Wednesday, November 7, 2012 - Litany Lane Blog:
Archiac,Philippians 2:12-18, Psalms 27:1, 4, 13-14, Luke 14:25-33, St. Willibrord, Northumbria, United Kingdom
Good Day Bloggers! Archiac,Philippians 2:12-18, Psalms 27:1, 4, 13-14, Luke 14:25-33, St. Willibrord, Northumbria, United Kingdom
Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!
Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013
P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.
We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have
flaws but we also all have the gift knowledge and free will as well,
make the most of it. Life on earth is a stepping to our eternal home in
Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to
eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and
survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes
from this earth to Purgatory and/or Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual
gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...
"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012
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November 02, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children, as a mother I implore you to persevere as my apostles. I am praying to my Son to give you Divine wisdom and strength. I am praying that you may discern everything around you according to God’s truth and to strongly resist everything that wants to distance you from my Son. I am praying that you may witness the love of the Heavenly Father according to my Son. My children, great grace has been given to you to be witnesses of God’s love. Do not take the given responsibility lightly. Do not sadden my motherly heart. As a mother I desire to rely on my children, on my apostles. Through fasting and prayer you are opening the way for me to pray to my Son for Him to be beside you and for His name to be holy through you. Pray for the shepherds because none of this would be possible without them. Thank you."
October 25, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children! Today I call you to pray for my intentions. Renew fasting and prayer because Satan is cunning and attracts many hearts to sin and perdition. I call you, little children, to holiness and to live in grace. Adore my Son so that He may fill you with His peace and love for which you yearn. Thank you for having responded to my call." ~ Blessed Virgin Mary
October 02, 2012 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
"Dear children; I am calling you and am coming among you because I need you. I need apostles with a pure heart. I am praying, and you should also pray, that the Holy Spirit may enable and lead you, that He may illuminate you and fill you with love and humility. Pray that He may fill you with grace and mercy. Only then will you understand me, my children. Only then will you understand my pain because of those who have not come to know the love of God. Then you will be able to help me. You will be my light-bearers of God’s love. You will illuminate the way for those who have been given eyes but do not want to see. I desire for all of my children to see my Son. I desire for all of my children to experience His Kingdom. Again I call you and implore you to pray for those whom my Son has called. Thank you." ~ Blessed Virgin Mary
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Today's Word: archaic ar·cha·ic [ahr-key-ik]
Origin: 1825–35; (< F) < Greek archaïkós antiquated, old-fashioned, equivalent to archaî ( os ) old + -ikos -ic
4 One thing I ask of Yahweh, one thing I seek: to dwell in Yahweh's house all the days of my life, to enjoy the sweetness of Yahweh, to seek out his temple.
13 This I believe: I shall see the goodness of Yahweh, in the land of the living.
14 Put your hope in Yahweh, be strong, let your heart be bold, put your hope in Yahweh.
13 It is God who, for his own generous purpose, gives you the intention and the powers to act.
14 Let your behaviour be free of murmuring and complaining
15 so that you remain faultless and pure, unspoilt children of God surrounded by a deceitful and underhand brood, shining out among them like bright stars in the world,
16 proffering to it the Word of life. Then I shall have reason to be proud on the Day of Christ, for it will not be for nothing that I have run the race and toiled so hard.
17 Indeed, even if my blood has to be poured as a libation over your sacrifice and the offering of your faith, then I shall be glad and join in your rejoicing-
18 and in the same way, you must be glad and join in my rejoicing.
• Luke 14, 25: An example of catechesis. The Gospel today is a beautiful example of how Luke transforms the words of Jesus into catechesis for the people of the communities. He says: “Great crowds accompanied him. He turned and spoke to them”. Jesus speaks to the great crowd, that is, he speaks to all, also to the persons of the communities at the time of Luke, and today he speaks for us. In the teaching which follows, Jesus gives the conditions for those who want to be his disciples.
• Luke 14, 25-26: First condition: to hate father and mother. Some diminish the force of the word to hate and translate it as “to prefer Jesus to one’s own parents”. The original text uses the expression “to hate one’s parents”. In another place Jesus orders to love and respect parents (Lk 18, 20). How can this contradiction be explained? But is it a contradiction? At the time of Jesus the social and economic situation led the families to close themselves up in self and this prevented them to fulfil the law of ransom or liberation (goel), that is to help the brothers and sisters of the community (clan) who were threatened to lose their land or to become slaves (cf. Dt 15, 1-18; Lv 25, 23-43). Closed up in themselves the families weakened the life in the community. Jesus wants to reconstruct the life in community. This is why he asks to put an end to the restricted vision of the small family which closes up in itself and asks the family to open itself and to be united among themselves in a large family, in community. This is the sense of hating father and mother, and wife, sons, sisters and brothers. Jesus himself, when his parents of his small family wanted to take him back to Nazareth, he does not respond to their request. He ignores or hates their petition and extends his family saying: “Behold, my mother and my brothers! Anyone who does the will of God, is my brother, sister and mother” (Mk 3, 20-21.31-35). The family bonds of union cannot prevent the formation of the Community. This is the first condition.
• Luke 14, 27: Second condition: to carry the cross. “No one who does not carry his cross and come after me can be my disciple”. In order to understand well the importance of this second requirement we have to look at the context in which Luke places this word of Jesus. Jesus is going toward Jerusalem to be crucified and to die. To follow Jesus and to carry the cross means to go with him up to Jerusalem to be crucified with him. This recalls the attitude of the women who “followed and served him when he was still in Galilee and many others who went up to Jerusalem with him” (Mk 15, 41). This also reminds us of Paul’s phrase in the Letter to the Galatians: “But as for me, it is out of the question that I should boast at all, except of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Ga 6,14)
• Luke 14, 28-32: Two parables. Both of these parables have the same objective: that persons may think well before taking a decision. In the first parable he says: “Which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, anyone who saw it would start making fun of him and saying: Here is someone who started to build and was unable to finish!” This parable needs no explanation. It speaks for itself: let each one reflect well on his/her way of following Jesus and ask him/herself if he/she values well the conditions before taking the decision to become a disciple of Jesus.
The second parable: Or again, which king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who was advancing against him with twenty thousand?. If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace”. This parable has the same purpose of the one before. Some ask: “How is it that Jesus uses an example of war?” The question is a pertinent one for us who today know the wars. The Second World War (1939-1945) caused the death to about 54 million persons! At that time, though, the wars were as commercial concurrence between enterprises which today struggle among themselves to obtain the greatest profit or gain.
• Luke 14, 33: Conclusion for discipleship. The conclusion is only one: to be Christian, to follow Jesus. Is something serious. For many people today, to be Christian is not a personal choice, and neither is it a decision for life, but a simple cultural phenomenon. They do not even think of making a choice. Anyone who is born a Brazilian is a Brazilian. He who is born Japanese is Japanese. He does not have to choose. He is born like that and will die like that. Many people are Christians because they were born like that and they die like that, without ever having had the idea of choosing or of assuming that which they are already by birth.
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
Feast Day: November 7
Patron Saint: convulsions; epilepsy; epileptics; Luxembourg; Netherlands; archdiocese of Utrecht, Netherlands
Willibrord (c. 658 – 7 November 739) was a Northumbrian missionary saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first Bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg. His father, Wilgils or St Hilgis, an Angle or, as Alcuin styles him, a Saxon, of Northumbria, withdrew from the world and constructed for himself a little oratory dedicated to Saint Andrew. The king and nobles of the district endowed him with estates until he was at last able to build a church, over which Alcuin afterwards ruled.
A disciple of St Wilfrid, he was sent to the Abbey of Ripon almost as soon as he was weaned. Later he joined the Benedictines. He spent the years between the ages of 20 and 32 in the Abbey of Rathmelsigi[1] which was a center of European learning in the 7th century. During this time he studied under Saint Egbert, who sent him and twelve companions to Christianize the pagan North Germanic tribes of Frisia, at the request of Pepin, Christian king of the Franks and nominal suzerain over that region. At the request of Pepin he traveled twice, finally being consecrated Bishop of the Frisians in the Church of St. Cecilia. It was 21 November 695 and he was given the name of Clement. He was also given the pallium by the pope. He returned to Frisia to preach and to build numerous churches, among them a monastery at Utrecht, where he established his cathedral and is counted the first Bishop of Utrecht. In 698 he established an abbey at a Roman villa of Echternach, in Luxemburg near Trier, which was presented to him by Irmina, daughter of Dagobert II, king of the Franks. Willibrord returned to Fontenelle.
Willibrord tried this while on a Carolingian-sponsored mission into Frisia with the express purpose of trying to convert the pagan Frisians living there in the hope that, once they had converted to Christianity, the Franks could gain control of the important trade port Dorestad, which they had up to that point been unable to do. In 716 the pagan Radbod, king of the Frisians, retook possession of Frisia, burning churches and killing many missionaries
After the death of Radbod in 719, Willibrord returned to resume his work, aided by Boniface, and under the protection of Charles Martel. His frequent visits to the Abbey of Echternach resulted in his being interred there after his death, and he was quickly judged to be a saint. In the Roman Catholic Church his feast is celebrated on 7 November outside England, but on 29 November in England, by order of Pope Leo XIII. In the Church of England, he is celebrated on 7 November.
Numerous miracles and relics have been attributed to him, and in one particularly memorable moment, the transport of his relics was celebrated thus "the Five bishops in full pontificals assisted; engaged in the dance were 2 Swiss guards, 16 standard-bearers, 3045 singers, 136 priests, 426 musicians, 15,085 dancers, and 2032 players"
.
A Life was written by Alcuin and dedicated to the Abbot of Echternach. Alcuin probably made use of an older one written by a British monk, which is now lost. Bede also makes mention of Willibrord. Nothing written by Willibrord can be found save a marginal note in the Calendar of Echternach giving some chronological data. A copy of the Gospels (Bibliothèque National, Paris, 9389) under the name of Willibrord is an Irish codex no doubt brought by Willibrord from Ireland.
In 752/753 Boniface wrote a letter to Pope Stephen II, in which is said Willibrord destroyed the Frisian pagan santuaries and temples. In the Life written by Alcuin are two texts about Willibrord and pagan places of worship. In one he arrived with his companions in Walcheren in the Netherlands where he smashed an idol of the ancient superstition. In the second text passage Willibord arrived on an island called Fositesland (possibly Heligoland) where a pagan god named Fosite was worshipped. Here he despoiled this god of its sanctity by using the god's sacred well for baptisms and the sacred cattle for food.
Featured Items Panel from Litany Lane
Coin of Eric Bloodaxe at the British Museum. The legend reads ERIC REX ("King Eric")
The design of the Northumbrian or Border Check is one of the earliest styles of Tartan in Northern Europe.
adjective
1. marked by the characteristics of an earlier period; antiquated: an archaic manner; an archaic notion.
2. (of a linguistic form) commonly used in an earlier time but rare in present-day usage except to suggest the older time, as in religious rituals or historical novels. Examples: thou; wast; methinks; forsooth.
3. forming the earliest stage; prior to full development: the archaic period of psychoanalytic research.
4. ( often initial capital letter ) pertaining to or designating the style of the fine arts, especially painting and sculpture, developed in Greece from the middle 7th to the early 5th century b.c., chiefly characterized by an increased emphasis on the human figure in action, naturalistic proportions and anatomical structure, simplicity of volumes, forms, or design, and the evolution of a definitive style for the narrative treatment of subject matter. Compare classical ( def. 6 ) , Hellenistic ( def. 5 ) .
5. primitive; ancient; old: an archaic form of animal life.
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Today's Old Testament Reading - Psalms 27:1, 4, 13-14
1 [Of David] Yahweh is my light and my salvation, whom should I fear? Yahweh is the fortress of my life, whom should I dread?4 One thing I ask of Yahweh, one thing I seek: to dwell in Yahweh's house all the days of my life, to enjoy the sweetness of Yahweh, to seek out his temple.
13 This I believe: I shall see the goodness of Yahweh, in the land of the living.
14 Put your hope in Yahweh, be strong, let your heart be bold, put your hope in Yahweh.
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Today's Epistle - Philippians 2:12-18
12 So, my dear friends, you have always been obedient; your obedience must not be limited to times when I am present. Now that I am absent it must be more in evidence, so work out your salvation in fear and trembling.13 It is God who, for his own generous purpose, gives you the intention and the powers to act.
14 Let your behaviour be free of murmuring and complaining
15 so that you remain faultless and pure, unspoilt children of God surrounded by a deceitful and underhand brood, shining out among them like bright stars in the world,
16 proffering to it the Word of life. Then I shall have reason to be proud on the Day of Christ, for it will not be for nothing that I have run the race and toiled so hard.
17 Indeed, even if my blood has to be poured as a libation over your sacrifice and the offering of your faith, then I shall be glad and join in your rejoicing-
18 and in the same way, you must be glad and join in my rejoicing.
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Today's Gospel Reading - Luke 14:25-33
Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his
way and he turned and spoke to them. 'Anyone who comes to me without
hating father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his
own life too, cannot be my disciple. No one who does not carry his
cross and come after me can be my disciple. 'And indeed, which of
you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work
out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he
laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work,
anyone who saw it would start making fun of him and saying, "Here is
someone who started to build and was unable to finish." Or again,
what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down
and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the
other who was advancing against him with twenty thousand? If not, then
while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to
sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple without giving up all that he owns.
Reflection
• The Gospel today speaks about
discipleship and presents the conditions to be a disciple of Jesus.
Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem, where he will die soon on the Cross.
This is the context in which Jesus speaks about discipleship.
• Luke 14, 25: An example of catechesis. The Gospel today is a beautiful example of how Luke transforms the words of Jesus into catechesis for the people of the communities. He says: “Great crowds accompanied him. He turned and spoke to them”. Jesus speaks to the great crowd, that is, he speaks to all, also to the persons of the communities at the time of Luke, and today he speaks for us. In the teaching which follows, Jesus gives the conditions for those who want to be his disciples.
• Luke 14, 25-26: First condition: to hate father and mother. Some diminish the force of the word to hate and translate it as “to prefer Jesus to one’s own parents”. The original text uses the expression “to hate one’s parents”. In another place Jesus orders to love and respect parents (Lk 18, 20). How can this contradiction be explained? But is it a contradiction? At the time of Jesus the social and economic situation led the families to close themselves up in self and this prevented them to fulfil the law of ransom or liberation (goel), that is to help the brothers and sisters of the community (clan) who were threatened to lose their land or to become slaves (cf. Dt 15, 1-18; Lv 25, 23-43). Closed up in themselves the families weakened the life in the community. Jesus wants to reconstruct the life in community. This is why he asks to put an end to the restricted vision of the small family which closes up in itself and asks the family to open itself and to be united among themselves in a large family, in community. This is the sense of hating father and mother, and wife, sons, sisters and brothers. Jesus himself, when his parents of his small family wanted to take him back to Nazareth, he does not respond to their request. He ignores or hates their petition and extends his family saying: “Behold, my mother and my brothers! Anyone who does the will of God, is my brother, sister and mother” (Mk 3, 20-21.31-35). The family bonds of union cannot prevent the formation of the Community. This is the first condition.
• Luke 14, 27: Second condition: to carry the cross. “No one who does not carry his cross and come after me can be my disciple”. In order to understand well the importance of this second requirement we have to look at the context in which Luke places this word of Jesus. Jesus is going toward Jerusalem to be crucified and to die. To follow Jesus and to carry the cross means to go with him up to Jerusalem to be crucified with him. This recalls the attitude of the women who “followed and served him when he was still in Galilee and many others who went up to Jerusalem with him” (Mk 15, 41). This also reminds us of Paul’s phrase in the Letter to the Galatians: “But as for me, it is out of the question that I should boast at all, except of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Ga 6,14)
• Luke 14, 28-32: Two parables. Both of these parables have the same objective: that persons may think well before taking a decision. In the first parable he says: “Which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, anyone who saw it would start making fun of him and saying: Here is someone who started to build and was unable to finish!” This parable needs no explanation. It speaks for itself: let each one reflect well on his/her way of following Jesus and ask him/herself if he/she values well the conditions before taking the decision to become a disciple of Jesus.
The second parable: Or again, which king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who was advancing against him with twenty thousand?. If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace”. This parable has the same purpose of the one before. Some ask: “How is it that Jesus uses an example of war?” The question is a pertinent one for us who today know the wars. The Second World War (1939-1945) caused the death to about 54 million persons! At that time, though, the wars were as commercial concurrence between enterprises which today struggle among themselves to obtain the greatest profit or gain.
• Luke 14, 33: Conclusion for discipleship. The conclusion is only one: to be Christian, to follow Jesus. Is something serious. For many people today, to be Christian is not a personal choice, and neither is it a decision for life, but a simple cultural phenomenon. They do not even think of making a choice. Anyone who is born a Brazilian is a Brazilian. He who is born Japanese is Japanese. He does not have to choose. He is born like that and will die like that. Many people are Christians because they were born like that and they die like that, without ever having had the idea of choosing or of assuming that which they are already by birth.
Personal questions
• To be a Christian is something
serious. I have to think out well my way of following Jesus. How does
this take place in my life?
• “To hate one’s parents”, community or family! How do I put together these two things? Am I capable to harmonize them?
• “To hate one’s parents”, community or family! How do I put together these two things? Am I capable to harmonize them?
Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.
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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane
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Saint of the Day: St. Willibrord
Feast Day: November 7
Patron Saint: convulsions; epilepsy; epileptics; Luxembourg; Netherlands; archdiocese of Utrecht, Netherlands
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| St Willibrord |
A disciple of St Wilfrid, he was sent to the Abbey of Ripon almost as soon as he was weaned. Later he joined the Benedictines. He spent the years between the ages of 20 and 32 in the Abbey of Rathmelsigi[1] which was a center of European learning in the 7th century. During this time he studied under Saint Egbert, who sent him and twelve companions to Christianize the pagan North Germanic tribes of Frisia, at the request of Pepin, Christian king of the Franks and nominal suzerain over that region. At the request of Pepin he traveled twice, finally being consecrated Bishop of the Frisians in the Church of St. Cecilia. It was 21 November 695 and he was given the name of Clement. He was also given the pallium by the pope. He returned to Frisia to preach and to build numerous churches, among them a monastery at Utrecht, where he established his cathedral and is counted the first Bishop of Utrecht. In 698 he established an abbey at a Roman villa of Echternach, in Luxemburg near Trier, which was presented to him by Irmina, daughter of Dagobert II, king of the Franks. Willibrord returned to Fontenelle.
Willibrord tried this while on a Carolingian-sponsored mission into Frisia with the express purpose of trying to convert the pagan Frisians living there in the hope that, once they had converted to Christianity, the Franks could gain control of the important trade port Dorestad, which they had up to that point been unable to do. In 716 the pagan Radbod, king of the Frisians, retook possession of Frisia, burning churches and killing many missionaries
Tomb of Willibrord
Numerous miracles and relics have been attributed to him, and in one particularly memorable moment, the transport of his relics was celebrated thus "the Five bishops in full pontificals assisted; engaged in the dance were 2 Swiss guards, 16 standard-bearers, 3045 singers, 136 priests, 426 musicians, 15,085 dancers, and 2032 players"
.
A Life was written by Alcuin and dedicated to the Abbot of Echternach. Alcuin probably made use of an older one written by a British monk, which is now lost. Bede also makes mention of Willibrord. Nothing written by Willibrord can be found save a marginal note in the Calendar of Echternach giving some chronological data. A copy of the Gospels (Bibliothèque National, Paris, 9389) under the name of Willibrord is an Irish codex no doubt brought by Willibrord from Ireland.
In 752/753 Boniface wrote a letter to Pope Stephen II, in which is said Willibrord destroyed the Frisian pagan santuaries and temples. In the Life written by Alcuin are two texts about Willibrord and pagan places of worship. In one he arrived with his companions in Walcheren in the Netherlands where he smashed an idol of the ancient superstition. In the second text passage Willibord arrived on an island called Fositesland (possibly Heligoland) where a pagan god named Fosite was worshipped. Here he despoiled this god of its sanctity by using the god's sacred well for baptisms and the sacred cattle for food.
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
- (Latin)(Dutch) C.J.C. Broer and M.W.J. de Bruijn, Bonifatius en de Utrechtse kerk, in: C. Dekker and E.S.C. Erkelens-Buttinger (1997), De kerk en de Nederlanden, page 63, Verloren, ISBN 90-6550-558-X
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Today's Snippet I: Northumbria, United Kingdom
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| Northumbria |
Northumbria (Old English: Norþanhymbra / Norþhymbre) was a mediæval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber estuary.
Northumbria was formed by Æthelfrith in central Great Britain in Anglo-Saxon times. At the beginning of the 7th century the two kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira were unified. (In the 12th century writings of Henry of Huntingdon the kingdom was defined as one of the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.) At its greatest the kingdom extended at least from just south of the Humber, to the River Mersey and to the Forth (roughly, Sheffield to Runcorn to Edinburgh) — and there is some evidence that it may have been much greater (see map).
The later (and smaller) earldom came about when the southern part of Northumbria (ex-Deira) was lost to the Danelaw.
The northern part (ex-Bernicia) at first retained its status as a
kingdom but when it become subordinate to the Danish kingdom it had its
powers curtailed to that of an earldom, and retained that status when
England was reunited by the Wessex-led reconquest of the Danelaw. The earldom was bounded by the River Tees in the south and the River Tweed in the north (broadly similar to the modern North East England).
Much of this land was "debated" between England and Scotland, but the
Earldom of Northumbria was eventually recognised as part of England by
the Anglo-Scottish Treaty of York in 1237. On the northern border, Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is north of the Tweed but had changed hands many times, was defined as subject to the laws of England by the Wales and Berwick Act 1746. The land once part of Northumbria at its peak is now divided by modern administrative boundaries:
- North East England includes Anglian Bernicia
- Yorkshire and the Humber includes Anglian Deira and Celtic Elmet
- North West England includes Cumbria, though Cumbria was more of a Northumbrian colony with its own client kings for most of its history in the Early Medieval era
- Scottish Borders, West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian cover the extreme north
Northumbria is also used in the names of some regional institutions: particularly the police force (Northumbria Police, which covers Northumberland and Tyne and Wear) and a university (Northumbria University)
based in Newcastle. The local Environment Agency office, located in
Newcastle Business Park, also uses the term Northumbria to describe its
patch. Otherwise, the term is not used in everyday conversation, and is
not the official name for the UK and EU region of North East England.
Kingdom (654–954)
Northumbria was originally composed of the union of two independent kingdoms, Bernicia and Deira. Bernicia covered lands north of the Tees, while Deira corresponded roughly to modern-day Yorkshire. Bernicia and Deira were first united by Aethelfrith, a king of Bernicia who conquered Deira around the year 604. He was defeated and killed around the year 616 in battle at the River Idle by Raedwald of East Anglia, who installed Edwin, the son of Aella, a former king of Deira, as king. Edwin, who accepted Christianity in 627, soon grew to become the most powerful king in England: he was recognised as Bretwalda and conquered the Isle of Man and Gwynedd in northern Wales. He was, however, himself defeated by an alliance of the exiled king of Gwynedd, Cadwallon ap Cadfan and Penda, king of Mercia, at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633.
King Oswald
After Edwin's death, Northumbria was split between Bernicia, where Eanfrith, a son of Aethelfrith, took power, and Deira, where a cousin of Edwin, Osric, became king. Cumbria tended to remain a country frontier with the Britons.
Both of these rulers were killed during the year that followed, as
Cadwallon continued his devastating invasion of Northumbria. After the
murder of Eanfrith, his brother, Oswald, backed by warriors sent by Domnall Brecc of Dál Riata, defeated and killed Cadwallon at the Battle of Heavenfield in 634.
Oswald expanded his kingdom considerably. He incorporated Gododdin lands northwards up to the Firth of Forth and also gradually extended his reach westward, encroaching on the remaining Cumbric speaking kingdoms of Rheged and Strathclyde. Thus, Northumbria became not only part of modern England's far north, but also covered much of what is now the south-east of Scotland. King Oswald re-introduced Christianity to the Kingdom by appointing St. Aidan, an Irish monk from the Scottish island of Iona to convert his people. This led to the introduction of the practices of Celtic Christianity. A monastery was established on Lindisfarne.
War with Mercia continued, however. In 642, Oswald was killed by the Mercians under Penda at the Battle of Maserfield. In 655, Penda launched a massive invasion of Northumbria, aided by the sub-king of Deira, Aethelwald, but suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of an inferior force under Oswiu, Oswald's successor, at the Battle of Winwaed.
This battle marked a major turning point in Northumbrian fortunes:
Penda died in the battle, and Oswiu gained supremacy over Mercia, making
himself the most powerful king in England.
Religious union and eventual decline
In the year 664 the Synod of Whitby
was held to discuss the controversy regarding the timing of the Easter
festival. Much dispute had arisen between the practices of the Celtic
church in Northumbria and the beliefs of the Roman church. Eventually,
Northumbria was persuaded to move to the Roman practice and the Celtic
Bishop Colman of Lindisfarne returned to Iona.
Northumbria lost control of Mercia in the late 650s, after a successful revolt under Penda's son Wulfhere, but it retained its dominant position until it suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of the Picts at the Battle of Dun Nechtain in 685; Northumbria's king, Ecgfrith (son of Oswiu), was killed, and its power in the north was gravely weakened. The peaceful reign of Aldfrith,
Ecgfrith's half-brother and successor, did something to limit the
damage done, but it is from this point that Northumbria's power began to
decline, and chronic instability followed Aldfrith's death in 704.
In 867 Northumbria became the northern kingdom of the Danelaw, after its conquest by the brothers Halfdan Ragnarsson and Ivar the Boneless who installed an Englishman, Ecgberht, as a puppet king. Despite the pillaging of the kingdom, Viking rule
brought lucrative trade to Northumbria, especially at their capital
York. The kingdom passed between English, Norse and Norse-Gaelic kings
until it was finally absorbed by king Eadred after the death of the last independent Northumbrian monarch, Erik Bloodaxe, in 954.
Ealdormanships and earldoms in Northumbria (954–1217)
After the English regained the territory of the former kingdom, Scots
invasions reduced Northumbria to an earldom stretching from the Humber
to the Tweed. Northumbria was disputed between the emerging kingdoms of
England and Scotland. The land north of the Tweed was finally ceded to Scotland in 1018 as a result of the battle of Carham. Yorkshire and Northumberland were first mentioned as separate in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1065.
Norman invasion and partition of the earldom
William the Conqueror
became king of England in 1066. He realised he needed to control
Northumbria, which had remained virtually independent of the Kings of
England, to protect his kingdom from Scottish invasion. In 1067, William
appointed Copsi (sometimes Copsig) as Earl. However, just five weeks into his reign as earl, Copsi was murdered by Osulf II of Bamburgh.
To acknowledge the remote independence of Northumbria and ensure
England was properly defended from the Scots, William gained the
allegiance of both the Bishop of Durham
and the Earl and confirmed their powers and privileges. However,
anti-Norman rebellions followed. William therefore attempted to install Robert Comine, a Norman noble, as the Earl of Northumbria, but before Comine could take up office, he and his 700 men were massacred in the city of Durham. In revenge, the Conqueror led his army in a bloody raid into Northumbria, an event that became known as the harrying of the North. Ethelwin, the Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Durham,
tried to flee Northumbria at the time of the raid, with Northumbrian
treasures. The bishop was caught, imprisoned, and later died in
confinement; his seat was left vacant.
Rebellions continued, and William's son William Rufus decided to partition Northumbria. William of St. Carilef was made Bishop of Durham, and was also given the powers of Earl for the region south of the rivers Tyne and Derwent, which became the County Palatine of Durham.
The remainder, to the north of the rivers, became Northumberland,
where the political powers of the Bishops of Durham were limited to
only certain districts, and the earls continued to rule as clients of
the English throne. The city of Newcastle
was founded by the Normans in 1080 to control the region by holding the
strategically important crossing point of the river Tyne.
Subsequent history
The Northumbrian region continued a history of revolt and rebellion against the government, as seen in the Rising of the North in Tudor times. A major reason was the strength of Catholicism in the area after the Reformation. Rural, thinly populated, and sharing a border with an often hostile Scotland, the region became a wild place where reivers
raided across the border and outlaws took refuge from justice. However,
after the union of the crowns of Scotland and England under King James VI and I peace was largely established. After the Restoration, many inhabitants of the Northumbrian region supported the Jacobite cause.
Flag
The flag of the kingdom was "a banner made of gold and purple" (or
red), first recorded in the 8th century as having hung over the shrine
of King Oswald. This was later interpreted as vertical stripes. A modified version (with broken vertical stripes) can be seen in the coat of arms and flag used by Northumberland County Council.
Culture
Northumbria during its "golden age" was the most important centre of
religious learning and arts in the British Isles. Initially the kingdom
was evangelised by Irish monks from the Celtic Church, based at Iona in
modern Scotland, which led to a flowering of monastic life. Lindisfarne
on the east coast was founded from Iona by Saint Aidan in about 635, and
was to remain the major Northumbrian monastic centre, producing figures
like Wilfrid and Saint Cuthbert. The nobleman Benedict Biscop had
visited Rome and headed the monastery at Canterbury in Kent and his
twin-foundation Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey added a direct Roman
influence to Northumbrian culture, and produced figures such as
Ceolfrith and Bede. Northumbria played an important role in the
formation of Insular art, a unique style combining Anglo-Saxon, Celtic,
Pictish, Byzantine and other elements, producing works such as the
Lindisfarne Gospels, St Cuthbert Gospel, the Ruthwell Cross and
Bewcastle Cross, and later the Book of Kells, which was probably created
at Iona. After the Synod of Whitby
in 664 Roman church practices officially replaced the Celtic ones but
the influence of the Celtic style continued, the most famous examples of
this being the Lindisfarne Gospels. The Venerable Bede (673–735) wrote
his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
(Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731) in
Monkwearmouth-Jarrow, and much of it focuses on the kingdom.
The devastating Viking raid on Lindisfarne in 793 marked the beginning
of a century of Viking invasions that severely checked all Anglo-Saxon
culture, and heralded the end of Northumbria's position as a centre of
influence, although in the years immediately following confident works
like the Easby Cross were still being produced.
Northumbria has its own check or tartan, which is similar to many ancient tartans (especially those from Northern Europe, such as one found near Falkirk and those discovered in Jutland that date from Roman times (and even earlier).
Modern Border Tartans are almost invariably a bold black and white
check, but historically the light squares were the yellowish colour of
untreated wool, with the dark squares any of a range of dark greys,
blues, greens or browns; hence the alternative name of "Border Drab". At
a distance the checks blend together making the fabric ideal camouflage for stalking game.
Language
Apart from standard English, Northumbria has a series of closely related but distinctive dialects, descended from the early Germanic languages of the Angles, of which 80% of its vocabulary is derived, and Vikings with a few Celtic and Latin loanwords. The Scots language began to diverge from early Northumbrian Middle English, which was called Ynglis as late as the early 16th century (until the end of the 15th century the name Scottis (modern form: Scots) referred to Scottish Gaelic). There are many similarities between Modern Scots dialects and those of Northumbria.
The major Northumbrian dialects are Geordie (Tyneside), Northern (north of the River Coquet), Western (from Allendale through Hexham up to Kielder), Southern or Pitmatic (the mining towns such as Ashington and much of Durham), Mackem (Wearside), Smoggie (Teesside) and Tyke
(Yorkshire). To an outsider's ear the similarities far outweigh the
differences between the dialects. As an example of the difference in the
softer South County Durham/Wearside the English 'book' is pronounced
'bewk', in Geordie it becomes 'bouk' while in the Northumbrian it is
'byuk'.
References
- Higham, N.J., The Kingdom of Northumbria AD 350–1100 (1993) ISBN 0-86299-730-5
- Rollason, D., Northumbria, 500–1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom (2003) ISBN 0-521-81335-2
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