Oswiu: King of Kings

The final volume of The Northumbrian Thrones trilogy is the story of King Oswiu of Bernicia as recounted in books three and four of Bede’s A History of the English Church and People. Albert divides his book into four sections roughly corresponding to four major events in Oswiu’s reign.

Part One: King Oswiu of Bernicia is having a difficult uniting the kingdoms that had wholly supported his brother Oswald. When Oswine of Deria refuses to acknowledge his authority, Oswiu has little recourse. His mother suggests that he mount an expedition to bring the body of his brother Oswald, murdered by Penda, back to Bernicia. Since there have been many miracles reported at the site of Oswald’s murder and more where his bones have been nailed to a tree sacred to Woden it would be a real achievement for Oswiu if he succeeds. The recovery of the bones of his brother, a king and a likely saint, would hopefully unite the kingdoms and prove Oswiu’s worthiness to sit on the Northumbrian throne.

Part Two: To strengthen his position in the seemingly endless war against Penda of Mercia, Oswiu puts aside his first wife and the mother of his two children to marry the Christian daughter of the king of Kent. The section covers mainly the journey of
Eanflaed and her entourage from Kent to Northumbria, with miracles enroute.

Part Three: Penda escalates the war against Oswiu with the help of allies including King Oswine of Daria. The siege of Bamburgh Castle and the lifting of the siege with the help of a prayer by Bishop Aiden is the highlight of the section.

Part Four: Finally meeting in battle, Oswiu and Penda fight to the death. Only one can prevail.

In the first book of the trilogy Edwin High King of Britain, Albert adhered primarily to Bede with very little deviation from Bede’s storyline. Only a few scenes were fiction, but very plausible interpretations of the actions of the characters. The dialogue was very like a literal translation of the Latin. In the second book Oswald Return of the King, again Albert depends heavily on Bede’s account but humanizes the characters and makes the language more contemporary.

By book three Albert uses Oswiu’s entire story from Bede, but greatly changes parts of it and adds a lot of imaginary scenes. The language is very contemporary. (The children call Oswiu “Daddy”, for example). These are not bad choices, necessarily. But Oswiu reads much more like a modern historical novel and less like the source material. When I was reading Edwin I was so impressed with it that I could see it being used in a history class as an example of how to use a primary source to make the period come alive. With Oswiu I felt that it was a wonderful piece of writing but there was so much license taken with the source material that it because another very good story but not true to the spirit of Bede. They are two very different books by the same author in the same series.

I did enjoy Oswiu for different reasons. The imagery is wonderful, especially in scenes like the description of Woden’s tree where Oswald’s body parts are displayed and the final confrontation with Penda. (Oh, I do hope it happened that way, but there is not a word in Bede. It is all Albert). I am not sure about the addition of fictional characters even if there is a possibility that individuals like them must have existed

Arnold was right on target about the tidal wave of change caused by the acceptance of the Christian religion. No longer is dying in battle the only acceptable way for a king to die.
Oswiu remarks at the end of the book that it would be quite appropriate if he were to die peacefully in bed. Good works by the king to atone for his sins are replacing the giving of gold to insure a loyal following.

I hope Arnold continues to write in the period. Whether he is sticking closely to his source or filling in blanks with his wonderful narrative he is an asset to his chosen field.

In this third and (currently) last instalment in The Northumbrian Thrones, the ramifications of Oswald's untimely death spread across the feuding kingdoms of Britain. It is now 642 AD and the unification that seemed within reach during the reign of Edwin has crumbled away. Even Northumbria is no longer united. Oswald's younger brother Oswiu faces a long, hard battle to secure his kingship against the mightiest ruler in the land: Penda, ambitious and ruthless king of Merica. But Oswiu has one advantage that Penda lacks: the posthumous, miracle-working reputation of the murdered Oswald.

In a sacred grove deep within Mercia, Oswald's head and arms hang upon Woden's tree, testament to a double-pronged defeat. As a man and king, he has been bested by Penda. As the champion of the new religion, he has been crushed by the greater power of the old gods. Or so Penda claims. But unsettling rumours are spreading in Mercia: it's said that earth gathered at the site of Oswald's death has worked miracles. The common people come to dig there in the hope of healing or protection. Penda's actions may have removed his main rival for the title of High King of Britain, but they've given him something far harder to conquer: a new saint. And, if Oswald's shadow lies heavily on Mercia, the same is even truer in Northumbria, where Oswiu discovers that he can't avoid comparisons with his charismatic older brother. As both kings seek to prove themselves, their struggle will bring them onto a fatal collision course, which only one man can survive.

This is a story of gods and kings, and what happens when one becomes the other. It's a tale of fathers, brothers and sons, and the psychological impact of growing up in another man's shadow. It's about keeping your word. Yet, for all these grand themes, the book Oswiu (like the man) is very different from its predecessor. I'll be honest: I missed the epic grandeur of Oswald and would have preferred more of that and fewer scenes of siblings squabbling (I felt the children sounded rather modern, compared to Manda Scott's younger characters). But that's just me. Where I think the book does very well is in the characterisation of Oswiu himself. In my post on Oswald, I noted I had little sense of Oswiu's complexity. That's now changed and I was glad to have the chance to see beneath the scapegrace veneer. It reveals poignant depths: this young man knows very well that his mother would have chosen to sacrifice him, rather than his brother; and suspects the same is true of his wife.

Oswiu knows where his strengths lie: in tricks and misdirection, and so he employs these qualities when dealing with his rival Penda. Faced with so many lacunae in the historical record, Albert creates an old-fashioned adventure story full of disguises, hair's-breadth escapes, and daring raids behind enemy lines (indeed, characters penetrate the enemy camp on such a regular basis that one feels the Mercians should retrain their guards). Oswiu's early expedition to rescue his brother's body - which concludes with a thrilling setpiece - inspires an even more stirring and dramatic confrontation at the novel's close. But the excitement of such scenes can only work if there's a worthy villain, and I was glad to see Penda back again, as shrewd as ever but, in true Greek-tragedy style, manifesting the tragic flaw of hubris which will prove his downfall. You'd think he would've learned from the fate of Cadwallon, who considered himself the new Arthur. But Penda's wisdom is undermined by desperation. He wants to believe that his old gods are on his side and, encouraged by his priest, he makes the most daring claim of all: that he, Penda, is Woden returned to earth. And the true danger comes when Penda begins to believe it himself...

This has been an illuminating and enjoyable series, which has given me a more profound understanding of my own history, and encouraged me (one day) to have a go at Bede himself. The depth of Albert's research has been impressive throughout, explained in thorough introductions and afterwords which prove his devotion to the very scarce facts. There are lots of things for keen-eyed readers to spot: I'm sure I missed most of them, but I was very proud of myself when I recognised The Dream of the Rood. And perhaps the key thing is that Albert manages to capture that difficult blend of the Anglo-Saxon mind, half-anchored in the life of the raid and the ring-giver and the weregild; half-turning towards Christianity's message of mercy and everlasting life. I encourage historical fiction fans to seek out the trilogy - especially if you enjoy Bernard Cornwell's Uhtred series, because here you get glimpses of Bamburgh / Bebbanburgh two centuries before the Vikings.

Now, go and find a copy of Edwin, and start the series for yourself!

The full review will be published on my blog on Friday 17 March at the following link:
https://theidlewoman.net/2017/03/17/oswiu-king-of-kings-edoardo-albert

Oh my goodness, I am going to miss this series. Never mind, the paperbacks are all on my shelf anytime a re-read becomes necessary. London based author, archaeologist and journalist Edoardo Albert has bought his Northumbrian Thrones trilogy, encompassing the lives of three seventh century rulers of the Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria to a conclusion in magnificent style, yet not detracting from the known historical facts.

Oswiu was a supporting character in the last book, the younger and somewhat less confident brother of the Saintly King Oswald (both of them nephews of Edwin, the focus of the first book). I say Saintly quite Literally. The Seventh century King Oswald of Northumbria is actually a canonized Saint in the Roman Catholic church.
After the deadly trap with kills his beloved brother, Oswald, at the behest of his mother Acca, embarks on a quest to retrieve the remains of his brother- impaled to a tree in an act of ritual humiliation by Penda King of Mercia, the perpetual enemy of the Northumbrian monarchs. The scene in which Oswald's pet raven, Bran, exacts his own sort of vengeance for his master was one of the most memorable in the book. Indeed, Bran has emerged as a character himself in the course of the series. I appreciated the way that the role of royal women was represented in this tale, as they are so often considered powerless and marginalized: in reality, they were the Peaceweavers. "It is the part of women in this Middle-earth to weave together kingdoms in our bodies and on our beds, to requite war with desire, to make peace with the children we breed. That is our part. "

The book then proceeds to follow the first 13 years of Oswui's reign, revolving mostly around his power-struggles with Penda, and efforts to secure the throne of Deira, which alongside the small Kingdom of Bernicia from Northumbria as a whole. (For international readers, this was the ancient Saxon Kingdom, encompassing much of what is now NorthEastern England North of the River Humber, as well as parts of Southeastern Scotland.) It is a complicated story of shifting loyalties within families, loss, betrayal, death, and ultimate victory. Interwoven within is the story of how the English Church grew in this formative period and the faith of the characters themselves, Oswiu and his relatives, as well as Aidan, first Bishop of Lindisfarne, who according to tradition, prevented the destruction of the great fortress of Bamburgh with his prayers.

In this last book, a new element is introduced when Penda claims to be the embodiment of the god Woden on earth, and turns his expansion of power into a clash of gods, making it his goal to eradicate the new religion from the lands of the Angles, along with all the Kings who have embraced it. Never believing he can truly be the match of his brother, Oswui and his family must fight, in the end for their very survival. In the course of events, Oswui makes some hard decisions and takes controversial courses of action. His likely complicity in the murder of the Christian King of Deira (and his Kinsman) Oswine 'Godfriend' has been a blot on his reputation across the centuries. Deservedly so. Oswine here emerges as a sympathetic and tragic figure: a King who never really wanted to be one, a man who wished to do right, caught up in the turbulent tides of power. This was a world in which men of God could barely avoid violence, and the fate of Kingdoms was decided at the point of a sword.

My only complaints were that the book was not long enough. OK, not really. It was 550 pages long, but Oswui reigned for another 15 years after the novel ends, one of the longest reigning and living of all the pre-conquest Kings. A lot happened in that 15 years, and I think it would have taken another full-length book to cover it all. Still, I would have liked to hear a little more about that period. The other was some of the fantasy- like elements in the story, which though they were well written, I felt weren't always necessary. A suggestion that Oswald's Spirit lingered in the form of a black cloaked figure, who ones appear to communicate directly with Oswiu.

Overall though, this novel and the entire trilogy have proved to be an excellent contribution to the genre, in which Pre-Conquest Britain is often her ignored or is represented in whimsical Romance novels with cliched or stereotyped characters. Recommended for lovers of solid and immersive Historical Fiction, and easily ranked among better-known authors.