Talk:Battle of the Winwaed

Which river

 * "this river has never been identified"
 * "There is good reason to believe it may have been the river now known as Cock Beck"
 * "the River Winwaed, which may be identified with the Went"

Which is it? :) What is the "good reason"? Where's the Went? That's a disambiguation page. Haukur 10:17, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Head cut off
"Bede mentions that Penda's head was cut off"... after reading Bede's account it seems to me he was talking figuratively; ie. the "head" of the heathen nation of Mercia was "cut off" with the defeat of Penda. Unless someone can provide a definitive reference to Penda's actual decapitation I'm gonna remove the statement (I mean, it's not that relevant anyways.) --Jquarry 02:12, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

It's also possible it's a pun on Penda's name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.138.196.192 (talk) 10:16, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Gwaed
The Brythonic name for this battle has been Maes Cai (tr: The Field of Cai), Cai being named as one of Arthur's henchmen. The meaning of 'gwaed' - event after 1400 hasn't changed one single letter. Ask any north Wales medic and they will tell you that the word means blood. Gwin is wine, and gwyn is white; so take your pick with the first part.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle calls the place: Wingfield. Win here has changed to wing. Geoffrey of Monmouth mentions "on the bank of the River Wunued" (today's River Aire?). The "Wun" bit obviously is the same as Win-waed. Bede mentions: "this battle was fought close by the River Winwaed, which at the time was swollen by heavy rains and had flooded the surrounding country: as a result, many more were drowned while attempting to escape than perished by the sword."

A.C. Breeze translates Winwaed to: whiteness (a white-water river, due to the torrent). He mentions Uinued; today's translation would be gwyned - very similar to Gwynedd!

So the meaning of Gwinwaed, I belive comes in two parts: the river Win and the flow of blood (from battle) the battle giving it's name to the river. Who knows! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Llywelyn2000 (talk • contribs) 09:22, 14 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Waed is simply an Old English word for "water". Paul S (talk) 23:59, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

Is the flag of Mercia anachronistic?
The side bar shows a flag of Mercia that looks like a variation on St. Andrew's cross. That may have been a flag of Mercia at some point in time, but it does not look right as the flag of Penda's Mercia, since he was one of the last pagans among the Anglo-Saxon kings. And, of course, they did not have flags in the modern sense at that time.

Is the flag of Mercia anachronistic?
The side bar shows a flag of Mercia that looks like a variation on St. Andrew's cross. That may have been a flag of Mercia at some point in time, but it does not look right as the flag of Penda's Mercia, since he was one of the last pagans among the Anglo-Saxon kings. And, of course, they did not have flags in the modern sense at that time. Did they? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bob99 (talk • contribs) 22:33, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 09:15, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

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