Category: Podcast Episodes

Every episode of The British History Podcast. This category includes cultural history, storyline episodes, English history, Welsh history, Scottish history, and even some Irish history and Roman history thrown in.

125 – King Oswiu: A Gathering Storm

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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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124 – Social Mobility: Getting a Raise in Anglo Saxon Kingdoms

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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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123 – Retail Therapy: The Rise of Anglo Saxon Towns

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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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121 – King Oswiu: The Aftermath of the Winwaed

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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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120 – Penda and Oswiu: The Winwaed

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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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119 – King Penda: No Posers

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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.

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118 – Oswiu and Oswine: There’s No Anglo Saxon Word for Take Backsies

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When we left off Cenwalh of Wessex had left his wife, irritated Penda (since his wife was Penda’s sister), and gained a fancy new wife but lost his kingdom when Penda arrived to have a little chat with him. So he did what many nobles of the time seemed to do… he fled into exile. In the case of Cenwalh (and presumably his wife) he legged it to East Anglia and the court of King Anna.

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