[7] Nennius calls him "Catgublaun, king of Guenedot," Gwynedd, North Wales.
[8] Anglo-Saxon Chron. and Bede.
[9] Dr. Giles, Mr. Green, and others, say—"Hatfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, about seven miles to the north-east of Doncaster," and this seems the most probable site.
[10] Variation, Brocmail.
[11] Dean Howson, in an address delivered at Chester, in 1873, in reference to the disputed site of Oswald's death, said—"He was not going to decide between the claims of the two places, but he was inclined to think both views might be reconciled. Oswald had a palace at Winwick, and there was a well there that bore his name, and an inscription that recorded his attachment to the locality. Oswestry was said to mean Oswald's tree. There was no reason why they should not believe that he was killed at Winwick, and that his head and arms were taken away and put on a stump of wood at Oswestry. The conflicting statements would then be reconciled." Such an act would, in no way, be inconsistent with the character of Penda. He might send the remains to his Welsh allies as trophies of his victory over the vanquisher of their great chief, Cadwalla.[** this is note p62]
[12] Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon dictionary, under the letter K, says, "Though the A. S. generally used c, even before e, i, and y, yet as k is sometimes found," he gives a list of words commencing with that consonant under such conditions. The Anglo-Saxon "Cymen's ora" is now represented by Keynor. Kemble says the homes of the Elsingas and Elcinghas, are now represented by Elsing and Elkington, in Northamptonshire. Mr. Green speaks of "those Gewissas, the Hwiccas, as they were called," and Peille says, "Indo-European ky and ty become ss, as in 'prasso' for 'prack-yo' (root 'prack,' formative suffix 'yo.')"
[13] The etymology on which Mr. Howel W. Lloyd, the recent able advocate for the Shropshire site, and others, rely, (Earwaker's Local Gatherings relating to Lancashire, vol. i., 1876, and the summary, by Mr. Askew Roberts, in his "Contributions to Oswestry History,") is as follows:—Referring to Mr. Lloyd's paper, Mr. Roberts states his position thus:—"Mesbury (now Maesbury, called in Domesday Meresbury), a hamlet in the parish of Oswestry, is now called 'Llysfeisir or Llys feisydd.'" He adds—"Thus a basis is supplied for a correct inference as to the order of nomenclature. 1. The Welsh Te-fesen, corrupted by the Saxons into Mesafelth or Maserfelth, and then into Maserfield, the name of the district in which is Oswestry, as Winwick is in Makerfield. 2. The monastery founded on the spot in honour of St. Oswald, called Album Monasterium, Candida Ecclesia Y Fonachlog Wen (by the Welsh according to Davies), and Blancmonster and Blancminster by the Normans, all meaning the same thing, viz.:—White Monastery, applied latterly also to the town, which grew up around the monastery. 3. Mesbury, corrupted into Maesbury, when the town in Trefesen, to which a Fitzalan granted a charter, grew into a borough; and 4, Oswaldestree or Oswestry, from the 'tre' or district, or else possibly from the traditional tree, on which the king's arm was recorded to have been hung. A further basis is supplied for reconciling the statement of Nennius, that the battle was fought at Codoy, with that of the Saxon historian that it was fought at Maserfield. For just as Winwick is in Mackerfield, so may Codoy have been in the larger locality of Maserfield; and Nennius, as a British historian, representing, as his editors believe him to do, a much earlier author, gives, as might naturally be expected, the precise situation of the spot, the territorial appellation only for which reached the foreign and more distant chroniclers. From all this it is certain that Oswestry had its Maserfield as Winwick its Mackerfield, the former, however, more nearly reflecting the ancient British name, as well as character of the place, but both alike designating a district rather than a town, that being the ancient meaning of the word 'tre.' Maserfelth is, therefore, Oak-field, a translation of the original British name of Trefesen (compare English 'mast,') and the arms connected St. Oswald with the Oak."
[14] There is great difficulty in reconciling the various statements respecting this Cadwalla. Mr. Skene ("Four Ancient Books of Wales") thinks it not improbable that it was his father, Cadvan, who fell at Heavenfield, and not himself. If Cadwalla fought at Maserfeld, Dean Howson's conjecture is rendered more probable. See Ante, p. 62. Revenge for his father's death might induce him to display his trophies of victory over his previously successful rival before his Brit-Welsh subjects at a locality afterwards named Oswestry.
[15] Mr. Hartshorne, however, refers to this story in connection with his claim of "Maesbrook, a place in a direct line between Maesbury and Coedway, and about five miles from Oswestry," as the site of Oswald's defeat, and connects a local legend with it.
[16] For a long time after the death of Oswald, the present Shropshire remained British, or as Professor Boyd Dawkins appropriately terms it, "Brit-Welsh," territory.—See Mr. Green's maps.