Oshere of Hwicce

From meagre sources, historians have tried to piece together the relationships between Oshere and other Hwiccian contemporaries—Osric, king of Hwicce (d. 729), and Oswald, founder of Pershore Abbey (689).{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Ann |last2=Smyth |first2=Alfred P. |last3=Kirby |first3=D. B. |title=A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain: England, Scotland, Wales, c. 500 to c. 1050 |date=1991 |publisher=Seaby |location=London |page=194 |isbn=9781852640477 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jR376Dp1OFIC&dq=oswald+hwicce+pershore+oshere&pg=PA194 |access-date=20 Nov 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Ford |first1=David Nash |title=Historical Chronology of the Early Saxon Kingdoms: Part 2, AD 650-692 |url=http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/adversaries/kingdoms/650.html |website=Early British Kingdoms |access-date=20 Nov 2022}}

There are various theories regarding the relationships among these figures. One is that Oshere was a brother of both Osric and Oswald;{{cite web |last1=Ford |title=Historical Chronology |url=http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/adversaries/kingdoms/650.html}} another, put forward by Bishop William Stubbs, was that Oshere was the son of Oswald, who was brother to Osric. Royal Historical Society president William Hunt favored the first theory and added that, if true, it would mean that Oshere was a nephew of Queen Osthryth, wife of King Æthelred of Mercia.

Historians have felt on firmer ground identifying two sisters of Oshere: Ecgburg, second abbess of Gloucester, and Wethburg, a nun.{{cite book |last1=Hollis |first1=Stephanie |title=Anglo-Saxon Women and the Church: Sharing a Common Fate |date=1992 |publisher=Boydell |isbn=9780851153179 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JxSWhlslFxEC&dq=oshere+%22perhaps+conveys+that+he+fell+in+battle%22&pg=PA140 |access-date=20 Nov 2022}} Details of the family appear in a letter Ecgburg wrote to Bishop Wynfrith (Boniface) c. 716, lamenting the death of her brother and the long absence of her sister. Her sister, she had heard, was "Romana carcer inclusit," which historian Diane Watt translates as "in a Roman cell as a recluse" nun.{{cite book |last1=Watt |first1=Diane |title=Women, Writing, and Religion in England and Beyond: 650-1100 |date=2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |location=London |page=80 |isbn=9781474270656 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tnKyDwAAQBAJ&dq=ecgburh+letter+oshere&pg=PA80 |access-date=20 Nov 2022}} He subsequently communicated with Wethburg, who responded by pointing out the dangers of traveling to Rome due to frequent Saracen attacks.{{cite book |last1=Watt |title=Women, Writing, and Religion |date=12 December 2019 |page=83 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9781474270656 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tnKyDwAAQBAJ}} In addition to Ecgburg and Wethburg, a third sister is also possible. To be specific, William Hunt identified Kyneburga, first abbess of Gloucester, as the sister of Ecgburg and, therefore, of King Oshere.

The sons of Oshere have been identified as Æthelheard, Æthelward and Æthelric.{{cite book |last1=Wiley |title=Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia |date=2 October 2013 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781118316108 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tZkzAQAAQBAJ&dq=Oshere+Hwicce&pg=PT923}}

Little is known of Oshere's education, but since his sister was educated, it follows that he would have been as well. Ecgburg's letter to Boniface reveals a cultivated intellect, leading Diane Watt to state that she was among the "highly educated women" who corresponded with the bishop.{{cite journal |last1=Wellesley |first1=Mary |title=Love, Ecgburg |journal=The New York Review |date=22 October 2020 |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/10/22/women-writing-religion-love-ecgburg/?lp_txn_id=1397975 |access-date=20 Nov 2022}} The historian Patrick Sims-Williams noted her familiarity with the works of classical Greece and Rome and even went so far as to compare her "highly poetic style" to those of Jerome and Paulinus of Nola.{{cite book |last1=Sims-Williams |first1=Patrick |title=Religion and Literature in Western England, 600-800 |date=1990 |publisher=Cambridge UP |location=Cambridge |page=220 |isbn=9780521673426 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xksjPqoqVbcC&q=ecgburg |access-date=20 Nov 2022}}

Ecgburg indeed identifies Boniface as her teacher, and, in mentioning "the affection which assuredly bound you to my brother," she suggests that Oshere also studied under Boniface. Most instructive regarding Oshere's education is Ecgburg's statement that she was "inferior" to her brother "in knowledge and in merit."{{cite book |last1=Eckenstein |first1=Lina |title=Woman under Monasticism |date=1896 |publisher=Cambridge UP |location=Cambridge |page=127 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42708/42708-h/42708-h.htm |access-date=20 Nov 2022}}

Charters granted in Oshere's name prior to 693 are said to be spurious.{{cite journal |last1=Stubbs |first1=William |title=The Cathedral, Dynasties, and Monasteries of Worcester in the Eighth Century |journal=The Archaeological Journal |date=1863 |volume=19 |page=248 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=teM9AAAAcAAJ&q=oshere |access-date=20 Nov 2022}} Among those is a charter of 680 granting 30 hides for a monastery at Ripple in Worcestershire,{{cite web |title=S 52 |url=https://esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk/charter/52.html |website=The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalog of Anglo-Saxon Charters |access-date=20 Nov 2022}} which did, however, refer to Oshere as king of the Hwicce acting under Æthelred's authority.{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=William |last2=Wace |first2=Henry |title=A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects, and Doctrines during the First Eight Centuries |date=1887 |location=London |page=4:160 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e3DYAAAAMAAJ&dq=oshere+ripple+spurious+ethelred&pg=PA160 |access-date=20 Nov 2022}}

In 693, Oshere, along with his son Æthelheard, granted land to Cuthswith, abbess of Bath{{cite book |last1=Kirby |first1=D. P. |title=The Earliest English Kings |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |page=107 |isbn=9781000082869 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CCrZDwAAQBAJ&dq=Oshere+Hwicce&pg=PA107 |access-date=20 Nov 2022}} who may have been a member of the Mercian royal family or the Hwiccian dynasty.{{cite book |last1=Sims-Williams |title=Religion and Literature |date=30 June 2005 |page=191 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521673426 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xksjPqoqVbcC&dq=cuthswith&pg=PA191}} Specifically, the abbess was given 15 hides at Penintanham (believed to be Inkberrow in Worcestershire) and at Dyllawidu (location unknown) for the foundation of a monastery, which must have prospered since she later added 5 hides at Ingin(n) (probably Ingon) twelve miles from Penintanham.{{cite book |last1=Sims-Williams |title=Religion and Literature |date=30 June 2005 |pages=191 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521673426 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xksjPqoqVbcC&dq=cuthswith&pg=PA191}}{{cite web |title=S 53 |url=http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=53 |website=Anglo-Saxons.net |access-date=20 Nov 2022}}

Between 674 and 704, Oshere also granted 21 hides at Withington (now in Gloucestershire) to Abbess Dunna for the founding of a monastery.{{cite web |title=A Brief History of Withington Parish |url=https://www.withington-gloucestershire.co.uk/parishhistory.html |website=Withington Parish Council |access-date=20 Nov 2022}}{{cite journal |last1=Stubbs |first1=William |title=The Cathedral, Dynasties, and Monasteries of Worcester in the Eighth Century |journal=The Archaeological Journal |date=1863 |volume=19 |page=248 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=teM9AAAAcAAJ&q=oshere |access-date=20 Nov 2022}}

Ecgburg's letter to Boniface, dated c. 716, laments the death of Oshere. Ecgburg referred to Oshere's death as "cruel and bitter," leading one historian to speculate that he may have fallen in battle.{{cite book |last1=Hollis |title=Anglo-Saxon Women and the Church: Sharing a Common Fate}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite DNB |wstitle= Oshere |volume= 42 |last= Hunt |first= William |author-link= William Hunt (priest) | page= 311 |short=1}}

• {{PASE|35965|Oshere 1}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Start}}

{{Succession box

| title = King of Hwicce

| years = circa. 690s

| before = Osric

| with =

| after = Æthelheard

}}

{{End}}

Category:Hwiccan monarchs

Category:7th-century English monarchs