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| 0:07 | · | in 577 ad a battle would take place here Dyrham Camp gorgeous view across to our West towards the |
| 0:15 | · | severn Estuary is a battle that would change the face of this landscape forever and its territories |
| 0:21 | · | because the occupation here would change from the British to the English now we only have one |
| 0:28 | · | very short record of this battle taken place and coincidentally that was written by the |
| 0:32 | · | people that were victorious that is in the form of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and that paragraph |
| 0:38 | · | reads thus here caewlin and coelin fought against the Britains and they killed three kings coinmail |
| 0:45 | · | Condidon and farenmail in a place which is called deham and they took three cities Gloucester, |
| 0:52 | · | Cirencester and Bath so then the question becomes did this battle actually take place up here on |
| 0:58 | · | Dyrham camp because this wouldn't have been built for the battle this is an Iron Age Hill |
| 1:03 | · | for so built around about a thousand years prior to that by the dobunni tribe and like today they' |
| 1:09 | · | have had a beautiful view from here all the way across the Severn estuary towards Wales and you |
| 1:14 | · | can even see some of the Welsh mountains in the distance there and then of course |
| 1:17 | · | we have the name well this is now Dyrham Camp it didn't used to be this used to be burh Hill, |
| 1:24 | · | Burill but the village just down in the valley there well that does retain the name |
| 1:30 | · | well maybe the battle took place either in the valley just below there or down towards |
| 1:34 | · | the village don't really know for sure but more importantly this is a document written long after |
| 1:40 | · | this battle so is this an attempt by the West Saxons to later legitimize their politics of |
| 1:46 | · | that time and circulating stories of battles that never were either way that battle well whether it |
| 1:51 | · | took place or not that gave us the formation of a long lost kingdom here in the United Kingdom |
| 2:01 | · | this battle would have marked the fourth recorded for caewlin of wessex potentially |
| 2:05 | · | the grandson of cerdic who essentially founded wesex it's possible to map the |
| 2:09 | · | progress he made through wessex via these battles and his name being related within |
| 2:14 | · | various places I always think if you sort of go down the side of a hill for get to the bottom as |
| 2:20 | · | far as you can get a real good sense of how formidable that Hill for would have been and |
| 2:25 | · | maybe a reason of why they would have built it this one seems to stand on a Ridgeway looking |
| 2:29 | · | over what would have been the Dobunni territory really good position importantly for the West |
| 2:34 | · | Saxons this is regarded as one of the single most important battles you see we've had three kings |
| 2:39 | · | we've never heard of before and we will never hear from ever again we've captured the cities of bath, |
| 2:45 | · | cirencester and Gloucester all in one foul swoop but most importantly of all is the territory you |
| 2:52 | · | seeing capturing here capturing this Valley across us now looking towards South Wales why you've |
| 2:57 | · | split the Britains because you've reached the severn estuary and you now have to the South what |
| 3:02 | · | was the Devon and cornwall pennisula and of course to the north and you split that in half in terms |
| 3:07 | · | of advancements for the West Saxons well that was considered hugely important and with that we |
| 3:14 | · | have the start of Hwicce so how exactly did we get which and more importantly Why didn't it last that |
| 3:22 | · | long the area that we know Caelwin to have conquered in 577 ad well that area thereafter |
| 3:33 | · | known as Hwicce well if we compare this to pre-roman area of Iron age Britain and their |
| 3:38 | · | tribes then there is a remarkable similarity between Hwicce and the Iron age tribe of the |
| 3:44 | · | dobunni, now one of many ways in which we know these areas of the iron age tribes to |
| 3:49 | · | have existed is the coinage found from those tribes the Dobunni were no exception in fact |
| 3:55 | · | they seem to have coins that separated the North and the South of their territory |
| 4:00 | · | and on some occasions it indicated a ruler of all of their land either way we have a |
| 4:05 | · | do bunny map and we have a witch map and the similarities are there for all to see exactly |
| 4:10 | · | how does that happen never ceases to amaze me how territories and boundaries and borders shape |
| 4:17 | · | the landscape today from hundreds of years ago and give us what we still see today hedge rows |
| 4:23 | · | which could be hundreds of years old and I don't think that was any different 1500 years ago you |
| 4:29 | · | see when when the Romans came here where they made civiates out of the areas by and large |
| 4:35 | · | that were represented by the Iron Age tribes that came before them and why would they not in fact |
| 4:40 | · | this continuity this Hwicce territory gives us real sense of how a Roman unit transferred |
| 4:47 | · | into the Anglo-Saxon era in fact you could almost suggest that the Iron Age territory |
| 4:53 | · | went all the way into this early Anglo-Saxon era that's absolutely fascinating and here we are now |
| 4:59 | · | in Hwicce and we have this Long Lost Kingdom that once was the battle at 577 which basically |
| 5:06 | · | started this territory and uh well we have peace from 577 onwards but it wouldn't last |
| 5:13 | · | long so my journey now is going to head north to another equally |
| 5:21 | · | fascinating Hill fort to continue the story of this long lost kingdom of witch |
| 5:32 | · | one of the benefits of making these films and of learning and telling you the stories as I |
| 5:37 | · | go as well well the places we get to go and see up ahead is little sodbury Hill Fort never been |
| 5:43 | · | there before but on the map it look like an absolutely gorgeous area many little quirks |
| 5:47 | · | that are worth exploring even from here it looks quite spectacular up ahead sure if I'm walking |
| 5:53 | · | up sort of a ditch and a rampart there or if this is just an old holay too cold to look at |
| 5:59 | · | the map now despite which being overrun by the West Saxons despite the West Saxons taking bath |
| 6:07 | · | cirencester and Gloucester despite all of that which still seems to remain its own province |
| 6:14 | · | in fact "Sims Williams" writes that we have the angles coming from the Northeast now if as we're |
| 6:20 | · | led to believe the angles are mercenaries or at least collecting taxes for safety from the dough |
| 6:25 | · | bunny then they are probably are not best pleased with the advances of the Saxons okay have a look |
| 6:31 | · | at this this is a hill fort Iron Age presumably in construction when you look on a map it looks |
| 6:37 | · | very squared or rectangular and when you look at it here well it doesn't look like it's using the |
| 6:41 | · | Contours of the land at all in fact all around me is a bit of a plateau and it's just plunked |
| 6:47 | · | in the middle no Contour usage whatsoever and then you look at the sign back there cuz the |
| 6:51 | · | sign tells us where the Romans used this and they reified it that makes much more sense owing to |
| 6:58 | · | its shape and potentially size so that's good the other thing the sign tells us is in 577 ad |
| 7:05 | · | the West Saxons used this fort to overthrow the territory of htch that's really curious because |
| 7:11 | · | how do they know that just from a paragraph let's have a look in this hill Fort it looks |
| 7:15 | · | great 584 ad just 7 years after the battle and we have note in the chronicle of the uh West |
| 7:28 | · | Saxons marching North through Hwicce well that indicates to us that they didn't actually hold |
| 7:35 | · | this territory in full and they were perhaps some way in Allegiance with it or allied with it in a |
| 7:40 | · | peaceful way now it would take a little while but the tide would turn for the West Saxons 44 |
| 7:48 | · | years in fact 628 a now we read of a battle in the chronicle and you normally read the words |
| 7:56 | · | like well they defeated them here they won they claim this area but we don't hear that in fact |
| 8:03 | · | pendra the king from what would be Mercia anglian King well we hear that the West Saxons and pendra |
| 8:11 | · | "came to an agreement" now not only does that sound like a loss especially worded for the person |
| 8:16 | · | that wrote it but it's clear from the subsequent history that pendra was in fact Victorious Hwicce |
| 8:21 | · | now becomes a client Kingdom of Mercier but once again hwicce survives in fact much of its cultural |
| 8:29 | · | identity does too I love this hill for it's really curious It's not curious it's clearly |
| 8:35 | · | been modified by the Romans and it does look very neat and tidy for the next 150 years we |
| 8:43 | · | have relative peace in the area it would take 25 years but 650 ad we have our first known |
| 8:50 | · | Christian king of Hwicce perhaps in fact we have a mix of Heritage anglian in the |
| 8:54 | · | north and Saxons in the South and this gave reason for this period of seemingly no rule |
| 8:59 | · | Mercier may not have been too fussed it had Hwicce as a sub Kingdom but now "Eanfirth" may have been |
| 9:06 | · | head of a noble house that had Saxon and British Heritage uniting this curious Kingdom we now |
| 9:13 | · | continue to have a succession of Kings marriages into mercian families, Kings claiming to be Kings |
| 9:18 | · | without any Authority it's all really rather messy but the point is continually made that they are |
| 9:24 | · | all very much sub Kings of which all that would change though come 777ad with a man named offer. |
| 9:35 | · | Uthred Erbert and elred are Kings joint Kings of which 757 ad and one of these refers to himself |
| 9:45 | · | as "under king of Hwicce by the dispensation of the Lord" now in the very same Charter that we |
| 9:51 | · | read those words from one of the kings of Hwicce we also read similar words from King offer almost |
| 9:57 | · | putting him in his place "my undertaking elder man that is of his people of the Hwicce" and |
| 10:06 | · | that's exactly how offa now saw which long had gone the time when it's geographical its history |
| 10:12 | · | its Heritage well all those aspects played an important part in the politics they no |
| 10:17 | · | longer did an offer now saw that which was firmly absorbed into Mercia which now became one and all |
| 10:25 | · | the grand delusions of the kings and queens from before they were now just referred ref to as the |
| 10:30 | · | elderman from 805 ad well which loses all control and Independence of its own lands |
| 10:40 | · | the mercian king ceonwulf saw the end of this time of Kings to earldormen and 65 years on |
| 10:46 | · | Hwicce titles pass to the Royal House of Wessex which now rules the surviving free half of Mercia |
| 10:56 | · | and of course the Hwicce Heritage now falls out of use completely well if you've enjoyed |
| 11:01 | · | this video as much as I've enjoyed this really quirky Roman Hill fort it's very neat and tidy |
| 11:06 | · | I love it then you're going to love some of the videos just up here and of course |
| 11:10 | · | if you did like this I'd love you to click subscribe we'll see you this time next week |
The Dark Age Kingdom that Divided Britain [11:20]
By Free Republic | Created at 2025-01-15 04:24:09 | Updated at 2025-01-15 08:35:01
4 hours ago
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