The
Arts In Berwick -- Religion
St.Oswald
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Cuthbert
with the head of St King Oswald
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King Oswald (605-642) recaptured Northumbria from the pagans and invited
Aidan to found the monastery on Lindisfarne in 635.
Soon afterwards Oswald was killed in battle and became the subject of
a religious cult. His head was brought to Lindisfarne, though unlike the
king's arms, venerated at Bamburgh, it effected no miracle cures. Perhaps
the monks played down the miraculous nature of the head, as worshipping
a severed warrior's head was a particularly pagan Celtic tradition. A
cult of St.Oswald flourished in Medieval Europe.
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