OSTDNI
348
OSWALD
the Danube but were repulsed. During the years
350-7.1 the Goths were united under the leadership
of Krmaiuiric, the ()strop)th. In 37.5 they were con-
quered l)y the Huns. Sonie escaped into the Crimea,
where they retained their languape up to the sixteenth
century; the mass of the jieople, however, remjiined
in their own lands and i)aid trilnite to th<' Huns; but
were otherwise fairly independent and elected their
own kinsjs. When the empire of the Huns collapsed
after the death of Attila (453), thi' Ostrogoths re-
gained independence. Their old lands between Don
and Danube, however, they had to surrender to the
Huns, while they obtained Pannonia from the Ro-
mans. Theodoric, the Amaling, who was their king
from 474 or 475, fought with the Byzantine emperor
Zeno at various times, although he obtained jieaceful
relations during most of his reign. He endeavoured
to secure permanent domiciles for his people. In 488
lie started for It.aly, aided and abetted by Zeno.
Theodoric defeated Odoacer, who reigned as king in
Italy, and founded in 493 the great Ostrogothic Em-
pire, which included Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia, Upper
Rhaetia, and later on Provence, with the capital
Ravenna, and which stood under Byzantine suzer-
ainty. Theodoric dreamed of an amalgamation of
the Teutons and the Romans, of a Germanic state, in
which the Ostrogoths were to dominate. He suc-
ceeded in establishing law and order in his lands;
Roman art and literature flourished. He was tolerant
towards the Catholic Church and did not interfere in
dogmatic matters. He remained as neutral as possi-
ble towards the pope, though he exercised a prepon-
derant influence in the afTairs of the papacy. He
and his peoiile were Arians and Theodoric considered
himself as protector and chief reiiresentative of the
sect. His successor did not possess the necessary
vigour and ability to continue this work. His daugh-
ter Amalasvintha succeeded him in 526, first as re-
gent for her son Athalaric, and after the latter's
death, in 534, as queen. She was assassinated by
her cousin Theodahad, the rightful heir to the throne.
The Byzantine emperor Justinian now made him-
self her avenger and declared war upon the Ostro-
goths. His general Belisarius captured Naples in
53f). In place of the incompetent Theodahad the
Goths chose Witiches as king, but he also proved to be
an incapable general. Belisarius succeeded in enter-
ing Ravenna in 539 and in taking Witiches prisoner.
After his recall in 540, the Goths reconquered Italy
under their new king Totila. In 544 Belisarius ap-
peared once more and the war was continued with
varj'ing success. In 551 Narses became commander-
in-chief in place of Belisarius, and in the following
year he defeated Totila at Taginie in the Apennines.
Totila was killed in the battle. The survivors of the
Ostrogoths chose Teja as their king, but were practi-
cally annihilated in the battle near Mount Vesuvius
in 553, after a desperate struggle in which Teja was
killed. Their last fortress fell in 555, after which the;
Ostrogoths disappear. The few survivors mingled
with other peoples and nations; .some were romanizcd
in Italy, and others wandered north where they dis-
- i|i|" u' d iiiiiong the various Germanic tribes. Italy
1" ' ii;m :i I'.Nzantine province.
I:.- I : : ,, ,' /.. Golhs (London, 1898); Dahn, Die Konige iler Ci, /,.-;,.,.., 11 IV (Wurzburg. lSOl-66): M.4.V80, Geschichlc dcs oitiiulUchcn Ilcichx in Ilalien (Breslau, 1824); HoDOKlN, Italy and her invaders. Ill, IV (I.rf)ndon, 18S.5); Hartm.^nn, Das italicnixche Kdnigreich (Gotha, 1897); Wietersheim, Geschichle der Volker- wanderung, I, II (Leipzig, 1880, 81).
Klemens Loffler.
Ostuni. See Brindisi, Diocese of.
O'SuUivan Beare, Philip, b. in Ireland, c. 1.500; d. in l^pain, HitiO, .son of Dermot O'SulIivan and nephew of Dona! O'SulIivan Beare, Lord of Dnnboy. He was sent to Spain in 1602, and was educated at CompostcUa by Vcndamma, a Spaniard, and Father
Synnott, an Irish .lesuit. He served in the Spanish
army. In 1621 he published his "Catholic History
of Ireland", a work not always reliable, but valii.ible
for the Irish wars of the author's own day. He :ilso
wrote a "Life of St. Patrick", a confutation of Gerald
Barrv and a rei)lv to Usher's attack on his " History ".
Ma'c^kk, Irixh \l'nlirs of the Seventeenth Cmturu {n\i\<Vm. ISII',); <)'Sui.i.ivvN. Cnlh.tlic History of Ireland, ed. Kellv (Dulilin, ISoO) ; O'Si LLivAN, History of Ireland, tr. Byrne (London, 1U04).
E. A. D'Alton.
Oswald, S.MNT, ArchbLshop of York, d. on 29 Feb- ruary, 992. Of Danish parentage, Oswald was brought up by his uncle Odo, Archbishop of Cantor- bury, and instructed by Fridegode. For some time he was dean of the house of the secular canons at Winchester, but led by the desire of a stricter life he entered the Benedictine Monastery of Fleury, where Odo himself had received the monastic habit. He was ordained there and in 959 returned to England betaking himself to his kinsman Oskytel, then .'Arch- bishop of York. He took an active part in ecclesias- tical affairs at York until St. Dunstan procured his appointment to the See of Worcester. He was conse- crated by St. Dunstan in 962. Oswald was an ar- dent supporter of Dunstan in his efforts to purify the Church from abuses, and aided by King Edgar he carried out his policy of replacing by communities the canons who held monastic possessions. Edgar gave the monasteries of St. Albans, Ely, and Benlleet to O.swald, who established monks at Wcstburv (9S:i), Pershore (984), at Winchelcumbe (9S5), and at Wor- cester, and re-establislied Ripon. But his most fa- mous foundation was that of Ramsey in Huntingdon- shire, the church of which was dedicated in 974, and again after an accident in 991. In 972 by the joint action of St. Dunstan and Edgar, Oswald was made Archbishop of York and journeyed to Rome to re- ceive the pallium from John XIII. He retained, however, with the sanction of the pope, juristlict ion over the Diocese of Worcester where he frequently re- sided in order to foster his monastic reforms (Eadmer, 203). On Edgar's death in 975, his work, hitherto so successful, received a severe check at the hands of Elfhere, Iving of Mercia, who broke up many com- munities. Ramsey, however, was spared, owing to the powerful patronage of Ethelwin, Earl of Exst Anglia. Whilst Archbishop of York, Oswald col- lected from the ruins of Ripon the relics of the saints, some of which were conveyed to Worcester. He died in the act of washing the feet of the poor, as was his daily custom during Lent, and was buried in the Church of St. Mary at Worcester. Oswald used a gentler policy than his colleague Ethelwold and always refrained from violent measures. He greatly valued and jiroinoted learning amongst the clergy and induced many scholars to come from Fleury. He wrote two treatises and some synodal decrees. His feast is celebrated on 28 February.
Iliaturians o/ York in Rolls Series, 3 vols.; see Intrndurli':iix by Raine. The anonymous and contemporarj' lifr r,f th, ni'.nl: of Kamsev, I. 399-)7.'), and Eadmer, Lift and .1/ 11' '.'i
(al.so in P. Z,..CLIX) are the best authorities; thi !i -i >-
Tus and two others in vol. II are of little valu--. 1- •■ 1 ■ i- .
Ill, 7.i2; Acta O.S.B. (Venice, 1733), sxc. v, 72s, V\ hiuhi. /,,«,/. Lit., I (London, 1846), 462; TvNEMOtjTH and CAl'GRAyE, ed. HoRSTMAN, II (Oxford. 1901), 252; Hunt, Hist of the English Church from 697-1066 (London, 1899) ; Idem in Diet, of Nat. Biog., s. v.; LiNGARD. Anglo-Saxon Church (London, 1845).
S. Anselm Parker.
Oswald, S.MNT, king and m.artyr; b., probably, (j05; d. 5 .Aug., 642; the second of seven brothers, sons of Ethelfrid, who was grandson of Ida, founder of the Kingdom of Northumbriain .547. Oswald's mother was Acha. daughter of Ella or Alia, who, after Ida's death, had .seized Deira and thus separated it from the Northern Bernicia. The years of Oswald's youth were spent at home, as long as his father reigned, but when, in 617, Ethelfrid was slain in battle by Redwald, King
