The Battle of Degsastan was fought c. 603 between king Æthelfrith of Bernicia and the Gaels under Áedán mac Gabráin, king of Dál Riada. Æthelfrith carried the day, winning a decisive victory, although his brother Theodbald was killed. We know almost nothing else about the battle, not even where "Degsastan" was supposed to be. Some suspect it was Dawstane in Liddesdale. Events Battle of Degsastan: Aethelfrith of Northumbria defeats Aedan of Dalriada. ... Bernicia (Brythonic, Brynaich or Bryneich) was a kingdom of the Angles in northern England during the 6th and 7th centuries AD. It later merged with the kingdom of Deira to form the kingdom of Northumbria. ... Dál Riata (also Dalriada or Dalriata) was a Goidelic kingdom on the western seaboard of Scotland and the northern coasts of Ireland, situated in the traditional Scottish and Northern Irish counties of Argyll, Bute and County Antrim. ... Æthelfrith (died 616) was a King of Bernicia ( 593– 616) and later, of all Northumbria ( 604– 616). ... Satellite image of northern Britain and Ireland showing the approximate area of Dál Riata (shaded). ... Events Battle of Degsastan: Aethelfrith of Northumbria defeats Aedan of Dalriada. ... Æthelfrith (d. ... The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, whose language is one that is Gaelic (Goidelic), a division of Insular Celtic languages. ... Satellite image of northern Britain and Ireland showing the approximate area of Dál Riata (shaded). ... Liddesdale, a valley of Liddel Water, Roxburghshire, Scotland, extends in a south-westerly direction from the vicinity of Peel Fell to the Esk, a distance of 21 miles. ...

According to Bede's account in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (Book I, chapter 34), Æthelfrith had won many victories against the British and was expanding his power and territory, and this concerned Áedán, who led "an immense and mighty army" against Æthelfrith. Although Æthelfrith had the smaller army, Bede reports that almost all of Áedán's army was slain, and Áedán himself fled. After this defeat, according to Bede, the Irish kings in Britain would not make war against the English again, right up to Bede's own time (130 years later). Bede depicted in an early medieval manuscript Depiction of Bede from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493. ... The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (in English: Ecclesiastical History of the English People) is a work in Latin by the Venerable Bede on the history of the Christian church in England, and of England generally. ...

Áedán's army included the Bernician exile Hering, son of the former Bernician king Hussa; his participation is mentioned by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (manuscript E, year 603), and may indicate dynastic rivalry among the Bernicians. Áedán's army also included the Cenél nEógain prince Máel Umai mac Báetáin, who is said by Irish sources to have slain Eanfrith, brother of Æthelfrith. Hussa ruled from 585 to 592 and was the seventh known ruler of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Bernicia. ... The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals narrating the history of the English and their settlement in Britain. ...

Áedán survived as King of Dál Riata until 608 when he was succeeded by his youngest son Eochaid Buide. Æthelfrith died in battle in 616. Events September 15 - Boniface IV becomes pope. ... Events Eadbald succeeds Ethelbert as king of Kent. ...