Introduction

A little under 40 years after the formal conversion by baptism of Edwin, first Christian king of the Northumbrians, a synod was held to resolve tensions created by the fact that the kingdom was subject to sometimes opposing influences from the continental (‘Roman’) and western (‘Celtic’) churches. The interest of both traditions in Northumbria is apparent from the time of Edwin's conversion itself for, while Bede records that his baptism in 627 was conducted by Paulinus, emissary of the Roman church, there is an alternative, British, tradition that it was performed by Rhun, son of Urien of Rheged. Under Oswald (634–642), who had been baptised while exiled among the Scots during Edwin's reign, missionary activity in Northumbria was conducted by adherents to the Celtic tradition, most notably Aidan, whom the king had brought in from Iona. It was Oswald’s brother and successor, Oswiu, who had also been exiled and brought up in the British tradition, who presided at the 664 Council, traditionally said to have been held at Whitby on the Yorkshire coast, at which the Northumbrians decided in favour of the ‘Roman’ rather than the western or Celtic tradition.

Bede's account of the Council narrates the events in narrowly ecclesiastical terms, concentrating on the form of monastic tonsure and, more especially, the date at which Easter should be celebrated. The implications of the outcome were, however, of much greater significance than that suggested by this. In religious terms, the decision to reject Celtic teaching brought the Northumbrian kingdom into line with the main Southumbrian kingdoms, and with the mainstream of continental Christianity as represented by the papacy. But there were also important political dimensions to the decision, particularly in relation to Oswiu’s ability to control the southern, Deiran, part of his kingdom, despite his having married Eanflæd, daughter of the Deiran King Edwin. It was not until 655, some 13 years after his accession in Bernicia, that Oswiu had managed to gain full power in Deira, and he then sought to strengthen his position by associating Alhfrith, his son by a previous liaison, with his rule as sub-king in the region.