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Since the death of Oswald's uncle Edwin of Northumbria at Hatfield Chase in 633, Mercia under Penda had been dominant in the north of England. Oswald had already avenged Edwin's death by defeating the Britons at Heavenfield, and now purposed to do the same to Penda, bringing his army to Maserfield, now Oswestry ("Oswald's Tree") in Shropshire, near the WelshFor alternate meanings, see Wales (disambiguation Wales ( Welsh: Cymru pronounced /"k@mrI/ SAMPA, km IPA, 'Kumree' approximate pronunciation) is one of the four nations comprising the United Kingdom (the other three being England, Scotland and Northern Ir border.
For his part, Penda gathered with his Welsh allies, drawn from realms that included PowysThe Kingdom of Powys was one of several kingdoms that ruled a part of modern Wales. In its earliest periods, its boundaries extended to the east and south to include parts of modern Shropshire and Worcestershire that are part of the valleys of the Severn, GwyneddThis article is about the medieval kingdom of Gwynedd. For the modern administrative county of Wales, see Gwynedd. Gwynedd was one of the kingdoms or principalities of medieval Wales. Covering an area in the north-west of the country around Snowdonia and, and Pengwern .
For the battle, no details are known beyond the outcome; Penda defeated and killed Oswald. Oswald's body was cut into pieces, and his head and arms mounted on poles. Penda being paganPaganism (or Heathenism ) is a catch-all term which has come to bundle together (by extension from its original classical meaning of a non- Christian religion) a very broad set of not necessarily compatible religious beliefs and practices that are usually and Oswald ChristianChristian is: a follower of the faith of Christianity a popular first name and surname, especially in Northern Europe According to the New Testament, those who followed Jesus as his disciples were first called Christians by those who did not share their f, this made Oswald a martyrHistorically, a martyr (from Greek martys for "witness") was considered to be a person who died for his or her religious faith, typically by being tortured to death. History In Christianity Christian martyrs in the first three centuries A. were crucified, and BedeBede commonly known as the Venerable Bede (c. 672 May 25, 735) was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Wearmouth (today part of Sunderland), and of its daughter monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow. He is well known as an author an reports many miracles attributed to the various body parts revered as relicThe word relic comes from the Latin reliquiae ('remains') and there are many pre-Christian instances of some bone or other part of the corpse, or some intimately associated object, carefully preserved with an air of veneration as a tangible memorial.s.
Maserfield cemented Penda's ascendance over the Northumbrians, which lasted until his death at the Battle of Winwaed thirteen years later.