Chronology of Aid frit It's Life 289 



very persons who had formerly banished him, now esteeming him the 

 better qualified to manage the reins of government, sent for him of 

 their own accord. 



The mother of Ecgf rith, Eanfled, was born April 20, 626^ ; and 

 Oswy, who died Feb. 25, 671,- in his iifty-eighth year, must prob- 

 ably have been born in 613. They were married after Oswy had 

 become king.^ which was in 642, and of course, as we have seen 

 above, before August, 645. In 642 Oswy would have been 

 twenty-nine years of age, and in 645 thirty-two. It is not surpris- 

 ing, then, considering the manners of the period, and especially the 

 temptations of princes, if he had an illegitimate son before that 

 time ; nor, considering his long residence among the Irish,* that 

 this son should have been the offspring of a connection with a 

 daughter, Fina, of the Irish princely house of Niall.^ 



On the death of Edwin, Oct. 12, 633, Oswy and his brothers 

 were permitted to return from the exile among the Irish and Picts 

 to which they had been forced at Edwin's accession'^ ; at this time 

 Oswy would have been scarcely more than twenty years of age, 

 and the son born in Ireland, supposing Oswy to have retmnied to 

 England at once, would have seen the light as early as 633 ; but 

 as Oswald reigned until Aug. 5, 642, and has been suspected of 

 compassing the death of Eadfrith,'^ Edwin's son, and of threaten- 

 ing the life of a grandson and another son of Edwin,® perhaps we 



^ Eccl. Hist. 2. g. 



*Oman, p. 293; Plummer 2. 211. 



^ Eccl. Hist. 3. 15. 



* Sax. Chr. 617; Eccl. Hist. 3.' i. 



"" Reeves, p. 284 ; Plummer 2. 263. 



For the marriage of Oswy's brother, Eanfrith, with a Pictish princess 

 during his exile, see Oman, pp. 294, 307 ; Plummer 2. 120. For the possi- 

 bility that Oswy himself may have been illegitimate, see Plummer 2. 161. 

 Oswy's daughter, Alhfled. married Peada, son of Penda, in 653, so that 

 she can hardly have been the fruit of a union contracted in 642 or later 

 (cf. Plummer 2. 175) ; her mother may well have been that Riemmelth, 

 daughter of Royth, son of Rum, whom Nennius characterizes as one of 

 Oswy's wives, and 'whose name suggests a Pictish origin' {Diet. Nat. Biog. 

 42. 336). 



^ Eccl. Hist. 3. I. The banished brothers were (Sax. Citron. 617) Eanfrith, 

 Oszvald, Osivy, Oslac, Oswudu, Oslaf, Offa (kings of Northumbria in 

 italic). 



' Eccl. Hist. 2. 20; Plummer 2. 116. 



^ Eccl. Hist. 2. 20. 



