Brunanburh 937

Category: Battles, General

Perhaps the most believable location for this much-disputed battle is near Brinkburn Priory, off the B6344, 2 miles southeast of Rothbury (Liddesdale perhaps runs a close second). This was the last great clash of the Celtic nations against the invading Saxons. In AD 937, King Olaf of Dublin was looking to punish King Athelstan of England for the defeat of his father and uncle, ten years earlier. The Celtic nations, inspired by the poetic 'Prophecy of Great Britain,' combined to exploit the situation and Olaf was able to raise a Northern Army of Vikings, Scots & Strathclyde Britons, probably with additional contingents from Man, Ireland & Powys. They clashed against the Saxons in a two-day battle, one of the fiercest ever fought in Britain, but victory was not to be theirs. The united force lost five kings and seven earls amongst its dead and the conflict finally ended all British hope of driving the Saxons from their shores