King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria

Oswald Iding ruled Northumbria for eight years, from AD 632 to 642. In that time he was recognised as overlord of almost all the other Kingdoms of Britain: of Wessex, Mercia, Lindsey and East Anglia, of the Britons of Rheged, Strathclyde, Powys and Gwynedd, the Scots of Dal Riata and the Picts of the far North. A famed warrior, the 'Whiteblade' or 'Blessed arm' of legend, he won and lost his kingdom in battle. He was the first English King to die a Christian martyr. He is the embodiment of a romantic hero: the righteous exiled prince whose destiny - like J. R. R Tolkien's Aragorn for whom he is the inspiration - is to return triumphant to reclaim his kingdom.