Editing Rædwald of East Anglia (section)

=== The Battle of the River Idle ===
{{See also|Battle of the River Idle}}
In 616 or 617, Rædwald assembled an army and marched north, accompanied by his son Rægenhere, to confront Æthelfrith. They met on the western boundary of the [[kingdom of Lindsey]], on the east bank of the [[River Idle]]. The battle was fierce and was long commemorated in the saying, 'The river Idle was foul with the blood of Englishmen'.<ref name="DNB" /> During the fighting, Æthelfrith and Rædwald's son Rægenhere were both slain. Edwin then succeeded Æthelfrith as the king of Northumbria, and Æthelfrith's sons were subsequently forced into exile.<ref>Newton, ''The Origins of Beowulf and the Pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia''. p. 104</ref>

A separate account of the battle, given by Henry of Huntingdon, stated that Rædwald's army was split into three formations, led by Rædwald, Rægenhere, and Edwin. With more experienced fighters, Æthelfrith attacked in loose formation. At the sight of Rægenhere, perhaps thinking he was Edwin, Æthelfrith's men cut their way through to him and slew him. After the death of his son, Rædwald furiously breached his lines, killing Æthelfrith amid a great slaughter of the Northumbrians.<ref>Forrester, ''The chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon'', p. 56</ref>

[[David Peter Kirby|D.P. Kirby]] has argued that the battle was more than a clash between two kings over the treatment of an exiled nobleman but was "part of a protracted struggle to determine the military and political leadership of the Anglian peoples" at that time.<ref name="Kirby52" />