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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
In recent years there has been a definite growth of interest in the royal saints of the early medieval period. Specifically from France, academics such as Robert Folz, and from Britain, historians such as David Rollason and Susan Ridyard, have turned their erudition and their pens to elucidate this topic. The scope of this paper will be to examine one of the saints who has been of interest to these authors: St Oswald of Northumbria. That Oswald was considered a saint from early after his death is not in any doubt: Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica makes this quite clear. Rather, this paper turns its attention to the nature of that sanctity in order to decide whether or not Bede actually perceived Oswald as a martyr. To look at this question this study will firsdy compare Oswald with other Anglo-Saxon martyr-kings. Secondly, it will observe what comments Bede actually makes concerning Oswald’s sanctity. And, finally, it will see how he is categorized and discussed in other contemporary and near-contemporary texts.
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