IX. How miracles of healing have been frequently wrought in the
place where King Oswald was
CHAP. IX. How miracles of healing have been frequently wrought in the place
where King Oswald was killed; and how, first, a traveller’s horse was restored
and afterwards a young girl cured of the palsy. [642 A.D.]
OSWALD, the most Christian king of the Northumbrians, reigned nine years,
including that year which was held accursed for the barbarous cruelty of the
king of the Britons and the reckless apostacy of the English kings; for, as was
said above,it is agreed by the unanimous consent of all, that the names and
memory of the apostates should be erased from the catalogue of the Christian
kings, and no year assigned to their reign. After which period, Oswald was
killed in a great battle, by the same pagan nation and pagan king of the
Mercians, who had slain his predecessor Edwin, at a place called in the English
tongue Maserfelth, in the thirty-eighth year of his age, on the fifth day of the
month of August.
How great his faith was towards God, and how remarkable his devotion, has been
made evident by miracles even after his death; for, in the place where he was
killed by the pagans, fighting for his country, sick men and cattle are
frequently healed to this day. Whence it came to pass that many took up the very
dust of the place where his body fell, and putting it into water, brought much
relief with it to their friends who were sick. This custom came so much into
use, that the earth being carried away by degrees, a hole was made as deep as
the height of a man. Nor is it surprising that the sick should be healed in the
place where he died; for, whilst he lived, he never ceased to provide for the
poor and the sick, and to bestow alms on them, and assist them.
Many miracles are said to have been wrought in that place, or with the dust
carried from it; but we have thought it sufficient to mention two, which we have
heard from our elders.
It happened, not long after his death, that a man was travelling on horseback
near that place, when his horse on a sudden fell sick, stood still, hung his
head, and foamed at the mouth, and, at length, as his pain increased, he fell to
the ground; the rider dismounted, and taking off his saddle,waited to see
whether the beast would recover or die. At length, after writhing for a long
time in extreme anguish, the horse happened in his struggles to come to the very
place where the great king died. Immediately the pain abated, the beast ceased
from his frantic kicking, and, after the manner of horses, as if resting from
his weariness, he rolled from side to side, and then starting up, perfectly
recovered, began to graze hungrily on the green herbage. The rider observing
this, and being an intelligent man, concluded that there must be some wonderful
sanctity in the place where the horse had been healed, and he marked the spot.
After which he again mounted his horse, and went on to the inn where he intended
to stop. On his arrival he found a girl, niece to the landlord, who had long
been sick of the palsy; and when the members of the household, in his presence,
lamented the girl’s grievous calamity, he gave them an account of the place
where his horse had been cured. In brief, she was put into a wagon and carried
to the place and laid down there. At first she slept awhile, and when she awoke,
found herself healed of her infirmity. Upon which she called for water, washed
her face, arranged her hair, put a kerchief on her head, and returned home on
foot, in good health, with those who had brought her.
