OSWARD

OSWUDU

165

recorded descent, obtained the crown on Ine’sresignation. Oswald is described in the Chronicle(ad ann. 728) as the son of Ethelbald., the son ofCynebald, the son of Cuthwine, son of Ceaulin(M. H. B. 633). He was defeated by Ethelhardin 728, and died in 730. ( M . H. B. 327, 328;

Will. Malmesb. G. B. lib. i. § 38.) [S.]

OSWARD, brother of the Mercian kingKenred, in a spurious charter of Egwin, bishopof Worcester, a.d. 714. (Kemble, C. D. 64.)

[C. H.]

OSWIN (1), son of Osric, who, after the deathof his kinsman Edwin, had a year’s tenure ofthe princedom of Deira. On his father’s death, inA.d. 634, Oswin, then very young, was carriedoff for safety into Wessex, and there he remaineduntil, on the decease of his uncle Oswald in 642,Oswy, another uncle, became Oswald’s successor.But the people of Deira preferred the son oftheir old chief, Osric, to Oswy, and Oswintherefore became their king.

Oswin was just the person to attract thesympathies of Beda, who in a few touchingwords had delineated his character and personalappearance. Fair in face and tall in stature,with a pleasant address and a manner ascourteous as his purse was open—these, for thoserough times, were attractive words. PopularOswin was besides, nay, so popular that all thebest born in the district flocked to his court andservice. Unlike his father, he was a devoutChristian, and conspicuous among others by thegrace of humility. Beda exemplifies this by thestory of the gift of a horse to Aidan, which it isunnecessary to repeat (B. iii. 14). The simple-minded bishop recognised in Oswin a dispositioncongenial to his own, and told a companion ofhis that he was too good to live.

The words were prophetic. Seven yearspassed over and then the jealousy of Oswy,chafing at the division of his kingdom, brokeout into war. The two kings took the field, but,before they met, Oswin, finding that the enemyfar exceeded his own men in number, disbandedhis army. This was done at a hill called Wil-faresdun, some 12 miles to the north-west ofCatterick near Richmond, the position of whichcannot now be traced.

Oswin left Wilfaresdun, accompanied by Tond-here, a most trusty knight, and made his way tothe house of a still greater friend, as he thought,Count Hunwald, who lived at Ingetlingum, themodern Gilling, where he hoped to be able to con-ceal himself. Hunwald betrayed the secret ofthe two fugitives to Oswy, who sent Ethelwin,one of his attendants, to slay the refugees. Thiswas done on the 20th August, 651 (Beda, iii.14, 24).

As a small atonement for a great crime, queenEanfleda induced her husband Oswy to give toTrumhere the site for a monastery at Gilling,in which prayer might be regularly offered forthe eternal safety of Oswy and his victim (Beda,iii. 14,24). Some remains of this religious housemay be observed in the present church of Gilling.Authentic history ends at this point, but in the12th century an anonymous monk of St. Albanswrote a life of Oswin, the object of which wasto give a pedigree and renown to the monasteryof Tynemouth, and under his facile pen newhistorical facts start into being. He tells us

that after the murder at Gilling in 651, Oswin’sbody was carried by his murderers to the mouth ofthe Tyne, and was there interred in the oratory ofthe Blessed Virgin. There is satisfactory evidenceof the existence of a religious house' at Tyne-mouth at an early period, and there Osred kingof Northumbria was buried in 792. Osred hadno claim to sanctity, and the monk of St. Albans,finding his name in an old chronicle, may haveconverted Osred into Oswin, who was a differentkind of person.

The monk of St. Albans records an appearanceof Oswin (whose presence at Tynemouth wasunknown) to a monk of the name of Edmund,bidding him tell Bishop Egelwin that he wasinterred there, and commanding him to translatehis remains to a befitting shrine. All this, we aretold, was done in the year 1065. In 1075 thechurch of St. Mary of Tynemouth, with thebody of St. Oswin, was given by Waltheof, earlof Northumberland, to the prior and monks ofJarrow, or Durham, but in 1090 another earl ofNorthumberland, Robert de Mowbray, withdrewthe gift of Walthecf, and made Tynemouth overto the abbey of St. Albans, greatly to the annoy-ance of Durham (Symeon, H. E. D. iv. 4). WhenTynemouth was surrendered in the reign ofHenry VIII., the visitors found there a feretoryor shrine containing the body and vestments ofOswin, which, as he tells us, were held in greatveneration (Gibson’s Tynemouth , i.)

The Life of Oswin, which has been mentioned,is Julius A. x. in the Cottonian library. Thegreater portion has been published for the Sur-tees Society ( Biogr . Misc.'). The life consists ofwhat we find in Beda, followed by an account ofOswin’s translation and a number of miracleswhich are said to have attested his sanctity. Thewriter of the life was living at Tynemouth inthe reign of Stephen, and gives us pictures of lifeand manners, which are of much value. There isan account of Oswin and his miracles in theHagiology of John of Tynemouth. In the Cot-tonian library there was a very interesting relicof Oswin in Galba A, 5, which was cruellydamaged by the fire. It is described as u Psal-terium Davidis characteribus Hibernicis vetustis-simis : dicitur fuisse liber Oswini regis.”

[J. K.]

OSWIN (2) (Oswini, Oswyn), a king ofKent according to some spurious charters inKemble ; one of which (U. D. 10) makes hima descendant of the royal line. On Jan. 27, 675,he grants the estate of Sturrie to his kinswomanthe abbess Aebba (Kemble, C, D. 8; Elmham,Hist, Mon. S. Aug. 329, ed. Hardwick). Healso grants her lands in Thanet (C. D . 10, un-dated). He subscribes the charter Suaebhard,king of Kent, Mar. 1, 676, without the title ofking ( C . D. 14). In July 689 he bestows landsin Liming on the monastery over which Adrianpresides ( C. D. 30). [Suefred.] There ap-pears no good authority for this king. [C. H.]

OSWUDU (Osgudu), one of the sons ofEthelfrith, king of Northumbria, who on thedeath of their father in a.d. 617, took refuge inScotland to escape from Edwin. The exiles wereconverted to Christianity at Iona and came backto Northumbria when Edwin died. (Beda, iii. 3;Vita S. Columbae , i. 113; Symeon, ed. SurteesSoc., 209, 218; S. C. 20, 43.) [J. R.]