Rhiainfellt
{{Short description|Northumbrian queen of British birth}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Rhiainfellt
| succession =
| image =
| caption =
| reign =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| spouse = Oswiu
| issue = Alhfrith,
possibly Alhflaed
| father = 'Royth' (Rhaith) son of Rhun
| mother =
| house = Rheged
| birth_date = unknown, flourished c. 630
| death_date = unknown
| death_place =
| burial =
| religion = Celtic Christianity
}}
Rhiainfellt, name variants including Rieinmelt and Rieinmelth, was a British princess of the royal house of the kingdom of Rheged, a part of the Hen Ogledd. Her name means "Lightning Maiden" or "Lightning Queen" in Old Welsh.Williams, Ifor, Nodiadau ar Eiriau, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, x (1939–41), pp. 36–44 She was a wife of Oswiu, King of Northumbria.
A life sparsely recorded
Rhiainfellt is identified in the Historia Brittonum as the wife of Oswiu and the granddaughter of Rhun son of Urien Rheged.H.M. Chadwick, H.M. (1954) Vortigern, in Studies in Early British History, ed. Nora Chadwick (Cambridge, 1954), pp. 21–33. Her status as Oswiu's wife is confirmed by her appearance in the Durham Liber Vitae, where, under the anglicised name 'Raegnmaeld', she appears in first place in a list of Northumbrian queens and abbesses.Ker, N.R. (1957) Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford), pp. 186–87 It is considered, on grounds of chronology, that Rhiainfellt was the mother of Alhfrith King of Deira.Fraser, J.E (2009) From Caledonia to Pictland, Edinburgh, pp. 177–78 More circumstantial evidence suggests that she was also the mother of Oswiu's daughter, Alhflaed.Kirby, David P. (1991) The Earliest English Kings. London: Unwin Hyman {{ISBN|0-04-445691-3}}, p. 75
According to British sources a friendly connection between the rulers of Rheged and Northumbria predated Rhiainfellt's marriage, as her grandfather Rhun is credited with having baptised King Edwin of Northumbria. Bede, however, states that Bishop Paulinus baptised Edwin. The apparent conflict could be reconciled if Rhun in reality had stood sponsor at the baptism, thus becoming Edwin's godfather.Corning, Caitlin (2000) The Baptism of Edwin, King of Northumbria: A New Analysis of the British Tradition, Northern History, 36:1, 5-15, DOI:
10.1179/007817200790178030
Jackson, in the 1950s, made the suggestion that Oswiu may have acquired Rheged peacefully through his marriage, becoming the legitimate successor to both Rheged and Northumbria.Jackson, K.H. (1955) The Britons in Southern Scotland, Antiquity, xxix, pp. 77–88
Whatever the precise political relationship between Rheged and Northumbria, the fact that a Northumbrian prince married a princess of Rheged shows that the British royal house retained high status, and probably political power. Rhiainfellt's father, 'Royth' (Rhaith - meaning 'Justice' in Welsh), was possibly the last king of an independent Rheged.Andrew Breeze (2013) Northumbria and the Family of Rhun, Northern History, 50:2, pp. 170-179, DOI: 10.1179/0078172X13Z.00000000039