelstan, Tom Holland, 2016.
Battles of the Dark Ages, Peter Marren, 2006.
Britain and the End of the Roman Empire, Ken Dark, 2000.
In Search of the Dark Ages, Michael Wood, 1981.
Viking Britain, Thomas Williams, 2017.
Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West, Guy Halsall, 2003.

[stockwellpete]

I am doing some more work on this one as it is a bit unbalanced against Athelstan's army. The armies have been moved closer together; the terrain has been modified in some areas to neutralise the rising ground; and the number of Viking huscarls has been reduced by two.

[stockwellpete]

Version 2 is now available for download

[stockwellpete]

New version now available. Just some minor terrain corrections plus a unit grouping correction at the start of the scenario.