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Oswald: Northumbrian King to European Saint Paperback – 1 Sept. 1995 by Clare Stancliffe (Editor), Eric Cambridge (Editor)
Oswald: Northumbrian King to European Saint Paperback – 1 Sept. 1995 by Clare Stancliffe (Editor), Eric Cambridge (Editor)
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The book is a collection of academic essays on the important Northumbrian king, St Oswald, who reigned between 634 and 642, and who was widely venerated as a saint after his death, his cult spreading throughout Europe. He is one of the leading figures in the Venerable Bede’s history because he was the instigator of the mission of St Aiden to convert Northumbria to Christianity. Though Bede, a Romanist, was slightly ambiguous in his praise for this king, who was a patron of Celtic Christianity imported from Iona. The book sold out in its first edition in less than a year; this is the second edition with contains additional material on pages 300 to 301. St Oswald was a commanding figure. In battle he was a successful warrior king, overlord of much of Britain, but he also had a reputation for sanctity. The monastery of Lindisfarne was founded in his reign. He was killed in battle against the pagan Penda of Mercia, leading to his veneration as a saint. One can see a strange mix of pagan and Christian elements in his cult. The literature and symbolism of his cult contain the raven symbol (the messenger bird of Woden from Germanic mythology), and he is associated with the springs and wells of Celtic beliefs. He was the subject of literary works and of popular oral tradition. Oswald seems to straddle many worlds. His body was dismembered and relics were found in many locations in the middle Ages: Bamburgh, Bardney, Durham, Gloucester, Hexham, Lindisfarne, Oswestry and Peterborough. There are five ‘St Oswald heads’ in existence, four in Europe and one, almost certainly the genuine one, still interred with the remains of St Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral. The contributors are Rosemary Cramp, Clare Stancliffe, Alan Thacker, Eric Cambridge, David Rollason, Victoria Tudor, Richard N. Bailey, Dagmar Ó Riain-Raedel, Annemiek Jansen and Alison Binns. The volume has a bibliography and a comprehensive index.
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