Oswald of Northumbria: A Biography of the Legendary King of the North

Matthew Welker: Look this isn’t a bad book by any means. I’ve no doubt Max Adams put a lot of time, effort, and research into this book. I certainly learned more about this time period than I did reading what I did of Bede though his work is very dated. Yet just like when I was going through Bede recently, I found myself just skimming to the end. This book has a lot, but also too much imo. I think it gets overly detailed at times and is a bit bloated. It could’ve used some trim.

If you want a good book about this era of English history that King Oswald lived in, I highly recommend. If you want to just know about his life, just read his Wikipedia page.

United States on Mar 14, 2022

Lin F.: And important history. I didn’t give it a 5th star because it was often confusing to an American unfamiliar with the landscape. And those so similar names! I occasionally just gave up and read it as sort of prose poetry but eventually got the picture.
Loved the author’s casual comments that lightened some of the slog through the unfamiliar dates and places. Loved how he described what remains to this day. I was inspired to go to Wikipedia to look up some geography, maps of tribal areas and linguistic origins of names and places. All of which are referred to in the book but I needed to ‘study’ separately due to my underlying ignorance.
I greatly enjoyed learning about a generally vague period of early history that, of course, was the foundation of the much more familiar English History that followed.

United States on Jan 30, 2022

Kathy Pearson: Very historical, where there is uncertainty, different scenarios are presented with the most like. Liked the genealogy assessment near the end.

United States on Aug 05, 2021

Bruce: A brilliant step beyond the certainties of Bede. Loved the detail and the conjecture, as well as the obvious humility of the fact that we actually know so little of this time. MORE is all I would add. More please 😇

United States on Mar 29, 2021

Richard Sewell: At times, not the easiest of reads in terms of language/style, but the subject-matter was in general very well-handled and Max Adams' knowledge-base is very secure – although his conjectures may be challenged by some. Like another reviewer, I felt that the title encompassed more than just Oswald – Oswiu, if anything, is a more "substantial" king, so I feel that the sub-title on the front cover, "The life and times of Oswald of Northumbria" is not fully accurate. The text on the back cover, with its "Game of Thrones" style, may well have misled those reviewers who thought it to be a fantasy novel?
Adams presents a comprehensive overview of the development of Northumbria and the structural and dynastic reasons why it was ultimately unable to defend itself from the depradations of the the Vikings, although it's debatable whether it could have withstood this onslaught had it been in better health. He links well the developing relationship between "church" and "state" in their embryonic forms and I would say that this is a very good introduction for the lay reader to a period of Early English history focussing on the north as opposed to Wessex, allowing for the caveats expressed...

United Kingdom on Apr 18, 2016

C. Ball: There's a hole at the centre of this book, and unfortunately that hole is where Oswald himself should be. Max Adams makes great claims for the importance of Oswald as one of the first Christian kings to hold sway over the rest of Britain, as his mighty role as warrior, as Tolkien's inspiration for Aragorn in 'Lord of the Rings', as founder of the monastery at Lindisfarne, as his afterlife as a saint - but reading this book I never came to any clear understanding of why Oswald was important or what justification there was for these claims.

This book is very much more about the 'times' than the 'life' - it devotes as much time to the years before and after Oswald, if not more, than the years of Oswald's reign itself. I felt like Oswald had hardly made an appearance on the scene as king of a united Northumbria before he was dead and gone again, and there seemed very little to tell about him even then. From what Adams relates, it's hard to see why Oswald is considered such an important figure in British history or why he was elevated as a saint. He doesn't seem to <i>do</i> very much at all - his successors were the ones who arguably were more successful in...

United Kingdom on Mar 04, 2016

Martin Turner: Covering the life of Oswald, the context preceding him, and the period after his death at Maserfield when he came to be venerated as a saint, The King in the North is a lucid and compelling insight into 7th century England, Ireland and Scotland, and into the life of England's first biographable king.

Oswald was Bede's favourite, and continued to be one of the most important Anglo-Saxon saints right up to the time of Aelfric. In many ways, Max Adams's book is an extended commentary on Bede's account, elucidated by all of the contextual material that archaeology, history and contemporary literature can bring to bear. Adams carefully questions Bede. While he regards him as a serious and highly competent historian, he unpicks some of the cultural assumptions, and deconstructs Bede's own underlying theme of providence and God's reward for just kings.

Parts of this book are speculative and parts are strongly sourced, both textually and archaeologically. Adams is careful to let the reader know at all times where the information he is presenting is coming from, and spends ample time in interpreting his sources and questioning his own interpretations.

If this book has...

United Kingdom on May 08, 2015

Kindle Customer: Adams has produced a well-written biography of Oswald that is rich in detail. I've been reading historical fiction novels about the time period and wanted some context and background. What I got was certainly that, but also a great read about a fascinating man whose resilience was remarkable.

United States on Aug 19, 2014

JPS: King of the North is supposed to be about “the life and times of Oswald of Northumbria”, as the book subtitle hints at. Written in an entertaining way and targeted at the general reader, this book is much more than that, with Oswald of Northumbria being almost a pretext for telling a much wider story over a much longer period than the mere eight years during which this warrior-king reigned. In a way, this is just as well, given how little real historical information we can really rely upon.

This is perhaps the first merit because the author, who clearly knows his topic and has done his research, manages to tell the story of most of Anglo-Saxon England over a period of about four centuries, with a special focus on its northern parts, while still being able to link this to Oswald. Part of this is achieved through the pretext of providing necessary context while events subsequent to the warrior-King’s death are also described as part of the King’s legacy or as part of the growth of his legend.

Another interesting feature is the provision of chronologies for each of the book’s major sections. While these may be tentative than the author cares to admit, and also...

United Kingdom on Jun 19, 2014

5 string bassist: This book is a very fair and informative read.
The author is very dedicated to the study of the period and takes into account the surrounding influences and effects.
I particularly enjoyed the information and positive opinions of the author regarding Dal Rita, Goddodin and Reghed.
He is brave enough to raise questions regarding brief mentions by Bede and others about how Oswalds incorruptable arm
was found and his skull identified a year or so after the battle.

The book does well to cover all the surrounding personalities before, during and after the time of Oswald. The Houses of Bernicia and Deira, relationships of Edwin with the Welsh, Mercians and East Anglians. His falling into the influence of the Roman Church and how he was toppled by an alliance including a kingdom with a Christian heritage and connection to the Votadini of Goddodin, with emnity to the Angles of Bernicia.
The author compare's the story of Oswald with Tolkein's Return of the King, however Oswald was not exactly successful in his final battle. Penda did make a bit of a mess of him. As to why, is an interesting thought.
The detail is good, the age gap between Oswald and Oswiu seems...

United Kingdom on Dec 21, 2013