Oswiu of Northumbria - Background and Early Life

Background and Early Life

Oswiu was fifty-eight years old at his death according to Bede, placing his birth c. 612. At this time, his father was at the height of his power. Oswiu's mother may have been Æthelfrith's only recorded wife, Acha of Deira, Edwin's sister, but the apparent unwillingness of the Deirans to have him as their king may argue against this. Oswald, who is known to have been Acha's son, was accepted as king in Deira, while Oswiu appears never to have ruled the kingdom directly.

Æthelfrith ruled over both Bernicia and Deira. His authority ran from the lands of the Picts and the Dál Riata in modern Scotland to Wales and the Midlands in the south. Æthelfrith's power rested on his military success, and this success came to an end in 616, when the exiled Edwin of Deira, with the support of King Rædwald, defeated and killed him in battle by the River Idle.

On Æthelfrith's death, his sons and their supporters fled Northumbria, finding sanctuary among the Gaels and Picts of northern Britain and Ireland. Here they would remain until Edwin's death at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633.

In exile, the sons of Æthelfrith were converted to Christianity, or raised as Christians. In Oswiu's case, he became an exile at the age of four, and cannot have returned to Northumbria until aged twenty-one, spending childhood and adolescence in a Gaelic milieu. Bede writes that Oswiu was fluent in the Old Irish language and Irish in his faith.

As well as learning the Scottish language and being thoroughly Christianised, Oswiu may have fought for his Gaelic hosts, perhaps receiving his arms—a significant event—from a King of Dál Riata, such as Eochaid Buide, son of that Áedán mac Gabráin whom his father had defeated at the Battle of Degsastan. The Irish annals name one Oisiric mac Albruit, rigdomna Saxan—ætheling Osric—among the dead, alongside Connad Cerr, King of Dál Riata, and others of the Cenél nGabráin, at the Battle of Fid Eóin. Whether Oswiu's marriage with the Uí Néill princess Fín of the Cenél nEógain, and the birth of Aldfrith, should be placed in the context of his exile, or took place at a later date is uncertain.

Equally uncertain is the date of Oswiu's return to Northumbria. He may have returned with Eanfrith on Edwin's death in 633, as Bede appears to write. Eanfrith apostatised and was killed by Cadwallon, who was defeated and killed in turn by another brother, Oswald, who became king of Bernicia and probably succeeded to his father's old dominance of northern and central Britain.