So I've decided that its about time that I had a go at writing something else, and then I though of this old chestnut! This is a revamp of my very first attempt at Alternate History, from way back in 2008, about a kingdom of Northumbria ruled by the Deiran dynasty under King Edwin and his descendants rather than the Bernician dynasty of King Æthelfrith.
Authors Note:
This timeline uses the Kirby / Miller interpretation of Northumbrian history which attempts to solve several minor problems of Northumbrian history between the death of King Edwin and the ascension of Ecgfrith as they are narrated by Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English Speaking Peoples. Bede, in hisChronica Maiora, believed that King Ælle was still reigning over the Kingdom of Deira circa 597AD when Saint Augustine and his fellow missionaries first arrived in Kent which further confuses the Deiran succession between the years 585AD and 605AD, and secondly there does seem to have been an unusually long delay between the demise of King Edwin at the Battle of Hatfield Chase and Pope Honorius I receiving news of his death (Over a year, when letters prior to this event seeming took five-six months to pass between Kent and Rome). The muddle continues from here until the death of King Owsiu and the ascension of King Ecgfrith, but they are easily and very tidily amended by placing by Kirby's suggestion that Edwin's death actually occurred in the year 634AD.
Obviously this will effect the chronological sequence of some events outside Northumbria, as several English and Welsh sources including the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle apparently made use of Bede's Ecclesiastical History for the computation of time, and so the dates may differ from those traditionally associated with a particular event. I have chosen to use this interpretation because to myself, it makes greater sense of the history of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms during the early Seventh Century, though I accept that this is not necessarily the prevailing academic consensus and that some of you might take issue with this decision.
Finally I wish to draw attention to the differences and similarities between this reworking of my timeline and the original version. It should immediately be clear to anyone who read the original timeline that far more extensive research on Anglo-Saxon History has been undertaken on my part. Secondly I feel that the layout of the original version, with each update corresponding to the reign of a particular King, remains a good way to structure the story as it unfolds. Rather that list the modern translations of place names separately below the rest of the update I will this time state the Old English name and then add its current spelling and location directly afterwards; for example Cyningesburh [Conisbrough, South Yorkshire]. As before I admit openly to fleshing out the given events provided in the sources and using my own imagination to fill in the gaps before we even reach our Point Of Departure from History, but then again with our knowledge on the Early Middle Ages in England, and on a far greater scale the European Continent, being very limited I feel this is necessary to keep the story going.
All misinterpretations, glaring mistakes prior to and following the POD and grammatical errors are of course my own...
616AD
King Æthelberht of Kent dies on the 24th of February and is succeeded by his pagan son Eádbald, and with his ascension the gains made by the Augustinian Mission begin to unravel around them. Although King Eádbald tolerates the presence of Christians in his kingdom, in large part due to the fact that other members of his family, including his younger brother Æthelwald and sister Æthelburg, have already been baptised, he is far less willing to extend that protection into the pagan kingdoms of the Eastern, Middle and Southern Saxons, and this unwillingness to support the church is made all the worse by King Eádbald's decision to marry his father's widow; Sigethryth. This is a common enough practice amongst the pagan Saxons at the time and its purpose is to maintain the fragile alliances cultivated by King Æthelberht, but the practice is also a serious sin in the eyes of Christians.
To make matters worse the succession of King Eádbald is followed in quick succession by the death of King Sæberht of the Eastern Saxons, who is succeeded jointly by his three pagan sons Seaxræd, Sæweard and Seaxbald; youths who see the deaths of both their father and King Æthelberht as an opportunity to end the overlordship of the Kentish kings over their lands. The result is the expulsion of Christian priests from their lands in a backlash against the new faith which culminates in the decision of the Bishop Mellitus to abandon the diocese of Lundenwíc (London) and retire to Canterbury. A further worrying consequence of the death of King Æthelberht of Kent is the ease with which King Cwichelm of Wessex is able to assert himself over the Southern Saxons under their King Ædda, and thus detach Sussex from the waning overlordship of the Kings of Kent.
617AD
King Æthelfrith of Bernicia is defeated by the village of Réadsfyrda (Retford, Nottinghamshire), a small village upon the banks of the River Idel (Idle), by King Rædwald of the Eastern Angles, who gains a great victory over the Northern Angles that allows him to claim the overlordship, or Imperium as it will be styled by the Christian Church, over much of the island of Britain. His triumph is marred however by the loss of his eldest son Rægenhere, who numbers amongst the hundreds slain during the battle. King Rædwald consolidates his power by installing the exiled Ætheling Eádwine, the only surviving son of King Ælle of Deira, as the ruler of unified kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira (whose inhabitants are collectively known as the Northern or Humbrian Angles); thereby establishing Eádwine as a client king who will support the hegemony of the Eastern Angles.
The first year of King Eádwine's reign is spent journeying across the kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira in an attempt to re-establish his family's power, and rooting out and exiling those loyal to the now-dead King Æthelfrith. A number of the kingdoms noble families, particularly those closely related to the exiled Bernician dynasty, are put to the sword with the few survivors being forced into exile. To Eádwine's dismay the children of his sister Acha, the most prominent and potentially troublesome rival candidates to his crown, have already fled north into the kingdom of the Picts, and are now beyond the reach of his thanes swords. This blow is softened though when King Eádwine learns that some members of his family have managed to survive Æthelfrith's reign; these being Osríc, the son of his older brother Ælfríc, and his son Oswine, as well as his great-nieces Hereswith and Hilda, who are the granddaughters of his eldest brother Ælthelríc. King Eádwine then divides his kingdom into two sub-kingships, with Bernicia coming under the rule of his nephew Osríc and Deira going to his eldest son Osfrith.
618AD
King Cwichelm invades the kingdom of the East Saxons, just four years after his great victory over the Britons at Beandún (Bindon, Devonshire), and wins another victory at Brómfeldan (Broomfield, Essex) that leaves two of the East Saxon kings, Sæweard and Seaxbald, dead on the field. This proves to be the final blow needed to utterly undermine the last vestiges of authority yielded by King Eádbald of Kent, who is only able to maintain power outside of Kent over the contested stretch of territory, on the southern bank of the River Tames (Surrey) between his kingdom and the lands of the Middle and Southern Saxons. King Seaxræd meanwhile remains King of the Eastern Saxons, but finds himself reduced to a status of a West Saxon sub-king.
619AD
King Eádwine of the Northern Angles assembles an army of thanes and freemen before the Deiran royal hall at Eoforwíc (York) and then leads this army south in an invasion of the Briton kingdom of Elmed; with the twofold purpose of gaining vengeance upon the Britons for their part in the murder of his kinsman Hereríc, some seventeen years earlier, and secondly to enrich himself, and the Éaldormen and thanes who support him, by plundering the kingdom of any moveable wealth and then dividing up possession of the inhabitants lands. The warriors of Elmed are assembled King Ceredig ap Gwallog who marches out to meet the invading Angles, and he chooses to make his stand at Eádburhsfyrda (Aberford, Yorkshire), named after a long-dead Deiran Queen, where they meet the Northern Angles in battle. It is here that King Eádwine gains his first victory and the Britons are put to flight, and although King Ceredig is able to escape the battlefield with his life, he loses his kingdom in the process and is forced into exile with his family.
In the kingdom of Kent the Archbishop Laurentius of Cantwaraburg (Canterbury) succumbs to a fever and dies on the 2nd of February and the remaining members of the Augustinian Mission elect Mellitus, the former Bishop of Lundenwíc (London), as their new Archbishop. The loss of Laurentius and his determined leadership is another hard blow to the church's presence on the island of Britain and Mellitus proves unable to reverse the decline that has befallen his church, but he does devote his energies entirely to preventing the absolute collapse of the mission and ensures that, at the very least, Cantwaraburg and Hrofascæstre (Rochester, Kent) are retained as small islands of Christianity amidst a pagan sea.
620AD
King Cearl of Mercia, the man who once gave sanctuary to the exiled Eádwine and offered him his daughter Céorlburg as his bride, dies after a reign spent uniting the tribes of Humbrian Angles dwelling along the northern and southern banks of the River Trente (Trent). As King Cearl has outlived both of his own sons and has no surviving male kinsmen to succeed him, his crown passes to the brother of his Queen Affa, who is named Pybba. The new King of the Mercians rules directly over the larger and more populous Southern Mercians from Cearl's royal hall at Tamuworthig (Tamworth, Staffordshire). At the same time his eldest son and heir Eowa and his wife Tetta, who is a daughter of King Osberht of the Hwicce, is given possession of the northern half of the kingdom to rule in his fathers name.
624AD
King Rædwald of the Eastern Angles dies after having held the Imperium of Britain for seven turbulent years, and in the months that follow his crown is disputed by his youngest sons. The elder of the two contenders is Sigeberht, his son by his first Queen Sæthryth who was a daughter of King Sæberht of the Eastern Saxons, whilst the younger contender is Eormenwald, his son by his second wife Wulfswith; a daughter of King Wígláf of Wiht (Isle of Wight). The struggle for the crown is ultimately won by Eormenwald, who gains the support of the kingdoms nobility and as a result is able to drive Sigeberht into exile on the continent and to some extent impose his overlordship over the Middle Angles and Eastern Saxons. By this point however the King of the Eastern Angles is in no position to extend his power further north and as a result neither King Eádwine of the Humbrian Angles or King Pybba of the Mercians acknowledges King Eormenwald's overlordship.
A second major development during the course of this year is the conversion of King Eádbald of Kent by the Bishop Justus of Hrofascæstre (Rochester, Kent), who is able to convince the King of Kent to be baptised and to provide the Archbishop of Cantwaraburg (Canterbury) with a second grant of land for the establishment of a second church. The ceremony is performed by the Archbishop Mellitus, who dies several weeks later and is succeeded by Justus as Archbishop who receives his Pallium from Pope Boniface towards the end of the year and consecrates Romanus as his successor to the Diocese of Hrofascæstre. It proves quite fortuitous that the conversion of King Eádbald occurs but a few months before the arrival of King Eádwine of the Northern Angles, who has come south to the kingdom of Kent in search of a second wife (his previous wife Cwenburg having died during his time in exile amongst the Eastern Angles), and this gives the Archbishop of Cantwaraburg a considerable degree of influence in the discussions that follow.
The King of Kent consents to a marriage between his younger sibling Æthelburg and King Eádwine on the condition that a number of priests accompany them north to perform the necessary rites and ceremonies for his sister; to which King Eádwine consents. The King of the Northern Angles and his new Queen then make their journey back to towards the Deiran royal hall at Eoforwíc (York) with a small band of priests headed by two men destined to play a great roles within the church; who are named Paulinus and James.
625AD
Paulinus raises the first church north of the River Hymbre (Humber) in generations within the Roman ruins of Eoforwíc (York) and nearby to the royal hall of King Eádwine, which he dedicates and sanctifies in the name of Saint Peter. Paulinus then begins his journey back to Kent where he is consecrated by the Archbishop Justus on the 21st of July; making him the first Bishop of Eoforwíc since the collapse of the Briton Diocese during the reign of King Yffe of Deira some fifty years earlier.
626AD
King Pybba of Mercia dies after reigning over the newly unified kingdom for just over six years. Upon his death his eldest son Eowa is denied his fathers crown by his younger brother Penda who takes possession of the more fertile southern lengths of the kingdom; in large part due to Penda's ambitions to break free of the overlordship of the Northern and Eastern Angles, which gains him the support of the majority of the kingdoms Éaldormen, whilst his elder brother Eowa favours maintaining the tributary relationship with King Eádwine, as few of the Briton Kings to the west of Mercia are willing to make an enemy of that increasingly powerful ruler.
627AD
The extension of King Eádwine's overlordship to include the Mercians and Eastern and Middle Angles is a growing challenge to King Cwichelm of the Western Saxons, whose influence has already extended far beyond the heartlands of his kingdom along the upper and middles reaches of the River Tames (Thames) and brought a number of smaller Saxon kingdoms under his power, and this conflict of interests over the central lengths of Britain all but ensures a confrontation between these warlords. The King of the Western Saxons is the first to act and attempts to have King Eádwine within his own hall; though the attack is foiled by Eádwine's Hearthguard; the body of armed retainers raised to serve the king. The King of Northumbria then musters his Éaldormen and their thanes with the intention of marching against the West Saxons, but such is the strength of both armies that neither side is guaranteed a victory. King Eádwine, after encouragement from his Queen Æthelburg and the Bishop Paulinus, therefore makes the drastic decision of praying to the Christian God for a victory against his foes, and even promises that he and his first child by the now heavily-pregnant Queen Æthelburg will be baptised should this new God grant his success in battle.
King Eádwine and King Cwichelm eventually meet one another in battle at Þegnasforda (Thenford, Northamptonshire) and it is here that the West Saxons suffer a catastrophic defeat in which King Cwichelm and his army are driven from the field, with five of their lesser kings numbering amongst the hundreds slain that day by Northumbrian hands. This triumph marks the beginning of King Eádwine's Imperium over southern Britain, for his victory over the West Saxons coupled with the his alliances with King Eádbald of Kent and King Eorcenwald of the Eastern Angles leave few with the strength to challenge him. The Northumbrian army thereafter descends upon the heartlands of the West Saxon kingdom and upon its return to Eoforwíc (York) later that summer, it brings with it considerable herds of captured horses and cattle and a good many Saxons who have been claimed as slaves.
The Archbishop Justus of Cantwaraburg (Canterbury) dies on the 10th of November, and is succeeded by Honorius who is consecrated by the Bishop Paulinus of Eoforwíc at Lindumcæster (Lincoln) in a small church constructed by the converts of James the Deacon, who has spent the last two years preaching Christianity to the people of Lindsay. Following this ceremony the newly consecrated Archbishop Honorius informs the Bishop Paulinus that he intends, as soon as it is practicable, to fulfil the original intentions of Pope Gregory by establishing a second Metropolitan See at Eoforwíc to cover northern Britain so that there will always be one Archbishop present in Britain who can canonically consecrate the others successor.
628AD
At the height of the summer, the Bishop Paulinus baptises most of the Deiran royal family including King Eádwine, his sons Osfrith and Eádfrith, his daughter Eánflæd and his grandson Yffi; the child of his eldest son Osfrith. A goodly number of the kingdoms nobility including four of his Éaldormen and scores of thanes also choose to convert, along with a large number of freedmen and thralls, mainly descendants of the Britons who once held the kingdom of Deira, also come forward and take part in the ceremony, but the great majority show little enthusiasm for abandoning their old Gods. The defiant mood of these thanes and freemen are only reinforced by King Eádwine's decision to destroy the pagan shrine at Gódmundsingahám (Goodmanham, Yorkshire) by burning the idols and the ancient and sacred tree that lies at its heart. King Eádwine there grants six tracts of land to the church, and he is able to prevail upon King Blæca of Lindsay to grant an additional three parcels of land in his own kingdom for the establishment of new churches.
The pressure jointly exerted by King Eádbald of Kent and King Eádwine of Northumbria also has the effect of convincing King Eormenwald of the Eastern Angles to accept baptism, who journeys north to Lincoln to be baptised by the Bishop Paulinus with the King of Northumbria serving as his Godfather; a symbolic act that clearly reinforces the primacy of the Northern Angles over both the Middle and Eastern Angles under Eormenwald. The major consequences of this ceremony is a pagan backlash against both Northumbrian overlordship and the intrusive Christian faith by Rícberht, a brother of King Rædwald and an unrepentant pagan, which leads swiftly to the death of Eormenwald shortly after his return to his royal hall at Rendlæshám (Rendlesham, Suffolk). Shortly after the death of his nephew, Rícberht claims for himself the kingdom of the Eastern Angles and is also, by degrees, able to bring a number of the Middle Angle tribes under his rule as well; and the loss of these provinces considerably weakens the Imperium forged by King Eádwine of Northumbria.
629AD
King Penda of Mercia uses the opportunity to presented to him by the Northumbrian victory at Þegnasforda to lay his claim to overlordship over the smaller Saxon kingdoms wedged between the boundaries of his own kingdom that that of the West Saxons, and he succeeds in drawing the army of King Cwichelm into Battle near the ruins of Cercencæstre (Cirencester, Gloucestershire) where the Mercians gain a notable victory, in which King Cwichelm is slain. He is thereafter succeeded by his son Cynegils.
King Seaxræd of the Eastern Saxons also dies later in the course of the year of natural causes and he is succeeded by his son Æffa, who now has as a neighbour a resurgent kingdom of Kent under Eádbald who is at last able to begin regaining a measure of his father's power following the Northumbrian victory over the West Saxons.
631AD
In this year King Eádwine makes the fateful decision to extend his overlordship over the Briton kingdoms that lay to the southwest of Northumbria, and to exact tribute from them. He again musters a large host and marches through the lands of the Mercians and other border kingdoms into the Briton kingdoms of Pengwern, and then into Powys and Gwynedd, with his thanes and freemen freely plundering the countryside as they advance. This incursion drives King Cadwallon of Gwynedd and King Eiludd of Powys to gather their forces and meet the Northumbrians in battle near the mountain they know as Cefn Digoll, and here they manage to attain a costly, though clear-cut, victory against the Northumbrians. King Eádwine chooses to abandon most of the spoils gathered by his warriors marches home with his army, and although much of Britain as far west as the island of Ynys Manau (Isle of Man) still pays tribute to the Northern Angles, it is a sign that other rulers are increasingly prepared to challenge him. Indeed the destruction caused by the Northern Angles results in King Cadwallon of Gwynedd becoming consumed with a burning hatred for them and King Eádwine, and this leads him to search for new allies to aid him in gaining his vengeance.
King Ælríc of the South Saxons dies and is succeeded by his brother Ælfwine who proves equally stubborn in his refusal to grant his protection to those Christian priests who enter his kingdom, as to do so will only bring his people under the influence of the Archbishop Honorius, and by extent the Kings of Kent.
King Rícberht of the Eastern Angles dies unexpectedly and this allows King Eádwine to involve himself in the succession, and after the Northumbrian King has driven Rícberht's sons from the kingdom he assists Sigeberht, the the eldest son of King Rædwald, and his half-brother Ecgríc in claiming the crown. As Sigeberht has already been converted to Christianity during his exile in the kingdom of the Franks he can be counted upon to assist in the conversion of the Eastern Angles, although his dependence upon King Eádwine also brings the Middle and Eastern Angles back under the authority of the King of Northumbria.
King Eádwine of Northumbria also, in the knowledge that the current King of the Eastern Angles is unlikely to father any children due to his fervent beliefs, offers to wed his niece Hereswith to Sigeberht's nephew Æthelríc, the eldest child of Rædwald's youngest brother Eni. The lady Hereswith is escorted south to meet her husband Æthelríc by her uncle during the autumn, with the Bishop Romanus of Hrofascæstre (Rochester, Kent) conducting the marriage ceremony on the 14th of October.
632AD
The Irish monk Fursa arrives in East Anglia with a small party of monks in the hopes of converting the still mainly pagan Eastern Angles, and centres his efforts around the village of Cnobheresburg (Burgh Castle, Norfolk) where he is granted land by King Sigeberht to establish his church. In the same year King Sigeberht also invites the Archbishop Honorius of Cantwaraburg (Canterbury) to establish a diocese for the Eastern Angles and grants the church land at Dumnowíc (Dunwich, Suffolk) to build a cathedral. The Bishop chosen by the Archbishop Honorius to occupy this new Suffragan See is Felix; a Frank who has recently arrived in the kingdom of Kent with the intention of preaching his faith within the lands of the mainly pagan Middle and Eastern Angles, who is ordained as the Bishop of Dumnowíc on the 17th of April.
634AD
King Penda of Mercia and King Cadwallon of Gwynedd launch an invasion of Northumbria in a bid to end the Imperium established by King Eádwine of Northumbria, who has already earned the enmity of the Britons by raiding the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys, and whose dominion over much of southern Britain is effectively a check on King Penda's ambitions of Mercian expansion. This invasion also causes a dynastic struggle for control of Mercia however, for King Eowa has garnered the friendship of the Northumbrians to counter the greater military strength wielded by his brother, and he marches north to fight alongside King Eádwine. King Eádwine and King Eowa eventually bring King Cadwallon and King Penda to battle on the 12th of October at Hæðfelda (Hatfield, Yorkshire) in the kingdom of Deira, but neither side is able to gain the advantage and the battle itself is a costly stalemate. Unfortunately King Cadwallon is mortally wounded at the height of the battle and dies before nightfall; shattering the alliance forged between the Britons and Southern Mercians, and forcing King Penda to withdraw back into his own lands. [1]
635AD
King Eádwine of Northumbria invades the southern half of the kingdom of Mercia with the support of King Blæca of Lindsay and King Eowa, and he succeeds in defeating the Southern Mercians at the battle of Wilignastún (Willington, Derbyshire); in which King Penda and a number of his Éaldormen are slain. This allows King Eowa to claim the kingdom of Mercia as his own, and to strengthen his grasp upon the crown he has Penda's sons Peada and Wulfhere put to death, and is only prevented from murdering his brothers daughters, Cyneburh and Cyneswith, by the intercession of the Archbishop Paulinus of Eoforwíc (York) who promises to take them into the service of the church [2]. King Eádwine and King Eowa then decide to strengthen their alliance through the wedding of King Eowa's daughter Tybba to Eádwine's second son Eádfrith.
The preacher Birinus arrives in the kingdom of Wessex after leaving the kingdom of the Franks, and begins preaching his faith there with the permission of King Cynegils, who is amongst the first converts to this new religion and who is baptised at Dorrcicæster (Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire). Shortly thereafter, Birinus is consecrated as the first Bishop of the West Saxons by the Archbishop Honorius of Cantwaraburg (Canterbury).
636AD
The Bishop Paulinus of Eoforwíc (York) travels south to Kent during the summer and, after receiving his pallium from Pope Honorius I, he is consecrated as the first Archbishop of Eoforwíc on the 21st of July [3]. Upon returning to Northumbria he then organises the ecclesiastical division of the kingdom into two suffragan Dioceses. The first is located at Alunswíc (Alnwick, Northumberland) for the sub-kingdom of Bernicia, to which Hadrian is consecrated as Bishop on the 11th of August. The second is established at Scírburnan (Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire) for the provinces of Deira and Lindsay, and is given to James who is consecrated on the 8th of August. Lastly Martinus is consecrated as the first Bishop of the Mercians on the 2nd of September, and is granted land by King Eowa at Ligerascæster (Leicester) upon which he may raise his cathedral, and he takes with him several of the first Northumbrians to be ordained as priests [4].
The elderly Bishop Romanus of Hrofascæstre (Rochester, Kent) dies on the 21st of October and is succeeded by Agilvald, one of many Frankish priests who has come over to Britain in recent years, who is consecrated by the Archbishop Honorius of Canterbury six days later.
637AD
By the beginning of the summer King Eádwine has moved from Eoforwíc to a second royal hall at Berewíc (Barwick-in-Elmet, Yorkshire) with his household, and he now turns his attention towards the growing trade between his people and the kingdom of Kent, and the kingdoms of the Frisians and Franks beyond the Narrow Sea. In a bid to increase the movement of ships between these ports he establishes the first Northumbrian mint, itself merely an imitation of those already established by the Kings of Kent, which is set to work producing increasing numbers of broad gold pennies under the guidance of his eldest son Osfrith and the Bishop James of Scírburnan.
King Æffa of the Eastern Saxons dies and is jointly succeeded by his sons Sigefrith and Swæfa; with the former ruling over the Eastern Saxons and the latter serving as his sub-king and governing the Middle Saxons.
639AD
King Eowa of Mercia agrees to be baptised along with his sons Osmund and Éaldwulf, and the ceremony is conducted jointly by the Bishop Martinus of Ligerascæster (Leicester) and the Bishop James of Scírburnan (Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire). Shortly after his baptism, King Eowa consents to allow the Northumbrian Frithuríc, one of the monks who accompanied the Bishop Martinus into Mercia, to found a dual Abbey at Hrypadún (Repton, Staffordshire); a former site of pagan worship for the Mercians. Under the guidance of the Abbot Friðuríc, the Abbey at Hrypadún will grow into a major religious complex that will not only wield considerable influence within the kingdom but also come to house the burial crypts of the Kings of Mercia.
Cuthræd, the eldest son of King Cynegils, is baptised at Dorrcicæster (Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire) by the Bishop Birinus, although his younger brother Cenwælh proves unwilling to abandon the old Saxon gods; and the kingdom itself becomes divided between those willing to convert who support Cuthræd, the heir apparent, and those who wish to remain pagan; with the latter shifting their support towards Cenwælh.
640AD
King Eádwine of Northumbria summons his Bishops and Éaldormen to Eoforwíc, and the subsequent two weeks of discussion culminate with the introduction of Laws of Eádwine, which are recorded by the Archbishop Paulinus in writing. In total the code establishes ninety-eight laws that can be divided into nine separate sections; with the five dealing with crimes against the royal family and its household, against the church, against nobles, against freemen and finally against freedmen and thralls, the sixth imposing a list of general offences against the Kingdom and the seventh proscribing the fines and punishments for the above crimes, ranging from theft up to murder and mutilation. The remaining two sections meanwhile cover crimes against freemen, foreigners and other innocents travelling within his kingdom and their rights to protection, and finally a list of punishable acts against women. [5]
King Eádbald of Kent falls suddenly from his horse whilst hunting with his retinue in the depths of the Æscedúnweald (Ashdown Forest) on the 3rd of August and within an hour he breathes for a final time and dies. He is buried within the graveyard of the Cathedral at Canterbury [Cantwaraburg] but a few days later, and as his brother Æthelwald has pre-deceased by several years, his crown passes jointly to his sons Eormenræd and Eorcenberht; with the former holding Eastern Kent and the latter the sub-kingdom of Western Kent. King Eádbald is joined in death by his daughter, the Abbess Eánswith of Folcanstán (Folkestone, Kent), on the 12th of September. The Archbishop Honorius thereafter recognises Eánswith as a Saint, and the date of her death becomes her feast day.
641AD
King Sigeberht of the Eastern Angles dies and his crown passes to his half-brother Ecgríc, whilst his half-nephew Æthelríc and his Queen Hereswith are given possession of the Middle Anglian territories to rule as a sub-kingdom in Ecgrícs name
King Eádwine of Northumbria falls ill with a fever and dies in his fifty-second year barely a week later on the 5th of June after receiving the final rites from the Archbishop Paulinus of Eoforwíc (York), and it is here on his deathbed that he asks Paulinus to take his youngest son Æthelhún (aged 9) into the service of the Church in repayment for the favour granted to him by the Christian God [6], and also grants his Archbishop twelve tracts of land upon which to build new churches and monasteries [7]. In the wake of his death his remains at interred in the crypt of the Abbey of Pocelingastún (Pocklington), which from this point comes to serve as the royal cemetery for the Kings of Northumbria, and Æthelburg, his Queen, chooses to take holy vows and enters the Abbey at Donescæster [Doncaster, Yorkshire] as a nun. King Eádwine is succeeded by his eldest son Osfrith and his wife Æbba, and Osfrith begins his reign by deciding to appointing his younger brother Eádfrith as his sub-king of Deira and installing his son Yffi as sub-king of Bernicia in place of his cousin Osríc, who in turn is appointed as his Patrician following the death of the Éaldorman Beornláf.
Notes:
[1] The POD of this timeline is a Northumbrian victory at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in which King Cadwallon of Gwynedd is slain, rather than King Eádwine. This means that Northumbria in TTL will be ruled by the Deiran rather than the Bernician dynasty as per OTL, but the exiled children of King Æthelfrith will still have their part to play in the story as it unfolds.
[2] Cyneburg, Cyneswith and Tybba all become nuns in OTL. The deaths of Penda's children will have some interesting effects, but this should not be taken as implying that Mercia will be permanently reduced, somehow, to a vassal state of Northumbria, or that relations between the two will be more cordial than OTL. Æthelbald of Mercia, was a descendent of King Eowa rather than King Penda, and it was during his reign that Mercia was forged into the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom for much of the Eighth Century.
[3] Martinus and Hadrian are not historical figures from OTL. Rather, they represent two of the OTL priests, who were never named, that accompanied Paulinus, James and Æthelburg to Northumbria in OTL. The averting of the OTL defeat at Hatfield Chase has meant that Paulinus and the majority of his priests have not scampered off to Kent following the ascension of the pagan Kings Eánfrith of Bernicia and Osríc of Deira, and are still around to actually play a part in establishing the Northern branch of the English Church.
[4] The result of the earlier establishment of a Metropolitan See under Paulinus means that the outlook of the northern church is, from its beginnings, oriented towards Rome and the Papacy rather than to the Church of Iona, although this does not mean that the Irish priesthood will not have their parts to play in Northumbria or elsewhere in Britain; much as they did outside of Northumbria in OTL.
[5] As would only be natural, a lot of King Eádwine's own experiences from his years in exile are bleeding through into his law-code.
[6] This is perhaps a good point to explain the OTL fates of the family of King Eádwine. His eldest son Osfrith was slain at the Battle of Hatfield Chase, whilst Eádfrith was captured by Penda and later killed in Mercia during the reign of Oswiu of Northumbria. His Queen Æthelburg, fled to Kent and took his son Uscfréa and grandson Yffi with her, and eventually sent both of them to the court of King Dagobert I of the Franks for protection; where they later died in exile as a young age. Eánflæd of course survived and married King Oswiu of Northumbria and later went on to found Whitby Abbey. Lastly, Bede also records that Æthelthryth and Æthelhún were later “snatched from life whilst still wearing their white baptismal robes” whilst discussing Edwin's baptism in 628AD, but does not provide a date for their deaths. The victory for the Northumbrians at Hatfield Chase in TTL has therefore averted most of the circumstances that led to these deaths.
[7] These would be at Alnmouth, Blyth, Chillingham, Corbridge, Ebchester & Rothbury in the kingdom of Bernicia and at Berverley, Billingham, Driffield, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough & Withernsea in the kingdom of Deira. These are in addition to the original land grants made by King Eádwine after his baptism in 628AD which were located at Aldborough, Austerfield, Catterick, Doncaster, Otley & Pocklington in the kingdom of Deira, and at Bardney, Barrow and Luddington in the kingdom of Lindsey. The religious communities established in 628AD will actually begin playing a part in TTL during the next couple of posts.
Authors Note:
This timeline uses the Kirby / Miller interpretation of Northumbrian history which attempts to solve several minor problems of Northumbrian history between the death of King Edwin and the ascension of Ecgfrith as they are narrated by Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English Speaking Peoples. Bede, in hisChronica Maiora, believed that King Ælle was still reigning over the Kingdom of Deira circa 597AD when Saint Augustine and his fellow missionaries first arrived in Kent which further confuses the Deiran succession between the years 585AD and 605AD, and secondly there does seem to have been an unusually long delay between the demise of King Edwin at the Battle of Hatfield Chase and Pope Honorius I receiving news of his death (Over a year, when letters prior to this event seeming took five-six months to pass between Kent and Rome). The muddle continues from here until the death of King Owsiu and the ascension of King Ecgfrith, but they are easily and very tidily amended by placing by Kirby's suggestion that Edwin's death actually occurred in the year 634AD.
Obviously this will effect the chronological sequence of some events outside Northumbria, as several English and Welsh sources including the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle apparently made use of Bede's Ecclesiastical History for the computation of time, and so the dates may differ from those traditionally associated with a particular event. I have chosen to use this interpretation because to myself, it makes greater sense of the history of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms during the early Seventh Century, though I accept that this is not necessarily the prevailing academic consensus and that some of you might take issue with this decision.
Finally I wish to draw attention to the differences and similarities between this reworking of my timeline and the original version. It should immediately be clear to anyone who read the original timeline that far more extensive research on Anglo-Saxon History has been undertaken on my part. Secondly I feel that the layout of the original version, with each update corresponding to the reign of a particular King, remains a good way to structure the story as it unfolds. Rather that list the modern translations of place names separately below the rest of the update I will this time state the Old English name and then add its current spelling and location directly afterwards; for example Cyningesburh [Conisbrough, South Yorkshire]. As before I admit openly to fleshing out the given events provided in the sources and using my own imagination to fill in the gaps before we even reach our Point Of Departure from History, but then again with our knowledge on the Early Middle Ages in England, and on a far greater scale the European Continent, being very limited I feel this is necessary to keep the story going.
All misinterpretations, glaring mistakes prior to and following the POD and grammatical errors are of course my own...
616AD
King Æthelberht of Kent dies on the 24th of February and is succeeded by his pagan son Eádbald, and with his ascension the gains made by the Augustinian Mission begin to unravel around them. Although King Eádbald tolerates the presence of Christians in his kingdom, in large part due to the fact that other members of his family, including his younger brother Æthelwald and sister Æthelburg, have already been baptised, he is far less willing to extend that protection into the pagan kingdoms of the Eastern, Middle and Southern Saxons, and this unwillingness to support the church is made all the worse by King Eádbald's decision to marry his father's widow; Sigethryth. This is a common enough practice amongst the pagan Saxons at the time and its purpose is to maintain the fragile alliances cultivated by King Æthelberht, but the practice is also a serious sin in the eyes of Christians.
To make matters worse the succession of King Eádbald is followed in quick succession by the death of King Sæberht of the Eastern Saxons, who is succeeded jointly by his three pagan sons Seaxræd, Sæweard and Seaxbald; youths who see the deaths of both their father and King Æthelberht as an opportunity to end the overlordship of the Kentish kings over their lands. The result is the expulsion of Christian priests from their lands in a backlash against the new faith which culminates in the decision of the Bishop Mellitus to abandon the diocese of Lundenwíc (London) and retire to Canterbury. A further worrying consequence of the death of King Æthelberht of Kent is the ease with which King Cwichelm of Wessex is able to assert himself over the Southern Saxons under their King Ædda, and thus detach Sussex from the waning overlordship of the Kings of Kent.
617AD
King Æthelfrith of Bernicia is defeated by the village of Réadsfyrda (Retford, Nottinghamshire), a small village upon the banks of the River Idel (Idle), by King Rædwald of the Eastern Angles, who gains a great victory over the Northern Angles that allows him to claim the overlordship, or Imperium as it will be styled by the Christian Church, over much of the island of Britain. His triumph is marred however by the loss of his eldest son Rægenhere, who numbers amongst the hundreds slain during the battle. King Rædwald consolidates his power by installing the exiled Ætheling Eádwine, the only surviving son of King Ælle of Deira, as the ruler of unified kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira (whose inhabitants are collectively known as the Northern or Humbrian Angles); thereby establishing Eádwine as a client king who will support the hegemony of the Eastern Angles.
The first year of King Eádwine's reign is spent journeying across the kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira in an attempt to re-establish his family's power, and rooting out and exiling those loyal to the now-dead King Æthelfrith. A number of the kingdoms noble families, particularly those closely related to the exiled Bernician dynasty, are put to the sword with the few survivors being forced into exile. To Eádwine's dismay the children of his sister Acha, the most prominent and potentially troublesome rival candidates to his crown, have already fled north into the kingdom of the Picts, and are now beyond the reach of his thanes swords. This blow is softened though when King Eádwine learns that some members of his family have managed to survive Æthelfrith's reign; these being Osríc, the son of his older brother Ælfríc, and his son Oswine, as well as his great-nieces Hereswith and Hilda, who are the granddaughters of his eldest brother Ælthelríc. King Eádwine then divides his kingdom into two sub-kingships, with Bernicia coming under the rule of his nephew Osríc and Deira going to his eldest son Osfrith.
618AD
King Cwichelm invades the kingdom of the East Saxons, just four years after his great victory over the Britons at Beandún (Bindon, Devonshire), and wins another victory at Brómfeldan (Broomfield, Essex) that leaves two of the East Saxon kings, Sæweard and Seaxbald, dead on the field. This proves to be the final blow needed to utterly undermine the last vestiges of authority yielded by King Eádbald of Kent, who is only able to maintain power outside of Kent over the contested stretch of territory, on the southern bank of the River Tames (Surrey) between his kingdom and the lands of the Middle and Southern Saxons. King Seaxræd meanwhile remains King of the Eastern Saxons, but finds himself reduced to a status of a West Saxon sub-king.
619AD
King Eádwine of the Northern Angles assembles an army of thanes and freemen before the Deiran royal hall at Eoforwíc (York) and then leads this army south in an invasion of the Briton kingdom of Elmed; with the twofold purpose of gaining vengeance upon the Britons for their part in the murder of his kinsman Hereríc, some seventeen years earlier, and secondly to enrich himself, and the Éaldormen and thanes who support him, by plundering the kingdom of any moveable wealth and then dividing up possession of the inhabitants lands. The warriors of Elmed are assembled King Ceredig ap Gwallog who marches out to meet the invading Angles, and he chooses to make his stand at Eádburhsfyrda (Aberford, Yorkshire), named after a long-dead Deiran Queen, where they meet the Northern Angles in battle. It is here that King Eádwine gains his first victory and the Britons are put to flight, and although King Ceredig is able to escape the battlefield with his life, he loses his kingdom in the process and is forced into exile with his family.
In the kingdom of Kent the Archbishop Laurentius of Cantwaraburg (Canterbury) succumbs to a fever and dies on the 2nd of February and the remaining members of the Augustinian Mission elect Mellitus, the former Bishop of Lundenwíc (London), as their new Archbishop. The loss of Laurentius and his determined leadership is another hard blow to the church's presence on the island of Britain and Mellitus proves unable to reverse the decline that has befallen his church, but he does devote his energies entirely to preventing the absolute collapse of the mission and ensures that, at the very least, Cantwaraburg and Hrofascæstre (Rochester, Kent) are retained as small islands of Christianity amidst a pagan sea.
620AD
King Cearl of Mercia, the man who once gave sanctuary to the exiled Eádwine and offered him his daughter Céorlburg as his bride, dies after a reign spent uniting the tribes of Humbrian Angles dwelling along the northern and southern banks of the River Trente (Trent). As King Cearl has outlived both of his own sons and has no surviving male kinsmen to succeed him, his crown passes to the brother of his Queen Affa, who is named Pybba. The new King of the Mercians rules directly over the larger and more populous Southern Mercians from Cearl's royal hall at Tamuworthig (Tamworth, Staffordshire). At the same time his eldest son and heir Eowa and his wife Tetta, who is a daughter of King Osberht of the Hwicce, is given possession of the northern half of the kingdom to rule in his fathers name.
624AD
King Rædwald of the Eastern Angles dies after having held the Imperium of Britain for seven turbulent years, and in the months that follow his crown is disputed by his youngest sons. The elder of the two contenders is Sigeberht, his son by his first Queen Sæthryth who was a daughter of King Sæberht of the Eastern Saxons, whilst the younger contender is Eormenwald, his son by his second wife Wulfswith; a daughter of King Wígláf of Wiht (Isle of Wight). The struggle for the crown is ultimately won by Eormenwald, who gains the support of the kingdoms nobility and as a result is able to drive Sigeberht into exile on the continent and to some extent impose his overlordship over the Middle Angles and Eastern Saxons. By this point however the King of the Eastern Angles is in no position to extend his power further north and as a result neither King Eádwine of the Humbrian Angles or King Pybba of the Mercians acknowledges King Eormenwald's overlordship.
A second major development during the course of this year is the conversion of King Eádbald of Kent by the Bishop Justus of Hrofascæstre (Rochester, Kent), who is able to convince the King of Kent to be baptised and to provide the Archbishop of Cantwaraburg (Canterbury) with a second grant of land for the establishment of a second church. The ceremony is performed by the Archbishop Mellitus, who dies several weeks later and is succeeded by Justus as Archbishop who receives his Pallium from Pope Boniface towards the end of the year and consecrates Romanus as his successor to the Diocese of Hrofascæstre. It proves quite fortuitous that the conversion of King Eádbald occurs but a few months before the arrival of King Eádwine of the Northern Angles, who has come south to the kingdom of Kent in search of a second wife (his previous wife Cwenburg having died during his time in exile amongst the Eastern Angles), and this gives the Archbishop of Cantwaraburg a considerable degree of influence in the discussions that follow.
The King of Kent consents to a marriage between his younger sibling Æthelburg and King Eádwine on the condition that a number of priests accompany them north to perform the necessary rites and ceremonies for his sister; to which King Eádwine consents. The King of the Northern Angles and his new Queen then make their journey back to towards the Deiran royal hall at Eoforwíc (York) with a small band of priests headed by two men destined to play a great roles within the church; who are named Paulinus and James.
625AD
Paulinus raises the first church north of the River Hymbre (Humber) in generations within the Roman ruins of Eoforwíc (York) and nearby to the royal hall of King Eádwine, which he dedicates and sanctifies in the name of Saint Peter. Paulinus then begins his journey back to Kent where he is consecrated by the Archbishop Justus on the 21st of July; making him the first Bishop of Eoforwíc since the collapse of the Briton Diocese during the reign of King Yffe of Deira some fifty years earlier.
626AD
King Pybba of Mercia dies after reigning over the newly unified kingdom for just over six years. Upon his death his eldest son Eowa is denied his fathers crown by his younger brother Penda who takes possession of the more fertile southern lengths of the kingdom; in large part due to Penda's ambitions to break free of the overlordship of the Northern and Eastern Angles, which gains him the support of the majority of the kingdoms Éaldormen, whilst his elder brother Eowa favours maintaining the tributary relationship with King Eádwine, as few of the Briton Kings to the west of Mercia are willing to make an enemy of that increasingly powerful ruler.
627AD
The extension of King Eádwine's overlordship to include the Mercians and Eastern and Middle Angles is a growing challenge to King Cwichelm of the Western Saxons, whose influence has already extended far beyond the heartlands of his kingdom along the upper and middles reaches of the River Tames (Thames) and brought a number of smaller Saxon kingdoms under his power, and this conflict of interests over the central lengths of Britain all but ensures a confrontation between these warlords. The King of the Western Saxons is the first to act and attempts to have King Eádwine within his own hall; though the attack is foiled by Eádwine's Hearthguard; the body of armed retainers raised to serve the king. The King of Northumbria then musters his Éaldormen and their thanes with the intention of marching against the West Saxons, but such is the strength of both armies that neither side is guaranteed a victory. King Eádwine, after encouragement from his Queen Æthelburg and the Bishop Paulinus, therefore makes the drastic decision of praying to the Christian God for a victory against his foes, and even promises that he and his first child by the now heavily-pregnant Queen Æthelburg will be baptised should this new God grant his success in battle.
King Eádwine and King Cwichelm eventually meet one another in battle at Þegnasforda (Thenford, Northamptonshire) and it is here that the West Saxons suffer a catastrophic defeat in which King Cwichelm and his army are driven from the field, with five of their lesser kings numbering amongst the hundreds slain that day by Northumbrian hands. This triumph marks the beginning of King Eádwine's Imperium over southern Britain, for his victory over the West Saxons coupled with the his alliances with King Eádbald of Kent and King Eorcenwald of the Eastern Angles leave few with the strength to challenge him. The Northumbrian army thereafter descends upon the heartlands of the West Saxon kingdom and upon its return to Eoforwíc (York) later that summer, it brings with it considerable herds of captured horses and cattle and a good many Saxons who have been claimed as slaves.
The Archbishop Justus of Cantwaraburg (Canterbury) dies on the 10th of November, and is succeeded by Honorius who is consecrated by the Bishop Paulinus of Eoforwíc at Lindumcæster (Lincoln) in a small church constructed by the converts of James the Deacon, who has spent the last two years preaching Christianity to the people of Lindsay. Following this ceremony the newly consecrated Archbishop Honorius informs the Bishop Paulinus that he intends, as soon as it is practicable, to fulfil the original intentions of Pope Gregory by establishing a second Metropolitan See at Eoforwíc to cover northern Britain so that there will always be one Archbishop present in Britain who can canonically consecrate the others successor.
628AD
At the height of the summer, the Bishop Paulinus baptises most of the Deiran royal family including King Eádwine, his sons Osfrith and Eádfrith, his daughter Eánflæd and his grandson Yffi; the child of his eldest son Osfrith. A goodly number of the kingdoms nobility including four of his Éaldormen and scores of thanes also choose to convert, along with a large number of freedmen and thralls, mainly descendants of the Britons who once held the kingdom of Deira, also come forward and take part in the ceremony, but the great majority show little enthusiasm for abandoning their old Gods. The defiant mood of these thanes and freemen are only reinforced by King Eádwine's decision to destroy the pagan shrine at Gódmundsingahám (Goodmanham, Yorkshire) by burning the idols and the ancient and sacred tree that lies at its heart. King Eádwine there grants six tracts of land to the church, and he is able to prevail upon King Blæca of Lindsay to grant an additional three parcels of land in his own kingdom for the establishment of new churches.
The pressure jointly exerted by King Eádbald of Kent and King Eádwine of Northumbria also has the effect of convincing King Eormenwald of the Eastern Angles to accept baptism, who journeys north to Lincoln to be baptised by the Bishop Paulinus with the King of Northumbria serving as his Godfather; a symbolic act that clearly reinforces the primacy of the Northern Angles over both the Middle and Eastern Angles under Eormenwald. The major consequences of this ceremony is a pagan backlash against both Northumbrian overlordship and the intrusive Christian faith by Rícberht, a brother of King Rædwald and an unrepentant pagan, which leads swiftly to the death of Eormenwald shortly after his return to his royal hall at Rendlæshám (Rendlesham, Suffolk). Shortly after the death of his nephew, Rícberht claims for himself the kingdom of the Eastern Angles and is also, by degrees, able to bring a number of the Middle Angle tribes under his rule as well; and the loss of these provinces considerably weakens the Imperium forged by King Eádwine of Northumbria.
629AD
King Penda of Mercia uses the opportunity to presented to him by the Northumbrian victory at Þegnasforda to lay his claim to overlordship over the smaller Saxon kingdoms wedged between the boundaries of his own kingdom that that of the West Saxons, and he succeeds in drawing the army of King Cwichelm into Battle near the ruins of Cercencæstre (Cirencester, Gloucestershire) where the Mercians gain a notable victory, in which King Cwichelm is slain. He is thereafter succeeded by his son Cynegils.
King Seaxræd of the Eastern Saxons also dies later in the course of the year of natural causes and he is succeeded by his son Æffa, who now has as a neighbour a resurgent kingdom of Kent under Eádbald who is at last able to begin regaining a measure of his father's power following the Northumbrian victory over the West Saxons.
631AD
In this year King Eádwine makes the fateful decision to extend his overlordship over the Briton kingdoms that lay to the southwest of Northumbria, and to exact tribute from them. He again musters a large host and marches through the lands of the Mercians and other border kingdoms into the Briton kingdoms of Pengwern, and then into Powys and Gwynedd, with his thanes and freemen freely plundering the countryside as they advance. This incursion drives King Cadwallon of Gwynedd and King Eiludd of Powys to gather their forces and meet the Northumbrians in battle near the mountain they know as Cefn Digoll, and here they manage to attain a costly, though clear-cut, victory against the Northumbrians. King Eádwine chooses to abandon most of the spoils gathered by his warriors marches home with his army, and although much of Britain as far west as the island of Ynys Manau (Isle of Man) still pays tribute to the Northern Angles, it is a sign that other rulers are increasingly prepared to challenge him. Indeed the destruction caused by the Northern Angles results in King Cadwallon of Gwynedd becoming consumed with a burning hatred for them and King Eádwine, and this leads him to search for new allies to aid him in gaining his vengeance.
King Ælríc of the South Saxons dies and is succeeded by his brother Ælfwine who proves equally stubborn in his refusal to grant his protection to those Christian priests who enter his kingdom, as to do so will only bring his people under the influence of the Archbishop Honorius, and by extent the Kings of Kent.
King Rícberht of the Eastern Angles dies unexpectedly and this allows King Eádwine to involve himself in the succession, and after the Northumbrian King has driven Rícberht's sons from the kingdom he assists Sigeberht, the the eldest son of King Rædwald, and his half-brother Ecgríc in claiming the crown. As Sigeberht has already been converted to Christianity during his exile in the kingdom of the Franks he can be counted upon to assist in the conversion of the Eastern Angles, although his dependence upon King Eádwine also brings the Middle and Eastern Angles back under the authority of the King of Northumbria.
King Eádwine of Northumbria also, in the knowledge that the current King of the Eastern Angles is unlikely to father any children due to his fervent beliefs, offers to wed his niece Hereswith to Sigeberht's nephew Æthelríc, the eldest child of Rædwald's youngest brother Eni. The lady Hereswith is escorted south to meet her husband Æthelríc by her uncle during the autumn, with the Bishop Romanus of Hrofascæstre (Rochester, Kent) conducting the marriage ceremony on the 14th of October.
632AD
The Irish monk Fursa arrives in East Anglia with a small party of monks in the hopes of converting the still mainly pagan Eastern Angles, and centres his efforts around the village of Cnobheresburg (Burgh Castle, Norfolk) where he is granted land by King Sigeberht to establish his church. In the same year King Sigeberht also invites the Archbishop Honorius of Cantwaraburg (Canterbury) to establish a diocese for the Eastern Angles and grants the church land at Dumnowíc (Dunwich, Suffolk) to build a cathedral. The Bishop chosen by the Archbishop Honorius to occupy this new Suffragan See is Felix; a Frank who has recently arrived in the kingdom of Kent with the intention of preaching his faith within the lands of the mainly pagan Middle and Eastern Angles, who is ordained as the Bishop of Dumnowíc on the 17th of April.
634AD
King Penda of Mercia and King Cadwallon of Gwynedd launch an invasion of Northumbria in a bid to end the Imperium established by King Eádwine of Northumbria, who has already earned the enmity of the Britons by raiding the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys, and whose dominion over much of southern Britain is effectively a check on King Penda's ambitions of Mercian expansion. This invasion also causes a dynastic struggle for control of Mercia however, for King Eowa has garnered the friendship of the Northumbrians to counter the greater military strength wielded by his brother, and he marches north to fight alongside King Eádwine. King Eádwine and King Eowa eventually bring King Cadwallon and King Penda to battle on the 12th of October at Hæðfelda (Hatfield, Yorkshire) in the kingdom of Deira, but neither side is able to gain the advantage and the battle itself is a costly stalemate. Unfortunately King Cadwallon is mortally wounded at the height of the battle and dies before nightfall; shattering the alliance forged between the Britons and Southern Mercians, and forcing King Penda to withdraw back into his own lands. [1]
635AD
King Eádwine of Northumbria invades the southern half of the kingdom of Mercia with the support of King Blæca of Lindsay and King Eowa, and he succeeds in defeating the Southern Mercians at the battle of Wilignastún (Willington, Derbyshire); in which King Penda and a number of his Éaldormen are slain. This allows King Eowa to claim the kingdom of Mercia as his own, and to strengthen his grasp upon the crown he has Penda's sons Peada and Wulfhere put to death, and is only prevented from murdering his brothers daughters, Cyneburh and Cyneswith, by the intercession of the Archbishop Paulinus of Eoforwíc (York) who promises to take them into the service of the church [2]. King Eádwine and King Eowa then decide to strengthen their alliance through the wedding of King Eowa's daughter Tybba to Eádwine's second son Eádfrith.
The preacher Birinus arrives in the kingdom of Wessex after leaving the kingdom of the Franks, and begins preaching his faith there with the permission of King Cynegils, who is amongst the first converts to this new religion and who is baptised at Dorrcicæster (Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire). Shortly thereafter, Birinus is consecrated as the first Bishop of the West Saxons by the Archbishop Honorius of Cantwaraburg (Canterbury).
636AD
The Bishop Paulinus of Eoforwíc (York) travels south to Kent during the summer and, after receiving his pallium from Pope Honorius I, he is consecrated as the first Archbishop of Eoforwíc on the 21st of July [3]. Upon returning to Northumbria he then organises the ecclesiastical division of the kingdom into two suffragan Dioceses. The first is located at Alunswíc (Alnwick, Northumberland) for the sub-kingdom of Bernicia, to which Hadrian is consecrated as Bishop on the 11th of August. The second is established at Scírburnan (Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire) for the provinces of Deira and Lindsay, and is given to James who is consecrated on the 8th of August. Lastly Martinus is consecrated as the first Bishop of the Mercians on the 2nd of September, and is granted land by King Eowa at Ligerascæster (Leicester) upon which he may raise his cathedral, and he takes with him several of the first Northumbrians to be ordained as priests [4].
The elderly Bishop Romanus of Hrofascæstre (Rochester, Kent) dies on the 21st of October and is succeeded by Agilvald, one of many Frankish priests who has come over to Britain in recent years, who is consecrated by the Archbishop Honorius of Canterbury six days later.
637AD
By the beginning of the summer King Eádwine has moved from Eoforwíc to a second royal hall at Berewíc (Barwick-in-Elmet, Yorkshire) with his household, and he now turns his attention towards the growing trade between his people and the kingdom of Kent, and the kingdoms of the Frisians and Franks beyond the Narrow Sea. In a bid to increase the movement of ships between these ports he establishes the first Northumbrian mint, itself merely an imitation of those already established by the Kings of Kent, which is set to work producing increasing numbers of broad gold pennies under the guidance of his eldest son Osfrith and the Bishop James of Scírburnan.
King Æffa of the Eastern Saxons dies and is jointly succeeded by his sons Sigefrith and Swæfa; with the former ruling over the Eastern Saxons and the latter serving as his sub-king and governing the Middle Saxons.
639AD
King Eowa of Mercia agrees to be baptised along with his sons Osmund and Éaldwulf, and the ceremony is conducted jointly by the Bishop Martinus of Ligerascæster (Leicester) and the Bishop James of Scírburnan (Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire). Shortly after his baptism, King Eowa consents to allow the Northumbrian Frithuríc, one of the monks who accompanied the Bishop Martinus into Mercia, to found a dual Abbey at Hrypadún (Repton, Staffordshire); a former site of pagan worship for the Mercians. Under the guidance of the Abbot Friðuríc, the Abbey at Hrypadún will grow into a major religious complex that will not only wield considerable influence within the kingdom but also come to house the burial crypts of the Kings of Mercia.
Cuthræd, the eldest son of King Cynegils, is baptised at Dorrcicæster (Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire) by the Bishop Birinus, although his younger brother Cenwælh proves unwilling to abandon the old Saxon gods; and the kingdom itself becomes divided between those willing to convert who support Cuthræd, the heir apparent, and those who wish to remain pagan; with the latter shifting their support towards Cenwælh.
640AD
King Eádwine of Northumbria summons his Bishops and Éaldormen to Eoforwíc, and the subsequent two weeks of discussion culminate with the introduction of Laws of Eádwine, which are recorded by the Archbishop Paulinus in writing. In total the code establishes ninety-eight laws that can be divided into nine separate sections; with the five dealing with crimes against the royal family and its household, against the church, against nobles, against freemen and finally against freedmen and thralls, the sixth imposing a list of general offences against the Kingdom and the seventh proscribing the fines and punishments for the above crimes, ranging from theft up to murder and mutilation. The remaining two sections meanwhile cover crimes against freemen, foreigners and other innocents travelling within his kingdom and their rights to protection, and finally a list of punishable acts against women. [5]
King Eádbald of Kent falls suddenly from his horse whilst hunting with his retinue in the depths of the Æscedúnweald (Ashdown Forest) on the 3rd of August and within an hour he breathes for a final time and dies. He is buried within the graveyard of the Cathedral at Canterbury [Cantwaraburg] but a few days later, and as his brother Æthelwald has pre-deceased by several years, his crown passes jointly to his sons Eormenræd and Eorcenberht; with the former holding Eastern Kent and the latter the sub-kingdom of Western Kent. King Eádbald is joined in death by his daughter, the Abbess Eánswith of Folcanstán (Folkestone, Kent), on the 12th of September. The Archbishop Honorius thereafter recognises Eánswith as a Saint, and the date of her death becomes her feast day.
641AD
King Sigeberht of the Eastern Angles dies and his crown passes to his half-brother Ecgríc, whilst his half-nephew Æthelríc and his Queen Hereswith are given possession of the Middle Anglian territories to rule as a sub-kingdom in Ecgrícs name
King Eádwine of Northumbria falls ill with a fever and dies in his fifty-second year barely a week later on the 5th of June after receiving the final rites from the Archbishop Paulinus of Eoforwíc (York), and it is here on his deathbed that he asks Paulinus to take his youngest son Æthelhún (aged 9) into the service of the Church in repayment for the favour granted to him by the Christian God [6], and also grants his Archbishop twelve tracts of land upon which to build new churches and monasteries [7]. In the wake of his death his remains at interred in the crypt of the Abbey of Pocelingastún (Pocklington), which from this point comes to serve as the royal cemetery for the Kings of Northumbria, and Æthelburg, his Queen, chooses to take holy vows and enters the Abbey at Donescæster [Doncaster, Yorkshire] as a nun. King Eádwine is succeeded by his eldest son Osfrith and his wife Æbba, and Osfrith begins his reign by deciding to appointing his younger brother Eádfrith as his sub-king of Deira and installing his son Yffi as sub-king of Bernicia in place of his cousin Osríc, who in turn is appointed as his Patrician following the death of the Éaldorman Beornláf.
Notes:
[1] The POD of this timeline is a Northumbrian victory at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in which King Cadwallon of Gwynedd is slain, rather than King Eádwine. This means that Northumbria in TTL will be ruled by the Deiran rather than the Bernician dynasty as per OTL, but the exiled children of King Æthelfrith will still have their part to play in the story as it unfolds.
[2] Cyneburg, Cyneswith and Tybba all become nuns in OTL. The deaths of Penda's children will have some interesting effects, but this should not be taken as implying that Mercia will be permanently reduced, somehow, to a vassal state of Northumbria, or that relations between the two will be more cordial than OTL. Æthelbald of Mercia, was a descendent of King Eowa rather than King Penda, and it was during his reign that Mercia was forged into the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom for much of the Eighth Century.
[3] Martinus and Hadrian are not historical figures from OTL. Rather, they represent two of the OTL priests, who were never named, that accompanied Paulinus, James and Æthelburg to Northumbria in OTL. The averting of the OTL defeat at Hatfield Chase has meant that Paulinus and the majority of his priests have not scampered off to Kent following the ascension of the pagan Kings Eánfrith of Bernicia and Osríc of Deira, and are still around to actually play a part in establishing the Northern branch of the English Church.
[4] The result of the earlier establishment of a Metropolitan See under Paulinus means that the outlook of the northern church is, from its beginnings, oriented towards Rome and the Papacy rather than to the Church of Iona, although this does not mean that the Irish priesthood will not have their parts to play in Northumbria or elsewhere in Britain; much as they did outside of Northumbria in OTL.
[5] As would only be natural, a lot of King Eádwine's own experiences from his years in exile are bleeding through into his law-code.
[6] This is perhaps a good point to explain the OTL fates of the family of King Eádwine. His eldest son Osfrith was slain at the Battle of Hatfield Chase, whilst Eádfrith was captured by Penda and later killed in Mercia during the reign of Oswiu of Northumbria. His Queen Æthelburg, fled to Kent and took his son Uscfréa and grandson Yffi with her, and eventually sent both of them to the court of King Dagobert I of the Franks for protection; where they later died in exile as a young age. Eánflæd of course survived and married King Oswiu of Northumbria and later went on to found Whitby Abbey. Lastly, Bede also records that Æthelthryth and Æthelhún were later “snatched from life whilst still wearing their white baptismal robes” whilst discussing Edwin's baptism in 628AD, but does not provide a date for their deaths. The victory for the Northumbrians at Hatfield Chase in TTL has therefore averted most of the circumstances that led to these deaths.
[7] These would be at Alnmouth, Blyth, Chillingham, Corbridge, Ebchester & Rothbury in the kingdom of Bernicia and at Berverley, Billingham, Driffield, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough & Withernsea in the kingdom of Deira. These are in addition to the original land grants made by King Eádwine after his baptism in 628AD which were located at Aldborough, Austerfield, Catterick, Doncaster, Otley & Pocklington in the kingdom of Deira, and at Bardney, Barrow and Luddington in the kingdom of Lindsey. The religious communities established in 628AD will actually begin playing a part in TTL during the next couple of posts.
Last edited:
