he was filled with an ardent zeal for the Christian faith. He sought to re-establish in England the Christian re- ligion, which had been wcU-nigli abolished by Penda, the warlike pagan monarch of ISrercia, and liis equally warlike ally Cadwallon. Oswald defeated and slew Cadwallon, and having restored to Northumbria its in- dependence iu 636, it was now his firm resolution to do his utmost to make the worship of his God universal among his people. In order to carry out this ob- ject, he applied to the monks of lona to send him one of their number. They consecrated the excellent and amiable monk Aidan as bishop, and sent him to North- umbria. Until he had gained a comjilcte knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon tongue, OswaUl himself acted as his interpreter. By this joint activity of the zealous king and Aidan, a firm foundation was laid for the Church in that district, and the success of their labor was truly unparalleled. Oswald founded an episcopal see in the island of Lindisfarne ; and, aided by other missionaries from lona, bishop Aidan converted in a few years the whole north of England to Christianity. Oswald, after a reign of eight years, met his death in battle with the pagan tribe of the Mercians, Aug. 5, 642. He fell by the sword of Penda, " who worshipped Odin, and never left the altars of his grim war-god dry for want of a victim." As an illustration of Oswald's piety, wc read in ^Miller's History of the Am/lo-Saxons that "previous to his battle with the Welsh king (Cadwallon), which occurred soon after he was seated upon the throne of Bernicia, he planted the image of the cross upon the field, holding it with his own hands while his soldiers filled up the hollow which they had made in the earth to receive it. When the cross was firmly secured he exclaimed, 'Let us all bend our knees, and with one heart and voice pray to the true and the living God that he in his mercy will defend us from a proud and cruel enemy; for to him it is known that we have com- menced this war for the salvation and safety of our people.' All knelt, as he had commanded, around the cross, and when the last murmur of the solemn praj-er had died away, they marched onward with stouter hearts to meet the terrible enemy." Of the battle we have no other record than that Cadwallon fell, and that his army was destroyed. The spot where the cross was planted was afterwards called Heavan-field, and was for ages held in great reverence by the people. " Penda hated not the Christians who adliered rigidly to the tenets of their new creed," but if they halted be- tween Christianity and Odinism he abliorred them. The reason whj- he attacked Oswald is not known. It may have been to revenge the fall and defeat of Cadwallon, or it ma)' have been simply love of con- quest. Nor has it ever been charged that he attacked the Bernician king because the latter was a zealous Christian. All that is known is that Penda attacked and slew hira at Maserfelth on Aug. 5, (i42. In the above-mentioned work by Miller we read that " while the barbed javelin which caused his death was still fixed in his breast, he never for a moment ceased to pray, and that for centuries after his death his name was ever linked with the following pious sentence: 'May the Lord have mercy on their souls! as Os- wald said when he fell on the battle-field.' " Of his charitable nature it is relatol that "one day, as he was about to partake of the refreshments whicli were placed before him in a silver dish, the almoner, whose office it was to relieve the poor, stepped in and informed him that a number of beggars were waiting without solicit- ing alms. When his eye alighted upon the rich vessel in which the dainties were piled, the thought of their wants and his own unnecessary luxuries rose before him with so striking a contrast that he ordered the un- touched food to be distributed among t.lie beggars, and the silver dish to be broken up and given to them." But Pen<la, after the battle of Maserfelth, ordered the head and limbs of this pious and charitable king to be severed from the body, and, transfixed on stakes, to be
exposed to public gaze. Oswald was canonized. The fifth of !March became Oswald's day, and the legend of Oswald is the theme of many old German poems and of the Icelandic Osvaldo Saga. See Miller, Hktory of the Awjlo-Saxons ; Osvaldo Saga (Edinb. 1854). His name was cherished in the affection and respect of his nation, and lience soon began to be honored as that of a saint. Miracles were said to be wrought at his tomb and by his relics; and indeed the faith in them pre- vailed through the whole of these islands. Oswald's remains were carried to Bardney, in Lincolnshire, by Osthrida, and afterwards to St. Oswald's, in Gloucester- shire, b3' Eltleda, the daughter of king Alfred. But more yet than the English legend, German myth has embellished Oswald's name. See Kurtz, Lehrhuch der Kirchengescbich. i, 234 (^litau, 1874; Engl, trans. Phila. 1875, i, 301); Clement, Handb. of Legendary and Myth- ological Art, p. 243 (New York, 1872); Neander, Ch. History (Torrey's transl.), iii, 20 sq. ; Theologisches Uni- rersal-Lexikon, s. v. ; Die heiden Osicaldgedickte, ed. in Haupt's Zeitsch rift fur deutsches Alterthum,Yo\.\i, anA by Etmiiller (Zurich, 1845); Zingerle, Die Oswaldle- gende (Stuttg. 1856) ; Wright, Biog. of Brit. Lit. (see Index) ; Collier, Eccles. Hist, (see Index in vol. viii) ; Churton, Hist, of the Early Engl. Church, p. 238, 244. (R. B. A.)