Trent, battle on the

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Trent, battle on the, 679. Æthelred, king of Mercia, defeated Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, and regained authority over Lindsey. The site cannot be localized. Bede's account has specially revealing elements. He emphasizes how Archbishop Theodore successfully urged acceptance of a blood-price for the Northumbrian king's brother who had been killed. Long peace followed. Second, Bede relates a miracle story about Imma, a Northumbrian noble, captured by the Mercians. It shows that it was normal for captured nobles to be killed, lesser men enslaved; and that lesser captives were sold to a Frisian slave merchant, who took them, chained, to London for export.

James Campbell