13th July, 2007
Aethelfryth's Invasions
Aethelfryth (also spelt Ethelfrith or Ethelfrid) came to prominence in the early 7th century. He united the Anglian kingdoms of Deira (Yorkshire) and Bernicia (south-east Scotland, Northumberland and Durham). The new kingdom became known as Northumbria.
Aethelfryth was a ruthless war lord. Bede, writing more than a 100 years later, had this to say about him:
"He (Aethelfryth) ravaged the Britons more cruelly than all other English leaders..."
"He overran a greater area than any other king or ealdorman, exterminating or enslaving the inhabitants, making their lands either tributary to the English or ready for English settlement."
Aethelfryth's Impact
King Aethelfryth had a great impact on the north-west of England. He defeated the Britons of Powys at the battle of Chester in about 616. According to Bede, such was Aethelfryth's violent nature that he massacred more than 2,000 monks, who had assembled before the battle to pray for a British victory.
A further wave of Anglian settlers in the Wigan area followed Aethelfryth's victory. Their place-names are formed from the element ingatun. Examples of these around Wigan are Adlington, Worthington and Pennington.
Not all historians are convinced that Aethelfryth's take over of the north-west was as violent as Bede suggests. But his effect on the region was great. He extended Northumbrian influence and established a block of Anglian control between the two British areas of Wales and Strathclyde.
By 620, the Northumbrians were well in control of the Wigan area. It is not known how they treated the British, but from about 615 onwards, British influence faded as the Northumbrians imposed their will on the region.
The Anglo-Saxon language, which we now call " Old English", became predominant and the use of Celtic declined.
Mercians
The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia probably included the modern counties of Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, southern Derbyshire and north Warwickshire.
During the reigns of Aethelbald and Offa in the 8th centuries the Mercians increased their territory and probably extended their influence to the area between the Mersey and the Ribble - including Wigan.
It's difficult to chart the tug of war between the Mercians and Northumbrians during the early medieval period but place-name evidence, again, is of some help.
For example, the pronunciation of the Anglo-Saxon translation of the Latin "castra" varied between the two Kingdoms. The Northumbrians used the form "caster" - the Mercians, "chester". Thus names such as "Lancaster", to the north of the area, reflect Northumbrian influence, while names such as "Ribchester" and "Manchester" to the south, show Mercian occupation.
It seems that south of the Ribble there is a mix of Northumbrian and Mercian place-names, but north of the Ribble there are no Mercian names. This appears to indicate that the Northumbrians, at some stage held land in both north and south of what is now Lancashire, but the Mercians failed to extend their influence north of the Ribble.
Wessex
In the 9th century, Wessex became the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom, and eventually united all of England under its rule.