The King in the North

by Max Adam, Max Adams

  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