Concept

Bataille de Dyrham

Résumé
The Battle of Deorham (or Dyrham) is claimed as a decisive military encounter between the West Saxons and the Britons of the West Country in 577. The battle, which was a major victory for Wessex's forces led by Ceawlin and his son, Cuthwine, resulted in the capture of the Brythonic cities of Glevum (Gloucester), Corinium Dobunnorum (Cirencester), and Aquae Sulis (Bath). It also led to the permanent cultural and ethnic separation of Dumnonia (Cornwall and Devon) from Wales. The only evidence for the battle is an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It is in the earliest surviving version, the 'A' or 'Winchester Manuscript', which was written in about 892, and also in the later B, C and E manuscripts. "577: Here Cuthwine and Ceawlin fought against the Britons, and they killed 3 kings, Coinmail, Condidan and Farinmail, in the place which is called Deorham, and took 3 cities: Gloucester and Cirencester and Bath" Deorham is generally taken to be Dyrham in what is now South Gloucestershire, on the Cotswolds escarpment a few miles north of Bath. As there is only one entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which was created three hundred years after the event, Patrick Sims-Williams, Emeritus Professor of Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University, has argued that the entry's names of the kings may have been a later invention incorporating elements of an early Welsh source. The Severn Valley has always been one of the military keys of Britain, and some of the decisive battles of the Saxon conquest were fought to control it. In 577 Ceawlin advanced from the Thames Valley across the Cotswolds to seize the area and break the power of the Britons in the lower Severn area. Some historians (such as Welbore St Clair Baddeley in 1929) have concluded that the Saxons may have launched a surprise attack and seized the hill fort at Hinton Hill Camp (Dyrham Camp) because it commanded the Avon Valley, and disrupted communications north and south between Bath and her neighbouring Romano-British towns of Gloucester and Cirencester.
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