Rhiainfellt, name variants including Rieinmelt and Rieinmelth, was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

princess of the royal house of the kingdom of

Rheged Rheged () was one of the kingdoms of the ''Hen Ogledd'' ("Old North"), the Brittonic-speaking region of what is now Northern England and southern Scotland, during the post-Roman era and Early Middle Ages. It is recorded in several poetic and ba ...

, a part of the ''

Hen Ogledd Yr Hen Ogledd (), in English the Old North, is the historical region which is now Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands that was inhabited by the Brittonic people of sub-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages. Its population spo ...

''. Her name means "Lightning Maiden" or "Lightning Queen" in

Old Welsh Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic ...

. She was a wife of

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 ...

, King of

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 ...

A life sparsely recorded

Rhiainfellt is identified in the ''

Historia Brittonum ''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British (Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia Bri ...

'' as the wife of Oswiu and the granddaughter of Rhun son of

Urien Rheged Urien (; ), often referred to as Urien Rheged or Uriens, was a late 6th-century king of Rheged, an early British kingdom of the Hen Ogledd (today's northern England and southern Scotland) of the House of Rheged. His power and his victories, i ...

. Her status as Oswiu's wife is confirmed by her appearance in the Durham ''Liber Vitae'', where, under the anglicised name 'Raegnmaeld', she appears in first place in a list of Northumbrian queens and abbesses. It is considered, on grounds of chronology, that Rhiainfellt was the mother of

Alhfrith Alhfrith or Ealhfrith (c. 630 – c. 664) was King of Deira under his father Oswiu, King of Bernicia, from 655 until sometime after 664. Appointed by Oswiu as a subordinate ruler, Alhfrith apparently clashed with his father over religious policy, ...

King of Deira 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 ...

. More circumstantial evidence suggests that she was also the mother of Oswiu's daughter, Alhflaed. According to British sources a friendly connection between the rulers of Rheged and Northumbria predated Rhiainfellt's marriage, as her grandfather Rhun is credited with having baptised King

Edwin of Northumbria Edwin ( ang, Ēadwine; c. 586 – 12 October 632/633), also known as Eadwine or Æduinus, was the List of monarchs of Northumbria, King of Deira and Bernicia – which later became known as Northumbria – from about 616 until hi ...

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

, however, states that Bishop Paulinus baptised Edwin. The apparent conflict could be reconciled if Rhun in reality had stood sponsor at the baptism, thus becoming Edwin's godfather. Jackson, in the 1950s, made the suggestion that Oswiu may have acquired Rheged peacefully through his marriage, becoming the legitimate successor to both Rheged and Northumbria. Whatever the precise political relationship between Rheged and Northumbria, the fact that a Northumbrian prince married a princess of Rheged shows that the British royal house retained high status, and probably political power. Rhiainfellt's father, 'Royth' (Rhaith - meaning 'Justice' in Welsh), was possibly the last king of an independent Rheged.Andrew Breeze (2013) ''Northumbria and the Family of Rhun'', Northern History, 50:2, pp. 170-179, DOI: 10.1179/0078172X13Z.00000000039

References

{{Reflist Anglo-Saxon royal consorts Britons of the North 7th-century English women 7th-century English people