Oswald (; c 604 – 5 August 641/642
[Bede gives the year of Oswald's death as 642, however there is some question as to whether what Bede considered 642 is the same as what would now be considered 642. R. L. Poole (''Studies in Chronology and History'', 1934) put forward the theory that Bede's years began in September, and if this theory is followed (as it was, for instance, by ]Frank Stenton
Sir Frank Merry Stenton, FBA (17 May 1880 – 15 September 1967) was an English historian of Anglo-Saxon England, and president of the Royal Historical Society (1937–1945).
The son of Henry Stenton of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, he was edu ...
in his notable history ''Anglo-Saxon England'', first published in 1943), then the date of the Battle of Heavenfield (and the beginning of Oswald's reign) is pushed back from 634 to 633. Thus, if Oswald subsequently reigned for eight years, he would have actually been killed in 641. Poole's theory has been contested, however, and arguments have been made that Bede began his year on 25 December or 1 January, in which case Bede's years would be accurate as he gives them.) was
King of Northumbria
Northumbria, a kingdom of Angles, in what is now northern England and south-east Scotland, was initially divided into two kingdoms: Bernicia and Deira. The two were first united by king Æthelfrith around the year 604, and except for occasional ...
from 634 until his death, and is venerated as a
saint, of whom there was a particular
cult in the Middle Ages.
Oswald was the son of
Æthelfrith of Bernicia and came to rule after spending a period in
exile. After defeating the Welsh ruler
Cadwallon ap Cadfan
Cadwallon ap Cadfan (died 634A difference in the interpretation of Bede's dates has led to the question of whether Cadwallon was killed in 634 or the year earlier, 633. Cadwallon died in the year after the Battle of Hatfield Chase, which Bede rep ...
, Oswald brought the two
Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
n kingdoms of
Bernicia
Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England.
The Anglian territory of Bernicia was ap ...
and
Deira
Deira ( ; Old Welsh/Cumbric: ''Deywr'' or ''Deifr''; ang, Derenrice or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom.
Etymology
The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic *''daru' ...
once again under a single ruler, and promoted the spread of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
in Northumbria. He was given a strongly positive assessment by the historian
Bede, writing a little less than a century after Oswald's death, who regarded Oswald as a saintly king; it is also Bede who is the main source for present-day historical knowledge of Oswald. After eight years of rule, in which he was the most powerful ruler in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, Oswald was killed in the
Battle of Maserfield while fighting the forces of Penda of Mercia, who then himself was defeated by Oswald's brother Oswiu.
Background, youth, and exile
Oswald's father Æthelfrith was a successful Bernician ruler who, after some years in power in Bernicia, also became king of Deira, and thus was the first to rule both of the kingdoms which would come to be considered the constituent kingdoms of Northumbria. It would, however, be anachronistic to refer to a "Northumbrian" people or identity at this early stage, when the Bernicians and the Deirans were still clearly distinct peoples. Oswald's mother,
Acha of Deira
Acha of Deira was a princess of Deira, and the daughter of Ælla of Deira.
She married Æthelfrith, king of Bernicia. He may have married her prior to taking power in Deira, in which case the marriage may have facilitated it, or he may have do ...
, was a member of the Deiran royal line whom Æthelfrith apparently married as part of his acquisition of Deira or consolidation of power there. Oswald was apparently born in or around the year 604, since Bede says that he was killed at the age of 38 in 642;
[Bede, '' Historia Ecclesiastica'', Book III, chapter 9.] Æthelfrith's acquisition of Deira is also believed to have occurred around 604.
Æthelfrith, who was for years a successful war-leader, especially against the native British, was eventually killed in battle around 616 by
Raedwald of East Anglia at the
River Idle
The River Idle is a river in Nottinghamshire, England whose source is the confluence of the River Maun and River Meden near Markham Moor. The Idle flows north from its source through Retford and Bawtry before entering the River Trent at West ...
. This defeat meant that an exiled member of the Deiran royal line,
Edwin
The name Edwin means "rich friend". It comes from the Old English elements "ead" (rich, blessed) and "ƿine" (friend). The original Anglo-Saxon form is Eadƿine, which is also found for Anglo-Saxon figures.
People
* Edwin of Northumbria (die ...
(Acha's brother), became king of Northumbria, and Oswald and his brothers fled to the north. Oswald thus spent the remainder of his youth in the Scottish kingdom of
Dál Riata
Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaelic kingdom that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is n ...
in northern Britain, where he was
converted to Christianity.
[ Bede, Book III, chapter 1.] He may also have fought in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
during this period of exile. It has been considered that Oswald is one of the three Saxon princes mentioned in the Irish poem
Togail Bruidne Dá Derga
''Togail Bruidne Dá Derga'' (''The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel'') is an Irish tale belonging to the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. It survives in three Old and Middle Irish recensions, it is part of the Book of Dun Cow. It recounts th ...
, being named as 'Osalt' in that work.
Victory over Cadwallon
After Cadwallon ap Cadfan, the king of
Gwynedd, in alliance with the
pagan Penda of Mercia
Penda (died 15 November 655)Manuscript A of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' gives the year as 655. Bede also gives the year as 655 and specifies a date, 15 November. R. L. Poole (''Studies in Chronology and History'', 1934) put forward the theor ...
, killed Edwin of Deira in battle at
Hatfield Chase
Hatfield Chase is a low-lying area in South Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, England, which was often flooded. It was a royal hunting ground until Charles I appointed the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden to drain it in 1626. The work involve ...
in 633 (or 632, depending on when the years used by Bede are considered to have begun), Northumbria was split into its constituent kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira. Oswald's brother
Eanfrith became king of Bernicia, but he was killed by Cadwallon in 634 (or 633) after attempting to negotiate peace. Subsequently, Oswald, at the head of a small army
(possibly with the aid of allies from the north, the Scots and/or the
Picts
The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from e ...
[Ziegler.]), met Cadwallon in battle at
Heavenfield, near
Hexham. Before the battle, tradition says Oswald had a wooden
cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...
erected; he knelt down, holding the cross in position until enough earth had been thrown in the hole to make it stand firm. He then
prayed and asked his army to join in.
Adomnán in his ''Life of Saint
Columba'' offers a longer account, which Abbot
Ségéne had heard from Oswald himself. Oswald, he says, had a vision of Columba the night before the battle, in which he was told
Be strong and act manfully. Behold, I will be with thee. This coming night go out from your camp into battle, for the Lord has granted me that at this time your foes shall be put to flight and Cadwallon your enemy shall be delivered into your hands and you shall return victorious after battle and reign happily.
Oswald described his vision to his council and all agreed that they would be baptised and accept Christianity after the battle. In the battle that followed, the Welsh (Brytons) were routed despite their superior numbers; Cadwallon himself was killed.
Overlordship
![Britain peoples circa 600](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Britain_peoples_circa_600.svg)
Following the victory at Heavenfield, Oswald reunited Northumbria and re-established the Bernician supremacy which had been interrupted by Edwin. Bede says that Oswald held ''imperium'' for the eight years of his rule (both Bede and the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' say that Oswald's reign was actually considered to be nine years, the ninth year being accounted for by assigning to Oswald the year preceding his rule, "on account of the
heathenism practised by those who had ruled that one year between him and Edwin"), and was the most powerful king in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
. In the 9th-century ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' he is referred to as a
Bretwalda. Adomnán describes Oswald as "ordained by God as Emperor of all Britain".
Oswald seems to have been widely recognized as overlord, although the extent of his authority is uncertain. Bede makes the claim that Oswald "brought under his dominion all the nations and provinces of Britain", which, as Bede notes, was divided by language among the English, Britons, Scots, and Picts; however, he seems to undermine his own claim when he mentions at another point in his history that it was Oswald's brother Oswiu who made tributary the Picts and Scots. An Irish source, the
Annals of Tigernach
The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (abbr. AT, ga, Annála Tiarnaigh) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish.
Many of the pre-historic entries come from the 12th-centur ...
, records that the Anglo-Saxons banded together against Oswald early in his reign; this may indicate an attempt to put an end to Oswald's overlordship south of the
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between t ...
, which presumably failed.
The
Mercia
la, Merciorum regnum
, conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia
, common_name=Mercia
, status=Kingdom
, status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex ()
, life_span=527–918
, era= Heptarchy
, event_start=
, date_start=
, ...
ns, who participated in Edwin's defeat in 633, seem to have presented an obstacle to Oswald's authority south of the Humber, although it has been generally thought that Oswald dominated Mercia to some degree after Heavenfield. It may have been to appease Oswald that Penda had Eadfrith, a captured son of Edwin (and thus a dynastic rival of Oswald), killed, although it is also possible that Penda had his own motives for the killing.
Oswald apparently controlled the
Kingdom of Lindsey
The Kingdom of Lindsey or Linnuis ( ang, Lindesege) was a lesser Anglo-Saxon kingdom, which was absorbed into Northumbria in the 7th century. The name Lindsey derives from the Old English toponym , meaning "Isle of Lind". was the Roman name of t ...
, given the evidence of a story told by Bede regarding the moving of Oswald's bones to a monastery there; Bede says that the monks rejected the bones initially because Oswald had ruled over them as a foreign king. To the north, it may have been Oswald who conquered the
Gododdin
The Gododdin () were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britannia, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North (modern south-east Scotland and north-east England), in the sub-Roman period. Descendants of the Votadini, they are best known ...
. Irish annals record the siege of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
, thought to have been the royal stronghold of the Gododdin, in 638, and this seems to mark the end of the kingdom; that this siege was undertaken by Oswald is suggested by the apparent control of the area by his brother Oswiu in the 650s.
Oswald seems to have been on good terms with the
West Saxons
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons
, common_name = Wessex
, image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg
, map_caption = S ...
: he stood as sponsor to the
baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...
of their king,
Cynegils
Cynegils () was King of Wessex from c. 611 to c. 642. Cynegils is traditionally considered to have been King of Wessex, but the familiar kingdoms of the so-called Heptarchy had not yet formed from the patchwork of smaller kingdoms in his life ...
, and married Cynegils' daughter. Her name is reported by only one source,
Reginald of Durham's 12th century ''Vita S. Oswaldi'', which says that it was Kyneburga. Although Oswald had one known son,
Æthelwald, it is uncertain whether this was a son from his marriage to Cynegils' daughter or from an earlier relationship—since Æthelwald began ruling in Deira in 651, it has been argued that a son from this marriage would have been too young at the time to be trusted with this position, and therefore may have been older, the product of a relationship Oswald had during his exile.
Christianity
Although Edwin had previously converted to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
in 627, it was Oswald who did the most to spread the religion in Northumbria. Shortly after becoming king, he asked the Irish of Dál Riata to send a bishop to facilitate the conversion of his people. The Irish at first sent an "austere"
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
who was unsuccessful in his mission, and subsequently sent
Aidan, who proposed a gentler approach. Oswald gave the island of
Lindisfarne to Aidan as his
episcopal see. Aidan achieved great success in spreading the Christian faith. Bede mentions that Oswald acted as Aidan's interpreter when the latter was preaching, since Aidan did not know English well and Oswald had learned Irish during his exile.
Although Oswald could be interpreted as a martyr for his death in battle, Bede puts a clear emphasis on Oswald being saintly as a king. Bede does not focus on his martyrdom as being primary to his sainthood—indeed, it has been noted that Bede never uses the word "martyr" in reference to Oswald. Bede's portrayal of Oswald stands out as unusual as a king regarded as saintly for his life while ruling, in contrast to a king who gives up the kingship in favour of religious life, or who is venerated because of the manner of his death. Bede recounts Oswald's generosity to the poor and to strangers, and tells a story highlighting this characteristic: on one occasion, at Easter, Oswald was sitting at dinner with Aidan, and had "a silver dish full of dainties before him", when a servant, whom Oswald "had appointed to relieve the poor", came in and told Oswald that a crowd of the poor were in the streets begging
alms from the king. Oswald, according to Bede, then immediately had his food given to the poor and even had the dish broken up and distributed. Aidan was greatly impressed and seized Oswald's right hand, stating: "May this hand never perish." Accordingly, Bede reports that the hand and arm remained
uncorrupted after Oswald's death.
Downfall
![Stoswaldaskingnyplspencer1f89r](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Stoswaldaskingnyplspencer1f89r.jpg)
It was a conflict with the pagan Mercians under Penda that proved to be Oswald's undoing. He was killed in 642,
by the Mercians at the
Battle of Maserfield, in
Oswestry (although other candidates for the location of the battle have been suggested)
[Stancliffe, "Where Was Oswald Killed?"] and his body was dismembered. Bede mentions the story that Oswald "ended his life in prayer": he prayed for the souls of his soldiers when he saw that he was about to die. Oswald's head and limbs were placed on stakes.
[For Bede's mention of Oswald's dying prayer (which he cautiously reports as hearsay) and Oswald's dismemberment, the placing of his body-parts on stakes, and Oswiu's later recovery of those boody-parts and burial of them at ]Bardney
Bardney is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 1,643 at the 2001 census increasing to 1,848 (including Southrey) at the 2011 census. The village sits on the e ...
, Lindisfarne and Bamburgh
Bamburgh ( ) is a village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland, England. It had a population of 454 in 2001, decreasing to 414 at the 2011 census.
The village is notable for the nearby Bamburgh Castle, a castle which was the seat of ...
, see ''H. E.'', Book III, chapter 12.
The traditional identification of the battle site with Oswestry, probably in the territory of
Powys
Powys (; ) is a county and preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain.
Geog ...
at the time, suggests that Penda may have had British allies in this battle, and this is also suggested by surviving Welsh poetry which has been thought to indicate the participation of the men of Powys in the battle. It has also been considered that, if the traditional identification of the site as Oswestry is correct, Oswald was on the offensive, in the territory of his enemies. This could conflict with Bede's saintly portrayal of Oswald, since an aggressive war could hardly qualify as a
just war
The just war theory ( la, bellum iustum) is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics which is studied by military leaders, theologians, ethicists and policy makers. The purpose of the doctrine is to ensure that a war i ...
, perhaps explaining why Bede is silent on the cause of the war—he says only that Oswald died "fighting for his fatherland"—as well as his failure to mention other offensive warfare Oswald is presumed to have engaged in between Heavenfield and Maserfield. Oswald may have had an ally in Penda's brother
Eowa, who was also killed in the battle, according to the ''Historia Britonnum'' and ''
Annales Cambriae
The (Latin for ''Annals of Wales'') is the title given to a complex of Latin chronicles compiled or derived from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales. The earliest is a 12th-century presumed copy of a mid-10th-century original; later ed ...
''; while the source only mentions that Eowa was killed, not the side on which he fought, it has been speculated that Eowa was subject to Oswald and fighting alongside him in the battle, in opposition to Penda.
Veneration and legacy
![Kopfreliquiar St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Kopfreliquiar_St._Oswald.jpg)
Oswald soon came to be regarded as a saint. Bede says that the spot where he died came to be associated with
miracle
A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...
s, and people took dirt from the site, which led to a hole being dug as deep as a man's height.
Reginald of Durham recounts another miracle, saying that his right arm was taken by a bird (perhaps a
raven) to an ash tree, which gave the tree ageless vigour; when the bird dropped the arm onto the ground, a spring emerged from the ground. Both the tree and the spring were, according to Reginald, subsequently associated with healing miracles.
[Rollason, p. 170.] Aspects of the legend have been considered to have pagan overtones or influences
—this may represent a fusion of his status as a traditional Germanic warrior-king with Christianity. The name of the site, Oswestry, or "Oswald's Tree", is generally thought to be derived from Oswald's death there and the legends surrounding it.
His
feast day is 5 August. The cult surrounding him even gained prominence in parts of continental Europe; cf.
Ožbalt
Ožbalt () is a village on the left bank of the Drava River in the Municipality of Podvelka in Slovenia.
Name
The name of the settlement was changed from ''Sveti Ožbalt'' (literally, 'Saint Oswald') to ''Ožbalt'' (literally, 'Oswald') in 1952. T ...
in Slovenia.
Bede mentions that Oswald's brother
Oswiu
Oswiu, also known as Oswy or Oswig ( ang, Ōswīg; c. 612 – 15 February 670), was King of Bernicia from 642 and of Northumbria from 654 until his death. He is notable for his role at the Synod of Whitby in 664, which ultimately brought the chu ...
, who succeeded Oswald in Bernicia, retrieved Oswald's remains in the year after his death.
In writing of one miracle associated with Oswald, Bede gives some indication of how Oswald was regarded in conquered lands: years later, when his niece
Osthryth
Osthryth (died 697), queen of the Mercians, was the wife of King Æthelred and daughter of King Oswiu of Northumbria and his second wife Eanflæd. She probably married Æthelred before 679 and was murdered by the nobles of Mercia.
Osthryth was ...
moved his bones to
Bardney Abbey in
Lindsey Lindsey may refer to :
Places Canada
* Lindsey Lake, Nova Scotia
England
* Parts of Lindsey, one of the historic Parts of Lincolnshire and an administrative county from 1889 to 1974
** East Lindsey, an administrative district in Lincolnshire, ...
, its inmates initially refused to accept them, "though they knew him to be a holy man", because "he was originally of another province, and had reigned over them as a foreign king", and thus "they retained their ancient aversion to him, even after death". It was only after Oswald's bones were the focus of an awe-inspiring miracle—in which, during the night, a pillar of light appeared over the wagon in which the bones were being carried and shone up into the sky—that they were accepted into the monastery: "in the morning, the brethren who had refused it the day before, began themselves earnestly to pray that those holy relics, so beloved by God, might be deposited among them".
In the early 10th century, Bardney was in Viking territory, and in 909, following a combined West Saxon and Mercian raid led by
Æthelflæd
Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians ( 870 – 12 June 918) ruled Mercia in the English Midlands from 911 until her death. She was the eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and his wife Ealhswith.
Æthe ...
, daughter of
Alfred the Great, St Oswald's relics were translated to a new minster in
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
, which was renamed
St Oswald's Priory in his honour. Æthelflæd, and her husband
Æthelred, ealdorman of Mercia, were buried in the priory, and their nephew, King
Æthelstan
Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ang, Æðelstān ; on, Aðalsteinn; ; – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his fir ...
, was a major patron of Oswald's cult.
![Kleinkirchheim Pfarrkirche Sankt Oswald](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Kleinkirchheim_Pfarrkirche_Sankt_Oswald.jpg)
Oswald's head was interred in
Durham Cathedral together with the remains of
Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of ...
(a saint with whom Oswald became posthumously associated, although the two were not associated in life; Cuthbert became bishop of Lindisfarne more than forty years after Oswald's death) and other valuables in a quickly made coffin, where it is generally believed to remain, although there are at least four other claimed heads of Oswald in continental Europe. One of his arms is said to have ended up in
Peterborough Abbey
Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Pau ...
later in the Middle Ages. The story is that a small group of monks from Peterborough made their way to Bamburgh where Oswald's uncorrupted arm was kept and stole it under the cover of darkness. They returned with it to Peterborough and in due time a chapel was created for the arm – Oswald's Chapel. Minus the arm, this can be seen to this day in the south transept of the cathedral. When creating this chapel the monks of Peterborough had thought of how they had acquired it and built into the chapel a narrow tower – just big enough for a monk to climb to the top by an internal stair and stand guard over Oswald's arm 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The monk had to stand because the tower is not large enough for him to sit – sitting could lull him to sleep – and they knew what could happen when no-one was watching.
Several churches bear the name of St Oswald, including
The Church of Saint Oswald on the location of the wooden cross left by Oswald at Heavenfield, the night before the battle. This was rebuilt in 1717. The site is visible from the
B6318 Military Road. St Oswald's
Grasmere is purportedly on one of the sites he preached on, on a bank of the
River Rothay. William Wordsworth's grave is located in the cemetery here. St Oswald's Church, Compton Abdale in Gloucestershire was dedicated to St Oswald following Æthelflæd's foundation of St Oswald's Priory in 909. St Oswald's Catholic Church lies to the north of Peterborough City Centre.
Some English place names record his reign, for example it has been claimed that
Oswaldtwistle
Oswaldtwistle ( "ozzel twizzel") is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington and Church. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the ...
in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
– meaning the
twistle of Oswald – is linked to the saint, although it's more likely to be the name of the owner of the land.
Kirkoswald in Cumbria is so named because it is believed that his body was taken there after his death. The local church is ascribed to him. Another
Kirkoswald in Scotland also commemorates him.
Oswald is
remembered in the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
with a
Lesser Festival Lesser Festivals are a type of observance in the Anglican Communion, including the Church of England, considered to be less significant than a Principal Feast, Principal Holy Day, or Festival, but more significant than a Commemoration. Whereas Prin ...
on 5 August.
Notes
References
* Adomnán, ''Life of Saint Columba'' translated and edited Richard Sharpe.
*
(as )
* Bailey, Richard N., "St Oswald's Heads", in C. Stancliffe and E. Cambridge (eds), ''Oswald: Northumbrian King to European Saint'' (1995, 1996).
* Berresford Ellis, Peter ''Celt and Saxon'' BCA London 1993
*
Brooks, Nicholas, "The formation of the Mercian kingdom", in S. Bassett (ed.), ''The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms'' (1989).
*
*
*
* Kirby, D.P., ''The Earliest English Kings'' (1991, 2000).
*Rollason, David, "St Oswald in Post-Conquest England", in C. Stancliffe and E. Cambridge (eds), ''Oswald: Northumbrian King to European Saint'' (1995, 1996).
* Stancliffe, Clare, "Oswald, 'Most Holy and Most Victorious King of the Northumbrians'", in C. Stancliffe and E. Cambridge (eds), ''Oswald: Northumbrian King to European Saint'' (1995, 1996).
* Stancliffe, Clare, "Where Was Oswald Killed?", in C. Stancliffe and E. Cambridge (eds), ''Oswald: Northumbrian King to European Saint'' (1995).
* Tudor, Victoria, "Reginald's ''Life of St Oswald''", in C. Stancliffe and E. Cambridge (eds), ''Oswald: Northumbrian King to European Saint'' (1995, 1996).
* Ziegler, Michelle,
The Politics of Exile in Early Northumbria, ''The Heroic Age'', Issue 2, Autumn/Winter 1999.
Further reading
* Adams, Max (2013), ''The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria''.
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* Pelteret, David A.E. "Oswald: d. 642," ''Reader's Guide to British History'' (London: Routledge, 2003) online in Credo Reference. Historiography
Stephens, Samuel J. "Heavensfield." Illuminations of the Fantastic Online Magazine. Poetry.
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Oswald Of Northumbria
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