What is Oswald of Northumbria?
{{Infobox Monarch | name =Oswald | image =Oswald of Northumbria.jpg | caption = | title =King of Northumbria | reign =634-642 | predecessor = | successor = | queen = | issue = | father = | birth_date =c. 604 <br/> Kingdom of Deira | death_date =5 August 642 <br/> Oswestry, England | burial = }} '''Oswald''' ({{circa|605}}–642) was a [[King]] of [[Northumbria]] and the first [[Christian]] [[:wikt:monarch|monarch]] of that [[kingdom]]. Oswald brought [[Aidan of Lindisfarne|St. Aidan]] from [[Iona]] to start a [[monastery]] on the island of [[Lindisfarne]]. Oswald was also venerated as a [[saint]]. == Early career == Oswald was born {{circa|605}}, the son of King [[Athelfrith of Bernicia]] and his second wife Acha of [[Deira]].<ref name=Abraham26>Rudolf Abraham, ''St Oswald's Way and St Cuthbert's Way'' (Milnthorpe, Cumbria: Cicerone, 2013), p. 26</ref> At age twelve his father was killed in battle by [[Edwin of Deira|Edwin]] who became King of [[Northumbria]].<ref name=Marsden108>John Marsden, ''Northanhymbre Saga; the History of the Anglo-Saxon Kings of Northumbria'' (London: Kyle Cathie Limited, 1992), p. 108</ref> Along with his brothers [[Eanfrith of Bernicia|Eanfrith]] and [[Oswiu of Northumbria|Oswiu]] and their sister Aebbe, he found safety with the [[Scottish people|Scots]] in [[Dál Riata]].<ref name=Marsden108/> The monks of Iona [[baptized]] the children and raised them in the [[Celtic Christianity|Celtic Christian]] faith.<ref>Mike Ashley, ''The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens'' (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999), p. 279</ref> For all of Edwin's [[reign]] Oswald remained in Exile.<ref>Frank Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 118</ref> [[Cadwallon ap Cadfan]], the Christian king of [[Gwynedd]], along with the [[pagan]] [[Penda of Mercia]], attacked Northumbria in 632.<ref>Peter Hunter Blair, ''Roman Britain and Early England; 55 B.C.–A.D. 871'' (New Yor