Oswald of Northumbria

Oswald of Northumbria

Oswald (Old English pronunciation: [ˈoːzwɑɫd]; c 604 – 5 August 641/642) was King of Northumbria from 634 until his death, and is venerated as a saint, of whom there was a particular cult in the Middle Ages.Oswald was the son of Æthelfrith of Bernicia and came to rule after spending a period in exile. After defeating the Welsh ruler Cadwallon ap Cadfan, Oswald brought the two Northumbrian kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira once again under a single ruler, and promoted the spread of Christianity in Northumbria. He was given a strongly positive assessment by the historian Bede, writing a little less than a century after Oswald's death, who regarded Oswald as a saintly king; it is also Bede who is the main source for present-day historical knowledge of Oswald. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Oswald of Northumbria has received more than 465,573 page views. His biography is available in 26 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 25 in 2019). Oswald of Northumbria is the 1,208th most popular religious figure (down from 1,147th in 2019), the 1,491st most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 1,406th in 2019) and the 38th most popular British Religious Figure.