alternatehistory.com

Headlines from The Morning Sun Newspaper


“Ruins found in excavation of new Ligorcaster shopping center”
12th September 2012

Workmen digging the foundations of a shopping center in Ligorcaster have found what is believed to be the ruins of a church or abbey. Historians have initially identified the church to the 15th or 16th century.


“Early Anglish King found in Ligorcaster Excavation”
14th September 2012

Further excavation of the church found during the construction of the Taurus Halo Shopping Center has uncovered a burial believed to be from the 11th or 12th century. An almost complete skeleton has been recovered from the site and is being analysed. Stonework from around the body identifies it as “Oswine, King of Angland”. If this is to be believed then the body dates from the 9th century and would be of Oswine of Lichfield one of the twin brothers who fought for the Anglish throne in the early 9th century.


“So Who was Oswine of Lichfield?”
19th September 2012

With the excavation of the (Still not entirely confirmed) body of Oswine of Lichfield, “Pretender King” of Angland, interest in pre-viking Angland has greatly increased yet some are still unsure who Oswine of Lichfield was. Lichfield was one of the twin sons of Eardwulf, king of Angland (who reigned from 775-799), the other being Eadric (sometimes called Eadric of Eidinburh) It is said that on his sons births Eardwulf remarked “May the lord forgive me for the thoughts I had when I was told I had twin sons” this most likely apocryphal and its known if the King ever considered killing one of his sons. With the birth of the twins in 781 the throne was immediately in contention as Eardwulf did not dare designated one heir over the other for several years and he knew even if he did, the other might serve as a focal point for rebellious parties within or without Angland. As they grew older, Eardwulf seperated the two, sending them to seperate cities to further their education, Eadric to Eidinburh and Oswine to Lichfield, hence their sometimes monikers.


Many historians have argued that this was a bad move, almost guaranteed to split the country on his death. As Eardwulf’s health deteriorated as the century drew to a close its accepted that he quietly named Eadric his heir. Many have said this was due to Eadric having a better image amongst the nobles, having the trust of the Pictish kingdoms as well as northern Angland and being a stronger and “more noble” bearing to him. This latter point often comes from various historical portrayals of Oswine as a sneering, hunched over man with a withered, crooked arm he’d try to hide. It is interesting to note that if this skeleton is Oswine with further analysis it may be possible to identify whether there was something that had lead to this image.


What is known that upon Eardwulf’s death in 799 almost immediately Oswine acted to secure Mercia and Lindsay before marching north into Deira. Even when presented with the evidence naming Eardric the heir and true king, Oswine is said by historians of the time to dismiss it as a forgery and continued north to Dunholm. Forces loyal to each king were initially scattered but within a few months the country was roughly split with Eardric north of the Humber and Oswine south of it. The two brothers clashed directly in 801 at the Battle of Beverley Monastery (not to be confused with the later battle of Beverley in the 12th Century) with neither brother managing to secure a decisive victory.


During this period of clashes between the warring brothers others took advantage of the situation. Vikings raided Eidinburh in 802 and in 803 Egbert, King of Wessex crossed the under defended southern border (at the time) of Angland and captured Glecaster with the assistance of the British kingdom of Gwent lead by King Meurig Ap Cadoc, who was a Catholic and saught revenge for the expulsion of the Catholics from Glecaster. With Meurig protecting the northern border Egbert then headed to Sussex to put a more pro-Wessex friendly king on the throne, (The current king, Berthun was opening supportive of Angland). Upon this advance, Sigmar of Essex (who’s wife was the aunt of the warring twins) sought to stop the advance of Wessex and raised an army. The East and West Saxon kings clashed near modern day Laudenwic in the summer of 805 and though defeated, Sigmar would continue to fight a Wolf Pack War against Egbert, not allowing him to secure his eastern border. 805 also saw another major viking raid, this time on the monastary town of Jarway. With these two events the brothers seemed to hold an unspoken truce to tend to their own territories while neither recognising each others claim to any of the Anglish Territories.


This recently paper reviewed the book “What if Moments in Anglish History” by Winfrith Cortan (Morning Sun Literature supplement, August 2nd) and in it Cortan discusses the decision of Egbert to capture Glecaster, he suggests this as a point of historical divergence and argues that with it, Egbert drove Oswine to march south to attack the army of Wessex. The two kings clashed near Oswine’s de facto capital of Lichfield and although the Anglish army won the day, a stray arrow hit Oswine and the wound became infected. Over the next few days Oswine’s health would fail and within a week he was dead. In that week however its generally accepted he confirmed his brother Eardric as king of Angland and swore his allegiance to him and implored his supporters do the same. What is less likely is the idea that Oswine travelled to Eardric (who at the time was fortifying the northern Anglish coast against further Viking attack) to ask for forgiveness before throwing himself at the altar in Dunholm abbey asking for forgiveness from God.


Following Oswine’s death his army would combine with Eardric’s and again do battle with the West Saxons, still under Egbert and soundly defeat them at Tamworig, killing the King of Wessex. Following this, Eardric would draw up a peace with Wessex, more or less returning the borders to status quo ante bellum with some repatriations being given to Gwent in return for them withdrawing from Glecaster.


Eardric then returned north to Dunholm and was officially crowned in 807 (though his reign is recognised officially from 799) and would reign until 830. His nation secured he turned to the Danish Sea coastline, fortifying towns along the coast against further Viking invasion. Something that would drive the vikings further south to Essex, Kent and Francia, but thats a story for another time.


Oswine was buried at Lichfield Abbey but a sacking of the abbey in the 16th century lead to the would be king’s body being recorded as being moved to Ligorcasta but there was no such record of his arrival, nor a burial marker of any sort for him at the modern (or rather, 18th century) Ligorcaster Abbey. With this discovery it is possible he reached Ligorcaster but wasn’t entombed when Ligorcaster Abbey was rebuilt.