Product Code Database
Oswiu, also known as Oswy or Oswig (; 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 church in Northumbria into conformity with the wider Catholic Church.
One of the sons of Æthelfrith of Bernicia and Acha of Deira, Oswiu became king following the death of his brother Oswald in 642. Unlike Oswald, Oswiu struggled to exert authority over Deira, the other constituent kingdom of medieval Northumbria, for much of his reign.
Oswiu and his brothers were raised in exile in the Irish kingdom of Dál Riata in present-day Scotland after their father's death at the hands of Edwin of Northumbria (not by Edwin but possibly by Rædwald and his son Rægenhere at the Battle of the River Idle) only returning after Edwin's death in 633. Oswiu rose to the kingship when his brother Oswald was killed in battle against Penda of Mercia. The early part of his reign was defined by struggles to assert control over Deira and his contentious relationship with Penda, his overlord.Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, pp. 78–79, 105. In 655, Oswiu's forces killed Penda in a decisive victory at the Battle of the Winwaed, establishing Oswiu as one of the most powerful rulers in Britain. He secured control of Deira, with his son Alhfrith serving as a sub-king,Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, p. 79. and for three years, Oswiu's power extended over Mercia, earning him recognition as bretwalda over much of Great Britain.Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, pp. 82, 105.
Oswiu was a devoted Christian, promoting the faith among his subjects and establishing a number of monasteries, including Gilling Abbey and Whitby Abbey.Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, pp. 48, 80. He was raised in the Celtic Christian tradition of much of the Irish world, rather than the Roman Rite tradition practiced by the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdoms as well as some members of the Deiran nobility, including Oswiu's queen Eanflæd. In 664, Oswiu presided over the Synod of Whitby, where clerics debated over the two traditions, and helped resolve tension between the parties by decreeing that Northumbria would follow the Roman style.Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, pp. 79, 82. Oswiu died in 670 and was succeeded by his son, Ecgfrith.Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms p. 82. His feast is 15 February in the East and in the West.
At the time of Oswiu's birth, Æthelfrith was at the height of his power. In 604 he had taken control of Deira, evidently by conquest; he killed the previous king (apparently Æthelric), married Acha, a member of the kingly line, and exiled Acha's brother Edwin. His authority ran from the lands of the Picts and the Dál Riata in modern Scotland to Wales and the English Midlands in the south.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book I, Chapter 34 & Book II, Chapter 3. Æthelfrith's power rested on his military success, and this success came to an end in 616, when the exiled Edwin of Northumbria with the support of King Rædwald, defeated and killed him in the battle of the River Idle.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book II, Chapter 12.
On Æthelfrith's death, his sons and their supporters fled Northumbria, finding sanctuary among the Gaels and Picts of northern Britain and Ireland. Here they would remain until Edwin's death at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter 1.Æthelfrith's sons were not the first Anglian exiles to seek refuge in the kingdoms of the north. Hering, son of King Hussa of Bernicia, is said by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to have fought with Áedán mac Gabráin, King of Dál Riata, against Æthelfrith, at the Battle of Degsastan; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ms. E, s.a. 603. The choice of a northerly exile, rather than flight to one of the southerly Anglo-Saxon kingdoms is discussed by Grimmer, §3–§6.
In exile, the sons of Æthelfrith were converted to Christianity, or raised as Christians. In Oswiu's case, he became an exile at the age of four, and cannot have returned to Northumbria until aged twenty-one, spending childhood and adolescence in a Gaelic milieu. Bede writes that Oswiu was fluent in the Old Irish language and Irish in his faith."Oswy thought that nothing could be better than the Irish teaching, having been instructed and baptized by the Irish, and having a complete grasp of their language"; Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter 25.
As well as learning the Irish language and being thoroughly Christianised, Oswiu may have fought for his Gaelic hosts, perhaps receiving his arms—a significant event—from a King of Dál Riata, such as Eochaid Buide, son of that Áedán mac Gabráin whom his father had defeated at the Battle of Degsastan.Grimmer, §8. The Irish annals name one Oisiric mac Albruit, rigdomna Saxan—ætheling Osric—among the dead, alongside Connad Cerr, King of Dál Riata, and others of the Cenél nGabráin, at the Battle of Fid Eóin. Annals of Tigernach, s.a. 631; Grimmer, §9. Whether Oswiu's marriage with the Uí Néill princess Fín of the Cenél nEógain, and the birth of Aldfrith, should be placed in the context of his exile, or took place at a later date is uncertain.Grimmer, §25; Kirby, p. 143.; Williams, p. 18.
Equally uncertain is the date of Oswiu's return to Northumbria. He may have returned with his brother Eanfrith on Edwin's death in 633, as Bede appears to write. Eanfrith apostatised and was killed by Cadwallon ap Cadfan, who was defeated and killed in turn by another brother, Oswald, who became king of Bernicia and probably succeeded to his father's old dominance of northern and central Britain.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapters 1–2; Adomnán, Life of Saint Columba, Book I, Chapter 1; Stancliffe, pp. 46–61.
Bede summarises Oswiu's reign in this way:
Oswald being translated to the heavenly kingdom, his brother Oswy, a young man of about thirty years of age, succeeded him on the throne of his earthly kingdom, and held it twenty-eight years with much trouble, being harassed by the pagan king, Penda, and by the pagan nation of the Mercians, that had slain his brother, as also by his son Alfred i.e., and by his Ethelwald i.e., the son of his brother who reigned before him.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter 14.
Oswiu's first recorded action as king of Bernicia was to strengthen his position, and perhaps his claims to Deira, by marrying Edwin's daughter Eanflæd, then in exile in the Kingdom of Kent.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter 15. This marriage took place between 642 and 644.Their son Ecgfrith was born no later than May 645.
Oswiu is known to have been married three times. Eanflæd, his Queen, bore him two sons and two daughters. The sons were Ecgfrith (644/645–685) and Ælfwine (c. 660–679), the daughters Osthryth (died 697) and Ælfflæd (c. 654–714). The Irish princess Fín was the mother of Aldfrith (died 705). Finally, the Celtic Britons princess Rhiainfellt of Rheged is named as a wife of Oswiu in the Historia Brittonum.Rieinmellt also appears, as Rægnmæld, in the Liber Vitae Ecclesiae Dunelmensis, among the Queens, immediately preceding Eanflæd; Grimmer §28. It is thought that Ealhfrith was her son,Stancliffe & Cambridge, p. 13, figure 1. and Eahlflæd may have been her daughter.Eahlflæd is said to have arranged the murder of Peada, in 657 or 658, suggesting that she was not Eanflæd's daughter; Bede, H. E., Book III, chapter 24. See also Higham, Convert Kings, pp. 252–253.
The first half of Oswiu's reign was spent in the shadow of Penda, who dominated much of Britain from 642 until 655, seemingly making and breaking kings as it suited him.Cenwalh of Wessex was driven from his country when he set aside Penda's sister. Anna of East Anglia, Cenwalh's host, was also driven into exile, and later defeated and killed by Penda at Bulcamp, near Blythburgh in 653 or 654, when he returned to East Anglia. The future kingdom of Northumbria was still composed of two distinct kingdoms in Oswiu's lifetime. The northerly kingdom of Bernicia, which extended from the River Tees to the Firth of Forth, was ruled by Oswiu. The kingdom of Deira, lying between the North York Moors and the Humber, was ruled by a series of Oswiu's kinsmen, initially as a separate kingdom, later as a form of appanage for Oswiu's sons.Deira was ruled by Oswine from 642 to 651, then by Œthelwald until 655 or later, then by Ealhfrith to after 664, and finally by Ecgfrith. See Kirby, p. 226, figure 7; Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, p. 75, table 8.
For the first decade of Oswiu's reign, Deira was ruled by an independent king, Oswine, son of the apostate Osric, who belonged to the rival Deiran royal family.Oswine was Oswiu's maternal second cousin; Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, p. 76, table 9. Oswine and Oswiu came into conflict circa 651. Bede blames Oswiu for the troubles and writes:
For when they had raised armies against one another, Oswin perceived that he could not maintain a war against one who had more auxiliaries than himself, and he thought it better at that time to lay aside all thoughts of engaging, and to preserve himself for better times. He therefore dismissed the army which he had assembled, and ordered all his men to return to their own homes, from the place that is called Wilfaresdun, that is, Wilfar's Hill, which is almost ten miles distant from the village called Cataract i.e., towards the north-west. He himself, with only one trusty soldier, whose name was Tonhere, withdrew and lay concealed in the house of Earl comes Hunwald, whom he imagined to be his most assured friend. But, alas! it was otherwise; for the earl betrayed him, and Oswy, in a detestable manner, by the hands of his commander praefectus, Ethilwin, slew him...
In order to expiate the killing of Oswine, who was later reckoned a saint, Oswiu established Gilling Abbey at Gilling East, where prayers were said for Oswine and for Oswiu. Oswine was followed as king of the Deirans by Oswald's son Œthelwald.
D.P. Kirby suggests that the killing of Oswine may have led to an improvement in relations between Penda and Oswiu in the early 650s. Oswiu's son Ealhfrith married Penda's daughter Cyneburh, while his daughter Ealhflæd married Penda's son Peada. Peada was baptised at Ad Murum—in the region of Hadrian's Wall—by Aidan's successor Finan. Peada and Ealhflæd took a missionary group, including Cedd and Diuma, to establish a church in their lands.Kirby, pp. 93–94; Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter 21.
In 655 Bede reports that Penda invaded Bernicia at the head of a large army. Bede states that Oswiu offered "an incalculable quantity of regalia and presents as the price of peace", but that Penda refused. Oswiu vowed to give his daughter Ælfflæd to the church, and to found a dozen monasteries if he was granted the victory, and assisted by Ealhfrith he engaged Penda with a small army in the Battle of the Winwæd, which took place in the region of Loidis, which is to say Leeds. He was successful, and Penda was killed, along with many of his allies, including King Æthelhere of the East Angles. Œthelwald had assisted Penda, but stood aside from the fighting.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter 24. The Winwæd is thought to be the River Went; Keynes, "Penda".
The Historia Brittonum gives a somewhat different account. Here, Oswiu's offer of treasure is accepted, and is associated with the siege of a place named Iudeu. It is assumed that Ecgfrith was given over as a hostage, into the keeping of Penda's queen Cynewise, at this time.Kirby, pp. 90, 94–95 accepts that Iudeu, also Giudi, may have been the site of modern Stirling, and proposes that Ecgfrith became a hostage as a result of Oswiu's submission to Penda. The Historia suggests that many of Penda's allies were British kings, and notes that Cadafael ap Cynfeddw joined Œthelwald in avoiding the battle, so gaining the epithet Cadomedd (the Battle-Shirker). The decisive battle is located at "Gaius's field". Historia Brittonum, Chapters 64–65.
Further south, Æthelhere's brother Æthelwold may have been established with Oswiu's assistance, as well as that of his kinsman by marriage King Eorcenberht of Kent. Cenwalh of Wessex, who had been driven out of his lands by Penda for putting aside his marriage to Penda's sister, may also have returned to power in this period, again with Oswiu's assistance. King Sigeberht the Good of the East Saxons was Oswiu's ally.Kirby, pp. 96–97. Oswiu's nephew, Eanfrith's son Talorgan I, may have also been established as a leading king among the Picts at this time.Or not, needed.
Oswiu's total domination lasted only a short time, around three years. The proximate cause was the death of Peada, supposedly poisoned by his wife, Oswiu's daughter Eahlflæd.Higham, Convert Kings, pp. 252–253, sees Ealhfrith's hand in his sister's murder of her husband. This probably occurred at Easter 656, and Oswiu proceeded to install governors or subject kings in Mercia. Probably in late 659, but perhaps in 657, a revolt led by three Mercian noblemen—Immin, Eata, and Eadberht—installed Penda's son Wulfhere as ruler of the Mercians and drove out Oswiu's supporters.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter 24. Oswiu remained a force to be reckoned with, and political settlement rather than open warfare appears to have resolved the crisis. Oswiu's kinsman Trumhere was named to be Wulfhere's bishop.Trumhere was a relation of Queen Eanflæd and first abbot of Gilling, established to expiate the killing of Oswine of Deira; Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter 24. While Wulfhere extended Mercian influence and authority in southern Britain, he apparently continued to recognise Oswiu's primacy.Higham, Convert Kings, pp. 245–247. Kirby notes Wulfhere's marriage to Eormenhild, daughter of the Kentish King Eorcenberht, the one ruler over whom Oswiu held no sway; Kirby, p. 114.
Welsh sources suggest that Oswiu campaigned in Wales in the late 650s, imposing tribute on the Welsh kings who had previously been Penda's allies such as Cadafael, the battle-dodging King of Gwynedd.Kirby, p. 96. Elsewhere in the south, Oswiu's ally Sigeberht of the East Saxons was murdered and replaced by his brother Swithhelm, who remained a Christian, but distanced himself from Oswiu and the Irish-Northumbrian church. Switthelm was probably subject to the East Angles.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter 22; Higham, Convert Kings, p. 249; Kirby, p. 97.
Alcuin, writing about a century after Oswiu's death, describes him as "very just, with equitable laws, unconquered in battle but trustworthy in peace, generous in gifts to the wretched, pious, equitable to all".Proposography of Anglo-Saxon England, quoting Alcuin's The Bishops, Kings and Saints of York.
|
|
