Editing Oswald of Northumbria (section)

==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 that would come to be considered the constituent kingdoms of Northumbria. It would, however, be anachronistic to refer to a Northumbrian people or identity at this early stage, when the Bernicians and the Deirans were still clearly distinct peoples.<ref>Stancliffe, "Oswald", p. 36.</ref> Oswald's mother, [[Acha of Deira]], was a member of the Deiran royal line, whom Æthelfrith apparently married as part of his acquisition of Deira or consolidation of power there.<ref>Kirby, p. 60.</ref> Oswald was apparently born in or around the year 604, since Bede says that he was killed at the age of 38 in 642;<ref name="Bede nine">Bede, ''[[Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum|Historia Ecclesiastica]]'', [[wikisource:Ecclesiastical History of the English People/Book 3#9|Book III, chapter 9]].</ref> Æthelfrith's acquisition of Deira is also believed to have occurred around 604.<ref>Kirby, p. 57.</ref>

Æthelfrith, who was for years a successful war-leader, especially against the native British, was eventually killed in the [[battle of the River Idle]] around 616 by [[Raedwald of East Anglia]]. This defeat meant that an exiled member of the Deiran royal line, [[Edwin of Northumbria|Edwin]] (Acha's brother), became king of Northumbria and Oswald and his brothers fled to the north. Oswald thus spent the remainder of his youth in the Scottish kingdom of [[Dál Riata]] in northern Britain, where he was [[religious conversion|converted]] to Christianity.<ref name="Heaven">[[wikisource:Ecclesiastical History of the English People/Book 3#1|Bede, Book III, chapter 1.]]</ref> He may also have fought in [[Ireland]] during this period of exile.<ref>Kirby, p. 73.</ref> It has been considered that Oswald is one of the three Saxon princes mentioned in the Irish poem [[Togail Bruidne Dá Derga]], being named as 'Osalt' in that work.<ref>Berresford Ellis, p.89</ref>