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| Battle of Two Rivers | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Pictland | Northumbria | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Drest VI | Ecgfrith | ||||||
TheBattle of Two Rivers was fought between thePicts andNorthumbrians in the year 671. The exact battle site is unknown. It marked the end of the Pictish rebellion early in the reign ofEcgfrith, with a decisive victory for the Northumbrians. Attestation of the battle is limited to the account inStephen of Ripon'sVita Sancti Wilfrithi.
During the 7th century, theNorthumbrians gradually extended their territory to the north. TheAnnals of Tigernach record a siege of "Etain" in 638,[1] which has been interpreted as Northumbria's conquest ofEidyn (Edinburgh) during the reign ofOswald, marking the annexation ofGododdin territories to the south of theRiver Forth.[2]
To the north of the Forth, the Pictish nations consisted at this time of the Kingdom ofFortriu to the north of theMounth, and a "Southern Pictish Zone" to the south, stretching as far as the Forth.[3] Evidence from the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon historianBede points to the Picts also being subjugated by the Northumbrians during Oswald's reign,[4] and that this subjugation continued into the reign of his successor,Oswiu.[5]
Ecgfrith succeeded Oswiu as king of Northumbria in 670. Ecgfrith's kingdom was said to have been 'weak' on his ascent to the throne. In 671, word reached Ecgfrith that the Picts, under the command of theVerturian kingDrest mac Donuel, were preparing to rebel and overthrow the Northumbrian hegemony.[6]
| "He [Ecgfrith] slew an enormous number of the people, filling two rivers with corpses, so that, marvellous to relate, the slayers, passing over the rivers dry foot, pursued and slew a crowd of fugitives[.]" |
| — Stephen of Ripon's account of the battle fromVita Sancti Wilfrithi.[7] |
–Moncreiffe Island, suggested location of battle.The record and description of the battle is limited entirely toStephen of Ripon's account in hisVita Sancti Wilfrithi. According to this account, Ecgfrith became aware of the Picts plans to overthrow the Northumbrian suzerainty and he hastily assembled an invasion force of horsemen. He headed north, aided by his sub-kingBeornhæth,[8] who historianJames Fraser suggests may have ruled the southern Pictish kingdom of Niuduera, identified as being located in present-dayFife.[9]
The battle location is not recorded. A tentative suggestion ofMoncreiffe Island, nearPerth has been made.[10] However, it is unclear what (if any) impact the subsequent revision of Fortriu's location to northern Scotland has on this suggestion.[11]
In the account given inVita Sancti Wilfrithi, Ecgfrith's cavalry was ambushed by a concealed and much larger Pictish army. Nevertheless, the Northumbrians prevailed, with Pictish casualties being of sufficient number to 'fill two rivers', allowing the Northumbrian cavalry to pursue Pictish survivors without getting their feet wet.[7]
As a work of hagiography,Vita Sancti Wilfrithi is not an ideal historical source and it has been suggested that its partisan treatment of Northumbrian history inspiredBede'sHistoria Ecclesiastica.[12] Various details of Stephen's account of the battle are likely to have been exaggerated, overstating the extent of Ecgfrith's victory.[13]
Stephen records that, following the battle, the Picts were reduced to slavery and subject to the yoke of captivity for the next 14 years.[14] TheIrish annals ofUlster andTigernach record of a 'Drost' being expelled from kingship in 671.[15] It is generally presumed that this was the Pictish king, Drest, and that he was deposed and replaced byBridei mac Bili as a direct result of the failure of the Pictish rebellion.[16]
Bridei was later to defeat and kill Ecgfrith in theBattle of Dun Nechtain in 685.[17]
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