St. Oswald, 14e eeuw. Oswald (Old English: Osuualde[1]; c 604 – 5 August 641/642[2]) was King of Northumbria from 634 until his death, and is venerated as a saint,[3] of whom there was a particular cult in the Middle Ages.[4] Saint Oswald of Northumbria Saint Oswald Durham Cathedral.jpg A 12th-century painting of St Oswald in Durham Cathedral Born c. 604 Deira, Northumbria Died 5 August 641/642 Venerated in Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Eastern Orthodoxy Canonized Pre-Congregation Major shrine Bardney Abbey, Lincolnshire, England; relics later translated to St Oswald’s Priory, Gloucester, England [1] Feast 5 August Oswald was the son of Æthelfrith of Bernicia and came to rule after spending a period in exile. After defeating the British ruler Cadwallon ap Cadfan, Oswald brought the two Northumbrian kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira once again under a single ruler, and promoted the spread of Christianity in Northumbria. He was given a strongly positive assessment by the historian Bede, writing a little less than a century after Oswald’s death, who regarded Oswald as a saintly king; it is also Bede who is the main source for present-day historical knowledge of Oswald. After eight years of rule, in which he was the most powerful ruler in Britain, Oswald was killed in the Battle of Maserfield. (Wikipedia)