The Battle Of Tettenhall / Wednesfield

After the military reorganisation of England under King Ælfrēd The Great  in the preceding years, the English were in a position to not only  defend themselves, but to attack the Danish vikings residing in the  'Danelaw' - an area negotiated by King Ælfrēd and Guthrum where the  Danish laws held sway. This included the Kingdoms of Northumbria and  East Anglia, and the 'Five Boroughs' - Derby, Leicester, Nottingham,  Lincoln & Stamford. In 909, the combined English forces of Wessex  & Mercia launched a campaign lasting five weeks against the Danes at  Lindsey in Northumbria, part of the Danelaw, successfully capturing the  relics of Saint Oswald which would be later reburied at Gloucester.

The Danes, likely furious at the victorious English campaign, sought the  offensive. The joint Kings of Northumbria, Eowils Ragnarson and  Healfdan II assembled a large army, with the intention of sailing into  the heart of Mercia & plundering what they could and destroying what  was left, before making a quick escape. They had word that King  Ēadweard was away at Kent organising a fleet, and that the King's  fighting men would be with him. They arrived, sailing up the River  Severn, raiding all of Mercia as far south as the Bristol Avon. The  Danes were surprised to discover that while they were attacking, King  Ēadweard had met with the Mercian Ealdorman Æthelred, and the combined  English forces chased the raiders, and blocked their route to the Severn  at Bridgnorth. Left with little option but to battle, the English &  the Danes fought at either Tettenhall or Wednesfield depending on which  version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle you read.  (Understandable, as Wednesfield lies just three miles to the east of  Tettenhall).

The English won a decisive victory, with thousands of Danes killed,  including the Kings Eowils & Healfdan. It proved to be the defeat of  the last great army from Denmark to invade England, and opened the way  for the expansion of Wessex into the Danish east Mercia & East  Anglia, the Northumbrian Danes effectively subdued, never to recover.

Ealdorman Æthelred died in 911, the year after the battle, possibly from  a wound inflicted during the battle. He was succeeded by his wife  Æðelflæd, eldest daughter of the late King Ælfrēd The Great.

King Ēadweard se Ieldra went on to construct Burhs at Bridgnorth,  Hertford, Tamworth, Eddisbury, Warwick, Stafford & Witham. Later, he  brought Mercia under his direct control after the death of Æðelflæd.

The exact site of the battle is not known, though several places have  been suggested. The current Lower Green near St. Michaels Church in  Tettenhall, the Smestow Valley area between Tettenhall &  Wolverhampton, Wednesfield itself / Wednesfield Heath - now Heath Town  (some suggesting it because Wednesfield - derived from Wōdnesfeld - the  field of Wōden, though of course the English were Christian at this  time), or somewhere in between. Former mayor of Wolverhampton, Phil  Bateman, has invited Time Team to come along and  excavate the 'Warrior's Tomb', a set of boulders piled curiously near  the front of St. Mary’s Church in Bushbury, for this very reason. The  name of nearby Low Hill might also hold a clue - previously known as  'The Low', from Old English Hlǽw, with mounds near  by recorded in the 17th century by the antiquary John Huntbach, such as  North Low, South Low, the Little Low, the Great Low, Horselow,  Tromelowe, and Ablow (some of these names still remain as place names).  Hlǽw meant 'mound'.. possibly burial mounds of the (mostly) Danish dead?

Copyright: 2009 Penda of Teotta's Halh AKA N. Hodgkiss. Reference wikipedia.org  & Anglo-Saxon England by Frank Stenton