Dr Brian Roberts kindly gave me access to his own research on several aspects of the geography of the North-east in Oswald’s day.
Eleanor Carr not only translated from the German for me but also provided support, a good ear and many other kindnesses when the going was tough.
My son Jack, as always, has put up with more than most with amiable good humour and patience.
Ian Drury and Richard Milbank have been unstinting champions of Oswald.
Bernard of Clairvaux said, long before Newton stole the idea, that if we see further than our predecessors it is because we sit on the shoulders of giants. The scholarship of the Early Medieval period in Europe is, and has been, of a very high order. The work of Dr Brian Hope-Taylor, Peter Hunter-Blair, Dame Rosemary Cramp, Professor Nick Higham, Professor Charles Thomas, Dr Brian K. Roberts, Professor David Rollason, Dr Clare Stancliffe and the late Professor Philip Rahtz (not the least of whose talents were those of a brilliant teacher) stands out, as does the immense contribution made by the Bedan scholars Charles Plummer, Bertram Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors.
This book is for lifelong learners everywhere, with a plea to short-sighted governments not to write us all off after the age of twenty-five. My oldest student, Sybil Durno—I hope she will not mind me mentioning her—is over ninety years of age. She has limited vision and does not hear every word. She never misses a class, is as sharp as a tack and a huge inspiration to all those who know her. This book is dedicated particularly to her and to another learner for life, my aunt June Kempster.
Picture Credits
Maps
Jeff Edwards
Picture section
1. Bamburgh Castle: Brian Kerr/Getty Images
2. Oswald’s Gate: Max Adams
3. Iona Abbey: Ullsteinbild/TopFoto
4. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entries for the years 824 to 833, Abingdon, mid-eleventh century, British Library Cotton MS Tiberius B.i, f.128. 27: British Library
5. Franks Casket: akg-images/Erich Lessing
6. Sutton Hoo Bronze Bowl: akg-images/Erich Lessing
7. Edwin’s palace at Yeavering: Dr Brian Hope-Taylor, copyright HMSO
8. Yeavering Bell: Max Adams
9. Finglesham buckle: Yorke Digital Library/Jane Hawkes; with the kind permission of The Lord Northbourne
10. Heavenfield cross: Max Adams
11. The horned war-god Belatucadros/Cernunnos: Senhouse Museum
12. St Oswald and St Aidan, by Ford Madox Brown: Lady Lever Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool/The Bridgeman Art Library
13. Lindisfarne Priory: Max Adams
14. Bede’s World, Jarrow: Max Adams
15. Thirlings manor plan: Colm O’Brien and Roget Miket
16. Oswald’s Well: Janet & Colin Bord/Fortean Picture Library/Topfoto
17. Hexham crypt: by kind permission of the Hexham Abbey Shop
18. Gold strip with biblical inscription from the Staffordshire hoard: Birmingham Museums Trust
19. Whitby Abbey: Lindsey Parnaby/AFP/Getty Images
20. The opening of Cuthbert’s tomb: British Library
21. Cuthbert gospel: British Library
22. Lindisfarne Gospels: akg-images/British Library
23. Hildesheim relic: akg-images
24. Seventh-century coin from Kent: Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
25. Seventeenth-century silver Kreuzer from Zug, Switzerland: courtesy of the Money Museum, Zürich
26. Stained-glass window from the church of St John Lee: Dave Webster
Index
A
Abels, Richard 310, 316–17, 324
Aberlemno, Angus 66, 373
Acca, Bishop of Hexham 152, 256, 269n
Acha Yffing, Queen (Oswald’s mother) 5–10, 29, 63, 87, 95, 158, 259, 268
Ad Muram 281–82
Adomnán 58, 162, 376
De Locis Sanctis 376
Vita Columbae (Life of Saint Columba) 22–23, 59–60, 62, 142, 149, 152–53, 167
Æbbe (Oswald’s sister) 10, 63, 65, 68, 69, 144, 268, 352, 381–82
Áed mac Ainmirech, King 61
Áedán mac Gabráin, King 27, 28, 59, 61–64, 69, 72, 143, 166, 197–98, 349
Ælfflæd 140, 286, 291, 348, 349, 374, 376
Ælfred (Oswald’s uncle) 65
Ælfwald, King 151n, 370, 371
Ælfwine, sub-king in Deira 306, 339, 340, 351
Ælle, king of Deira 6, 27, 29, 197
Æthelberht, king of Kent 38, 42–45, 47–48, 80–82, 103, 178, 188, 196, 263, 299
Æthelburh, Queen 9, 103–4, 105, 107, 117–18, 127, 129, 188, 217, 357
Æthelflæd, queen of Mercia 366
Æthelfrith Iding, king of Bernicia and Deira (Oswald’s father) 147, 188, 196, 259
a great Early Medieval warlord 5, 14, 15
known as Æthelfrith the Twister 5, 24, 64
his lands 19–20, 24
relationship with Oswald 16
at Catræth 27
victory at Degsastan 28, 29, 50, 64
unifies the two kingdoms 6, 24, 27, 29, 52
marriage to Acha 6, 29, 95
his ambition 52–53
and the first Christian mission to the English 37, 53
Battle of Chester 53, 54, 77, 78–79, 103, 232, 233, 242
tries to have Edwin killed 8, 76, 81, 192
admired by Bede 149, 192, 280
Bernicia and Deira held together by main force 158–59
as a tribal chief par excellence 197
overlordship 198
Battle on the River Idle (617) xiv, 8, 54, 85–87, 127
death 5, 6, 7, 10, 23, 54, 86, 87, 148
power vacuum after his death 20
Æthelhere, king of the East Angles 286
Æthelred, king of the Southern Mercians 257, 258, 291, 346, 351, 361
Æthelric (Oswald’s paternal grandfather) 6, 24, 25, 27, 64–65
Æthelthryth, Queen 341–42, 345, 350, 356–57
Æthelwine 273
Æthelwold, King 341
Æthelwulf 269
De Abbatibus 174
Agatho 318
Agilbert, Bishop 318, 324
Aidan, Bishop 170, 175, 179, 183–86, 243, 265, 307, 324, 355–56, 374
as the second missionary sent to Northumbria 161, 163
first bishopric 162
chooses Lindisfarne as his first monastery 166
Bede’s admiration for him 167
orthodoxy 170–71
qualities 171, 276, 280, 299
relationship with Oswald 171–72, 177, 184
prediction for Oswald 172, 176, 177, 242, 244, 355–56
at Yeavering 209, 210
and Oswiu’s second marriage 263, 264
Oswine as a favourite 264, 265
satellites of Lindisfarne 267
his Irish monks preach to the poor 268
and the assault on Bamburgh 271–72
teaches Wilfrid 303
teaches Hild 313
death and burial 185, 274–75, 334
legacy of 276
his successors 276, 296, 301
lessons for his Bernician protégés 289–90
relics 336, 337, 362, 364
Aidan, cult of 163
Alban, St 337
Alcuin 361, 377
Aldborough, North Yorkshire (Isurium Brigantum) 116, 131, 133
Aldfrith (son of Oswiu) 69–70, 220, 225, 375, 376, 381
Aldhelm 376
Alfred the Great, King 82, 216, 269, 366, 367, 384–85
Alhflæd 262, 280, 281, 291
Alhfrith, sub-king of Deira 29, 148, 262, 264, 278, 280, 281, 301, 302, 303, 305–6, 315, 316, 318, 323–24, 339, 381
Aliotus the Elmetian 102
Anastasius, Emperor 174
Aneirin: Y Gododdin 25, 26n, 27, 135, 142, 143n, 194–95
Angeln, Jutland Peninsula 11–12, 214
Angles 11–12, 24, 42, 293, 368n
Anglesey 77, 100, 101, 217, 232
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle xiv, 10, 27, 125, 187, 191, 195n, 199, 233, 308, 360–61
‘E’ version 13, 28–29
Anna, King 282–83, 341
Annales Cambriae 15
Annals of Tigernach 190, 270
Annals of Ulster 176, 190, 194, 195, 336
Annemundus, Archbishop 304n
Anonymous Life of Saint Cuthbert 270
Anthony, St 46
Antonine Wall 17, 210
Apollonaris, Sidonius 101
Arculf, Bishop 18, 74, 376
Argyll 17, 19, 71, 140
Armstrong, William 12
Arosæte 94
Arthur, King 15, 197
athelings 6–7, 16, 20, 29, 56, 63, 64, 68, 70, 150, 160, 197, 200, 227, 229, 235, 280
Athelney, Isle of 82
Athelstan 367
Augustinaes Ac (Augustine’s Oak) 50
Augustine of Canterbury 42–6, 48–54, 103, 104, 119, 163, 178, 210, 298, 309, 369–70
Augustine of Hippo 36n
B
Baldhild, Queen 305
Ballinrees, County Londonderry hoard 174–75
Bamburgh: St Peter’s church 185, 242, 243–44, 267, 355, 366
Bamburgh Castle 12–14, 16, 17, 24, 31, 53, 66, 99, 133, 136, 144, 166, 167, 169, 170, 172, 178, 180, 181, 185, 205, 206, 215, 241, 261, 271–72, 292, 350, 361
Bamburghshire 181–82, 206, 215, 216
Bangor-on-Dee (Bancornaburg; Bangor Is-coed) 51, 53
Barbarian Conspiracy (367) 211, 312
Bardney Abbey, Lincolnshire 189, 257–58, 346–47, 348, 350, 366
Barwick-in-Elmet 93
Bawtry, South Yorkshire 7, 85, 86, 87
beach markets 73, 74, 91, 170, 201
Bebba 12, 180, 215
Bede, Venerable xiii, 2, 12, 29, 221, 226
first historian of the English 8
correspondents on Iona 8–9, 163
on Æthelfrith 24
and Degstatan location 28
on British Christians’ failures 37
on Roman churches near Canterbury 42
and the Augustinian mission 43–47, 50, 51–52, 81–82, 279–80
and the gift of Iona to Colm Cille 58
admires Iona monastic ideal 61
treatment of Edwin’s conversion 76, 77
on Rædwald’s half-hearted conversion 79
Rædwald’s potential betrayal of Edwin 81–84
on Deira 90
and Edwin’s expansionist statement 99–100
and Edwin’s Irish Sea invasion 101
and Edwin’s material successes 105–6
describes Edwin’s conversion 110–12
and the fates of Eanfrith and Osric 130
and St Cuthbert 140
admires Æthelfrith 149, 192, 280
and Colm Cille’s appearance in Oswald’s tent 152–54
on the battle between Oswald and Cadwallon 157
and the first mission to Northumbria 161, 163, 165
describes Aidan’s ministry 161, 162
admiration for Aidan 167
Oswald’s Easter reception party 172–77
on Oswald’s death 230
Oswald’s miracles 245, 246–47, 249–50, 252, 255
view of Oswald 253–54
Oswine as a favourite 264
on the assault on Bamburgh 271–72
bias against British Christians 278–79
on Winwæd 286
Council of Whitby 314, 315, 319, 320
letter to Egbert 377–80
death 373, 377–78
Chronica Maiora 167, 368n
De tempore ratione 146
Ecclesiastical History of the English People 8, 32, 36, 37, 45, 47, 105, 167, 199, 210, 251, 368, 379, 383
Historia Abbatum 48
Life of Saint Cuthbert 268n
Bede’s World, Jarrow 14, 118, 222
Belatucadros (war god) 149–50, 253
Beltane 205, 217
Benedict of Nursia 184
Beornæth 199, 342
Beowulf 4, 47, 149, 175, 236, 325
Beowulf 7, 14, 84, 236–37, 375
Beowulf’s Heorot 12, 110, 115
Berht 199
Berhtfrith of Dunbar 199
Berhtred 199
Bernicia 69, 198
map xi
united with Deira 6, 24, 27, 29, 52, 158–59
described 19
enemy of the Strathclyde Britons 20
tenuous hold of Ida’s sons on Bernicia 24–25
growing threat to the south 26
twenty-four year domination of the northern English 86–87
Edwin exercises tributary control 95, 98
baptisms by Paulinus 114, 119
looks to north and west for enemies and allies 124–25
reverts to home-grown kings and paganism 125, 128
annexation of Rheged 147, 148
cult centres in 250
Bernician kings 13, 14, 15, 32, 56, 147, 169, 179, 232–33
Bertha, Queen 42, 43, 44, 45, 104
Berwick 181, 268, 342
Berwick-upon-Tweed 170, 181, 205, 268
Bewcastle stone cross 377
Birdoswald Fort 151, 212, 370
Birinus 187
Biscop, Benedict 48, 304
Blunt, Sir Walter 15
bocland 183, 220
Boisil, Abbot 318
Boniface, Archdeacon 305
Boniface, Pope 105, 106, 108
Bothelm 164, 255
Boudicca 86
Bowl Hole cemetery, Bamburgh 13
Brancaster 86
Breamish (Bromic) Valley 182, 211, 269
Brecc, Domnall, king of Dál Riata 61, 65, 74, 75, 140, 143, 144, 145, 146, 154, 193, 194, 197–98
Brendan, Saint 57
Bretwalda 195n
Bridei, King 133
Bridges, Catherine 107
Brigantes tribe 116, 132
Brigid, St 175
Brit, Abbot Fergno 68
Broichan 61
Broninis fortress 169, 351
Bronze Age 73, 89, 92, 207, 338, 357n
Brooks, Nicholas 234
Brough Law 204
Browne, Michelle 169
Bruide, King 58, 60–61
Bryneich 95, 179, 211
Bulcamp, Battle of 282
Burgh-in-the-Marsh, Lincolnshire (Burgh-le-Marsh) 86
C
Cadafael 286
Cadfan ap Iago 77, 102
Cadwallon, king of the Britons 127–38, 142–47, 149–54, 162, 202, 227, 267, 279, 286
as the son of Cadfan 77, 102n
overlord of Anglesey 102
alliance with Penda 125, 192, 227, 234
Hatfield Chase 127, 192, 234
defeated by Oswald 156–58, 159n, 247
as a tribal chief par excellence 197–98
Cædwalla 187, 227
Cælin 324n
Caesar, Julius 38, 288
Cambridge (Grantacæstir) 357
Campbell, James 246
Campodonum 114, 132, 267, 292
Candidus, Hugo 366
Canterbury, Archbishops of 48, 50
Canterbury, Kent 41–42, 44–47, 104, 117, 178, 263, 298, 299, 304, 306, 317, 339, 369–70, 376
Cantscaul 156
Carey, Sir Robert 139
Carham 343, 344, 345
Carlisle (Luguvalio) 19, 140, 146, 148, 149, 150
Castleford 285
Catterick (Catræth, Cataractonum) 25–26, 27, 94, 114, 129, 134, 135, 211, 267, 273, 299, 343
Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúailnge) 67
Cearl, king of Mercia 78, 125, 191
Cedd, bishop of the East Saxons 317–18, 324
Cenél Conaill 55, 58, 61, 69, 193
Cenél Loairn 59, 71
Cenél nGabráin 21, 71, 146
Cenél nŒngusa 71
Cenwalh, king of Wessex 192, 234, 266, 282
Ceolwulf, King 377, 383
&nbs
p; ceorls 4, 220, 349, 350, 381, 413
Cerdic 197, 227
Ceretic of Elmet 87, 98–99
Chad, Bishop 317n, 324, 339, 339n
Charibert of Paris 42, 43
Charlemagne 366
Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender 139
Chatton 207, 208, 209
Chelles royal monastery, near Paris 366
Chester (Legacæstir; Caerlegion) 53, 116, 235
Chester, Battle of (c. 615/16) 53–54, 77, 78–79, 81, 103, 129, 135, 232, 233, 242
Chester le Street (Kuncacæster) 267n, 362
Chesters, Hadrian’s Wall 151, 152, 370
Cheviot Hills 15, 115, 136, 203, 204, 208, 209, 357n
Christ 174, 175, 268, 291
Christ Church with All Saints, Spitalfields, London 358–59
Christianity
and status of noble women 9
a Christian elite after Oswald’s reign 19
arrival of first Christian mission among the English 37
institutional 69
Coifi on 111
five years of Christianity in the North 128
fails to deliver enhanced patronage 129
conversion of Oswald’s people 161
Irish species of 168
potential survival of British Christianity 178
Penda’s war against 192–93
significance of Penda’s insult to Oswald’s body 235–36
Wilfrid as the principal opponent of Ionan Christianity 350
Christmas 49
Churchill, Sir Winston 41, 288
Cirencester 125, 191, 233
civitates (tribal councils) 39, 41–42
Clark, Wallace 58
Clovis 153, 174
Cochoi 232
Cochrane, Thomas, Lord 141, 142, 146
Codex Amiatinus 376
Coenburh, Queen 78, 83, 95, 105n, 191
Cogitosus: Life of St Brigid 175
Coifi, chief priest of the Deirans 110–13, 129, 173
coinage 41–42, 62, 175, 201, 219, 369–70, 375
Colchester 116
Coldingham, Berwickshire 341–42, 352, 381–82
Colgrave, Bertram 99
Coll island 5, 10
Collingwood, Admiral 148n
Colm Cille, St (St Columba) 55–63, 143, 149, 161, 183, 184, 195, 276, 289, 299, 315, 320, 336
Iona gifted to (565) 21, 58
blesses Áedán as king of Dál Riata 62, 69, 166–67
ghostly appearance in Oswald’s tent 23, 152–55, 164, 165
several of his descendants become abbots on Iona 346
The King in the North Page 46
