Editing Oswiu (section)

==Background and early life==
[[File:Britain peoples circa 600.svg|thumb|right|Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the early 7th century]]
Oswiu was born circa 612, as he was 58 at his death in 670, according to [[Bede]]. He was the third child of [[Æthelfrith]], then King of Bernicia; his siblings included older brothers [[Eanfrith of Bernicia|Eanfrith]] and [[Oswald of Northumbria|Oswald]] and sister [[Æbbe of Coldingham|Æbbe]].<ref>Fryde et al., ''Handbook of British Chronology'', p. 5.</ref><ref name="HE IV 5">Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', Book IV, Chapter 5.</ref> Oswiu's mother was likely Æthelfrith's only recorded wife, [[Acha of Deira|Acha]], a princess of Deira's royal line who is known to have been Oswald's mother.<ref>Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', Book III, Chapter 6, states that Oswald was Acha's son; Kirby, p. 89, and Stancliffe & Cambridge, p. 13, figure 1, consider it probable that Oswiu was also her son.</ref> Regardless, his heritage did nothing to endear him to the Deiran nobility; while they accepted Oswald as king apparently on account of his mother, they resisted Oswiu throughout his reign.<ref>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 78, 79.</ref>

At the time of Oswiu's birth, Æthelfrith was at the height of his power. In 604 he had taken control of Deira, evidently by conquest; he killed the previous king (apparently [[Æthelric of Deira|Æthelric]]), married Acha, a member of the kingly line, and exiled Acha's brother [[Edwin of Northumbria|Edwin]]. His authority ran from the lands of the [[Picts]] and the [[Dál Riata]] in modern [[Scotland]] to [[Wales]] and the [[English Midlands|Midlands]] in the south.<ref>Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', Book I, Chapter 34 & Book II, Chapter 3.</ref> Æthelfrith's power rested on his military success, and this success came to an end in 616, when the exiled Edwin of Northumbria with the support of King [[Rædwald]], defeated and killed him in the [[battle of the River Idle]].<ref>Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', Book II, Chapter 12.</ref>

On Æthelfrith's death, his sons and their supporters fled [[Northumbria]], finding sanctuary among the [[Gaels]] and [[Picts]] of northern Britain and [[Ireland]]. Here they would remain until Edwin's death at the [[Battle of Hatfield Chase]] in 633.<ref name="HE III 1">Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', Book III, Chapter 1.</ref><ref>Æthelfrith's sons were not the first Anglian exiles to seek refuge in the kingdoms of the north. [[Hering son of Hussa|Hering]], son of King [[Hussa of Bernicia]], is said by the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' to have fought with [[Áedán mac Gabráin]], [[King of Dál Riata]], against Æthelfrith, at the [[Battle of Degsastan]]; ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', Ms. E, s.a. 603. The choice of a northerly exile, rather than flight to one of the southerly Anglo-Saxon kingdoms is discussed by Grimmer, §3–§6.</ref>

In exile, the sons of Æthelfrith were [[Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England|converted to Christianity]], or raised as Christians.<ref name="HE III 1"/> In Oswiu's case, he became an exile at the age of four, and cannot have returned to Northumbria until aged twenty-one, spending childhood and adolescence in a Gaelic milieu. Bede writes that Oswiu was fluent in the [[Old Irish language]] and Irish in his faith.<ref>"Oswy thought that nothing could be better than the Irish teaching, having been instructed and baptized by the Irish, and having a complete grasp of their language"; Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', Book III, Chapter 25.</ref>

As well as learning the Irish language and being thoroughly Christianised, Oswiu may have fought for his Gaelic hosts, perhaps receiving his arms—a significant event—from a [[King of Dál Riata]], such as [[Eochaid Buide]], son of that [[Áedán mac Gabráin]] whom his father had defeated at the [[Battle of Degsastan]].<ref>Grimmer, §8.</ref> The [[Irish annals]] name one ''Oisiric mac Albruit, rigdomna Saxan''—[[ætheling]] Osric—among the dead, alongside [[Connad Cerr]], King of Dál Riata, and others of the [[Gabrán mac Domangairt|Cenél nGabráin]], at the [[Battle of Fid Eoin|Battle of Fid Eóin]].<ref>''[[Annals of Tigernach]]'', s.a. 631; Grimmer, §9.</ref> Whether Oswiu's marriage with the [[Uí Néill]] princess [[Fín]] of the [[Branches of the Cenél nEógain|Cenél nEógain]], and the birth of [[Aldfrith of Northumbria|Aldfrith]], should be placed in the context of his exile, or took place at a later date is uncertain.<ref>Grimmer, §25; Kirby, p. 143.; Williams, p. 18.</ref>

Equally uncertain is the date of Oswiu's return to Northumbria. He may have returned with his brother [[Eanfrith of Bernicia|Eanfrith]] on Edwin's death in 633, as Bede appears to write.<ref name="HE III 1"/> Eanfrith [[Apostasy in Christianity|apostatised]] and was killed by [[Cadwallon ap Cadfan]], who was defeated and killed in turn by another brother, [[Oswald of Northumbria|Oswald]], who became king of Bernicia and probably succeeded to his father's old dominance of northern and central Britain.<ref>Bede, ''Ecclesiastical History'', Book III, Chapters 1–2; Adomnán, ''Life of Saint Columba'', Book I, Chapter 1; Stancliffe, pp. 46–61.</ref>