Oswy

“ Oswy pressed them hard; [10] smote them with fierce charges of cavalry, and with the rush of his serried spearmen bore down all resistance. The Kings of Anglia and East Mercia were put to the sword, and their armies decimated and scattered. Oswy, secured in the possession of life and throne, exulted in the signal victory which had blessed his arms. Amid the lifeless thousands that encumbered the sanguinary field, twenty-eight vassal chieftains of the highest rank had fallen with their Kings. ”

“ Oswy, during the first part of his reign, had a partner in the royal dignity called Oswin, of the race of King Edwin, and son to Osric360 of whom we have spoken above, a man of wonderful piety and devotion, who governed the province of the Deiri seven years in very great prosperity, and was himself beloved by all men. But Oswy, who governed all the other northern part of the nation beyond the Humber, that is, the province of the Bernicians, could not live at peace with him ”

“ I will live and die with my lord!”
“Come here, Oswy; they do not know the little postern door hidden behind those bushes; the passage leads up to the chapel, and to the gallery leading to my father’s chamber, where Elfric lies dying. I remember that that door was left unlocked, and perhaps I can save him. They are all feasting like hogs; they will not know, and if Ragnar meet me, why, he or I must die;” and he put his hand convulsively upon the sword which was dependent from his girdle.
“Lead on, my lord; you will find your thrall ready to live or die with you!” said Oswy. ”

“ Oswy, son of Ethelfrid, to reign in his great grandfather Ida’s palace at Bamburgh, as king of Bernicia; Oswin, collateral descendant of Aelle and Edwin, to reign at York over Deira. Soon after his accession Oswy, who though only about thirty years of age, was a widower with at least two nearly grown-up children, sent a priest named Utta, “a man of much gravity and truth, and for that reason held in high honour even by princes,” to solicit from the king of Kent the hand of his niece Eanfled, the exiled daughter of Edwin of Deira. ”

“ King Oswy having often, in a friendly and brotherly manner, said this and much more to the like effect, at length, with the consent of his friends, he believed, and after consulting with those about him, and exhorting them, they all agreed and gave their approbation, and were baptized with him by Bishop Finan; in the king's village above spoken of, which is called At the Wall, because it is close by the wall with which the Romans formerly divided the island of Britain, at the distance of twelve miles from the eastern sea. ”

“ Penda caused his body to be torn limb from limb and cast abroad to be devoured by wild beasts, then crossed the border into Northumbria, and ravaged the land with fire and sword.
When the Mercians had retired, Oswy, an illegitimate half-brother of Oswald, was called to the throne of Northumbria in the year 642; but two years afterwards, Oswin, son of Osric the Apostate, disputed his right on the ground of his illegitimacy, and being backed by a numerous body of friends, Oswy agreed to a compromise, he taking Bernicia, and Oswin Deira. ”

“ Guarding the sleeper's bed; a second sigh
[Pg 141] Succeeded: neither seemed the sigh of pain:
And some one said, 'He wakens.' Large and bright
Over the church-roof sudden rushed the moon,
And smote the cross above that sleeper's couch,
And smote that sleeper's face. The smile thereon
Was calmer than the smile of life. Thus died
Ceadmon, the earliest bard of English song.
[Pg 142]
KING OSWY OF NORTHUMBRIA, OR THE WIFE'S VICTORY.
Oswy, King of Bernicia, being at war with his kinsman Oswin, slays him unarmed. ”

“ Oswy, king of Northumberland, being engaged in war with Penda, the Pagan king of Mercia, he vowed that, should he come off victorious, his daughter should dedicate herself to the service of God by a life of celibacy, and that he would give twelve of his mansions for the erection of monasteries. ”

“ Although the murder of Oswin is a blot on Oswy's memory, he appears to have been a religious man, sincerely anxious for the spread of Christianity. He had to contend with many difficulties, and overcame them triumphantly. Northumbria, which at his accession seemed to lie at the mercy of its great enemy, Penda of Mercia, was raised by him to a position of supremacy equal to that which it had held under Eadwine. Besides the overthrow of Penda and the increase of Oswy's power consequent upon his victory, his reign presents three characteristics of special importance. ”

“ S. ELFLEDA When the terrible Penda had advanced into Northumbria, against Oswy, destroying homesteads and harvests with fire, and butchering all who fell into his hands, then the Northumbrian king sent presents to him, and asked for peace. The fierce Mercian refused the presents offered: nothing would satisfy him but the absolute subjection of the Northern Kingdom. Then, in despair, Oswy vowed to God that, as the old Pagan had rejected his gifts, he would dedicate his little one-year-old daughter to Him, together with twelve farms, if He would bless his arms in battle. ”

“ King Oswy, going to battle, promises that if he be victorious he will devote to God his daughter with twelve estates for the endowment of monasteries. He is victorious; he fulfils his vow. He gives twelve estates, six in Deira, six in Bernicia ”

“ Probably in 654 Anna attempted to shake off the Mercian yoke, and was slain and his army utterly defeated, so that scarcely one of his men was left (Henry of Huntingdon, ii. c. 33) . This war with the East-Angles probably caused a renewal of strife with Northumbria. Oswy in vain tried to buy off Penda, who seems again to have formed an alliance with the Welsh. Penda again invaded his land, and, wearied with the ever-increasing demands of the enemy, Oswy at last dared to meet him in battle near the river Winwaed, and there defeated and slew him on 15 Nov. ”

“ Being successful, Oswy, in order to fulfil his vow, placed his daughter Ethelfleda, then scarcely a year old, as a nun in the monastery called Hertesie (Stag Island) , of which Lady Hilda, niece of Edwin, first Christian king of Northumberland, was abbess; and having procured ten hides of land, in the place called Streanshalle (Whitby) , built there in 657, a monastery for men and women of the Benedictine order, which was dedicated to St. Peter, and Lady Hilda appointed the first abbess. ”

“ The hoary-headed old Pagan, Penda, although now well stricken in years, could not witness the advance of Christianity, under Oswy, without pious emotion, and he resolved upon still another invasion of Northumbria in the cause of Woden. He entered into an alliance with Athelm, King of the East Angles, and Æthelwald of Deira—the latter incited by motives of policy—and the [Pg 6] confederates marched against Oswy. A great battle ensued at Winwidfield, near Leeds, when Æthelwald, who was a Christian, repented of having entered into a league with the enemies of that faith, and stood aloof. ”

“ In his time he and Oswy the brother of king Oswald came together, and agreed that they would rear a monastery to the glory of Christ and the honour of St. Peter. And they did so, and named it 'Medeshamstede' [Peterborough] , because there is a whirpool at this place, which is called Meadswell. ”

“ Oswy, son of Ethelfrid, reigned twenty-eight years and six months. During his reign, there was a dreadful mortality among his subjects, when Catgualart (Cadwallader) was king among the Britons, succeeding his father, and he himself died amongst the rest. [101] He slew Penda in the field of Gai, and now took place the slaughter of Gai Campi, and the kings of the Britons, who went out with Penda on the expedition as far as the city of Judeu, were slain. ”

“ Oswy died in 670, and thenceforth no Northumbrian king made any attempt to obtain the dominion over the Mid or Southern English.
During the three years after the death of Penda, Oswy had poured missionaries into Mercia. Peada had already brought the Irish monk Diuma with him, and he became bishop in Mercia. He was followed by another Irishman, Ceolach, a disciple of S. Columba. The third bishop was Trumhere, a Northumbrian 262abbot, consecrated at Lindisfarne. His successors, Jaruman and Ceadda, had also been ordained by the Scots. ”

“ Peada, son of Penda, King of Mercia, being appointed by his father King of the Midland English, by which name Bede distinguished the inhabitants of Leicestershire, and part of Lincolnshire and Derbyshire, from the rest of the Mercians; the young king visited Oswy, King of Northumbria, at Atwell, or Walton, was baptized along with several of his nobles, by Bishop Finan, and was provided by Oswy with two priests to instruct his people in Christianity. One of these was S. Cedd, who had been trained in the monastery of Lindisfarne. ”

“ Alchfrith evidently hoped to make the religious question a means of establishing himself as an independent king in Deira, and Oswy acted with much prudence in avoiding this danger by adopting the views of the part of his dominions that was the richer, more united, and, for dynastic reasons, less likely to be loyal to his throne ”

“ This deed rid Oswy of a troublesome rival, and enabled him to unite under himself both the Northumbrian kingdoms, but he conciliated the people of Deira, and perhaps also endeavoured to satisfy a dangerous malcontent, by giving the province a dependent ruler of its own in the person of his nephew, Oswald's son Oidilvald (ib. c. 23) . At the request of his queen, and as an atonement for the murder of Oswin, he gave Eanflaed land at Gilling for the erection of a monastery, where prayers were offered for both kings, the slayer and the slain (ib. cc. 14, 24) [see under Oswin] . ”

“ In 650 the ambitious Oswy collected a great army to invade Deira. Oswin assembled a smaller force, and advanced, with Trondhere, to Catterick. But finding that the King of Bernicia had a much larger number of troops, he dismissed his [Pg 351] men to their homes to avoid useless bloodshed, resolving to go into concealment until better times. A certain Earl named Hunwald promised him a safe place of retirement at Gilling. But Hunwald was a traitor. The place was betrayed to Oswy. On the 20th of August 650 a commander named Ethilwin and several followers forced their way into the house. ”

“ The monks traded much with them, as a means of working miraculous cures.
Oswald was succeeded in Bernicia by his half–brother Oswy, who had received a mother's care from Queen Alca, though not her son. He usurped the rights of Oswald's son Ethelwald, the grandson of Alca. In Deira Oswin became king in succession to his father Osric. This excellent prince had been brought up by Bergliot with the sons of Lilla, to whom he was warmly attached. ”

“ These stones are still to be seen in the parish of Great Rollright near Chipping Norton, Oxon, anciently Rollrich or Rholdrwygg. They lie on the edge of an old Roman trackway, well defined, which extends along the watershed between Thames and Avon. The writer has himself heard from the rustics of the neighbourhood the explanation given by Oswy, while that put in the mouth of Father Cuthbert is the opinion of the learned. ”

“ Southward, the dominions of which Oswy was overlord probably now included the whole of Yorkshire. It seems, however, to have been an accepted principle that when the overlord was king in Bernicia there must be an under-king in Deira. For seven years, as we have seen, the comely and gracious Oswin, either as equal colleague or as such under-king, reigned in Deira (644–51) . After his murder and the consequent extinction of the direct male line of the descendants of Aelle, Oswald’s son, Ethelwald, ruled over the southern kingdom. ”

“ With the help of Peada these missionaries had great success, and daily baptised many nobles and sick people; nor were they forbidden by Penda to preach in his immediate dominions (Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, iii. c. 21) . On the overthrow and death of Penda in 655, Oswy made Peada under-king of the South Mercians, separated by the Trent from the North Mercians, who seem to have then become directly subject to the Northumbrian king. ”

“ There were also constant quarrels between him and Oswin, whose kingdom was richer than Bernicia (Bæda, u.s.) With the view, no doubt, of gaining a party in Deira, Oswy sent a priest named Utta to fetch Eanflæd, the daughter of Eadwine and his queen Æthelburh from Kent, and married her on her arrival in Northumbria. The causes of quarrel between him and Oswin became serious, and in 651 he invaded Deira with a large army. Oswin, who gathered a force to meet him, found himself too weak to venture a battle ”

“ Oswy, Northumbria's king, the foremost rode,
Oswy triumphant o'er the Mercian host,
Invoking favour on his sceptre new;
With him an Anglian prince, student long time
In Bangor of the Irish, and a monk
Of Frankish race far wandering from the Marne:
They came to look on Hilda, hear her words
Of far-famed wisdom on the Interior Life;
[Pg 120] For Hilda thus discoursed: 'True life of man
Is life within: inward immeasurably
The being winds of all who walk the earth ”

“ A little later, on the persuasion of Oswini's kinswoman Eanfled, the wife of Oswy, the latter founded a monastery at Gilling. Trumhere, a cousin of hers and of Oswini, was made abbot, and prayers were offered for the murdered king and his murderer. Some remains of this monastery survive in the present church of Gilling. In the twelfth century, during the reign of Stephen, an anonymous monk of St. Albans, who was resident in the cell of his monastery at Tynemouth, wrote a life of Oswini. ”