Chapter 14
Death of Tondbert AD 655The winter that followed the battle of Winwaed was severe.
Blizzards drove across the high moors and ice split rock from rock on the dark ridges. People huddled in their thatched houses, chopping and burning the very trees whose branches gave them shelter from the icy winds and whose roots held the earth firm beneath them. Rivers froze. Sheep were lost in snowdrifts. The old and very young died daily, coughing and shivering.
Oswy took steps to consolidate his dramatic victory over Penda. His eldest son Alfrid, who had fought with him at Winwaed, was installed as sub-king of Deira. Penda’s daughter, Cyneberga, was given to him as wife and hostage. Peada, Penda’s eldest son, was allowed to rule as sub-king of the Middle Angles, but Oswy wove such a web o
