Northumbria

Northumbria, one of the most important kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, lying north of the River Humber. During its most flourishing period it extended from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, between two west–east lines formed in the north by the Ayrshire coast and the Firth of Forth and in the south by the River Ribble, or the Mersey, and the Humber.

Its military strength was greatest in the 7th century, when the supremacy of three of its rulers, Edwin (616–632), Oswald (633–641), and Oswiu (641–670), was recognized by the southern English kingdoms. But Northumbria’s most significant contribution to Anglo-Saxon history was made in the late 7th and in the 8th century, in the religious, artistic, and intellectual achievements of what has often been called a golden age. The twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow achieved preeminence in the intellectual life not only of England but also of western Europe. The Venerable Bede (died 735), a theologian and historian who won international fame, was a monk of Jarrow, which boasted a remarkable library that made his scholarship possible. The monasteries of Hexham, Whitby, and Lindisfarne were also significant centres. The Gospel book from Lindisfarne (now in the British Museum) epitomizes Northumbrian attainment in writing and illumination, and the skill of Northumbrian sculptors survives in the stone crosses at Bewcastle and Ruthwell.

Northumbria was formed from the coalition of two originally independent states—Bernicia, which was a settlement at Bamburgh on the Northumberland coast, and Deira, lying to the south of it. Aethelfrith, ruler of Bernicia (593–616), won control of Deira, thereby creating the kingdom of Northumbria. He was killed in battle by supporters of Edwin, a representative of the Deiran royal house, who then ruled both kingdoms; but thereafter, apart from a few very short intervals, Bernician royalty controlled a united Northumbria. The kingdom probably reached the west coast by the mid-7th century, and it also rapidly expanded northward, at one time extending as far as the River Tay. To the south, the power of Mercia checked further expansion of the kingdom.

The cultural life and the political unity of Northumbria were destroyed by the arrival of the Danes. The Danish “great army” captured York in 866, and many of its members settled in that area. Early in the 10th century other Scandinavians entered and settled western Northumbria from the Irish Sea. Meanwhile, in the north, the newly formed kingdom of Scotland drove the Northumbrian boundary back to the River Tweed. Eventually the rulers of the southern kingdom of Wessex imposed their authority throughout England. After the last Scandinavian ruler of York was expelled in 944, there ceased to be independent kings of Northumbria, which then became an earldom within the kingdom of England.