The History of England, Volume I The Britons and Romans The kingdom of Northumberland
by David Hume
Adelfrid, King of Bernicia, having married Acca, the daughter of
Aella, King of Deiri, and expelled her infant brother, Edwin, had
united all the countries north of Humber into one monarchy, and
acquired a great ascendant in the Heptarchy. He also spread the
terror of the Saxon arms to the neighbouring people, and by his
victories over the Scots and Picts, as well as Welsh, extended on all
sides the bounds of his dominions. Having laid siege to Chester, the
Britons marched out with all their forces to engage him, and they were
attended by a body of 1250 monks from the monastery of Bangor, who
stood at a small distance from the field of battle, in order to
encourage the combatants by their presence and exhortations.
Adelfrid, inquiring the purpose of this unusual appearance, was told,
that these priests had come to pray against him: THEN ARE THEY AS MUCH
OUR ENEMIES, said he, AS THOSE WHO INTEND TO FIGHT AGAINST US [l]: and
he immediately sent a detachment, who fell upon them, and did such
execution, that only fifty escaped with their lives [m]. The Britons,
astonished at this event, received a total defeat; Chester was obliged
to surrender; and Adelfrid, pursuing his victory, made himself master
of Bangor, and entirely demolished the monastery, a building so
extensive that there was a mile's distance from one gate of it to
another, and it contained two thousand one hundred monks, who are said
to have been there maintained by their own labour [n].
[ [l] Brompton, p. 779. [m] Trivet, apud Spell. Conc. p. 111. [n]
Bede, lib. 2. cap. 2. W. Malmes. lib. 1. cap. 3.]
Notwithstanding Adelfrid's success in war, he lived in inquietude on
account of young Edwin, whom he had unjustly dispossessed of the crown
of Deiri. This prince, now grown to man's estate, wandered from place
to place in continual danger from the attempts of Adelfrid, and
received at last protection in the court of Redwald, King of the East
Angles, where his engaging and gallant deportment procured him general
esteem and affection. Redwald, however, was strongly solicited by the
King of Northumberland to kill or deliver up his guest; rich presents
were promised him if he would comply, and war denounced against him in
case of his refusal. After rejecting several messages of this kind,
his generosity began to yield to the motives of interest; and he
retained the last ambassador till he should come to a resolution in a
case of such importance. Edwin, informed of his friend's perplexity,
was yet determined at all hazards to remain in East Anglia, and
thought that if the protection of that court failed him, it were
better to die, than prolong a life so much exposed to the persecutions
of his powerful rival. This confidence in Redwald's honour and
friendship, with his other accomplishments, engaged the queen on his
side, and she effectually represented to her husband the infamy of
delivering up to certain destruction their royal guest, who had fled
to them for protection against his cruel and jealous enemies [o].
Redwald, embracing more generous resolutions, thought it safest to
prevent Adelfrid, before that prince was aware of his intention, and
to attack him while he was yet unprepared for defence. He marched
suddenly with an army into the kingdom of Northumberland, and fought a
battle with Adelfrid, in which that monarch was defeated and killed,
after avenging himself by the death of Regner, son of Redwald [p]: his
own sons, Eanfrid, Oswald, and Oswy, yet infants, were carried into
Scotland, and Edwin obtained possession of the crown of
Northumberland.
Edwin was the greatest prince of the Heptarchy in that age, and
distinguished himself, both by his influence over the other kingdoms
[q], and by the strict execution of justice in his own dominions. He
reclaimed his subjects from the licentious life to which they had been
accustomed; and it was a common saying, that during his reign a woman
or child might openly carry every where a purse of gold, without any
danger of violence or robbery. There is a remarkable instance,
transmitted to us, of the affection borne him by his servants.
Cuichelme, King of Wessex, was his enemy, but finding himself unable
to maintain open war against so gallant and powerful a prince, he
determined to use treachery against him, and he employed one Eumer for
that criminal purpose. The assassin, having obtained admittance by
pretending to deliver a message from Cuichelme, drew his dagger and
rushed upon the king. Lilla, an officer of his army, seeing his
master's danger, and having no other means of defence, interposed with
his own body between the king and Eumer's dagger, which was pushed
with such violence, that after piercing Lilla, it even wounded Edwin;
but before the assassin could renew his blow, he was despatched by
the king's attendants.
[ [q] Chron. Sax. p. 27.]
The East Angles conspired against Redwald, their king, and having put
him to death, they offered their crown to Edwin, of whose valour and
capacity they had had experience, while he resided among them. But
Edwin, from a sense of gratitude towards his benefactor, obliged them
to submit to Earpwold, the son of Redwald; and that prince preserved
his authority, though on a precarious footing, under the protection of
the Northumbrian monarch [r].
[ [r] Gul. Malmes. lib. 1. cap. 3.]
Edwin, after his accession to the crown, married Ethelburga, the
daughter of Ethelbert, King of Kent. This princess, emulating the
glory of her mother, Bertha, who had been the instrument for
converting her husband and his people to Christianity, carried
Paullinus, a learned bishop, along with her [s]; and besides
stipulating a toleration for the exercise of her own religion, which
was readily granted her, she used every reason to persuade the king to
embrace it. Edwin, like a prudent prince, hesitated on the proposal,
but promised to examine the foundations of that doctrine, and declared
that, if he found them satisfactory, he was willing to be converted
[t]. Accordingly, he held several conferences with Paullinus;
canvassed the arguments propounded with the wisest of his counsellors;
retired frequently from company, in order to revolve alone that
important question; and after a serious and long inquiry, declared in
favour of the Christian religion [u]: the people soon after imitated
his example. Besides the authority and influence of the king, they
were moved by another striking example. Coifi, the high priest, being
converted after a public conference with Paullinus, led the way in
destroying the images which he had so long worshipped, and was forward
in making this atonement for his past idolatry [w].
This able prince perished with his son, Osfrid, in a great battle
which he fought against Penda, King of Mercia, and Caedwalla, King of
the Britons [x]. That event, which happened in the forty-eighth year
of Edwin's age, and seventeenth of his reign [y], divided the monarchy
of Northumberland, which that prince had united in his person.
Eanfrid, the son of Adelfrid, returned with his brothers, Oswald and
Oswy, from Scotland, and took possession of Bernicia, his paternal
kingdom: Osric, Edwin's cousin-german, established himself at Deiri,
the inheritance of his family, but to which the sons of Edwin had a
preferable title. Eanfrid, the elder surviving son, fled to Penda, by
whom he was treacherously slain. The younger son, Vuscfraea, with
Yffi, the grandson of Edwin, by Osfrid, sought protection in Kent, and
not finding themselves in safety there, retired into France to King
Dagobert, where they died [z].
[ [x] Matth. West. p. 114 Chron. Sax. p. 29. [y] W. Malmes. lib 1.
cap. 3. [z] Bede, lib. 2. cap. 20.]
Osric, King of Deiri, and Eanfrid, of Bernicia, returned to paganism,
and the whole people seem to have returned with them; since Paullinus,
who was the first Archbishop of York, and who had converted them,
thought proper to retire with Ethelburga, the queen dowager, into
Kent. Both these Northumbrian kings perished soon after, the first in
battle against Caedwalla, the Briton; the second by the treachery of
that prince. Oswald, the brother of Eanfrid, of the race of Bernicia,
united again the kingdom of Northumberland in the year 634, and
restored the Christian religion in his dominions. He gained a bloody
and well-disputed battle against Caedwalla; the last vigorous effort
which the Britons made against the Saxons. Oswald is much celebrated
for his sanctity and charity by the monkish historians, and they
pretend that his relics wrought miracles, particularly the curing of a
sick horse, which had approached the place of his interment [a].
[ [a] Ibid. lib. 3. cap. 9.]
He died in battle against Penda, King of Mercia, and was succeeded by
his brother Oswy, who established himself in the government of the
whole Northumbrian kingdom, by putting to death Oswin, the son of
Osric, the last king of the race of Deiri. His son Egfrid succeeded
him; who perishing in battle against the Picts, without leaving any
children, because Adelthrid, his wife, refused to violate her vow of
chastity, Alfred, his natural brother, acquired possession of the
kingdom, which he governed for nineteen years, and he left it to
Osred, his son, a boy of eight years of age. This prince, after a
reign of eleven years, was murdered by Kenred, his kinsman, who, after
enjoying the crown only a year, perished by a like fate. Osric, and
after him Celwulph, the son of Kenred, next mounted the throne, which
the latter relinquished in the year 735, in favour of Eadbert, his
cousin-german, who, imitating his predecessor, abdicated the crown,
and retired into a monastery. Oswolf, son of Eadbert, was slain in a
sedition, a year after his accession to the crown; and Mollo, who was
not of the royal family, seized the crown. He perished by the
treachery of Ailred, a prince of the blood; and Ailred, having
succeeded in his design upon the throne, was soon after expelled by
his subjects. Ethelred, his successor, the son of Mollo, underwent a
like fate. Celwold, the next king, the brother of Ailred, was deposed
and slain by the people, and his place was filled by Osred, his
nephew, who, after a short reign of a year, made way for Ethelbert,
another son of Mollo, whose death was equally tragical with that of
almost all his predecessors. After Ethelbert's death an universal
anarchy prevailed in Northumberland, and the people having, by so many
fatal revolutions, lost all attachment to their government and
princes, were well prepared for subjection to a foreign yoke, which
Egbert, King of Wessex, finally imposed upon them.
