Kingdom of Lindsey
Lindsey or Linnuis (Old English Lindesege) is the name of a petty Anglo-Saxon kingdom, absorbed into Northumbria in the 7th century.
It lay between the Humber and the Wash, forming its inland boundaries from the course of the Witham and Trent rivers (with the inclusion of an area inside of a marshy region south of the Humber known as the Isle of Axholme), and the Foss Dyke between them. It is believed that Roman Lindum (Lincoln) was the capital of this kingdom, with continuity of the place-name suggesting continuity of settlement traditions: in 625, Bede recounts,[1] the missionary Paulinus of York was received by the praefectus of Lindum.[2] Place-name evidence indicates that the Anglian settlement known as Lindisfaras spread from the Humber coast. Compare Winta and Winteringham.
Its name means the 'island of Lincoln'. This derives from the fact that it was surrounded by water and very wet land and had Lincoln towards its south-west corner. In the period of Anglo-Saxon settlement in Great Britain beginning in about 450, the kingdom of Lindsey was one of the lesser kingdoms within the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. Although it has its own list of kings, at an early date it came under external influence. It was from time to time effectively part of Deira, the Northumbrian kingdom and particularly later, of Mercia. Lindsey's independence was gone well before the arrival of the Danish Settlers.
The kingdom's heyday seems to have come before the historical period. By the time of the first historical records of Lindsey, it had become a subjugated polity, under the alternating control of Northumbria and Mercia. It is possible that the setback arose in the years around 500, from the opposition of the British leader known as Arthur, the second, third and fourth of whose twelve battles were fought in 'Linnuis' and whose twelfth victory held back Anglo-Saxon expansion for fifty years. See the Historia Britonum. However it may be, all trace of its individuality vanished before the Viking assault in the late ninth century. Its territories evolved into the historical English county of Lincolnshire, the northern part of which is called Lindsey.
Dr. Kevin Leahy, The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey: The Archaeology of an Anglo-Saxon Kingdom (2008) is a recent overview of the archaeology of this kingdom.
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[edit] Kings of Lindsey
The "Anglian collection" of genealogies, created in the last years of king Offa's reign, gives the names of the ruling lineage of Lindsey. The early names will relate either to life in Angeln or to a boastful genealogy arising from gods such as Woden.
- Geot - Compare the Geats who are frequently mentioned in Beowulf's story.
- Godulf
- Finn
- Frioðulf
- Frealaf
- Woden - Compare Woden, the god.
From Winta on, the names will refer to the early leaders in Lindsey.
- Winta - Compare Winteringham (the homestead of Winta's people).
- Cretta
- Cuelgils
- Caedbaed
- Bubba
- Beda
- Biscop
- Eanferð
- Eatta
- Aldfrið
None of the individuals can be securely dated. With regard to Aldfrið, Frank Stenton referred to the witness list for an Anglo-Saxon charter which includes an "Ealfrid rex", and dated its writing to some time between the years 787 and 796.[3] Unfortunately it is now believed that the name on the witness list should read "Ecgfrið Rex", and refers to Offa's son, who was anointed King of the Mercians in 787, nine years before his succession in 796, and would have been correctly styled "rex". Stenton also suggested that the name 'Biscop' came from the title 'bishop' and must post-date Paulinus's mission to Lindsey of 628 CE. However, as Sarah Foot has pointed out, Biscop is a perfectly good name, and we have no need to look for an external origin. The other genealogies in the Anglian collection close with historic personages whose dates are known, such as Edwin of Deira (616-33), Ethelred of Mercia (675-704) and Ethelbert II of Kent (725-62), but this wide range offers little help in dating Aldfrið.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Bede, Ecclesiastical History II.16.
- ^ H. R. Loyn, Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest, 2nd ed. 1991:11f, notes thatpraefectus is the most usual translation of gerefa, "reeve" of Anglo-Saxons writing in Latin.
- ^ Stenton, F. M. (1970) Preparatory to Anglo-Saxon England: the collected papers of Frank Merry Stenton; ed. by D. M. Stenton. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 129-31. The charter is Anglo-Saxon Charter S 1183 Archive Selsey British Academy ASChart Project. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ Leahy, Kevin (2008) The Anglo Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey: the archaeology of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom; pp. 98-99.
[edit] External links
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