"After this, sometimes our countrymen, sometimes the enemy, won the field, to the end that our Lord might in this land try after his accustomed manner these his Israelites, whether they loved him or not, until the year of the siege of Mount Badon, when took place also the last almost, though not the least slaughter of our cruel foe."
St. Gildas the Wise, De Excidio Britanniae, VIth century.
"The twelfth was a most severe contest, when Arthur penetrated to the hill of Badon. In this engagement, nine hundred and forty fell by his hand alone, no one but the Lord affording him assistance. In all these engagements the Britons were successful."
Historia Brittonum, IXth century.
"The battle of Badon, in which Arthur carried the cross of the Christ for three days and three nights on his shield, and the Britons were victors."
Annales Cambriae, Xth century.
We know from Gildas that Badon Hill was a victory for the Britons, around 500 AD, that will bring a period of peace up to the time he was writing, in the middle of the VIth century. Gildas don't name the commanders at Badon, but later texts do name Arthur. This is the main argument in favor of Arthur's historicity and importance in history, as a warlord strong enough to led the Britons to victory. There are tons of theoris about his identification, as a Northern warrior king or a Southern Aristocrat. One fact must stay: if Arthur existed, he was the commander at Badon. We portray him as a prince from the royal line of Dumnonia, cousin to Gereint, the Dumnonian king but his sovereign as the Amherawddyr: the Emperor, commanding the military forces of Britain against common foes - thought this is a theory much debated.
Arthur first major victories would have been at Dubglas, near Lincoln. Here he fought the Angles of Eomer and Icel, and eventually recovered Lincoln for a while, breaking their power. Another major english power remained in the south-east, the coalition of Kent and Sussex under Aesc and Aelle. Even for those who didn't believe in Arthur, it's likely that it was their power that was broken at Badon. Badon's date in the Annales Cambriae is given as 516 AD (or 518 AD), but most historians argues in favor of a derivation on this date, on the basis that Gildas said that we was writing 44 years after this battle, when Maelgwn Gwynedd was still alive so before 550 AD. So a date around 500 AD is much more likely, and the date of 496 AD have been advanced by some.
Onto Badon's location, there are several major sites like Little Solsbury Hill overlooking Bath, or Liddington Castle. British linguists insist on the fact that Badon must be a germanic name, but the word is known in Irish as meaning "round-place", and it is very unlikely that a Brythonic monk, writing in an period where the Britons were still dominating their island, would have named the location of a Brythonic victory over the English, deep in British territory, by an Old English name... We chose Liddington castle as its position is highly strategic - taking for basis Rosemary Sutcliff in her "Sword at Sunset" novel. Liddington hillfort was refortified in the Vth century, it overlooks two major roman roads and the Ridgeway, and the terrain around is very suitable for cavalry. An English army aiming for the rich Somerset area and the cities of Gloucester, Bath and Cirencester would have been very likely to pass near Liddington.
Now unto our Badon Hill scenario. Some years ago, Arthur had crushed the Angles at Dubglas, leaving them unable to help the other germanic tribes. Aelle of the young kingdom of the South Saxons have been set accordingly to the tradition the first bretwalda, a near title of the Brythonic Amherawddyr. He is allied with Aesc, the son of Hengest, founder of the Jutish kingdom of Kent. The english gathered and march along the Ridgeway, aiming to attack the rich british territories between Dumnonia and Gwent. Such a major invasion must have been well-planned, so the near Brythonic kingdoms unite their forces under Arthur's banner. Contigents of Dumnonia , Gwent and their sub-kingdoms would have been present, eventually under the command of Gereint, the Dumnonian king, and Caradoc Vreichvras ("Strong-Arm"), prince of Caer Glew. Irish texts (not yet published) also mentions a contigent of 300 Mumainha warriors sent to help the Britons at Badon. Arthur's cavalry is stationned in the fort of Badon - Liddington - and its sister fort at the other side of the valley, while the other british troops stand in the valley, awaiting the English. Those would essentially involve Athelings and their warbands, as hundredmen and other levies were needed to hold their lands, and non-professional warriors are unlikely to have accepted to leave their families to die that deep in foreign territory. Jutish forces may have also counted some Frankish elements, and some cavalry. They however needed lot of logistic, and had to live in hostile land some they were probably weakened.
Nennius's account of what was probably once a battle-listing poem said that Arthur killed 940 men in one charge. It is possible that his cavalry sallied out of the forts and take the English by the back when they were expected to do a frontal assault. In the end, the invading army was annilhated, and both Aesc and Aelle probably killed. Survivors had little chance to escape that far of their home. This left the Anglo-Saxons in a very weak position. Arthur eventually took back part of the South Saxons territory, there is evidence supported by both archeology and historic texts of English seaking refuge on the continent. There is no Bretwalda recorded for around 70 years. A period of relative peace ensued, without major germanic advance before the second part of the VIth century. Nor Kent, nor Sussex will be able to do any major blow to the British anymore, and ironically, this left the room for other germanic kingdoms to be founded and to defeat the Britons several decades later: Mercia, Bernicia, and Wessex.
We must quote Pr. John Morris "The Age of Arthur" to conclude about Badon and its aftermaths. It's a old book, and Morris have been criticised a lot by his use of sources, but it is still a major piece of work.
"Badon was the 'final victory of the fatherland'. It ended a war whose issue had already been decided. The British had beaten back the barbarians. They stood alone in Europe, the only remaining corner of the western Roman world where a native power whithstood the all-Conquering Germans. Yet the price of victory was the loss of almost everything the victors had taken arms to defend. Ambrosius and Arthur had fought to restore the roman civilisation into which they had been born. But in most of Britain, the society of their fathers was ruined beyond repair. What it emerged was a new world, startling not only because it differed from the past, but because it differed from the rest of Europe."
Re: Favourite Historic Battle
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Originally Posted by PittBull260
According to The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War at least.
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