Historic%20Yorkshire

20
LEEDS BEFORE THE CONQUEST.
Northumbria). Oswy, whose brother Oswald had been
slain by the hoary warrior, knew and feared his power.
He made proffers of submission and tribute, but in vain;
Penda's design was the annihilation of the northern
Christians, and their envoys were treated with disdain.
Oswy, therefore,lefthis palaceat Oswythorp, and took the
field, preparing to make a stubborn fight against the
overwhelminghosts rapidlymarching for his destruction.
One night, when the pendingbattle was imminentfor the
morrow,he made a solemn vow that if he should,by the
aidof heaven, provevictorious,hisinfantdaughterElfleda
should be dedicated to a life of celibacy in a conventual
establishment. The morningdawned,and the battle was
fought, the contending armies meeting on Winwaedfeld
(Winmoor), at Seacroft, near Leeds, with the result for
whichOswy had so ardently prayed. The inappeasable
Penda was slain,while his officers,including many Saxon
princes, were left dead on the field to the number of
thirty. The vanquishedMercians fled in such confusion
and dismay that in crossing the Winwaed (probably the
Aire), which was then overflowing its banks, more of
them were drowned than had been slain by the Northumbrian
swords. After subduing Mercia,Oswy fulfilled his
vow by placing his daughter under the guardianship of
St. Hilda,the abbess of Hartlepool,afterwardsofWhitby,
and whom she succeeded in the abbacy. This was in
655. A few years later was born at Jarrow (near Shields)
the celebrated " Venerable Bede," from whose writings
the above accountis derived.
King afterking succeededto the throneof Northumbria;
local history is suspended for a continuity of bloodshed
and anarchythat visited nearlyeverypartof the kingdom.
At last the heptarchy gave place to the one throne of
Egbert, but still the country remained unsettled. The
Danes, too, arrived to lend their aid to the general state
ofmisery and confusion. There are remains of aDanish
fortification at Giant'sHill,Armley, and traces in other
parts, and theyin a great measurebecame naturalised.