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47-581: Eanflæd (19 April 626 – after 685, also known as Enfleda ) was a Deiran princess, queen of Northumbria and later, the abbess of an influential Christian monastery in Whitby , England . She was the daughter of King Edwin of Northumbria and Æthelburg , who in turn was the daughter of King Æthelberht of Kent . In or shortly after 642 Eanflæd became the second wife of King Oswiu of Northumbria . After Oswiu's death in 670, she retired to Whitby Abbey , which had been founded by Hilda of Whitby . Eanflæd became

94-539: A much lengthier discourse on the debate. The description of the proceedings, where King Oswiu presides and rules but does not engage in the ecclesiastics' debate himself, parallels examples of other synods in other sources, such as one in the Vita Sancti Bonifati by Willibald (where King Ine of Wessex performed the same function as Oswiu). Nonetheless, it is important to observe that the authors, despite their relatively good access to sources concerning

141-505: A royal residence by the River Derwent . Bede recounts that earlier on the day that Eanflæd was born, an assassin sent by Cwichelm of Wessex made an attempt on Edwin's life. Afterward, Edwin, prompted by Æthelburg's bishop, Paulinus , agreed to Eanflæd's baptism and promised to become a Christian if he was granted a victory over Cwichhelm. Eanflæd was baptised, Bede says, on the feast of Pentecost (8 June 626) with eleven others of

188-663: A synod of French clerics for ignoring their authority and following his homeland's Easter calculations (the Victorian table was declared official in Gaul in 541). About AD 600 Columbanus wrote to Pope Gregory I : "You should know that Victorius has not been accepted by our teachers and by the old Irish experts and by the mathematicians most skilled in the calculation of the computus, but was considered more worthy of ridicule and pity than of authority." But in Ireland also, debate raged over

235-628: Is Strensall near York. The Ionan position was advocated by Colmán , Bishop of Northumbria. In support of the Roman position, Eanfled had sent her chaplain Romanus, and the position was also taken by Agilbert , a Frankish bishop who also held office in England. Because of Agilbert's inability to express the complicated arguments in Old English , which was for him a foreign language, Wilfrid

282-612: Is the Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum by the Venerable Bede , written in 731. One of Bede's sources was the Life of Wilfrid itself, but he also had access to people who knew participants in the synod. For example, Bede knew Acca of Hexham , and dedicated many of his theological works to him. Acca was a companion of Wilfrid's on some of his journeys to Rome. Both accounts basically agree, though Bede gives

329-587: The Derwent ', a derivation also found in the Latin name for Malton , Derventio . It is cognate with the modern Irish word doire ( pronounced [ˈd̪ˠɛɾʲə] ); the names for County Londonderry and the city of Derry stem from this word. Following the Roman withdrawal from Britain a number of successor kingdoms rose in northern England, reflecting pre-Roman tribal territories. The area between

376-585: The First Council of Nicaea in 325 decreed that Christians should no longer use the Jewish calendar but should universally celebrate Easter on a Sunday, the day of the resurrection, as had come to be the custom in Rome and Alexandria. Calculating the proper date ( computus ) was a complex process (involving a lunisolar calendar ), and different calculation tables developed which resulted in different dates for

423-647: The 660s). The Synod of Whitby was just one of many councils held concerning the proper calculation of Easter throughout Latin Christendom in the Early Middle Ages. It addressed the issues of Easter calculation and of the proper monastic tonsure , and concerned only the part of the English Church that answered to the See of Lindisfarne: that is, it was a Northumbrian affair. Wilfrid's advocacy of

470-539: The Angles. Archaeology suggests that the Anglian royal house was in place by the middle of the fifth century, but the first certainly recorded king is Ælla in the late sixth century. After his death, Deira was subject to king Æthelfrith of Bernicia, who united the two kingdoms into Northumbria. Æthelfrith ruled until the accession of Ælla's son Edwin , in 616 or 617, who also ruled both kingdoms until 633. Osric ,

517-700: The British Isles and the Carolingian Empire in the ninth century and in Rome in the tenth. The Synod of Whitby established the supposed Roman practice as the norm in Northumbria, and thus "brought the Northumbrian church into the mainstream of Roman culture." The episcopal seat of Northumbria was transferred from Lindisfarne to York . Wilfrid, chief advocate for the Roman position, later became Bishop of Northumbria, while Colmán and

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564-483: The Columban or "Celtic" Church. ... The idea that there was a "Celtic Church" in something of a post-Reformation sense is still maddeningly ineradicable from the minds of students. In placing the synod in its proper historical context, historians of Anglo-Saxon England have also noted the position of the synod in the context of contemporary political tensions. Henry Mayr-Harting considered Alchfrith's interest in

611-518: The Great and thus had established the 19-year Easter cycle in his realm. However, following his death and a year of political instability, Oswald of Northumbria gained the throne. He had learned Christian practice from the monks of Iona during his stay there (while a political exile in his youth), and had encouraged Ionan missionaries to further the Christianization of Northumbria, especially

658-628: The Humber and River Tees known as Deywr or Deifr corresponds to the tribal lands of the Parisi , bordered to the west and north by the Brythonic kingdoms of Elmet ( Elfed ) and Bernicia ( Bryneich ) respectively, and to the east by the North Sea . Early Deira may have centred on Petuaria (modern Brough ) and archaeological evidence shows that the town was refortified. Petuaria

705-523: The Ionan supporters who did not change their practices withdrew to Iona. Colmán was allowed to take some relics of Aidan, who had been central in establishing Christianity of the Ionan tradition in Northumbria, with him back to Iona. To replace the departing ecclesiastics, Oswiu chose mostly Irishmen who were from the parts of Ireland that kept the Roman Easter (as most of Ireland had done for some time by

752-570: The Kentish king Eorcenberht. Perhaps several years after Oswiu's death, Eanflæd retired to the monastery at Whitby. This monastery was closely associated with her royal family and many members were buried there. Divisions within the Northumbrian church led to the Synod of Whitby held at this monastery in 664, during which Oswiu had agreed to settle a calendar controversy about Easter by adopting

799-669: The Old). The kingdom, which was previously ruled by a British dynasty, was probably created in the third quarter of the fifth century when Anglian warriors invaded the Derwent Valley . Anglian Deira's territory also extended from the Humber to the Tees , and from the sea to the western edge of the Vale of York . It later merged with the kingdom of Bernicia , its northern neighbour, to form

846-523: The Roman Easter has been called "a triumphant push against an open door", since most of the Irish had already accepted the Roman Easter and for that reason Iona "was already in danger of being pushed to one side by its Irish rivals." Although the focus on Whitby is on the decisions on tonsure and dating of Easter, the synod was an important step in the eventual Romanisation of the church in England; even though this Romanisation might have occurred anyway without

893-465: The Roman dating method. Whitby Abbey was a double monastery, housing the nuns and monks in separate quarters although they shared the church and religious rites. Following the death of her kinswoman and the founding abbess of the monastery, Hild , in 680 Eanflæd became abbess jointly with her daughter Ælfflæd. She died in the reign of her stepson, Aldfrith (685–704). During this time, the remains of King Edwin were reburied at Whitby. Some late sources give

940-662: The Scottish Divinity Faculty course on Church History ran from the Acts of the Apostles to 664 before resuming in 1560.) In the words of Patrick Wormald : From the days of George Buchanan , supplying the initial propaganda for the makers of the Scottish Kirk, until a startlingly recent date, there was warrant for an anti-Roman, anti-episcopal and, in the nineteenth century, anti-establishment stance in

987-557: The Synod of Whitby. Nonetheless, since the Protestant Reformation , the events of the synod have been symbolically interpreted as a "Celtic Church" opposing a "Roman Church", and the decision of Oswiu was thus interpreted as the "subjugation" of the "British Church" to Rome. There is a debate regarding the reality of a distinction between a pre-Whitby "Celtic" Church and a post-Whitby "Roman" Church. (Until fairly recently,

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1034-421: The abbess around 680 and remained there until her death. The monastery had strong association with members of the Northumbrian royal family and played an important role in the establishment of Roman Christianity in England. Eanflæd's mother had grown up as a Christian, but her father was an Anglo-Saxon pagan and he remained uncommitted to the new religion when she was born on the evening before Easter in 626 at

1081-454: The area was subject to the same fractious inheritance traditions and changing power dynamic (following the Roman withdrawal) that allowed Elmet and Bernicia to become independent hereditary kingdoms in the early fifth century. In Welsh literature , Deira is part of the Hen Ogledd (The Old North) region, which was divided into many related kingdoms after the death of Coel Hen (Coel

1128-405: The best option for calculating the date of Easter. The proper date of the celebration of the most significant Christian feast had already resulted in visible disunity in the Northumbrian court: Queen Eanfled of Bernicia and her court observed Easter on a different day than did King Oswiu . While one royal faction was celebrating Easter, the other would still be fasting during Lent . Nonetheless,

1175-598: The celebration of Easter. In the 660s, Ionan adherents chose to continue using the 84-year Latercus cycle invented by Sulpicius Severus c. 410. Meanwhile, the Papal Curia had commissioned Victorius of Aquitaine (AD 457) and later Dionysius Exiguus (525) to produce a new reckoning, in order to resolve the differences between the Roman method and the more scientific method of the Alexandrian Church. The three reckonings often resulted in different dates for

1222-529: The celebration of Easter. Neither the Victorian or Dionysian reckonings were without problems. Dionysius had simply translated the Alexandrian system into Latin without understanding it. The Victorian system, confusingly, produced double dates, relying on the pope to choose which date to use. Nevertheless, the Victorian table was accepted widely outside the area of Irish influence. Around 602, the Irish missionary St Columbanus had already been condemned by

1269-479: The convocation of the synod was Alchfrith , Oswiu 's son and sub-king in Deira . Henry Mayr-Harting considered him the "chief cause of trouble which led to the Synod". In the early 660s, he expelled Ionan monks from the monastery of Ripon and gave it to Wilfrid , a Northumbrian churchman who had recently returned from Rome. Alchfrith's position in the royal house, together with his promotion of Wilfrid (who would be

1316-439: The disunity did not result in problems as long as the well-respected Aidan was alive. After his death, his successor Finan found himself challenged by a monk named Ronan, an Irishman who had been trained in Rome and who wished to see the Roman Easter established. It was only in the time of Colmán , the third Ionan monk elected Bishop of Northumbria, that the conflict required royal attention and resolution. An important figure in

1363-518: The famous Bishop Aidan . The Synod of Whitby was convened to settle a controversy about the correct method of calculating the date of Easter . Early Christians had probably originally celebrated Easter concurrent with the Jewish Passover (see Passover, Christian holiday ), which was held on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month of the Jewish year, called Nisan , the day of the crucifixion according to John 19:14. However,

1410-455: The feast day of Eanflæd as 24 November. Along with Edwin, Oswiu, Hilda, and later, Ælfflæd, she was buried at Whitby. William of Malmesbury believed that her remains later had been removed to Glastonbury Abbey where a monument to her was said to exist in the twelfth century. Eanfeld, his daughter, received baptism, on the twelfth day after Pentecost, with all her followers, both men and women. ... If any one wishes to know who baptized them, it

1457-479: The historical significance of the synod because Easter calculation was of special interest to him, and also because he wished to stress the unity of the English Church. However, Bede's accuracy as a historian has been well regarded by Anglo-Saxon scholars, and historians have generally been comfortable following Bede's basic presentation of the synod. Stephen's text has found more criticism, and Reginald Poole identified many of his inaccuracies, but Stephen's account of

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1504-590: The holder of the keys, i.e. the Roman (and Petrine) practice. However, Wilfrid's method of calculating the date of Easter was the one used in Alexandria , not in Rome. Bede presented the synod as a victory for the Roman party even though he had doubts whether the method was used in Rome. He produced his own version based on the Alexandrian tables, as amended by Dionysius , for his own calculations in his De Temporibus (703) and in more detail in his De Temporum Ratione (716–25). The Bedan tables came to be accepted in

1551-449: The kingdom of Northumbria . According to Simeon of Durham (writing early in the 12th century), it extended from the Humber to the Tyne , but the land was waste north of the Tees . After the Brythonic kingdom centred on Eboracum , which may have been called Ebrauc , was taken by King Edwin, the city of Eboracum became its capital, and Eoforwic ("boar-place") was taken by

1598-468: The mother of each of his children difficult. Kirby states that Aldfrith , Ealhfrith , and Ealhflæd were not born to Eanflæd. Eanflæd was the early patroness of Wilfrid , who played a large part in Northumbrian politics during the reigns of Ecgfrith, Aldfrith, and Osred , and elsewhere in seventh century Britain. When Wilfrid wished to travel on pilgrimage to Rome , the Queen recommended him to her cousin,

1645-579: The nephew of Edwin, ruled Deira after Edwin, but his son Oswine was put to death by Oswiu in 651. For a few years subsequently, Deira was governed by Æthelwald son of Oswald of Bernicia . Bede wrote of Deira in his Historia Ecclesiastica (completed in 731). Synod of Whitby There are two principal sources for the synod. The first source, the Life of Wilfrid , is a hagiographic work written by Stephen of Ripon, often identified as Eddius Stephanus , probably soon after 710. The second source

1692-422: The rival Northumbrian royal family, sent a priest named Utta to Kent, which then was ruled by Eanflæd's cousin, Eorcenberht , to ask for her hand in marriage. Oswiu already had been married, to a British princess, named Rieinmellt , but recently had become king on the death of his brother, Oswald , at the battle of Maserfield . King Penda of Mercia , the victor of Maserfield, dominated central Britain and Oswiu

1739-432: The royal household. Edwin campaigned successfully against Cwichelm and adopted the new faith in 627. His reign ended in 633 with his defeat and death at the battle of Hatfield Chase . Fleeing the unsettled times which followed Edwin's death, Æthelburg, together with Bishop Paulinus, returned to Kent, where Eanflæd grew up under the protection of her uncle, King Eadbald of Kent . In 642 Oswiu , King of Bernicia , head of

1786-464: The rule in Gaul and in Rome), whereas the newer tradition which was kept in Rome by this time was a 19-year cycle which had been adopted from the church of Alexandria. In the kingdom of Northumbria , these two traditions coexisted, and each had been encouraged by different royal houses. Edwin of Northumbria had converted to Christianity under the influence of missionaries sent from Rome by Pope Gregory

1833-527: The spokesperson for the Roman position at the synod), has contributed to the view that he was instrumental in arranging his father's convocation of the synod. The synod was held at a place called Streanæshalch , at a monastery of Hilda , herself a powerful Northumbrian noble and adherent to the Ionan Easter. The identification of the location with the place later called Whitby is generally accepted, but not absolutely certain. Another possible candidate

1880-498: The synod did not suffer the same criticism as other passages in his work. In seventh-century Britain there were several differences between Roman and Celtic Christianity. One of these was the method of calculating the date of Easter. The Celtic practice was that of the Gaelic monks associated with the isle of Iona and its extensive network of daughter-houses, where the monks still observed an 84-year Easter cycle (as had earlier been

1927-433: The synod, still wrote at a distance, and the accounts, especially the quotations attributed to the participants, are more likely to be summaries of how Bede and Stephen understood the issue rather than something like true quotations. Further, the motivations of the authors influenced how they presented the material. Bede placed his description of the event centrally in his narrative, and he has been recognised as overemphasising

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1974-547: The tradition of St. John the apostle and evangelist . Wilfrid defended the Roman position on the following grounds (according to Bede's narrative): Oswiu then asked both sides if they agreed that Peter had been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven by Christ and pronounced to be "the rock" on which the Church would be built (as stated in Matthew 16:18–19), to which they agreed. Oswiu then declared his judgment in favour of

2021-528: Was Rhun son of Urien. Deira Deira ( / ˈ d aɪ r ə , ˈ d ɛər ə / DY -rə, DAIR -ə ; Old Welsh / Cumbric : Deywr or Deifr ; Old English : Derenrice or Dere ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain , and a later Anglian kingdom. The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic * daru , meaning 'oak' ( derw in modern Welsh), in which case it would mean 'the people of

2068-466: Was a great tribal centre for the Parisi, but declined in importance from the mid-fourth century (possibly as the harbour silted up). After this period, Derventio (modern Malton ) may have functioned as the region's capital. It is not known if Deira was ever an independent Brythonic kingdom, and no British king has been identified with the area from the surviving genealogies, poems or chronicles. However

2115-453: Was in need of support. Marriage with Eanflæd would provide Kentish, and perhaps Frankish, support, and any children Oswiu and Eanflæd might have would have strong claims to all of Northumbria. The date of the marriage is not recorded. If Oswiu's goal in marrying Eanflæd was the peaceful acceptance of his rule in Deira, the plan was unsuccessful. By 644 Oswine , Eanflæd's paternal second cousin,

2162-408: Was ruling in Deira. In 651 Oswine was killed by one of Oswiu's generals. To expiate the killing of his wife's kinsman, Oswiu founded Gilling Abbey at Gilling where prayers were said for both kings. With varying degrees of certainty, Eanflæd's children with Oswiu are identified as Ecgfrith , Ælfwine , Osthryth , and Ælfflæd . Oswiu's complicated series of marriages and liaisons makes identifying

2209-403: Was selected as the prime advocate for the Roman party. King Oswiu presided over the synod and acted as the final judge, who would give his royal authority in support of one side or the other. Bishop Colmán defended the Ionan calculation of Easter on the grounds that it was the practice of Columba , founder of their monastic network and a saint of unquestionable holiness, who himself had followed

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