The death of Penda, the last great pagan king of England, transformed the religious landscape of the island. Oswiu of Northumbria, facing a massive Mercian army, vowed to dedicate his daughter to God and grant twelve estates to the Church if victorious. His much smaller force defeated Penda's army as flooding made the Winwaed impassable. Penda's death opened Mercia to Christian missionaries and ended the last serious pagan resistance to the Church.
Penda killed; many Mercian nobles drowned in the flooded river
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in Britain — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.
Research a location near West Yorkshire