St Oswald and the Sussex Plague

Modified from the vault for St Oswald's Day: Happy St. Oswald's Day! It has been a while since I wrote but I can't miss the feast of St. Oswald. What little time I have had for medieval topics this summer has been focused on the plague, so this brings to mind the unique place King...

The Bone Thief: Stealing St Oswald

[I didn't intend to be gone this long. I hope someone is still out there!] Its been years since I've taken much time to read novels. I'm embarrassed to say how few I've read in the last couple years, but the Bone Thief finally was a temptation too great. How could I resist a novel...

Heavenfield, Hefenfeld, and Caelestis Campus

Not the cross at Heavenfield! A little while ago Tim Clarkson of Senchus brought an Andrew Breeze paper  about the history and derivation of the name Hefenfeld*, the Old English version of Heavenfield, to my attention. Its taken me a while to get to it but here is what I think. It is clear to...

Plague Tales: Willibrord’s relic

I thought I would celebrate the feast day with a plague story related to King Oswald of Northumbria who died on this day, August 5, 642. For those of you not familiar with King Oswald his reign is flanked by two remarkable events. His reign began effectively on the eve of battle in a battle...

Benedict Biscop

I've gained a new appreciation for Benedict Biscop this week after rereading the History of the Abbots and the Life of Ceolfrith, along with Ian Woods' contribution to the new Cambridge Companion to Bede. What follows is a little musing on Biscop and questions his life open up. I used to think of Biscop as...

St Oswald’s English Raven

I mentioned in a recent post that the diffusion of St Oswald's legend on the continent owed something to the development of an Oswaldian bridal quest that featured a raven. When you look at late medieval and renaissance artwork, church murals, and some stained glass windows featuring Oswald, you often see a raven (sometimes holding...