Northinnbria in the Seventh Century 287 



life; the poetic achievement of Caedmon (unless that belongs, in 

 whole or in part, to the reign of his father Oswy) ; and the 

 activity of Theodore of Tarsus, which, though affecting bene- 

 ficially the whole of England, wielded an especially marked 

 influence upon Northumbria. 



II. CHRONOLOGY OF ALDFRITH'S LIFE 



Thus briefly w^e have sketched the history of Northumbria for a 

 hundred years, preparatory to considering its next prince, Aid- 

 frith, the son, by an Irish mother, of Oswy, and the elder brother 

 of Ecgfrith. The period upon which we are entering has been 

 thus characterized by Plummer^ : 'The defeat and death of Ecg- 

 frith in the fatal battle of Nechtansmere in 685 — Bede's thirteenth 

 year — marked the beginning of Northumbrian decline. Ecgfrith 

 was succeeded by his half-brother Aldfrith, a learned and pious 

 prince, who ruled over a diminished territory with fair success. 

 But after his death in 705, usurpation, conspiracy, and murder 

 make up the dismal tale of Northumbrian rule.' The especial 

 significance of Aldfrith's reign is more fully brought out by 

 Green- : 



The fall of Ecgfrith in 685 had shaken indeed the fabric of the 

 [Northumbrian] realm, for the triumphant Picts pressed in upon it from 

 the north, . . . while their success woke the Britons to fresh revolt. 

 Aldfrith, however, a brother of Ecgfrith, who was called from a refuge 

 at Hii [lona] to the Northumbrian throne, showed himself in this hour 

 of need worthy of the blood from which he sprang by reasserting his 

 mastery over the men of Cumbria and Galloway, and exchanging the 

 claim of lordship over the Picts for a profitable alliance with them. 

 Even in the north, however, his work was limited within the bounds 

 of self-defense ; and a consciousness of weakness is seen in the change 

 which passes over the policy of his realm. All effort at conquest was 

 for a while abandoned ; and the state which had won England by its 

 sword from heathendom, and given her by its victories the first notion 

 of a national unity, turned to bestow on her the more peaceful gifts of 

 art, letters, and a new poetry. The twenty years of Aldfrith's rule 

 were years of peace and order, in which the literary and artistic impulse 

 which had been given to Northumbria alike by the Celtic and Roman 

 churches produced striking results. Letters above all sprang vigorously 

 to the front. The books which Benedict brought from Rome in visit 



Pp. 396-7. 



