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People and Places

Aidan: *Ireland - † Aug. 31, 651, Bamburgh, Northumberland. apostle, monastic founder of Lindisfarne (Holy Island),.

Aidan was a monk at Iona, an island near Scotland, when King Oswald of Northumbria called for him to become the bishop of the newly converted Northumbrians, a diocese given up by Paulinus. Consecrated in 635, Aidan, the first Irish bishop of Northumbria, settled on Lindisfarne, where he established his church, monastery, and see near the royal stronghold of Bamburgh. Lindisfarne flourished as a leading ecclesiastical centre until the Viking invasions began in 793.

From Lindisfarne, Aidan evangelized northern England. He founded churches, monasteries, and, on Lindisfarne, a school for the training of ministers, among whom were Chad (first bishop of Lichfield), his brother Cedd (who converted the East Saxons), and Eata, abbot of Melrose. The Anglo-Saxon historian and theologian Bede praised Aidan for his learning, charity, and simplicity of life.

Bamburgh is a large village on the coast of Northumberland, England. It is notable for two reasons: the imposing Bamburgh Castle, overlooking the beach, seat of the former Kings of Northumbria, and at present owned by the Armstrong family.

Bamburgh Castle, then called Din Guardi, was the capital of the British kingdom of Bryneich between about 420AD and 547. In 547 the castle was taken by the invading Angles led by Ida son of Eoppa and was renamed Bebbanburgh by one of his successors. From then onwards the castle became the capital of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia until it merged with it's southern neighbour, Deira, in 634. After the two realms united as Northumbria the capital was moved to York. (Adopted from Wikipedia)

Bede (Latin Beda), also known as Saint Bede or, more commonly (though misleadingly), the Venerable Bede (ca. 672 or 673 – May 27, 735), was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Wearmouth, today part of Sunderland, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow. Bede became known as Venerable Bede soon after his death, but this was not linked to consideration for sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church. His scholarship and importance to Catholicism were recognised in 1899 when he was declared a Doctor of the Church as St Bede The Venerable.

He is well known as an author and scholar, whose best-known work, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) gained him the title "The father of English history". Bede wrote on many other topics, from music and metrics to Scripture commentaries.

He is the only Englishman (and only the second Briton - also the Scot Richard of St. Victor) in Dante's Paradise (Paradiso' X.130), mentioned among theologians and doctors of the church in the same canto as Richard of St.-Victor and Isidore of Seville. He is also the only English Doctor of the Church. (adopted from Wikipedia)

Benedict Biscop(c. 628 - 690), also known as Biscop Baducing, English churchman, was born of a good Northumbrian family and was for a time a thegn of King Oswiu.
He then went abroad and after a second journey to Rome (he made five altogether) lived as a monk at Lerins on the Mediterranean coast of France (665–667).
It was under his conduct that Theodore of Tarsus came from Rome to Canterbury in 669, and in the same year Benedict was appointed abbot of Ss. Peter and Paul's, Canterbury.
Five years later he built the monastery of St Peter at Wearmouth, on land granted him by Ecgfrith of Northumbria, and endowed it with a library. A papal letter in 678 exempted the monastery from external control, and in 682 the King was so delighted at the success of St Peter's, he gave Benedict more land in Jarrow and urged him to build a second monastery. Benedict erected a sister foundation (St Paul) at Jarrow. He appointed Ceolfrid as the superior, who was to become Bede's mentor, who left Wearmouth with 20 monks including the young Bede to start the foundation in Jarrow. Bede tells us that he brought builders and glass-workers from Francia to erect the buildings in stone.
The chancel at St Paul's Jarrow – a direct survival from the 7th century when it was a free-standing chapel in the monastery.
His idea was to build a model monastery for England, sharing his knowledge of the experience of the Catholic Church in Europe. It was the first ecclesial building to be built in stone, and the use of glass was a novelty for many of the Saxons in 7th-century England. It eventually possessed what was a large library for the time – several hundred volumes – and it was here that Benedict's student St Bede wrote his famous works. The library became world-famous, and manuscripts that had been copied there became prized possessions throughout Europe.
He died on January 12, 690. In his life time he had seen the Church change from being divided between the Roman and Celtic Churches and threatened by a resurgent paganism, to becoming a strong united and growing Roman Catholic Church, united with the worldwide church. His monastery was the jewel in the crown,under the direct patronage of the Pope and ushered in a Golden Era for Christianity in England.
On March 24, 2004, the City of Sunderland adopted St Benedict Biscop as its patron saint.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Biscop"

Edwin: *585 - † Oct. 12, 633, Hatfield Chase, Eng. Anglo-Saxon king of Northumbria from 616 to 632. He was the most powerful English ruler of his day, widely acknowledged (except the king of Kent) as Bretwalda, overlord by all the other English and British rulers. Baptized in 627 he was the first Christian king of Northumbria parts of Wales.

Edwin, the son of King Ælle of Deira, one of the two Northumbrian kingdoms, fled (about 590) to Gwynedd, into exile, away from Æthelric, king of Bernicia, and (593) Æthelfrith, his son and Edwin’s later brother-in –law. In 616 King Raedwald of East Anglia defeated and killed Æthelfrith and installed Edwin on the Northumbrian throne. Edwin conquered and was recognized as except the king of Kent.

Edwin's conversion to Christianity resulted from his marriage to Æthelburh, Christian princess of Kent. She brought the Roman missionary Paulinus to Northumbria. He converted Edwin and many of his subjects in 627. In 632 the Christian King Cadwallon of Gwynedd and the Pagan King Penda of Mercia invaded Northumbria and killed Edwin in battle.

Paulinus and Aethelburh fled, and Northumbrian returned to the old pagan gods. The following year, Northumbria was united and ruled by Oswald, son of Æthelfrith. He brought Irish clergy (Aidan among others) to Northumbria and Holy Island (Lindisfarne). This established a conflict with the Roman Church.

(Monk)Wearmouth-Jarrow Abbey is a twin-foundation English abbey located on the River Wear at Wearmouth and the River Tyne at Jarrow respectively, in the Kingdom of Northumbria (now in the metropolitan county Tyne and Wear). Its formal name is "The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Wearmouth-Jarrow.” The significance of Wearmouth-Jarrow is reflected in the candidate World Heritage Site status the monasteries have recently been awarded.
Foundation: The monastery was founded in 674 by Benedict Biscop, with the establishment of the monastery of St Peter's, Monkwearmouth on land given by Egfrid, King of Northumbria. His idea was to build a model monastery for England, sharing his knowledge of the experience of the Catholic Church in Europe in an area previously more influenced by Celtic Christianity from Melrose and Iona. A papal letter in 678 exempted the monastery from external control, and in 682 the King was so delighted at the success of St Peter's, he gave Benedict more land in Jarrow and urged him to build a second monastery. Benedict erected a sister foundation (St Paul) at Jarrow, appointing Ceolfrid as its superior, who left Wearmouth with 20 monks (including his protege the young Bede) to start the foundation in Jarrow.
Benedict brought workmen from France to build these churches in the Roman fashion (ie in stone), and furnished it with glass windows, pictures, service books and the library he had collected on his travels. Glassmaking and building in stone being unknown to England at the time, Biscop imported architects and glassmakers from Francia, modern France, who established a workshop at the Monkwearmouth site, re-establishing glassmaking in Britain (after its loss since the Romans' departure), as commemorated by the modern National Glass Centre which stands on a nearby site on the river Wear.
The two monasteries were so closely connected in their early history that they are often spoken of figuratively as one, despite being 7 miles apart. Benedict himself was the first abbot, and the monastery flourished under him and his successors Easterwin, St. Ceolfrid, and others, for two hundred years. Benedict, on leaving England for Rome in 686 established Ceolfrith as Abbot in Jarrow, and Eosterwine at Monkwearmouth but, before his death, stipulated that the two sites should function as 'one monastery in two places'.
(Adopted from Wikipedia)

Lindisfarne: The monastery of Lindisfarne was founded by Irish born Saint Aidan, who had been sent from Iona off the west coast of Scotland to Northumbria at the request of King Oswald around AD 635. It became the base for Christian evangelising in the North of England and also sent a successful mission to Mercia. Monks from the community of Iona settled on the island. Northumberland's patron saint, Saint Cuthbert, was a monk and later Abbot of the monastery, and his miracles and life are recorded by the Venerable Bede. Cuthbert later became Bishop of Lindisfarne. At some point in the early 700s the famous illuminated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illustrated Latin copy of the Gospels of Mark, Luke, Matthew and John, was probably made at Lindisfarne. Sometime in the second half of the tenth century a monk named Aldfrith added an Anglo-Saxon (Old English) gloss to the Latin text, producing the earliest surviving Old English copies of the Gospels. The Gospels were illustrated in an insular style containing a fusion of Celtic, Germanic and Roman elements; they were probably originally covered with a fine metal case made by a hermit called Billfrith. In 793 a Viking raid on Lindisfarne caused much consternation throughout the Christian west, and is now often taken as the beginning of the age of Viking raids. Eventually the monks fled the island (taking with them the body of St Cuthbert, which is now buried at the Cathedral in Durham). The bishopric was transferred to Durham in AD 1000. The Lindisfarne Gospels now reside in the British Library in London, somewhat to the annoyance of some Northumbrians. The priory was re-established in Norman times as a Benedictine house and continued until its suppression in 1536 under Henry VIII. It is now a ruin in the care of English Heritage, who also run a museum/visitor centre nearby. The neighbouring parish church (see below) is still in use.(Adopted from Wikipedia)

Northumbria is primarily the name of a petty kingdom of Angles, Danes and Norwegians which was formed in Great Britain at the beginning of the 7th century, and of the much smaller earldom which succeeded the kingdom. The name reflects that of the southern limit to the kingdom's territory, which was the River Humber, and in the 12th century writings of Henry of Huntingdon the kingdom was defined as one of the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.(Adopted from Wikipedia)

Northumbria was originally composed of the union of two independent kingdoms, Bernicia and Deira. Bernicia covered lands north of the Tees, whilst Deira corresponded roughly to modern-day Yorkshire. Bernicia and Deira were first united by Aethelfrith, a king of Bernicia who conquered Deira around the year 604. He was defeated and killed around the year 616 in battle at the River Idle by Raedwald of East Anglia, who installed Edwin, the son of Aella, a former king of Deira, as king.

Edwin, who accepted Christianity in 627, soon grew to become the most powerful king in England: he was recognized as Bretwalda and conquered Rheged, the Isle of Man and Gwynedd in northern Wales. He was, however, himself defeated by an alliance of the exiled king of Gwynedd, Cadwallon ap Cadfan and Penda, king of Mercia, at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633. (Adopted from Wikipedia)

Oswald (~*604 – †August 5, 642) was King of Northumbria from 634 until his death. He was the son of Æthelfrith of Bernicia and came to rule after spending a period in exile, defeating Gwynedd's king Cadwallon ap Cadfan, bringing the two Northumbrian kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira once again under a single ruler, and promoting the spread of Christianity in Northumbria. He was given a prominent and strongly positive assessment by the historian Bede, being considered by him as a saintly ruler. After eight years of rule, in which he was the most powerful ruler in Britain, he was killed in the battle of Maserfield. He is best remembered as a Christian saint and martyr.

Background, youth, and exile: Oswald's father Æthelfrith was a successful Bernician ruler who, after some years in power in Bernicia, also became king of Deira, and thus was the first to rule both of the kingdoms which would come to be considered the constituent kingdoms of Northumbria (Bernicia in the northern part and Deira in the southern part), although it is considered likely that the two would still have been considered quite distinct entities, even if they were ruled by the same king, at this time. Æthelfrith married a member of the Deiran royal line, Acha, and it was she who was the mother of Oswald, who was apparently born in or around the year 604, since Bede says that he was killed at the age of 38 in 642. (Adopted from Wikipedia)

Paulinus,Saint (?-644) was the first bishop of York. He was a monk at St. Andrew's Monastery in Rome, when, in 601, Pope Gregory I sent him to join Mellitus and others in the second group of missionaries to England. Writing in 731, Bede described Paulinus as "a tall figure, slightly bent, with black hair, a thin hooked nose, and an emaciated face" (Stenton, 1971, p. 116). He was in Kent until 625, when he was consecrated as bishop by Justus. He then accompanied Æthelberg, the sister of King Eadbald of Kent, to Northumbria where she was to marry King Edwin.

According to Bede, Paulinus eventually convinced Edwin to convert to Christianity, baptizing him and many of his followers in 627. With the support of Edwin, Paulinus greatly expanded the church in Northumbria. For example, during a stay with Edwin and Æthelberg at Yeavering, he worked incessently for 36 days to baptise new converts.

When Edwin was defeated and killed in battle in 633, Paulinus took the queen and her children to Kent, where he spent the remainder of his life as Bishop of Rochester. Edwin's defeat led immediately to a sharp decline of Christianity in Northumbria. Although Paulinus' deacon, James, remained in the North and struggled to rebuild the Roman mission, it was monks from the rival Celtic tradition who eventually re-established Christianity in the region. < The festival of St. Paulinus is formally observed by English Roman Catholics on October 10, the anniversary of his death. Five ancient churches in England were dedicated to him, and there were cults of him at Canterbury and Rochester. (Adopted from Wikipedia)

Penda († November 15, 6551) was a 7th-century King of Mercia, a kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda participated in the defeat of the powerful Northumbrian king Edwin at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633. Nine years later, he defeated and killed Edwin's eventual successor, Oswald, at the Battle of Maserfield; from this point he was probably the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon rulers of the time. He defeated the East Angles, drove the king of Wessex into exile for three years, and continued to wage war against the Bernicians of Northumbria. Thirteen years after Maserfield, he suffered a crushing defeat and was killed at the Battle of the Winwaed in the course of a final campaign against the Bernicians.

Ragnarök ("fate of the gods")in Norse mythology is the battle at the end of the world. It will be waged between the Æsir, led by Odin, and the various forces of the Jötnar, including Loki. Not only will most of the gods, giants and creatures involved perish in this apocalyptic conflagration, but almost everything in the universe will be torn asunder.

In Viking warrior societies, dying in battle is the highest honor a man can attain. One earns an afterlife in Hel by dying in bed. One earns a place in Valhalla by dying, with honor, in battle. This is carried over into the worship of a pantheon in which the gods themselves will one day die in battle at Ragnarök. Exactly what will happen, who will fight whom, and the fates of the participants in this battle are well known to the Norse peoples from the sagas and skaldic poetry. The Völuspá — prophecy of the völva (sybil), the first lay of the Poetic Edda, dating from about the year 1000 AD — spans the history of the old gods, from the beginning of time to Ragnarök, in 65 stanzas. The Prose Edda, put in writing some two centuries later by Snorri Sturluson, describes in detail what takes place before, during, and after the battle. (Adopted from Wikipedia)

Yeavering According to Book 2 Chapter 14 of the Ecclesiastical History of the Venerable Bede (680-735), in the year 627 Bishop Paulinus accompanied the Northumbrian king Edwin and his queen Aethelburh to their royal villa (the Latin term is villa regia), Adgefrin, where Paulinus spent 36 days preaching and baptising converts in the nearby River Glen. The placename Gefrin, which is a Brittonic name meaning ‘hill of the goats’, survives as the modern Yeavering. (Adopted from Wikipedia)