Oswald, King and Saint: His Britain and Beyond
Issue 9 (Oct 2006) | Issue Editor: Michelle Ziegler
Letter from the Editor
Articles
Heroes, Saints, and Martyrs: Holy Kingship from Bede to Aelfric
Kent G. Hare, Northwestern State University of Louisiana
Abstract: Warfare played a crucial but controversial role in the sanctity accorded various early Anglo-Saxon kings, especially Oswald of Northumbria. Different literary treatments over time from Bede to the early eleventh century reveal a changing emphasis regarding that role and possible insight into a more popular view than the ecclesiastically-oriented Bede wished to include.
Locating Maserfelth
Tim Clarkson, Independent Scholar, Manchester UK
Abstract: Tradition identifies the site of Oswald's last and fatal battle as the area around Oswestry in Shropshire. In this paper the traditional identification is examined and challenged. An alternative location for the battlefield is tentatively proposed.
The King's Fragmented Body: A Girardian Reading of the Origins of St Oswald's Cult
John Edward Damon, University of Nebraska
Abstract: The cult of King Oswald of Northumbria links the roles of king and sacrificial victim. By joining the terrestrial power of the state and the celestial power of religion, his cult attempted to halt an otherwise unending cycle of mimetic rivalry and reciprocal violence.
The Exogamous Marriages of Oswiu of Northumbria
Martin Grimmer, University of Tasmania
Abstract: This paper explores the exogamous Celtic marriages of the Northumbrian ætheling and later king, Oswiu (642-670). The background of Oswiu's exile, early in life, to Dalriada is investigated. Implications for Anglo-Celtic relations in the north of Britain in the first half of the seventh century are drawn.
Through His Enemy's Eyes: St. Oswald in the Historia Brittonum
Michelle Ziegler, Independent Scholar
Abstract: This essay explores the content, context, and attitude toward St. Oswald, King of Northumbria in the ninth century Historia Brittonum from Merfyn's Gwynedd, with particular attention to its Anglophilic viewpoint.
St. Oswald's Martyrdom: Drogo of Saint-Winnoc's Sermo secundus de s. Oswaldo
David Defries, Ohio State University
Abstract: The Sermo secundus de s. Oswaldo made the Flemish hagiographer Drogo of Saint-Winnoc (c. 1030-84) the first author who explicitly presented Oswald's death as a martyrdom. Although previous authors had called the king a martyr, none had explained how his death qualified as a martyrdom. Drogo also seems to have been the first author to fuse the traits of a rex iustus (just king) with the virtues of a martyr by synthesizing English and continental traditions of king-saints. In the process, the sermon reveals how a saint's cult could be simultaneously "international" and intensely local.
Columns
The Forum
The State of Irish Hagiography
Dorothy Bray, McGill University
Jessica Hope Jordan, University of California, Davis
Electronic Medievalia
Global Warming for Humanities Computing? Strategic Changes in the Economic Forecast
Patricia Kosco Cossard, University of Maryland
Continental Business
Boniface Biographies
Michel Aaij, Auburn University Montgmory
Reviews
Rolf H. Bremmer, Jr., Hir is eskriven: Lezen en schrijven in de Friese landen rond 1300 [Here is Written: Reading and Writing in the Frisian Lands around 1300]. Reviewed by Michel Aaij.
Martin Chase, ed., Einarr Skúlason's Geisli: A Critical Edition. Reviewed by Shannon Lewis-Simpson.
Éamonn Ó Carragáin, Ritual and the Rood: Liturgical Images and the Old English Poems of the Dream of the Rood Tradition. Reviewed by Daniel O'Donnell.
Marianne K. Kalinke, St. Oswald of Northumbria: Continental Metamorphosis: with an edition and translation of 'Ôsvalds saga' and 'Van sunte Oswaldo deme konninghe'. Reviewed by Michelle Ziegler.
In Memoriam
Leslie Alcock [At the Times Online]
Nicholas Howe [At the San Francisco Chronicle]
Navigating This Issue
This issue utilizes simple javascripts to enhance navigation. The scripts do not add any information to users' computers (ie cookies, etc). All email addresses are encoded via javascript to prevent remote address harvesting (and hopefully cut down on spam). If you wish to email a member of the Editorial Board or an author, please enable javascripts for this site.
Each page of the issue has a "print-friendly" version, which can be accessed through the "Print" function of the browser.
This site experiences difficulties when viewed through Netscape Navigator on machines running on Mac OS 9. However, the pages view fine on either Internet Explorer or Safari.
Legal Notices
All files in this issue are offered to Internet users free of charge under the following conditions: Internet users may maintain one electronic copy and one print copy of the file for use by members of the user's household. Permission to otherwise duplicate any of these files without the author's written consent is expressly denied.
All artwork on this site is copyrighted to the credited artist, and permission must be obtained from that person before the art may be used elsewhere. All uncredited artwork is believed to be in the public domain. If this is incorrect, please email the Editor-In-Chief and proper credit will be given or the artwork will be removed at once, whichever is the preference of the artist and/or the artist's legal representatives. If an image is in the public domain, feel free to download it and upload it to your own site. Please do not link directly to the image.
Staff For This Issue
- Larry J. Swain, Editor-in-Chief
- Michelle Ziegler, Issue Editor & Publisher
- Brad Eden, Book Review Editor
- Deanna Forsman, Webdesign & Layout
- William Schipper, Archivist
©2006 The Heroic Age. All rights reserved.