OSWALD (c. 604-642), “most Christian king of the Northumbrians,” was the son of King Ethelfrith, and was born about 604. On the death of his father on the battlefield in 617, he and his brothers were compelled to take refuge among the northern Celts, where they are said to have received baptism. The fall of King Edwin in 633 permitted their return, and after the death of Eanfrid, who had received Deira, and of Osric, who had been chosen to Bernicia, Oswald was called to the throne of the united kingdoms, and established his claim to it by his great victory over Ceadwalla at Heavenfield near Hexham in 635. His beneficent reign, which was chiefly devoted to the establishment of Christianity throughout his dominions, was brought to an end by his defeat and death on August 5, 642 (see Northumberland). The cross erected by Oswald on the scene of his victory in 635 was afterwards the scene or the instrument of many miracles, and gradually his name found a place in the calendar, August 5th being the day sacred to his memory. A German “Spielmannsgedicht” of the 12th or 13th century takes its name from St Oswald, but the narrative has no relation to anything recorded about the hero in authentic history (see monographs by Zingerle, 1856; Strobl, 1870; and Edzardi, 1876). Oswald, bishop of Winchester, who died February 29, 992, is also commemorated as a saint (October 15).

OSWALDTWISTLE, a township of Lancashire, England, is situated on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the East Lancashire Railway, 3 j miles east-south-east of Blackburn and 24 north of Manchester. It possesses cottonmills, printworks, bleachworks, and chemical works, and in the neighbourhood there are collieries, stone quarries, and potteries. The population of the township and urban sanitary district (area 4883 acres) in 1871 was 10,283, and in 1881 it was 12,206.