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Oswald of Northumbria

Oswald of Northumbria (604-5 August 642) was King of Deira from 633 to 642 (succeeding Osric of Deira and preceding Oswiu of Northumbria) and King of Bernicia from 634 to 642 (succeeding Eanfrith of Bernicia and preceding Oswiu). He was killed at the Battle of Maserfield in 642 and was later made a Christian saint.

Biography[]

Oswald was born in Deira, Northumbria in 604, the son of King Aethelfrith and the brother of Eanfrith of Bernicia and Oswiu of Northumbria. He went into exile in Dal Riata (where he converted to Christianity) on his father's death in battle in East Anglia in 616, and he returned to Northumbria on the murder of his brother Eanfrith by Cadwallon ap Cadfan in 633. Oswald avenged Eanfrith's death by slaying Cadwallon at the Battle of Heavenfield in 642, and he had all of his council members baptized as thanks to God for his victory. Oswald was widely recognized as Bretwalda of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and he besieged and captured Edinburgh in 638, conquering Gododdin. Oswald then had the Irish of Dal Riata send a bishop to evangelize among the Angles of Northumbria, and Oswald embodied the Christian virtue of charity. However, the pagan Mercians under King Penda of Mercia confronted the Northumbrians at the Battle of Maserfield in 642, and Oswald was killed, his body dismembered, and his head and limbs placed on stakes. He soon came to be regarded as a saint.

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