RW HA Battlefield Maserfeld Bede Book
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Richard Ward PINS Reference 3253194; 3253230; and 3253232 The Battle of Maserfeld 05 August A.D.642 detailed by the Venerable Bede (673-735): from his works Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book III Page 1 of 8 Richard Ward PINS Reference 3253194; 3253230; and 3253232 Medieval Sourcebook: Bede (673-735): Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book III 1. The Battlefield Maserfeld 05 August A.D.642 Extracts tith comments of the Venerable Bede’s Book III In relation to King Oswald and the Battle of Maserfeld: (Highlight to emphasis specific events) “CHAPTER IX HOW MIRACULOUS CURES HAVE BEEN FREQUENTLY DONE IN THE PLACE WHERE KING OSWALD WAS KILLED; AND HOW, FIRST, A TRAVELER'S HORSE WAS RESTORED AND AFTERWARDS A YOUNG GIRL CURED OF THE PALSY. [A.D. 642.] OSWALD, the most Christian king of the Northumbrians, reigned nine years, including that year which is to be held accursed for the brutal impiety of the king of the Britons, and the apostasy of the English kings; for, as was said above, it is agreed by the unanimous consent of all, that the names of the apostates should be erased from the catalogue of the Christian kings, and no date ascribed to their reign. After which period, Oswald was killed in a great battle, by the same pagan nation and pagan king of the Mercians, who had slain his predecessor Edwin, at a place called in the English tongue Maserfield, in the thirty-eighth year of his age, on the fifth day of the month of August. How great his faith was towards God, and how remarkable his devotion, has been made evident by miracles since his death; for, in the place where he was killed by the pagans, fighting for his country, infirm men and cattle are healed to this day. Whereupon many took up the very dust of the place where his body fell, and putting it into water, did much good with it to their friends who were sick. This custom came so much into use, that the earth being carried away by degrees, there remained a hole as deep as the height of a man. Nor is it to be wondered that the sick should be healed in the place where he died; for, whilst he lived, he never ceased to provide for the poor and infirm, and to bestow alms on them, and assist them. Many miracles are said to have been wrought in that place, or with the earth carried from thence;…...” The name “at a place called in the English tongue Maserfield”, this would be Saxon tongue (not Welsh, if Maserfeld was at Oswestry), whereas, today in the locality of Winwick there are numerous places stlll with the name Maserfeld: Newton-le-Willows (formally Newton-in-Makerfield); Ashton-in-Makerfield; Ince-in-Makerfield…. to mention just a few references. For King Oswald “fighting for his country”, clearly indicates that King Oswald was in Northumbria not in Mercia. King Penda of Mercia before August A.D.642 had not invaded Northumbria, according to the Bede, so for King Oswald invading the Kingdom of Mercia whilst “fighting for his country”, does not follow. This indicates that it was King Penda of Mercia who in Summer A.D.642 decided to invade Northumbria to restore Pagan worship and increase his kingdom. Therefore strongly indicating that Maserfeld was indeed in the area of the Saxon chiefdom of Winwick. The Bede writes, “Whereupon many took up the very dust of the place where his body fell, and putting it into water”, and “there remained a hole as deep as the height of a man.”, this place today, is St Oswald Well, the condition and description of which is virtually the same as the Bede wrote over thirteen hundred years earlier. No likely place or name an area Maserfeld in either Oswestry or Mirfield exists. Page 2 of 8 Richard Ward PINS Reference 3253194; 3253230; and 3253232 “CHAPTER XI OF THE HEAVENLY LIGHT THAT APPEARED ALL THE NIGHT OVER THE BONES OF KING OSWALD, AND HOW PERSONS POSSESSED WITH DEVILS WERE DELIVERED BY HIS BONES. [A.D. 697.] AMONG the rest, I think we ought not to pass over, in silence, the heavenly favors and miracles that were shown when King Oswald's bones were found, and translated into the church where they are now preserved. This was done by the zealous care of Osthrida, queen of the Mercians, the daughter of his brother Oswy, who reigned after him, as shall be said hereafter. There is a noble monastery in the province of Lindsey, called Beardeneu, which that queen and her husband Ethelred much loved, and conferred upon it many honors and ornaments. It was here that she was desirous to lay the venerable bones of her uncle. When the wagon in which those bones were carried arrived towards evening at the aforesaid monastery, they that were in it refused to admit them, because, though they knew him to be a holy man, yet, as he was originally of another province, and had reigned over them as a foreign king, they retained their ancient aversion to him, even after death. Thus it came to pass that the relics were left in the open air all that night, with only a large tent spread over them; but the appearance of a heavenly miracle showed with how much reverence they ought to be received by all the faithful; for during that whole night, a pillar of light, reaching from the wagon up to heaven, was seen by almost all the inhabitants of the province of Lindsey. Hereupon, in the morning, the brethren who had refused it the day before, began themselves earnestly to pray that those holy relics, so beloved by God, might be deposited among them. Accordingly, the bones, being washed, were put into a shrine which they had made for that purpose, and placed in the church, with due honor; and that there might be a perpetual memorial of the royal person of this holy man, they hung up over the monument his banner made of gold and purple; and poured out the water in which they had washed the bones, in a corner of the sacred place. From that time, the very earth which received that holy water, had the virtue of expelling devils from the bodies of persons possessed…..” “CHAPTER XII OF A BOY CURED OF AN AGUE AT ST. OSWALD'S TOMB. [A.D. 642.] SOME time after, there was a certain little boy in the said monastery, who had been long troubled with an ague; he was one day anxiously expecting the hour that his fit was to come on, when one of the brothers, coming in to him, said, "Shall I tell you, child, how you may be cured of this distemper? Rise, go into the church, and get close to St. Oswald's tomb; stay there quiet, and do not leave it; do not come away, or stir from the place, till the time that your fit is to go off: then I will go in and fetch you away." The boy did as he was advised, and the disease durst not affect him as he sat by the saint's tomb; but fled so absolutely, that he felt it no more, either the second or third day, or ever after. The brother that came from thence, and told me this, added, that at the time when he was talking with me, the young man was then still living in the monastery, on whom, when a boy, that miraculous cure had been wrought. Nor is it to be wondered that the prayers of that king who was then reigning with our Lord, should be very efficacious with him, since he, whilst yet governing his temporal kingdom, was also wont to pray and take more pains for that which is eternal. In short, it is reported, that he often continued in prayer from the hour of morning thanksgiving till it was day; and that by reason of his constant custom of praying or giving thanks to God, he was wont always, wherever he sat, to hold his hands turned up on his knees. It is also given out, and become a proverb, "That he ended his life in prayer;"for when he was beset with weapons and enemies, he perceived he must immediately be killed, and prayed to God for the souls of his army. Whence it is proverbially said, "Lord, have mercy on their souls, said Oswald, as he fell to the ground." His bones, therefore, Page 3 of 8 Richard Ward PINS Reference 3253194; 3253230; and 3253232 were translated to the monastery which we have mentioned, and buried therein: but the king that slew him commanded his head, hands, and arms to be cut off from the body, and set upon stakes. But his successor in the throne, Oswy, coming thither the next year with his army, took them down, and buried his head in the church of Lindisfarne, and the hands and arms in his royal city.” For King Oswy to have “coming thither the next year” being A.D.643, if Maserfeld had been at Oswestry in the Kingdom of Mercia, The Bede would have recorded King Oswy of Northumbria to have fought against King Penda of Mercia where King Penda would have been defending his Kingdom. Indicating that Oswestry was not the place called Maserfeld. Therefore King Oswy marched from the Royal City to the occupied Northumbria, expecting conflict, to which the Bede does not relate. To reclaim the body of the late King Oswald, But where the Pagan King Penda had set Oswald’s head, hands and arms on stakes as a warning to the Northumbrian people.