[From the archives with a new title: a little bit of folklore for the first Friday in June.] Cadwaladr the blessed is one of my favorite Old British folklore figures so I can't leave 2007 behind without one long post on him. A paraphrase translation follows of some matrilinear notes on Cadwaladr in the Bonedd... Continue Reading →
Oswine the Anti-Hero
(A post from the archive on the anniversary of King Oswine's death.) King Oswine of Deira (Yorkshire) 20 August 651 Today is the anniversary of the execution of King Oswine of Deira, considered by some to be a saint. All we know of Oswine is included in Bede's History (Book III:14). Bede writes a curious... Continue Reading →
FB: The Mystery of Urbs Iudeu
James Fraser has written an interesting article on a very important seventh century English fortress called Urbs Iudeu. Fraser notes that the Urbs Iudeu is unlikely to be one of the better known named places on the Firth of Forth, this fortress gave its name to the firth itself, or took its name from the... Continue Reading →
FB: Din-Guaïroï /Bebbanburg/Bamburgh
You knew I couldn't wait too long to do Bamburgh. 🙂 Thanks to Bernard Cromwell it may be the best known Anglo-Saxon fortress site in England today anyway. Din-Guaïroï Din Guaïroï is the name given to Bamburgh in the Historia Brittonum, which then later tells us that it was renamed Bebbanburgh for Æthelfrith's queen. The... Continue Reading →
PW: Queen Cynewise of Mercia
Queen Cynewise is one of the few early Mercian queens that we have any information on at all. The only direct mention of her name is after Penda's fall when Bede notes that Ecgfrith was not at the battle of Winwaed because he was a hostage in the care of Queen Cynewise (HE III.24). He... Continue Reading →
PW: King Œthelwald of Deira
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... Continue Reading →
Heavenfield 