Saturday, October 22, 2011

King Oswy, Roseberry Topping and the Synod of Whitby

Following on from my last post about Roseberry Topping I've been looking at the historical King Oswy of Northumbria. Interestingly he was the King who presided over the famous Synod of Whitby.

The historical record, at least according to Bede and whoever else, states that King Oswy was the brother of King Oswald of Northumbria, and that he succeeded this Oswald after his death. However, our local tradition concerning Roseberry Topping speaks of an Oswy who is the son of King Oswald. This is a slightly odd disparity.

No doubt most historians would view our local tradition as a garbled folk version of the real story. Still, I can't help but see something of a mystery here.

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