A Chronological History of Britain
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The episode covers 664 to 670 and the major characters are…
King Oswiu, ruler of Northumbria, son of AEthelfrith, and all around terrifying fellow
King Alhfrith of Deira, Oswiu’s son and one of his probable rivals
Wilfrid, abbott of Ripon, guy who argued for Rome at Whitby, and all around ambitious guy.
and King Wulfhere, ruler of Mercia and son of Penda.
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The major players for today will be Hild (who was the daughter of King Edwin’s nephew, Hereric), King Oswiu of Bernicia, Bishop Colman of Lindisfarne, Wilfred the abbot of Ripon, and Bishop Cedd. And they will be, ostensibly, arguing over Easter.
See? Once again, we’ve got Easter causing trouble in Britain. Cadburys chocolate can’t come soon enough. This is getting out of hand.
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Today we’re going to tackle the history from 660 right up to the lead up to the Synod of Whitby… and we’re going to have a lot of moving parts, but the theme that is developing here is one of the last gasps of Paganism in Britain and the rise of two rival imperiums: one based in Northumbria and another based in Mercia. The major players for today’s episode are King Oswiu of Northumbria as well as his chief rival, King Wulfhere of Mercia. However, into the mix will come a number of sub-kings, members of the Clergy, and some intriguing lesser nobles. However, much of the political story of this period in history really does revolve around these two characters. Alright, lets get to it.
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So in late 655, following his victory at the Winwaed, King Oswiu occupied and ruled Northern Mercia and thus now ruled over an additional 7,000 households, according to Bede. Consider how much power that was conferring upon the King. We’re talking about 7,000 hides of land. Think of how many Ceorls and Thegns now answered to him, and how much food rent he would now command, in addition to all the holdings of Bernicia and the tributes he was collecting from sub-kings.
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Today we’re going to wrap up this talk that we’ve been having on the development of social classes in Anglo Saxon britain. Hopefully, once we’re done, much like our talks on other matters like food, clothing, and warfare… you’ll have a fuller understanding of who these people were, what their lives were like, and where we come from.
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Alright, lets get to history. Specifically, lets talk about towns. And to start with, lets establish a couple terms I’m going to be using a lot. When I talk about towns and cities, what I’m largely talking about are larger communities that have a permanent population of traders and craftsmen and whose economy is focused largely upon trade. Conversely, villages are smaller communities that are built largely around agriculture. Villages might have more land than a town, but their population density will be much less (by nature of the work they do and the amount of arable land they require) and their economies tend to be more localized and based upon subsistence when compared with towns and cities.
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I’ll be talking in broad strokes today, but I want to give you a forest view of what we’ve been talking about over the last couple seasons.
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The Battle of the Winwaed is over and Penda is dead along with 30 noble warleaders who had joined him in battle… with them was King Anna’s brother, King AEthelhere of East Anglia… and as for King AEthelwald of Deira… well, I’m not sure what happened to him. But he isn’t in the histories any longer, so perhaps siding with Penda against his Uncle Oswiu didn’t end well for him.
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So when we last left off, things were going crazy in the North and in the Midlands. But the very last thing I mentioned was that Honorius, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had died. Well, his seat remained vacant for about six months until March 26, 654 (or maybe 655) when a new Archbishop was ordained. Archbishop Deusdedit… and since Deus means god in Latin, I can only assume that Deusdedit translates to God Did It.
Ok all joking aside, Deusdedit ALMOST means god did it… his name actually translates to God Has Given.
But what I’m getting at is that his name was… you know… humble.
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So where were we?
Oswiu had arranged for the murder of his cousin, which is awkward in itself… but the slain King Oswine was also related to Eanflaed, Oswiu’s wife. So… even if Oswiu wasn’t fussed about kinslaying, chances are that dinner still had suddenly become a lot more awkward following that rather underhanded victory. So perhaps to appease Eanflaed, or maybe to keep the Deirans happy… Oswiu built a monastery at the location of Oswine’s murder at Gilling.