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Saint Oswald, Christ and the Dream of the Rood: Mutable Signs at a Cultural Crossroad

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Saint Oswald, Christ and the Dream of the Rood: Mutable Signs at a Cultural Crossroad University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2010 SAINT OSWALD, CHRIST AND THE DREAM OF THE ROOD: MUTABLE SIGNS AT A CULTURAL CROSSROAD Scott Hutcheson Mac Kenzie University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Mac Kenzie, Scott Hutcheson, "SAINT OSWALD, CHRIST AND THE DREAM OF THE ROOD: MUTABLE SIGNS AT A CULTURAL CROSSROAD. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2010. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/897 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Scott Hutcheson Mac Kenzie entitled "SAINT OSWALD, CHRIST AND THE DREAM OF THE ROOD: MUTABLE SIGNS AT A CULTURAL CROSSROAD." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in English. Thomas J.A. Heffernan, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Joseph B. Trahern, Jr., Laura L. Howes, Christine Shepardson Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Scott Hutcheson MacKenzie entitled ŖSaint Oswald, Christ and The Dream of the Rood: Mutable Signs at a Cultural Crossroad.ŗ I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in English. Thomas J.A. Heffernan , Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Joseph B. Trahern, Jr. Laura L. Howes Christine Shepardson Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) SAINT OSWALD, CHRIST AND THE DREAM OF THE ROOD: MUTABLE SIGNS AT A CULTURAL CROSSROAD A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Scott Hutcheson MacKenzie December 2010 ii Acknowledgements I wish to thank all of my advisors, friends and family who have helped me in the completion of the Doctor of Philosophy in English. I particularly wish to thank Dr. Thomas Heffernan, my advisor and mentor, who gave me the opportunity to realize my goals in medieval studies. Without his guidance, support, advice and Job-like patience this work would not have been possible. I thank Dr. Joseph Trahern for inspiring me to a love of Old English poetry and his instruction in the language of the Anglo-Saxons. I thank Dr. Christine Shepardson for her many hours of discussion on the craft of history and her seemingly tireless review of my manuscript. Her insights, comments, and support, all compelled me to produce a better work. I wish to thank Dr. Laura Howes for helping me keep my topic centered and guiding me to a deeper analysis of my subject. Lastly, I wish to thank my wife Rebecca. Without her selfless support and personal sacrifice for my endeavors this project would never have been undertaken, much less completed. iii Abstract The first decades following a countryřs conversion to Christianity are sometimes marked by experimentation with native expressions of piety. Out of the multicultural environment of early Christian Northumbria such experiments created an insular Germanic version of sanctity. In the mid-seventh century, Oswiu of Northumbria (642- 670), the younger brother and successor to King Oswald, constructed an elaborate narrative of Godřs plan for England (without consent or guidance from the Roman Church). His narrative would weave his family into the sacred fabric of his nascent, Christian kingdom. Through skillful manipulation of oral tradition, material culture and sacri loci he crafted a unique interpretation of his brotherřs death, an interpretation that Bede later canonizes in his Ecclesiastical History. King Oswiu, developed a novel form of the sacred by fusing certain established topoi of Christian sanctity with cultural elements from the Germans, Irish, Britons and Picts. Oswiu created the first Germanic holy warrior. Oswald with his dual nature as martyred warrior-king and humble saint represented a uniquely hybrid model of Germanic Christian sanctity as an imitatio for his people. It is this same cultural and intellectual environment, that gave birth to the Anglo- Saxon poetic masterpiece, The Dream of the Rood, which I suggest was written during the reign of King Aldfrith (685-705). Whereas Oswiu wished to consolidate political power through aligning his family with the newly introduced religion, the poet of the Dream of the Rood focused on exploring a related issue, the dual nature of Christ. The iv poem draws inspiration from the same font of political, cultural, and spiritual ideas that Oswiu used when he created his martyr-king. The inversions of traditional roles ŕ Christ as warrior in The Dream of the Rood and warrior-king Oswald as martyr and humble servant of God ŕ represent an outgrowth of the spiritual milieu that existed in seventh century Northumbria. The Dream of the Rood and the narrative of St. Oswaldřs martyrdom reflect not merely Germanic ideals but a unique worldview stemming from the cultural and ethnic diversity of Northumbria. Both also reflect a desire by the Northumbrians to include themselves in the narrative of the Christian faith. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................ii Abstract...............................................................................................................................iii List of Abbreviations ....................................................................................................viii List of Figures.....................................................................................................................xi Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Strangers in a Strange Land: Anglo-Saxons in Briton from the Late Fourth to the Seventh Century ...................................................................................................... 17 The Topography of Sixth- and Seventh-Century Northumbria.........................................19 The Celtic Peoples and their Languages ........................................................................ 21 Sub-Roman Britain ....................................................................................................... 25 Anglo-Saxon Movement into Northumbria ................................................................... 30 Northumbria, Kingdom Formation and Tribal Hidage of Mercia ................................... 33 Out of Myth into History: The Northern Realm 547-603 ............................................... 39 Æthelfrith and the Unification of Northumbria: 604-616 ............................................... 49 Chapter 2: The Return of the Kings: The Sons of Æthelfrith and the Rise of the Warrior- Saint .............................................................................................................................. 55 The Flight of Æthelfrithřs Children ............................................................................... 57 Fosterage Among the Celtic Peoples ............................................................................. 59 Oswald and Oswiuřs Life Among the Irish .................................................................... 68 vi The Rise and Fall of King Eadwine and the United Northumbria ................................... 80 Christianity in Northumbria .......................................................................................... 85 Chapter 3: Oswald: Christian King and Warrior-Saint ................................................... 90 The Return of the Children of Æthelfrith: King Oswald ................................................ 93 The Question of Kingship ............................................................................................. 96 Characteristics of Irish Kingship ................................................................................. 101 Germanic Kingship ..................................................................................................... 112 The Mixing of Irish and Germanic Kingship Under Oswald ........................................ 120 Chapter 4: Holy Warrior, Sainted King ........................................................................ 129 The Birth of a New Type of Christian Saint ................................................................ 136 The Cult of the Head................................................................................................... 144 Oswaldřs Head and Arms ..........................................................................................
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