Podcast Summary: Max Adams and Colm O’Brien, "Northumbria AD 367-867: Earth Hall, Ring Gift and Heaven’s Field" (Birlinn, 2025)

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Date: November 18, 2025
Guests: Max Adams and Colm O’Brien

Overview of the Episode

This lively episode dives into the world of early medieval Northumbria, as historian Max Adams and archaeologist Colm O’Brien discuss their new book, Northumbria AD 367-867: Earth Hall, Ring Gift and Heaven’s Field. The conversation unpacks a rich vein of history covering the transition from late Roman rule, the complexities of post-Roman power, the formation of kingdoms, the Christianization of the region, relations with the continent, myths of Northumbrian decline, and the arrival of the Vikings. Through interdisciplinary insights from archaeology, history, and textual criticism, the authors challenge old narratives and present a more nuanced, vibrant portrait of Northumbria’s past.

Meet the Authors & the Genesis of the Book

[02:38 - 06:35]

• Max Adams introduces himself as a specialist in storytelling with a field archaeology background. The motivation for the book was a publisher’s observation that much had changed since significant works on early Northumbria were published, especially with new archaeological discoveries. Adams invited long-time collaborator Colm O’Brien to co-author, believing their shared expertise and complementary approaches (Adams in storytelling, O’Brien in classics and archaeology) would yield a more engaging result.

  “Although we both have backgrounds in field archaeology, we both have a love of this period, we both teach it in a lifelong learning context. But Colm is a classicist as well as an archaeologist, and... I suppose I've specialized in storytelling over the last 20 years, so it seemed to me a pretty natural partnership.”
  — Max Adams [03:56]

• Colm O’Brien reflects on joining the project post-retirement, emphasizing their long-standing partnership and shared fieldwork. He values their combined perspectives, highlighting the importance of practical archaeological experience in shaping questions and interpretations.

  “I came into it as a digger, right at the bottom as a digger, which is a good way to come into archaeology, because you then know what it's all about... the limitations and the possibilities because you've experienced it physically.”
  — Colm O’Brien [05:18]

Why Start in 367? Defining the Era

[07:11 - 10:18]

• The book starts at AD 367, a turning point marked by the “Barbarian Conspiracy” (when Hadrian’s Wall was overrun and Roman authority faltered), effectively signaling the decline of centralized Roman power in Britain.

  “It signals the end really of centralized imperial control over Northumbria and indeed the whole province of Britain... So it seemed a perfectly natural place for us to start.”
  — Max Adams [08:35]

• The endpoint is 867, with the fall of York to the Vikings, avoiding the complexities of the Viking age proper.

What Was "Northumbria"? Fluid Identities and the Role of Bede

[10:18 - 16:04]

• O’Brien explores how “Northumbria,” as a concept, was fluid and largely constructed in retrospect, especially through Bede’s influential writings:

  • Bede defined Northumbria not by fixed territory but by “the people north of the Humber,” and his terminology shifted over time.
  • Earlier, Northumbria consisted of two principal polities: Deira (Yorkshire) and Bernicia (Northumberland).
  • Even in the 8th century, these identities were meaningful, suggesting Bede’s critical role in synthesizing the idea of “Northumbria”:

  “It’s an exaggeration to say that Bede invented the Northumbrians, but... let’s say that Bede invented the Northumbrians.”
  — Colm O’Brien [15:48]

Power, Kingship, and Warlords: The Shifting Sands of Authority

[16:04 - 22:07]

• Adams and O’Brien challenge the notion of stable, majestic medieval kingship:

  • Early rulers were more accurately “warlords” than kings, with fluid territorial control and personal, not institutional, power.
  • Authority was constructed through territorial lordship—control over land, tribute extraction, and mobile courts.
  • Due to an absence of towns, standing armies, and persistent administrative structures, power often dissipated on a king’s death.
  • Bede’s scriptural worldview, drawn from the Old Testament, colored his portrayal of kingship, amplifying the role of kings and interpreting their reigns through biblical analogies.

  “There's nothing majestic and nothing very splendid at this period... it's all pretty brutal.”
  — Colm O’Brien [22:19]

  “One of the most significant aspects of this warlord concept is that... When Northumbrian kings... die, effectively, their power dies with them.”
  — Max Adams [20:57]

The Christian Transformation: Iona, Lindisfarne, and the Roman Connection

[26:18 - 40:09]

• The story of Christianization is complex, involving two main threads:

  • Irish/Iona strand: After dynastic struggle, Oswald of Bernicia, having lived in exile in Iona, establishes an Iona-derived monastic center at Lindisfarne with Aidan, fusing Irish Christianity with local kingship.
  • Roman strand: Initiated with Edwin’s marriage into the Kentish royal family, bringing Paulinus and the Roman mission north from Canterbury; later reinforced through the continental travels and learning of figures like Wilfrid and Benedict Biscop.

  “It involves a very strong relationship between a warlord and his holy man or his holy people. And the idea is that good kings are good to the Church. They can look forward to an everlasting place at God's side in heaven...”
  — Max Adams [29:22]

  • The famous Synod of Whitby (664) resolved disputes over ecclesiastical practices, especially the calculation of Easter, affirming the Roman tradition.

  “Oswiu... turned his back on 30 years of tradition in his own kingdom... and said, okay, we're going to follow the Roman traditions.”
  — Colm O’Brien [39:16]

• Northumbria emerges as an intellectual and religious center, exporting influential churchmen and texts to the continent (e.g., Willibrord, Alcuin, and the works of Bede).

The Myth of Northumbrian Decline after Bede

[41:20 - 52:57]

• Narratives have often painted Northumbria as in inexorable decline post-Bede:

  • Adams and O’Brien challenge this by highlighting evidence of continued political, economic, and intellectual prominence.
  • Coinage as evidence: Advances in numismatics reveal substantial production and circulation of silver coinage under kings like Aldfrith, indicating a vigorous economy and authority.
    • Statistical analysis of coin dies suggests up to 2 million coins minted during Aldfrith’s reign, a sign of robust trade.

  “We have to start changing that narrative and allowing for the fact that history is being silent on a Northumbria, which... is still a very, very powerful kingdom. Its intellectual, its ecclesiastical and its military reach are still substantially intact, even if we don't have a historian of the rank of Bede to tell us as much about them.”
  — Max Adams [46:56]

  • Northumbrian intellectuals like Alcuin went on to play pivotal roles in Charlemagne’s court, and Northumbria maintained active continental and ecclesiastical networks.

The Viking Age and the Realities of Conquest

[52:57 - 61:00]

• The Viking conquest (867 and the “Great Heathen Army”) has long been portrayed as the inevitable endpoint of a collapsing kingdom.

  • The authors argue for a more nuanced picture:
    • Northumbrian ecclesiastical and economic infrastructures persisted and in some ways flourished up to the Viking arrival.
    • The Viking onslaught was not the result of inevitable local decline but the shock of a huge, technologically advanced force; no Anglo-Saxon kingdom could have withstood it.
    • The Viking period, like the Norman Conquest later, should be understood as a military revolution more than as a symptom of decay.

  “The most dire reading... that Northumbrian royal power collapses in the 9th century, is an exaggeration because we see these other things going on, we see a coin economy, we see successful monasteries inland thriving. So it's a nuanced picture...”
  — Max Adams [56:56]

  • O’Brien adds that the evidence for Viking destruction, especially of monasteries, is less than often assumed. The “Community of St. Cuthbert” is cited as an example of continuity.

The Ongoing Story: Future Projects

[63:19 - 65:37]

• Colm O’Brien: Plans to continue with study group activities, completing outstanding archaeological publications (e.g., geophysical surveys at Carham and monastic projects in Donegal), but not another book.
• Max Adams: Upcoming book titled Doomsday Walking reflecting on the England of 1086 (Domesday Book) and today, based on a thousand-mile trek across historic counties.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Bede’s narrative power:

  “He likened the Bernician warlord Aethelfridd to King Saul of the Israelites. Now, that's absolutely bizarre at one level of thinking, but Bede saw kingship through the lens of the kingship of God's people in Israel.”
  — Colm O’Brien [24:53]

• On the fluidity of medieval power:

  “One of the most significant aspects of this warlord concept is that it's not the same as a state that we would understand. A state will survive the death of a king... When Northumbrian kings... die, effectively, their power dies with them.”
  — Max Adams [20:57]

• On the complexity of Northumbrian decline:

  “So we think now we're not falling off the end of a cliff... we have a Northumbrian at the head of the center of Charlemagne's kingdom towards the end of the 8th century. Well, that's pretty good, isn't it?”
  — Colm O’Brien [50:41]

• On the inevitability of Viking conquest:

  “Such is the technological and military sophistication and the sheer numbers of this Norse army, that it's really inevitable that no English army can stand against them.”
  — Max Adams [59:30]

Key Timestamps for Major Topics

• [02:38] — Author introductions and project overview
• [07:11] — Why AD 367–867? Period boundaries and rationale
• [10:18] — What was “Northumbria”? Bede’s invention and shifting identities
• [16:04] — Territorial lordship and the reality of kingship
• [26:18] — Christianity, Iona, and the transformation of kingship
• [39:16] — The Synod of Whitby and choosing Roman Christianity
• [41:20] — The myth of Northumbrian decline after Bede
• [46:56] — New evidence: Coinage and economy
• [52:57] — The reality of the Viking conquest and its context
• [63:19] — Authors’ future projects and closing reflections

Tone and Style

The conversation is scholarly yet engaging, blending archaeological rigor with story-driven historical insight. The authors balance big-picture synthesis with fine details drawn from new scholarship, all while emphasizing the continuing fascination and complexity of early medieval Northumbria.

For further reading:
Northumbria AD 367-867: Earth Hall, Ring Gift and Heaven’s Field (Birlinn, 2025) by Max Adams and Colm O’Brien.