Oswald , the son of Ethelfrith, king of Northumbria

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St Oswald of Northumbria

Celebrated on August 5th

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St Oswald was the son of Ethelfrith, king of Northumbria. When Edwin seized the kingdom in 616, he fled to Scotland with his family and became a Christian at Iona. When Edwin died in 633, the royal exiles returned to Northumbria. Oswald’s brothers, Osric and Eanfrid, were killed by the tyrannical British king Cadwalla. Although he had a much smaller army, Oswald beat Cadwalla’s forces at a battle near Hexham. Cadwalla was killed.

Few of Oswald’s subjects then were Christian. When peace was restored, he sent for a bishop to preach the Gospel. The first man who came was critical and strict and made no headway. He was soon replaced by the kindly St Aidan. Oswald interpreted his sermons and gave him the island of Lindisfarne for a monastery and episcopal seat near the royal residence of Bamburgh.

Under St Oswald’s rule peace was restored in Northumbria and good relations developed with the Anglo Saxon kings. He married Cyneburga, daughter of the King of Wessex. But his reign did not last long. After only eight years St Oswald was killed by the pagan king Penda of Mercia at the battle of Maserfield. He was just 38. As he was dying, he prayed for the souls of his bodyguards who died with him. His body was dismembered and sacrificed to the god Woden in a pagan ritual.

His remains and relics were moved many times around the country. His skull was said to have been discovered in the tomb of St Cuthbert in 1827. Many miracles were attributed to them. Seventy churches are dedicated to him in England and there are many in Portugal, Bohemia, Holland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. St Oswald was celebrated for his heroism, his generosity and his piety.
(from ICN)
 
Excellent!

Oswald is a hero to Bede, whose account we most rely on for Oswald’s life. I think we can take with a pinch of salt Bede’s description of Cadwallon as a brutal tyrant (at least insofar as any Dark Ages King was not a brutal tyrant). But Cadwallon died fighting Oswald, so he must have been a baddy.

Which is not to discount Oswald’s importance in the story of Christian England, or indeed in the story of England’s birth.

His bishop, St Aidan (of Lindisfarne) brought to Northumbria the Christianity of Ireland and Iona, which dominated in the North until defeated by the followers of Roman Christianity at the Synod of Whitby.
 
I think we can take punches of salt with a pinch of salt, too.

Bede was a good solid historian who used a lot of oral and written sources that we do not have. The Saxon tradition, from pagan times, was to be pretty free with criticism of kings who were not appropriately generous, law- and custom-abiding, etc. Ceadwalla came out badly in the songs, so he must have done pretty bad stuff.

Penda, OTOH, gets lots of criticism but also is portrayed as doing a good job in many ways. He is a great enemy of Christ but a great king.
 
PickyPicky said:
Oswald is a hero to Bede, whose account we most rely on for Oswald’s life. I think we can take with a pinch of salt Bede’s description of Cadwallon as a brutal tyrant (at least insofar as any Dark Ages King was not a brutal tyrant). But Cadwallon died fighting Oswald, so he must have been a baddy.
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Nah. Cadwallon ap Cadfan was a Taffy, and therefore a goody by default. Moreover, he was the father of St. Cadwaladr Fendigaid ap Cadwallon; and therefore a super-goody.

In short, he was a wee bit……misunderstood. 😇
 
An ancestor of St. Margaret of Scottland and Louis IX. Does anyone refute this?

Or am I conflating him with Etheldreda?
 
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Bon_Croix said:
An ancestor of St. Margaret of Scottland and Louis IX. Does anyone refute this?
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St Margaret of course was of the House of Wessex. If you can trace her ancestry back to Oswald that would be fascinating.
 
Yes, some of us claim Edgar as Edgar III, King of England, but Wm I didn’t agree.

The history of his father, Edward the Exile, is interesting. We somehow don ‘t expect Dark Age dynasties to stretch as far as Hungary, but this one did. England to Scandinavia to Hungary.

Oops Edgar II of course.
 
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