orthumbria was formed in the late-7th century from the bloody merger of two separate, ancestral kingdoms – Deira and Bernicia. At its peak, it controlled a vast swathe of territory in northern England and the Scottish Lowlands, running from the Humber to Edinburgh, making it the largest of the seven ‘traditional’ kingdoms by area alone. Although ruled by kings, Northumbria’s political system was influenced by a high degree of political power wielded by the church, with this power largely centred on the Archbishopric of York. Not only did religious institutions control many aspects of trade and the economy, but they were also major landowners in their own right, and they appear to
