york00orns

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MONASTERIES OF NORTHUMBRIA. 43
swollen by the rains of autumn, than by the sword.
It was a decisive blow. " It was a great day for the
independence of the kingdoms, and a still greater for
their Christianity. On the one hand, ' the plains of
Yorkshire witnessed the emancipation of England ;
on the other hand, Penda ' fell, and with him fell
Paganism.'
Oswy gained by this victory a position of high and
undisputed authority, and, speaking generally, Christianity
extended in
a greater or lesser degree over all
the kingdoms of the island, with the solitary exception
of that of Sussex. To this spread he had largely contributed.
He fulfilled his vow by the foundation of
the twelve monasteries, and he placed his little
daughter Elfled under the care of Hilda at Hartlepool.
Six of the monasteries were founded in Bernicia
and six in Deira.
'
Such is the received account of the battle and the locality
where it was fought, in the region of the Loidis (see Bright, p.
176, Turner, i. p. 374, and Milman's "Latin Christianity," ii.
p. 244). One is unwilling that "the plains of Yorkshire"
should lose their distinction, but Mr. Skene adduces arguments
in favour of the plain of Gai, on the Frith of Forth, where the
continuator of "Nennius" says that Penda was slain. Bede
mentions Loidis in one other passage, where he certainly means
Leeds ; but it is equally certain that Lothian was likewise called
the region of the Loidis, and if it may be presumed that Bede
here means the latter, it at once reconciles the two accounts.
On the other hand, Florence of Worcester tells us that Penda's
Eittack was upon Bernicia, and this kingdom was more immediately
under the rule of Oswy. If Mr. Skene's suggestion
be accepted, the river Winuaed would be the Avon, which
divides the province of Loidis from the district of Calatria,
called in the Irish annals " Calathros," and by the Britons
" Catraeth." See " Celtic Scotland," i. pp. 254-256.