by H A CULLEY
Kings usually had a small personal bodyguard of his companions – called a gesith – and a warband - that is a permanent army of trained warriors. These were usually no more than a few hundred strong, if that. Nobles and most thegns would also keep a small gesith or warband to protect them, collect taxes and the like. The rest of the army was composed of a militia called the fyrd. It was made up of freemen who provided their own weapon, and armour if they possessed any. Their standard of training and equipment varied.
When the Anglo-Saxons moved from paganism – about which little is known – to Christianity, being a churchman instead of a warrior became an acceptable career for the well-bred. We know that several kings abdicated to become monks. Other kings usually died in battle. Oswiu died in bed of old age but that was a rarity.
The spread of Christianity started with Augustine in the south and recognised the Pope in Rome as their leader. In the north it was Aidan and the Irish or Celtic church who were largely responsible for the religion’s growth. Inevitably the two churches came into conflict, resolved in Rome’s favour by Oswiu at the Synod of Whitby.
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultured people, as surviving artefacts testify. The standard of illumination in religious tomes, intricate jewellery and well-made ornaments all demonstrate the high standard of their craftsmanship and their culture.
There was a parliament of sorts called the Witan, or more properly the Witenaġemot, in most kingdoms. It was an assembly of the ruling class whose primary function was to advise the king and elect a replacement when there was a vacancy. It was composed of the most important noblemen and the ecclesiastic hierarchy, but its membership could be expanded to include the thegns when the most important matters were to be discussed.
Thegns owned land of sufficient size to qualify for recognition by the king as such. A freeman could become a thegn by acquiring more land. Their estate was known as a vill, which corresponded roughly to the post-Norman manor.
Apart from members of the royal family, nobles also included the eorls. They were appointed by the king to administer sub-divisions of the kingdom. Later the word was combined with the Norse jarl (meaning chieftain) to produce the title earl. However Anglo-Saxon earls ruled what had been the old major kingdoms of a dis-united England (for example Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria). The function of the earlier eorl gradually became that of the ealdorman, who was a royal official and chief magistrate of a shire or group of shires.
ANGLO-SAXON KINGDOMS
In the early seventh century AD Britain was divided into over twenty petty kingdoms. I have listed them here for the sake of completeness, though only a few of them feature significantly in the story. A few others get a passing mention. From north to south:
Land of the Picts – Probably seven separate kingdoms in all in the far north and north-east of present day Scotland at this time. Later they became one kingdom. The names of the individual kingdoms vary depending on the source.
Dalriada – Western Scotland including Argyll and the Isles of the Hebrides. Also included part of Ulster in Ireland where the main tribe – the Scots – originated from.
Goddodin – Lothian and Borders Regions of modern Scotland – then subservient to Bernicia and part of Northumbria.
Bernicia – The north-east of England. Part of Northumbria.
Strathclyde – South east Scotland.
Rheged – Modern Cumbria and Lancashire in the north-west of England. A client kingdom of Northumbria.
Deira – North, East and South Yorkshire.
Elmet – West Yorkshire. Originally a Brythonic kingdom rather than an Anglo-Saxon one.
Lindsey – Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire
Gwynedd – North Wales
Mercia – Most of the English Midlands
East Anglia – Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
Powys – Mid Wales
Middle Anglia – Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire
Dyfed – South-west Wales
Kingdom of the East Saxons – Essex
Hwicce – South-east Wales, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire
Kingdom of the Middle Saxons – Home counties to the north of London
Wessex – Southern England between Dumnonia and the Kingdom of the South Saxons
Kent – South-eastern England south of the River Thames
Kingdom of the South Saxons – Sussex and Surrey
Dumnonia – Devon and Cornwall in south-west England
THE LIVES OF OSWALD AND OSWIU
Little is known for certain about the life of Oswald and Oswiu in exile. More is known about their lives once Oswald became King of Northumbria in 634 AD at the age of thirty. Following the victory at Heavenfield, Oswald reunited Northumbria and re-established the pre-eminence of Bernicia in the North, which had declined under Edwin’s reign from 616 to 633. Bede says that Oswald held imperium for the eight years of his rule and was the most powerful king in Britain. 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 between the Anglo-Saxons, Britons, Scots, and Picts. An Irish source, the Annals of Tigernach, records that the other Anglo-Saxons of England tried to unite against Oswald early in his reign; this may indicate an attempt to put an end to Oswald's power south of the Humber, which presumably failed. Other evidence would suggest that it was only Mercia who opposed him.
Oswald apparently controlled the Kingdom of Lindsey, 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. Irish annals record the siege of Edinburgh - thought to have been the royal stronghold of the Gododdin - in 638 and this seems to mark the end of Gododdin as a separate kingdom. That it was Oswald who captured Edinburgh (or Dùn Èideann as it was then called) is supported by the fact that it was part of Oswiu’s kingdom in the 650s.
Oswald appears to have been on good terms with the West Saxons: he stood as sponsor to the baptism of their king, Cynegils, and married Cynegils' daughter Cyneburga. Although Oswald is only known to have had one son, Œthelwald, it is uncertain whether this was a son from his marriage to Cynegils' daughter or from an earlier relationship as Œthelwald would have been too young to be chosen as King of Deira in 651 had he been Cyneburga’s son. He was most probably the child of an earlier marriage during Oswald’s exile, and this is what I have assumed.
Apart from a list of their names, nothing is known about four of Oswald’s brothers. Only Oswiu, who became King of Bernicia after Oswald’s death, is mentioned in various records of the time. Although Edwin had previously converted to Christianity in 627, it was Oswald, and later Oswiu, who are credited with spreading the religion in Northumbria. However important their contribution, it was Aidan, Bishop and Abbot of Lindisfarne, who tirelessly toured the land converting and baptising as he went.
Bede puts a clear emphasis on Oswald’s saintliness as a king. Although he could be classed as a martyr for his subsequent death in battle, Oswald is normally praised for his deeds in life and his martyrdom wasn’t the primary reason for his elevation to sainthood. He was renowned for his generosity to the poor, the austerity of his life despite his wealth, and his ceaseless struggle to promote Christianity.
Oswald was killed by the Mercians in 642 AD at the Battle of Maserfield - a place generally identified with Oswestry - and his body was dismembered. Bede mentions the story that Oswald prayed for the souls of his soldiers when he saw that he was about to die. The traditional identification of the battle site with Oswestry, probably in the territory of Powys at the time, suggests that Penda ma
y 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. If the traditional identification of the site as Oswestry is correct, Oswald must have been 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, perhaps explaining why Bede is silent on the cause of the campaign. He says only that Oswald died "fighting for his fatherland". Nor does he mention the other offensive campaigns that 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; while the source only mentions that Eowa was killed, not the side on which he fought, it has been speculated that Eowa was an ally of Oswald’s and fighting alongside him in the battle in opposition to Penda.
SAINT OSWALD
Oswald soon came to be regarded as a saint. Bede says that the spot where he died came to be associated with miracles, 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. 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.
Bede mentions that Oswald's brother Oswiu, who succeeded Oswald in Bernicia, retrieved Oswald's remains in the year after his death. There are various reports about the resting place or places of his remains. Some sources identify both Bebbanburg and Lindisfarne as the resting place for at least part of his body and this seems likely to me. He would have been coming home. Some or all of them may have been moved later, of course.
Oswald's head may have been eventually interred in Durham Cathedral together with the remains of Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (a saint with whom Oswald became posthumously associated, though it’s unlikely they would have met in life. Cuthbert was only eight when Oswald was killed) where it is generally believed it remains, 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 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.
OSWIU, KING AND SAINT
His brother Oswiu became King of Bernicia, possibly as Penda’s vassal, after the death of Oswald. However, Oswine was made king by the Witan of Deira until deposed by Oswiu seven years later. Oswald’s son, Œthelwald, then became king but he was a constant thorn in Oswiu’s side. After he betrayed Oswiu and sided with the Mercians at the battle where Penda was killed (although for some reason his men didn’t take part in the battle itself) he disappeared, possibly going into exile or, more likely, Oswiu had him quietly disposed of. Oswiu’s son, Elhfrith, became sub-king of Deira as a vassal of his father.
The early part of Oswiu’s reign was defined by struggles with Oswine and then Œthelwald to assert control over Deira, as well as his contentious relationship with Penda. In 655 Oswiu's forces killed Penda at the Battle of the Winwæd. This established Oswiu as the most powerful ruler in Britain. For three years after the battle Oswiu's control also extended to Mercia, earning him recognition as bretwalda over much of England.
Oswiu was a devoted Christian, promoting the faith among his subjects and establishing a number of monasteries, including Gilling Abbey and Whitby Abbey. He was raised in the Celtic Christian tradition rather than the Roman Catholic faith practiced by the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdoms as well as some members of the Deiran nobility, including Oswiu's queen.
Oswiu is thought to have had children as follows:
1. Out of wedlock by Fin (Fianna in the novels):
Aldfrith. King of Northumbria 685 – 705.
2. By Rhieinmelth:
Elhfrith. Sub-king of Deira 655-664.
3. By Eanflaed:
Osthryth (dau).
Ecgfrith. Sub-king of Deira 664 – 670. King of Northumbria 670 – 685.
Ælfflaed (dau). Abbess of Whitby.
Ælfwine. Sub-king of Deira 670-679.
Oswiu too was recognised as a saint, though some of his actions weren’t very saintly. The first half of Oswiu's reign was spent in the shadow of Penda, who dominated much of Britain from 642 until 655. The once and future Kingdom of Northumbria was again composed of two separate countries for part of Oswiu's reign. 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 to the south of it as far as the Humber, was ruled by a series of Oswiu's kinsmen, initially as a separate kingdom, later as a vassal state.
After Oswiu slew Penda in battle he ruled Mercia for three years as well. The Mercians eventually revolted and installed one of Penda’s sons as their king, but Oswiu remained as lord paramount or Bretwalda over most of England and, through alliance with his nephew, who was King of the Picts, and his successors, most of Scotland as well.
Up to 664 AD the Roman Catholic Church was dominant in southern England and the Irish or Celtic Church held sway in the North and Scotland. Oswiu called the Synod which met at Whitby that year and he decided to adopt Roman practices, including the date of Easter. After that the Roman Church became paramount throughout the country.
NORTHUMBRIA AFTER OSWIU
When Oswiu died of natural causes in 670 AD, Northumbria was again split into two kingdoms with one of his sons ruling Bernicia and its sub-kingdoms and another Deira and its satellites. They were re-united for the last time in 679. Northumbria flourished under the rule of Oswiu’s sons and became culturally important. However, its political decline had already started with the loss of the territory Oswiu had gained in what would become Scotland.
When Oswiu’s son, Aldfrith of Northumbria, died in 705 he was succeeded by his son Osred, an eight year old boy. When Osred was murdered in 716 Northumbria’s decline accelerated. There were ten kings in the space of eighty years who were murdered, deposed or abdicated to become monks.
On June 8th 793 a raiding party of Vikings from Norway attacked Lindisfarne. Monks fled in fear and many were slaughtered. More raids followed until eventually the invaders, mainly Danes, began to settle. There followed a period of Danish supremacy with England divided in two. The Danelaw in the north included much of Northumbria, but by then much of Rheged had disappeared, swallowed up by Strathclyde. However, the area around Bebbanburg was never conquered by the Danes and remained independent under Anglian rule, though the ruler contented himself with the title of earl.
The story of Northumbria during these turbulent times will be covered in subsequent novels in this series.
Northumbria eventually became an earldom as part of a united England. The last Earl of Northumbria was Robert de Mowbray, a Norman, who was removed from his earldom for joining a conspiracy to depose William Rufus, the son of the Conqueror. Much later there were earls and dukes of Northumberland but the county was defined by the rivers Tweed and Tyne and the county of Cumbria in the west – a pale shadow of the Kingdom of Northumbria that used to be.
Other Novels by H A Culley
The Normans Series
The Bastard’s Crown
Death in the Forest
England in Anarchy
Caging the Lyon
Seeking Jerusalem
Babylon Series
Babylon – The Concubine’s Son
Babylon – Dawn of Empire
Robert the Bruce Trilogy
The Path to the Throne
The Winter King
After Bannockburn
Constantine T
rilogy
Constantine – The Battle for Rome
Crispus Ascending
Death of the Innocent
Macedon Trilogy
The Strategos
The Sacred War
Alexander
Kings of Northumbria Series
Whiteblade
Warriors of the North
Individual Novels
Magna Carta
About the Author
H A Culley was born in Wiltshire in 1944 and entered RMA Sandhurst after leaving school. He was an Army officer for twenty four years, during which time he had a variety of unusual jobs. He spent his twenty first birthday in the jungles of Borneo, served with the RAF in the Middle East, commanded an Arab unit in the Gulf for three years and was the military attaché in Beirut during the aftermath of the Lebanese Civil War.
After leaving the Army, he became the bursar of a large independent school for seventeen years before moving into marketing and fundraising in the education sector. He has served on the board of two commercial companies and several national and local charities. He has also been involved in two major historical projects. He recently retired as the finance director and company secretary of IDPE and remains on its board of trustees.
He has three adult children and one granddaughter and lives with his wife and two Bernese Mountain Dogs between Holy Island and Berwick upon Tweed in Northumberland.