Heavenfield

Trumhere is an interesting fellow and another glimpse into King Oswine’s church. Trumhere first appears on the scene in the days following Oswine’s death in August 651 when King Oswiu founds the monastery of Gilling to pray for both kings. Bede describes Trumhere as a close kinsman of King Oswine who was made abbot over the new monastery.

“The third bishop [of Mercia] was Trumhere, an Englishman but educated and consecrated by the Irish. He was abbot of the monastery called Gilling, the place where King Oswine was killed… Queen Eanflaed, his kinswoman, had asked King Oswiu to expiate Oswine’s unjust death by granting God’s servant Trumhere, also a near relative of the murdered king, a site at Gilling to build a monastery; in it prayer was continually to be said for the eternal welfare of both kings, for the one who planned the murder and for his victim.” (Bede, HE III.24; McClure and Collins, p. 152)

This makes the second of Oswine’s close kin (along with Hild) who entered the church under Aidan. Trumhere had clearly been in the church long enough to be suitable to found a monastery on his own. He is also only the second of Aidan’s students to be known to found a monastery; the other one being Eata at Melrose. We can expect that Gilling would have been founded within days or months of the deaths of Oswine and Aidan. It is even possible that it was arranged before the death of Aidan 12 days after Oswine.

In 658 the Mercians throw off the Northumbrian yoke and raise Penda’s young son Wulfhere to the throne. According to Bede, Trumhere of Gilling is his first bishop. It is unclear if Trumhere became bishop with the Mercian revolt or if he had become bishop very shortly before. His epsicopate in Mercia and Middle Anglia is tentatively dated from c. 658 to 662 when he is succeeded by Jaruman. There is no reason given for the succession of Jaruman so we are left to suppose that Trumhere had died. The Mercian bishops do have a surprisingly short episcopates: Diuma started in c. 653 and died in office; Ceollach left for Ireland; Trumhere began in c. 658 and had 4 years; Jaruman had about 5 years and died in office; vacancy of about 3 years; Chad had three years and died in office in 672; Wynfrith had about 3 years and was deposed before Wulfhere’s death in 675. Two bishops in only about 20 years were deposed or abdicated (Ceollach and Wynfrith).

As the first bishop of King Wulfhere, who had been in hiding until then, it is likely that Trumhere baptized Wulfhere. Unfortunately and unusually, there is no record of Wulfhere’s baptism. The only reference I can recall is in Kentish/East Anglian hagiography that states something to the effect that he wasn’t baptized until his Kentish queen arrived, but Kent doesn’t take credit for his baptism. Therefore it is most likely that it occurred after his queen arrived but was done by the local bishop. We do know that the Mercia church was under the hegemony of Lindisfarne until 664.

Trumhere’s successor at Gilling was Cynefrith, brother of Bede’s Abbot Ceolfrith. We know that he was abbot only for a short while before leaving his post to retire to Ireland where he died, probably during the plague of 664. He was succeeded by Tunberht who lead the community to join Ripon after the plague of 664 reduced their numbers. It also seems possible that King Oswiu no longer had the support such an embarrassing enterprise after he decided for Rome in 664. Tunberht later became Bishop of Hexham during Wilfrid’s exile as a concession to Wilfrid’s monasteries. At the time that Tunberht was elevated to the episcopate Archbishop Theodore consecrated a man named Trumwine as the first bishop of Abercorn for the Picts. The similarity of the names Trumhere, Tunberht and Trumwine makes me wonder if we don’t have a set of Oswine’s kinsmen who were promoted in within the church in part because they were from the Deiran royal family. Trumhere appears to have been fairly close to King Ecgfrith as he was the one person specifically named has going to Lindisfarne with Ecgfrith to convince Cuthbert to accept his election to the episcopate replacing the deposed Tunberht.

Everything we know of Trumhere comes from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

Everything we know of Cynefrith is found in the Anonymous Life of Coelfrith, his brother. Here we learn (indirectly) that both Cynefrith and Coelfrith were kinsmen of King Oswine of Deira. It is clear that, following Irish fashion, Gilling was passed through blood relatives from its first abbot Trumhere, whom Bede describes as a close kinsman of King Oswine (HE III.24). Gilling was founded as penance (or weregeld) for Oswiu’s ordered execution of Oswine with the intention that the monks would pray for the soul of the victim Oswine and the murderer Oswiu.

The Anonymous Life of Coelfrith says that their father had held “a very noble office in the royal comitatus” (ch. 34). Given that Cynefrith was old enough to become abbot of Gilling within the first decade of its founding, the royal comitatus that his father participated in was probably that of King Oswine. If he had also served King Oswald before him, he may have been able to remain among the landed nobles, now elderly, under Oswiu — thanks in part of Oswine’s refusal to fight Oswiu. By preventing his thanes from engaging Oswiu in battle, Oswine may have allowed them to remain in fairly good standing with Oswiu. At least there wouldn’t have been blood debts to pay for Bernicians recently killed.

Ceolfrith’s Life tells us that he enters Gilling in c. 660 at about age 18 and that his brother Cynefrith had already turned over the abbacy to their kinsman Tunberht, who was the abbot who received Coelfrith. (The alliteration between the names Trumhere and Tunberht is hard to miss…) Now, we know that the first Abbot of Gilling, Trumhere became Bishop of Mercia in c. 658 and probably handed off the abbacy to a kinsman Cynefrith about that time, so Cynefrith’s term as abbot of Gilling was probably very short. The monastery had only been founded in c. 651.

According to the Life, “Cynefrith himself was lured away to Ireland, partly by his strong attraction to the study of Scripture and partly by his desire to serve the Lord in a freer manner with more opportunity for prayer and affectionate devotion.” It goes on to relate that not long after Coelfrith joined Gilling, his brother and others in Ireland died, probably in the plague that reached Ireland about 664. He may have been with the community of Lindisfarne-trained monks led by Egbert of Iona (including Chad and Aethelhun of Lindsey). When Coelfrith decides to set aside his duties as abbot of Wearmouth-Jarrow in 716, the Life asserts that he is imitating his brothers desire for a contemplative life and voluntary exile for the Lord.

This all suggests that the story of Coelfrith’s family, their nobility and his kinship with other notable figures was common knowledge in his monastery. Coelfrith and Cynefrith’s Irish trained origins may have also helped Wearmouth-Jarrow straddle the Irish vs Roman tensions in Northumbria. For example, if Chad had indeed been in Ireland with Cynefrith, this could have helped relations between Wearmouth-Jarrow and Lastingham.

I think Cynefrith is also the answer to a very important question at Wearmouth-Jarrow in their sorrow of 716-720, that is: why did he leave us? It is obvious from the Life of Coelfrith and Bede’s writings that his monks were extremely attached to him, and yet he left them. Belief that he was imitating his brother may have given them some comfort. Not having Ceolfrith’s grave as a continuing source of comfort must have cut them deeply. There seems little doubt that if they had his body they would have tried to establish his cause for sainthood. What does it tell us that Bede left a homily for the feast of Benedict Biscop, but not for Coelfrith?

Life of Coelfrith in Anglo-Saxon Saints and Heroes, Clinton Albertson, ed. Fordham University Press, c. 1967.

Osfrith was the eldest son of Eadwine of Deira and Cwenburh, daughter of Ceorl of Mercia is today’s Person of the Week. He was born while Eadwine was in exile running from Æthelfrith of Bernicia. He returned to Deira with his father in c. 616.

Osfrith was baptized with King Eadwine on 12 April 627 in the hastily built chapel of York by Bishop Paulinus with the rest of his extended family. Before 633, Osfrith was married and had a son named Yffe. His son Yffe was born sometime between 627 and 633. He was baptized by Bishop Paulinus as an infant (but not with the rest of the family in 627).

Osfrith took part in Eadwine’s battles against King Cadwallon of Gwynedd. He was slain before his father in the battle of Hatfield Chase on 12 October 633.

After his death, Osfrith’s family fled to Kent with his stepmother Queen Æthelburgh, his minor siblings, and Bishop Paulinus. His stepmother Æthelburgh arranged for his son Yffe to be sent with her son young Uscfrea into fosterage with her cousin King Dagobert I of Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy out of fear of her brother King Eadbald of Kent and King Oswald of Bernicia/Northumbria. Both boys died in childhood and were buried in a Frankish church.

Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book II Chapters 14 & 20.

Œthelwald son of Oswald has always been a figure of controversy. Everything we know of him comes from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History. Beginning with Bede himself memories of Œthelwald have been viewed in slanted hindsight. Bede has his known biases for a united Northumbria (Bernicia + Deira), for which Œthelwald is a spoiler, and against Mercia in general and Penda in particular. We in turn too often share Bede’s biases and look back with a hindsight colored by not only Northumbria’s golden age but norms of later medieval expectations. We can not forget that a united Northumbria was not a real reality until the reign of Ecgfrith (670-685) and really only cemented in the long, peaceful reign of Aldfrith (685-704). I’ve discussed the process of Northumbrian ethnogensis before (here and especially here).

After a lot of thought, I don’t think that Œthelwald was anyone’s puppet. I don’t think he was ‘placed’ there by anyone. I do think that he was a compromise candidate whom both the Deiran nobles and Oswiu of Bernicia could live with. This suggests that the Deiran nobles had likewise accepted Oswald as King of Deira, as the nephew of Edwin. Oswald and his son Œthelwald were the grandson and great grandson of King Aelle, Edwin’s father. Oswiu on the other hand, had no Deiran blood that we know of; I have argued against his being the son of Acha sister of Edwin elsewhere. Oswiu shows every indication of taking direct control when he could, as he did in Mercia after Penda’s death and probably in Lothian early in his reign. The fact that he faced ‘rebellion’ by three successive kings of Deira– Oswine, Œthelwald and his own son Alchfrith– really suggests to me that the nobles/ealdormen of Deira really never accepted Oswiu has their king. After his son’s rebellion, Oswiu appears to have taken direct control over Deira for about only the last five years of his 28 year reign.

There have been some speculations about Œthelwald’s age and mother. If he was the son of Cynegils’ daughter then he would have only been about 17 when he became king in about 651, but I have argued elsewhere that it is quite possible that he was born during Oswald’s exile. Oswald was about 30 years old when he came home to Bernicia and could have easily had several children, as his brother Eanfrith already did and as Edwin had during his exile.

The one thing we do know for sure about Œthelwald is that he had close ties to the church of Lindisfarne, as we would expect for Oswald’s son. We know that the four brothers, Cedd, Cælin, Cynebill, and Chad were all closely tied to the church in Deira. Cælin was the personal priest of Œthelwald and his family and he mediated the donation of Lastingham to his brother Bishop Cedd. It is interesting that Bede claims that Œthelwald mainly came to know Cedd through his brother Caelin, since as a pupil of Aidan’s you would think that Œthelwald would have known him. Yet, Cedd had long been a missionary away from Bernicia and Deira, so it is possible that Oethelwald and Cedd had not known each other well before 651. I do think that is likely that the church of Lindisfarne helped Œthelwald come to the throne of Deira. They certainly could have helped the Deiran nobles contact Œthelwald if he was not in Deira before Oswine’s death (and I think it is unlikely he would have been an ally of Oswine, unless he had a major falling out with his uncle before 651). After Oswine’s murder and Aidan’s death heartbroken over Oswine, Lindisfarne would not have been very high on Oswiu or his sons, and supporting a son of Oswald would have seemed like the best option.

Anyway, Œthelwald is remembered diplomatically as the patron of Lastingham where he intended for himself and his family to be buried. The brothers of Lastingham must have stressed this to Bede for it to be included in the History. Bede doesn’t tell us where Œthelwald was buried but it is possible that some of his family was indeed buried at Lastingham. The stress on Œthelwald’s family does suggest that he was old enough to have a family. Alternatively it could just be Lastingham’s way of stressing that they would have been a major monastery for this king, as York was for Edwin, Whitby was Oswiu & Edwin, Wearmouth-Jarrow was for Ecgfrith, and probably Lindisfarne for Oswald (and Aldfrith?).

The last we hear of Œthelwald is during Penda’s last campaign into Bernicia in the fall of 655. Bede tells us that Œthelwald had acted a guide for Penda’s army into Bernicia and later refused to take part in the battle of Winwæd on November 15th, 655. For this Bede branded him a traitor, a claim surely influenced by Bede’s desire to project a united Northumbria. Accompanying Penda’s army into Bernicia would likely have been enough for a Bernician patriot to consider him a traitor, though it is perhaps hard to see how he could have refused Penda. It would have been suicide for a single king to have stood in the way of Penda’s army. We already knew from Oswine’s encounter with Oswiu that Deira did not have an imposing enough army to stand up to Oswiu’s forces, so it is unlikely that they could have faired better against Penda’s massive Southumbrian-British coalition. His decision to pull his army out of the fray at Winwæd may speak as much to the the shock of Oswiu’s attack as anything else. Was it a moment of indecision or had Penda’s alliance begun to fray enough that he would not side with him? Penda’s army must have still been very formidable for Œthelwald not to try to switch sides and fight for his uncle. It also tells us that Œthelwald may have been unwilling to fight against his own kinsmen (as Æthelhere of East Anglia probably did against his brother Anna). Bede tells us that the river in flood was a major factor in Oswiu’s victory as Mercians and their allies drowned trying to escape and we might also guess that an early death of Penda may have contributed to the loss. If the dominant king of a grand army was killed early, then military discipline probably would have fell as each unit would only then be concerned about its escape.

Œthelwald’s fate is left unknown. We don’t hear that he was executed, as Lastingham might have remembered. I doubt they would have been ashamed of another Deiran king who died for not fighting like Oswine. Indeed, it would have further vilified Oswiu in line with Deiran sympathies. It seems likely to me that Iona would have recorded Œthelwald’s death if it had occurred at Winwæd, as they recorded Penda’s death (Annals of Ulster). I tend to think that not hearing anything about his fate may mean that he was exiled. The mysterious fates of King Oswiu’s nephew Oethelwald and his son Alchfrith, who also disappears after a rebellion, are certainly two on my list of ‘things I would like to know’!

Did you know that St Patrick isn’t the only early saint who is said to have driven snakes out of the land? Patrick’s driving the snakes from Ireland is well known, but how many know about St Hild’s driving the snakes from the estate of Whitby? Ok, not quite as impressive as driving them from all of Ireland, but Hey! Hild left evidence! Did you ever notice that icons, paints, heraldry of her schools and churches, and sculptures like this one have all these coiled structures around her? They are shown in this picture under her feet and the coil of her staff. These coils represent the snakes that Hild turned to stone and left embedded in the rocks of the Whitby headland. In reality, Hild’s snakes are fossil Ammonties found in the cliffs of Whitby. These fossils are generally known as snakestones in England. According to legend, as if just to make sure they were really dead, St Cuthbert later came along with a beheading curse and so the snakestones have coils but no heads!

~Sceopellen~ recently found a news report of a new ‘royal’ Anglo-Saxon cemetery found in Teesside (Tees Valley) of Old Northumbria. Initial dates claim it to be mid-seventh century. Here is the full newspaper article: “A real gem of a find”and from the BBC at “Dramatic ancient cemetery found”. The site is said to be near Redcar, which happens to be on the first headland south of Hartlepool.

The first article refers to a ‘bed grave’ of a female near the center of the cemetery. This could be of similar type to the Essex prince found a couple years ago. So far I have heard of nothing to suggest that they were Christian and southern style doesn’t mean much considering how little has been found in the north. If we must associate it with Edwin of Deira, then I would think that it would be more likely his first wife Cwenburgh. There is no evidence that she was Christian and would have been with Edwin in exile in the south to pick up southern style jewels. Hmm…do we make anything of the location of the cemetery near the sea and the incorporation of a sea shell in the pendant?

Of more interest I think is why is there a royal cemetery here far from the usual royal centers of Deira and Bernicia? Traditionally the River Tees has been seen as the border between Deira and Bernicia. So a prominent royal burial and perhaps royal center on the first headland south of the River Tees could have been a way to stake a claim to the border. To say to the northerners, ‘Now you cross into Deira’! Hartlepool is also located in the same area perhaps for the same reason. So the question now is did Deira control the entire mouth of the River Tees, or is Hartlepool in Bernician territory. This all tells me that it comes from a period when that border was important and when Bernicia was a threat to Deira. In other words, the early to middle seventh century… but maybe that is how they are getting to their date too?

The location and use of the border has implications for St. Hild’s career since she starts out as abbess of Hartlepool and apparently keeps control of it when she moves on to Whitby. Although as the first female monastery/convent under the Bishop of Lindisfarne who had authority in both kingdoms, perhaps being on the border and serving both kingdoms was part of the point in using Hartlepool.

We often talk about how easy and bloodless the conversion of England was, and yet it seems to me that we ignore some pretty obvious royal martyrs. It is true that we don’t know of any missionaries who were martyred while at work, such as the Hewalds among the Old Saxons or Boniface among the Frisians. Yet, if we define a martyr as someone who dies because of his or her Christian actions then we have several royal martyrs. And if we have so many royal martyrs, how many regular folks must have been murdered/martyred for their beliefs?

Royal martyrs to about the year 869 when St Edmund of East Anglia (whose feast day is today) dies: (some of the names below are links)

• King Eorpwald of East Anglia (c. 633): killed by a heathen Ricberht; he kept Christianity out of the kingdom for three years until the kingdom was taken back by Eorpwald’s brother Sigibert.
• King Sigiberht of East Anglia (c. 640s): Died in battle because he had taken the vows of a monk and refused to carry a weapon.
• King Oswald of Bernicia and Deira (5 Aug 642): died defending his kingdom and therefore the kingdom of Christ he built therein. Considered a martyr early.
• King Oswine of Deira (15 Aug 651): executed for refusing to fight a battle he was doomed to loose. Questionable martyr, early records just call it an unjust murder. Veneration of Oswine does not seem to begin until his body was rediscovered by Earl Tostig in c. 1065.
• King Anna of East Anglia (c. 653): died in battle against pagan Penda of Mercia, the same king who slew Oswald of Bernicia and Deira. Bede talks about King Anna being very pious and the Addendum on Foillian calls him the “Divine Right Hand of God”. The Addendum specifically talks about him defending monasteries from Penda’s destruction, making him as much of a martyr as Oswald. There is some evidence of local veneration but it may have been wiped out during the Danish invasions.
• King Peada of South Mercia and Middle Anglia (656): Murdered with the help of his wife, Queen Alhflæd, daughter of King Oswiu of Northumbria “during the very time of the Easter festival.” Questionable martyr but we know very little about his death or Mercia during this period.
• King Sigiberht the Saint of East Saxons (c. 660s): Sigibert was murdered by two of his kinsmen. “When they were asked why they did it, they could make no reply except that they were angry with the king and hated him because he was too ready to pardon his enemies, calmly forgiving them for the wrongs they had done him, as soon as they asked his pardon. Such was the crime for which he met his death, that he had devoutly observed the gospel precepts.” (Bede, HE III:22)
• Princes Æthelred and Æthelberht of Kent (669): Murdered and considered saints immediately. Minister-in-Thanet was given to their sister Eormenburgh, wife of King Merewealh of the Magonsæte, as a blood price for their deaths. St. Mildrith was Eormenburgh and Merewealh’s daughter.
• Queen Osthryth of Mercia (697): Murdered by her own thanes; considered a saint at Bardney. Too little is known about her veneration to know if her murder was part of the reason for her veneration or if she was a founder saint due to her support of Bardney.
• King Ælfwald I of Northumbria (788): Murdered, considered a saint almost immediately.
  
• King Æthelberht II of East Anglia (794): Murdered by Offa of Mercia, considered a saint almost immediately. He is the patron saint of Hereford Cathedral.
• King Kenelm of Merica (811): Murdered at about age 25 and considered a martyr almost immediately. His legend has warped to such a degree there is no certainty on the facts of his death.
• King Edmund of East Anglia (869): Tortured and murdered by the Danes after being defeated in battle; considered a martyr and saint almost immediately. Unlike a recent History Channel episode (Barbarians II), there is no evidence that I know of that Edmund got the ‘bloody eagle’. This is another elaboration of the myth. The most common story of his martyrdom has him shot full of arrows like St. Sebastian.

Of course not all kings who met violent deaths are listed here. Edwin of Deira is a notable absence because he died at the hands of a Christian, Cadwallon of Gywnedd, in battle. Whatever the ultimate cause of Cadwallon’s ‘rebellion’ it is unlikely to have been due to Edwin’s Christianity or his bishop’s authority. There is no real evidence that Paulinus of York tried to take control of British churches. For the first couple Christian centuries many, if not most, kings died violent deaths, so this is not a matter of just being a violent death.

So what made some of these kings major saints, and others were nearly forgotten? The early spreading of veneration is of course a major boon to a burgeoning cult. If the veneration had spread west, as it did for Oswald, Æthelberht of East Anglia, and Edmund of East Anglia, then it is more likely to have survived Danelaw. But even before Danelaw there are some obvious differences. King Sigibert the Saint of Essex is a good example. Bede goes out of his way to show that Sigiberht is a saint, in obvious contradiction to the information he got that tried to claim that Sigiberht’s death was because he defied Bishop Cedd’s orders not to visit kinsmen who had made a marriage that the bishop did not approve. Bishop Cedd’s attitudes to royal saints are a vital piece of the puzzle and Lindisfarne in particular did not venerate royalty. Oswald became a saint in spite of Lindisfarne’s attitude. Recognition of martyrdom is very much in the eyes of the beholder and we are certainly influenced by our attitudes toward martyrdom when we evaluate the past.

For more information:

Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People. McClure and Collins, eds. Oxford UP, 1994.