Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
WE(O)NDUN, SYMEON OF DURHAM, AND THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
WE(O)NDUN, SYMEON OF DURHAM, AND THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH
Do you wish to request the book?
WE(O)NDUN, SYMEON OF DURHAM, AND THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
WE(O)NDUN, SYMEON OF DURHAM, AND THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH
2024
Overview
Introduction The battle of Brunanburh, fought in 937 by King Athelstan against a coalition of Dublin-based Scandinavians under Anlaf Guthfrithsson, men of Alba under King Constantine, and Cumbrians under King Owain, resulted in a victory for the English.1 The battle has been the foc us of widespread attention in recent years, with a controversy continuing about where it was fought. [...]a relatively early source, recorded in the Historia de regibus Anglorum et Dacorum (formerly known from Thomas Arnold's edition as the Historia regum),6 and Symeon of Durham's Libellus de exordio (hereafter LDE),7 both extant in manuscripts from the twelfth century (see below), and clearly preserving earlier tradition, give an entirely different name, We(o)ndun, for the site of the battle. Alistair Campbell emended the name to ·Weordun to refer to the river Wear in County Durham.8 More recently, Michael Wood has identified a place on the basis of this name, and believes that this resolves the controversy about where the battle took place; he fixes it at Went Hill near Doncaster.9 Another recent writer, Andrew Breeze, locates it as the hill at Lanchester.10 The purpose of this article is to review the evidence available relating to this name, We(o)ndun, through a consideration of the sources, texts, manuscripts, and language of the writers. Wood assures the reader that Wendun in the Historia de regibus Anglorum et Dacorum is from: an early and trustworthy Northumbrian source ... a short set of tenth-century annals with a special interest in the bishops of St Cuthbert's ... presumably written in Chester-le-Street in the second quarter of the tenth century ... it is conceivably our earliest source for the battle. ... a set of tenth-century annals.21 He adds in a footnote on the same page that the source was 'a contemporary record written in Chester-le-Street from the 890s to 954'.
Publisher
Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages and Literature
