which they threw like javelins as they attacked. Their first onslaught was delivered with reckless ferocity and appeared formidable, but if they were once thrown back they quickly fell into confusion. They never attempted to counterattack after a repulse, but instead fled without attempting to rally. Therefore their battles were nearly always won or lost as a result of a single charge. The Welsh preferred rough or marshy ground, no doubt because it hampered them less in their manoeuvres than it did more heavily armed opponents. In fact their main aim in warfare was not to kill their enemies, but to acquire booty. The famous Welsh archers existed in Geraldâs day, but â leaving Henry of Huntingdonâs story aside â do not seem to be mentioned before the early twelfth century. It has been pointed out that the Welsh word for âbowâ is derived from English, which suggests that it was not a traditional weapon.
The warriors of Gwynedd in the eleventh century are described as relying on swords and shields, which would obviously be the most appropriate weapons for a headlong charge to close quarters. The heroes of the epic Welsh saga âMabinogionâ fight on horseback, as do those of the poem âY Gododdinâ, which is believed to describe a mounted attack on Northumbria in the late sixth century. It is often suggested that British cavalry tactics reflect the surviving influence of the late Roman army, and it is true that Gildas states that the departing Romans left their former subjects patterns for manufacturing weapons (Heath). However, the Picts, who had never been conquered by the Romans, also made extensive use of cavalry, which suggests that it was an indigenous development.
Under Cadwallon the Welsh did not confine themselves to defending what was now regarded as British territory, but carried the fight deep into England in alliance with their Mercian neighbours. At this point the Mercian leader seems to have been the junior partner in this alliance; Matthew of Westminster has an unlikely story that Cadwallon had captured Penda when the latter was besieging Exeter, and forced him to swear allegiance, though how or why a Mercian king would have been campaigning in the far south-west of England is not explained. At any rate their combined forces brought Edwin to battle on 12 October 633 at a place which Bede calls Haethfelth. The site is usually identified with Hatfield Chase near Doncaster, but this seems to derive from no earlier authority than William Camden, who in his Britannia of 1586 based his argument on the similarity of the place names and a tradition that there had once been an Anglo-Saxon hall there. It has been suggested that this would have been a good place for an ambush, as the road from Lindsey to York was forced by surrounding marshes to pass through a narrow gap where an army could be trapped against the River Don, and that the allies might have been lying in wait for Edwin there (Higham, 1995). It may also have been close to the site of the River Idle battle between Raedwald and Aethelfrith. However, there is an alternative site thirty miles further south, near Edwinstowe in Sherwood Forest, where there are traces of a cult of Edwin in the later Middle Ages. An undated mass grave was found near St Maryâs Church at Cuckney, five miles to the north-west of Edwinstowe, in 1951. It was unearthed when the National Coal Board was carrying out work to reinforce the foundations of the church and was not investigated by professional archaeologists, but it was said to contain the skeletons of more than 200 young men (Barley). A Norman castle once existed on the site of the present cemetery at Cuckney, but as bodies would hardly be buried inside an inhabited castle it is probable that the remains are earlier. It may also be significant that an area known locally as Hatfield Chase still exists in the vicinity.
The Edwinstowe district is situated in what later became known as
The warriors of Gwynedd in the eleventh century are described as relying on swords and shields, which would obviously be the most appropriate weapons for a headlong charge to close quarters. The heroes of the epic Welsh saga âMabinogionâ fight on horseback, as do those of the poem âY Gododdinâ, which is believed to describe a mounted attack on Northumbria in the late sixth century. It is often suggested that British cavalry tactics reflect the surviving influence of the late Roman army, and it is true that Gildas states that the departing Romans left their former subjects patterns for manufacturing weapons (Heath). However, the Picts, who had never been conquered by the Romans, also made extensive use of cavalry, which suggests that it was an indigenous development.
Under Cadwallon the Welsh did not confine themselves to defending what was now regarded as British territory, but carried the fight deep into England in alliance with their Mercian neighbours. At this point the Mercian leader seems to have been the junior partner in this alliance; Matthew of Westminster has an unlikely story that Cadwallon had captured Penda when the latter was besieging Exeter, and forced him to swear allegiance, though how or why a Mercian king would have been campaigning in the far south-west of England is not explained. At any rate their combined forces brought Edwin to battle on 12 October 633 at a place which Bede calls Haethfelth. The site is usually identified with Hatfield Chase near Doncaster, but this seems to derive from no earlier authority than William Camden, who in his Britannia of 1586 based his argument on the similarity of the place names and a tradition that there had once been an Anglo-Saxon hall there. It has been suggested that this would have been a good place for an ambush, as the road from Lindsey to York was forced by surrounding marshes to pass through a narrow gap where an army could be trapped against the River Don, and that the allies might have been lying in wait for Edwin there (Higham, 1995). It may also have been close to the site of the River Idle battle between Raedwald and Aethelfrith. However, there is an alternative site thirty miles further south, near Edwinstowe in Sherwood Forest, where there are traces of a cult of Edwin in the later Middle Ages. An undated mass grave was found near St Maryâs Church at Cuckney, five miles to the north-west of Edwinstowe, in 1951. It was unearthed when the National Coal Board was carrying out work to reinforce the foundations of the church and was not investigated by professional archaeologists, but it was said to contain the skeletons of more than 200 young men (Barley). A Norman castle once existed on the site of the present cemetery at Cuckney, but as bodies would hardly be buried inside an inhabited castle it is probable that the remains are earlier. It may also be significant that an area known locally as Hatfield Chase still exists in the vicinity.
The Edwinstowe district is situated in what later became known as
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