385 
torn by foreign invasion, or governed by usurpers, who held 
it as two separate kingdoms. Osric, a prince who held that 
division in which Elmete was situated, rebuilt the royal 
palace near Leeds. Oswald, a king celebrated for his great 
piety, as well as for his bravery, soon afterwards succeeded to 
the throne. He was attacked first by Cadwalla and the / 
Welsh, but in the battle of Heavenfield the Welsh king was v 
defeated and slain. Oswald now in his turn marched upon / 
North Wales, but he also was defeated and slain at Oswestry, 
in Shropshire. Between 642 and 650, this part of the 
Northumbrian kingdom was ruled by the saintly King Oswin, t^trt^^. 
who became an object of hatred to Oswy, the other Northum- 
brian king. The latter invaded his dominions in the year * 
650, and a battle was on the eve of taking place at a locality 
called by Bede, Wilfaresdun, when Oswin, considering his 
great inferiority in forces, and wishing to save the lives of 
his countrymen, disbanded his army, and sought safety in 
flight. He attempted to hide himself at a place called in 
Gsetlingum, the residence of an earl named Hunwald, who 
had received great favours from him, and in whom he placed ; ' 
entire trust ; but Hunwald betrayed him, and Oswy sent a 
party of his warriors who put Oswin to death. Mr. Haigh, *^ v>; 
in his paper just alluded to, holds that Wilfaresdun is the ^j^ s Jj 
modern Wilbarston, in Northamptonshire, and that the 
modern village of Collingham, a few miles from Leeds, ^ 5 
occupies the site of the in GaBtlingum of Bede. Oswin 
appears to have fled to the wooded district of Elmete ; and it 
is curious that among the early Saxon crosses still preserved 
at Collingham, Mr. Haigh found one with a mutilated inscrip- 
tion in Anglo-Saxon runes, which appears to commemorate 
the martyred King Oswin, and to have been erected by his . 
aunt, probably a nun. **** M 
Oswy now seized upon the crown of Deira, and united ^ 
the two divisions of Northumbria. Enmity, however, sprung I 
4* %^h^P^ 4L^ 
