OSWIN
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OSWIN
of the East Angles, Oswald with his brothers fled for
protection from Edwin, their uncle, Acha's brother, to
the land of the Scots and were cared for at Columba's
Monastery at Hii, or lona. There they remained un-
til Edwin's death in the battle of Heathfield (633).
Eanfrid, his elder brother, then returned to accept
the Kingdom of Deira, whilst Osric, cousin of Edwin,
received Bernicia. The kingdom was thus again di-
vided and both parts relapsed into paganism. In the
following year Osric was slain in battle, and Eanfrid
treacherously murdered by the British king, Cadwalla.
Oswald thereupon came down from the North, and in
635 a small but resolute band gathered round him
near the Roman Wall at a spot seven miles north of
Hexham, afterwards known as Hevenfelt, or Heaven's
Field. Here, encouraged by a vision and promise of
victory from St. Columba, who shrouded with his
mantle all his camp, Oswald set up a cross of wood
as his standard — the first Christian symbol ever raised
in Bernicia — and gave battle to the Britons, who were
led, probably, by Cadwalla. The Britons were com-
pletely routed, and thenceforth could only act on the
defensive.
Oswald's victory reunited the Northumbrian King- dom not only because he delivered it from the humili- ating yoke of the Mercians and Britons, but also be- cause on his father's side he was a descendant of Ida of Bernicia and on his mother's of the royal house of Ella of Deira. Thus united, Northumbria could not fail to become the chief power in a confederation against Penda of Mercia and the Britons of Wales. Oswald was thoroughly grounded in the principles of the Christian religion, and, though but twelve nobles with whom he returned from exile were Christians, far from abandoning his faith, his first care was to spread it among the Bernicians, thus confirming the political union effected by Edwin with a religious union unknown before. Edwin, it is true, had him- self received the Faith in 627, through the influence of his wife Ethelburga, sister of the Kentish Iving, who had brought St. Paulinus to the North, but his exam- ple was followed only by the people of Deira. Oswald , brought up in Columba's monastery at lona, naturally looked to the North for missionaries. The first preacher who set forth soon returned, having found the Northumbrian people too barbarous and stubborn. Then Aidan was sent, "a man of singular meekness, piety and moderation", who established his episcopal see at Lindisfarne, in 635. Oswald's zealous co-oper- ation with the monk-bishop soon filled the land with churches and monasteries, and the church at York, begun by Edwin, was completed. Moreover, his won- derful humility in the midst of success, his charity, and his piety soon had their effect in turning his sub- jects from Woden to Christ. We are told that the king in his Court acted as the interpreter of the Irish missionaries who knew not the tongue of his thanes.
It was Oswald's work to add to the warlike glory of his father Ethelfrid and the wise adniiiii.'^tration of his uncle Edwin the moral power of Christianity, and to build up a great kingdom. Edwin had gathered the whole English race into one political body and was overlord of every English kingdom save that of Kent. The Venerable Bede (III, 6) says that Oswald had a greater dominion than any of his ancestors, and that "he brought under his sway all the nations and prov- inces of Britain, which are divided into four languages, namely the Britons, the Picts, the Scots, and the English". He had great power in the North-West, as far south as Chester and Lancashire, and was probably owned as overlord by the Welsh Kingdom of Strath Clyde, as well as by the Picts and the Scots of Dal- riada. In the East he was supreme in Lindsey, and the words of Bede seem to imply that he was overlord of Mercia, which was still ruled by Penda; but this could have been scarcely more than nominal. The West Saxons in the South, influenced by the fear of
Penda, readily acknowledged Oswald, their allegiance
being strengthened, in 635, by the conversion of King
Cynegils, of Wessex, at whose baptism Oswald stood
sponsor, and whose daughter he married. Both
sovereigns then established Bishop Birinus at Dor-
chester.
This vast supremacy, extending from north to south, and broken only by Penda's kingdom in Mid- Britain and that of the East Angles, led Adamnan of Hii to caU Oswald "The Emperor of the whole of Britain". Christianity seemed to be forming a net- work round the pagan Penda of Mercia. The king- dom of the East Angles, which was still Christian, but acknowledged Penda as overlord, was necessary to Oswald to maintain the connexion between his domin- ions in the north and the south. War was therefore inevitable. At the battle of Maserfeld, said to be seven miles from Shrewsbury, "on the border of Wales, near Offa's dyke", Oswald was slain on 5 Aug., 642, and thus perished "the most powerful and most Christian King" in the eighth year of his reign and in the flower of his age. His last words were for the spiritual welfare of his soldiers, whence the proverb: "God have mercy on their souls, as said Oswald when he fell." His body was mutilated by Penda, and his liir.bs set up on stakes, where they remained a full year, until they were taken away by Oswy and given to the monks at Bardney in Lindsey. In the tenth century some of the bones were carried off by Ethel- red and Ethelfleda of Mercia to St. Peter's, Glouces- ter. His head was taken from the battlefield to the church of St. Peter in the royal fortress at Bambor- ough, and was afterwards translated to Lindisfarne, where, for fear of the Danes, it was placed in S75 in the coffin of St. Cuthbert which found its resting- place at Durham in 998. It was in the coffin at the translation of St. Cuthbert in 1104, and was thought to be there when the tomb was opened in 1828. His arm and hand (or hands) were taken to Bamborough and perhaps afterwards removed to Peterborough, and were still incorrupt in the time of Symeon of Dur- ham, early in the twelfth century. Reginald gives an account of his personal appearance: arms of great length and power, eyes bright blue, hair yellow, face long and beard thin, and his small lips wearing a kindly smile.
Bede, History: Reginald, Life (printed by the Surtees Soc, and ali portions not containing matter taken from Bede in R. S. among works of Sym. of Durliam) ; Sym. of Durham, Hisl. Dunelm.; Idem, Hist. Regum in R. S. and Surtees Soe. Publica- tions: Adamnan. Life of S. Columba, ed. and tr. by Fowler (Ox- ford. 1894) ; Alcdin. Carmen in Historians of York, in R. S.; Wil- liam OF Malmesbdry, Gesta Pontif: Idem, Gesta Regum m R. S. ; MisccU. Biogr. in Surtees Soc. Publications. For account of his relics sec also Raine, St. Cuthbert: Idem, Opening of S. Cuthbert' s Tomb (Durham, 1828); Wall, Shrines of British Saints: Oswald and Cuthbert (London, 1905). — Raine in Diet, of Christ. Biogr., s. v.; Botleh, Lines, Aug. 5; Green, Making of England (London, 1897), vi; Bellesheim, Cath. Ch. of Scotland, tr. Hunteh-Blair, I (Edinburgh, 1887); Montalembert, Moines d' Occident, tr. (London, 1896); Skene, Celtic Scotland, I (Edinburgh, 1870); HtTNT, History of the English Church from 597-1068 (London, 1899).
S. Ansblm Parker.
Oswin, Saint, king, and martyr, murdered at Gilling, near Richmond, Yorkshire, England, on 20 August, 651, son of 0.sric, King of Deira in Britain. On the murder of his father by Cadwalla in 634, Oswin still quite young was carried away for safety into Wessex, but returned on the death of his kins- man St. Oswald, in 642, either because Oswy had bestowed upon him Deira, one portion of the King- dom of Northumbria, himself ruling Bernicia, or, as is more probable, because the people of Deira chose him for king in preference to Oswy. Under his sway of seven years, peace, order, and happiness reigned throughout the kingdom. But in the reliitions be- tween Oswy iiiid ( Iswiii t here wns iippnrciit peace only, the former was emiiloying every subtlety to bring about his rival's death. At length Oswy declared
