166

OSWULF

OSWY

OSWULF (1), son of Eadberht king ofNorthumbria, succeeding him on the throne inA.d. 758. His father voluntarily resigned it tohim. Within the year he was wickedly slain byhis household at a place called Mechil Wongtune(possibly Market Weighton)on the 24th of July.(Symeon, H. R. sub anno; S. C. 44,89.) [J. R.]

OSWULF (2), a presbyter who attestscharters of archbishops Ethelhard and Wulfredin 805, 811, and 813. (Kemble, C. D. 189,195,200.) [C. H.]

OSWY (Osuuiu, Osweo, Osbiu, Osguid,Oswegius), a son of Ethelfrith, and a youngerbrother of Oswald, both kings of Northumbria,Oswy himself being an energetic sovereign, andan earnest propagator of Christianity. In theLife of Oswin he is called nothus , a state-ment, perhaps, which shews the animus ofthe writer, as it is unsupported by historicalevidence ( Vita Oswini , p. 3). Oswy wasborn about A.D. 612, and was educated and bap-tized in Scotland, probably during the exile ofthe royal family of Northumbria after the deathof Ethelfrith (Beda, iii. 14, 29). On the decease ofhis brother Oswald in a.d. 642, Oswy succeededhim on the throne of Bernicia, that of Deirafalling to Oswin, son of Osric. Ethelbald, sonof Oswald, was too young to succeed his father.This division could not be palatable to Oswy;but he had enough to do at first to maintainhis hold on Bernicia, which was invaded byPenda, the slayer of Oswald, with the help,probably, of the Cumbrian Britons. Pendaattacked Bamborough, and tried to set the castleon fire by heaping against the wall the materialsof the wooden huts which he found near. Aidan,as Beda tells us, was watching on Fame, andsaw the flames and smoke ascending: “ See,Lord, what mischief Penda does! ” was hisejaculatory prayer ; whereupon, we are told, thewind changed, and the flames and smokescorched and blinded the aggressors instead oftheir intended victims (Beda, iii. 16). Whenthis peril was over and Penda had retired,Oswy’s jealousy of Oswin led him to committhe great crime of his life. The two kingswere about to settle their disputes on the battle-field, when Oswin, conscious of his weakness,disbanded his troops and retired with a singleattendant to Gilling, near Richmond, where theywere both slain by one of Oswy’s retainers, inobedience to his master’s orders, on August20th, 651 (Beda, iii. 14). Some time beforethis event Oswy had brought from Kent andmarried Eanfleda, daughter of king Edwin, thefirst Northumbrian whom Paulinus had bap-tized (Beda, iii. 15). The queen, troubled by themurder, induced Oswy, as a kind of atonement,to give some land at the scene of the crime forthe erection and endowment of a monastery,over which Trumhere became abbat. In it theslayer and the slain were both prayed for (Beda,iii. 24). After this we find Ethelbald, son ofOswald, acting as ruler of Deira under thecharge of Oswy, his uncle. This was, probably,a concession to the independent spirit of thedistrict, and possibly a further acknowledgmentof the wrong that had been done to Oswin.

Oswy’s most dangerous rival was Penda, whobad taken possession of Lindsey, an old appanage

of Northumbria, but he had permitted Cy *burga, his daughter, to marry Alchfvith Oswv’Ison. Penda gave the rule of the Middle-AneWto his son Peada, whom Beda highly commend,Peada, visiting the Northumbrian count askedOswy to give him in marriage his daughterAlchfleda. Oswy refused unless Peada and hispeople would become Christians. The youngman assented, and was baptized before he re,turned home, and admitted missionaries into hiskingdom (Beda, iii. 21), among whom Ceddwasone.

About the same time (653-4) another succes.ful effort was made by Oswy towards evan-gelizing the East Saxons. Sigebert, their king,was a friend of Oswy, and frequently visitedhim. Oswy availed himself of the opportunityto prevail by argument with his guest toembrace Christianity. The result was thebaptism of Sigebert, and the despatch of amission to the East Saxons which had greatsuccess (Beda, iii. 22).

Penda all this while was an active foe or afalse friend to Northumbria. Oswy did his bestto live in peace with his too-powerful neighbour.The attack of a.d. 642 seems to have ended in acompromise, perhaps in the surrender of Lindsey.A double marriage ought to have knit the twokingdoms together, but it failed to do so. In-road after inroad from Mercia harassed theNorthumbrians, who were also charged withbeing the aggressors to such an extent thatOswy was obliged to send Ecgfrith, his secondson, as a hostage for his good conduct, to theMercian queen, Kynwise. This concession failed,and, to avoid ruin, Oswy promised to surrenderto Penda a vast treasure, which he distributed,according to Nennius, among his British allies.It was in vain. Penda refused to return, andessayed the devastation and destruction ofNorthumbria. Oswy, deserted by his men,sought the divine assistance, and as a pledge ofhis earnestness vowed, if victory were his, todevote his daughter, Elfleda, with a goodlydower, to a religious life. Thirty chieftainsmarshalled Penda’s army, whilst Oswy, with hisson Alchfrith, had a force one-third of the size;and, in addition to the paucity of his numbers,he had the mortification of knowing that hiinephew, Ethelbald of Deira, was acting as aguide to the invader. The two armies met aWinwaedfield in the district of Loidis (Nenniussays, in Campo Oat). The Winwaed is P r0 "J j[the Went. The battle was fought on the 15thof November, 655, and resulted in the death oPenda and the destruction of his host. egrateful victor fulfilled his vow by placing winfant daughter, Elfleda, under the c ^® r ^ e , 0Hilda at Hartlepool, to be prepared for *future life (Beda, iii. 24). He pressed forwardalso the spreading of Christianity in M eic '’and is associated by tradition, with Peada,son-in-law, as co-founder of the famous monatery at Medeshamstede, the Peterborough o

present day (S. C. 25, 50). 0fiWV ’ 9

The defeat of Penda threw Mercia into yhands, and he put the South Mercians undercharge of Peada, retaining the rest forPeada, however, was short-lived, and inthe Mercians rejected the rule of Oswy*made Wulfhere, a son of Penda, their *Wulfhere regained Lindsey from North 11