The Trent 679 is now available in MP!

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Design notes for The Trent c679

CHAPTER XXI BISHOP THEODORE MADE PEACE BETWEEN THE KINGS EGFRID AND ETHELRED. [A.D. 679]
"In the ninth year of the reign of King Egfrid, a great battle was fought between him and Ethelred, king of the Mercians, near the river Trent, and Elfwin, brother to King Egfrid, was slain, a youth about eighteen years Of age, and much beloved by both provinces, for King Ethel red had married his sister Osthritha. There was now reason to expect a more bloody war, and more lasting enmity between those kings and their fierce nations; but Theodore the bishop, beloved of God, relying on the Divine assistance, by his wholesome admonitions extinguished the dangerous fire that was breaking out; so that the kings and their people on both sides being appeased, no man was Put to death, but only the usual mulct paid to the king for his brother that had been killed; and this peace continued long after between those kings and their kingdoms."

From Bede's "Ecclesiastical History"

I am really scratching at straws for details of this battle. All I know for certain is that it was fought in 679, somewhere near the River Trent in Lindsey, and Ecgfrith and Aelfwine of Deira featured on the Northumbrian side while Aethelred was in charge of the Mercians. Bede described it as a “great battle”, which I have taken to mean “big”, and given the subsequent intervention by Theodore, I think we can assume that the outcome of the battle was fairly indecisive. That's all I know, the rest I have made up.

There is one important justification for including this battle in my series though. It seems to have been a crucial turning point in the relations between Northumbria and Mercia. Never again did Northumbrian armies threaten the Mercian heartlands and Mercia became the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Britain until their defeat at Ellendun by Wessex in 825.

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Version 2 of this scenario now available in MP.