Source:Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum/3.02
The battle:
- Before battle [near Hefenfeld, c. 634], Oswald ... king of Northumbria sets up a wooden cross, personally taking care that the job is seen to properly. He prays for divine help, commanding his army to kneel and join in prayer.
- This place is then already known as Hefenfeld (Heavenfield) in OE, as Caelestis Campus in Latin, prefiguring heavenly intervention in Oswald's favour. It lies south of [Hadrían's Wall], which the Romans built to ward off barbarian attacks.
- At dawn, the battle is fought and Oswald is victorious. (Bede refers to the cross as sacrae crucis uexillum).
The miracles:
- Every year on the eve before Oswald's feast-day, the brethren of Hexham (fratres Hagustaldensis) visit the spot to pray and sing psalms for Oswald's soul and offer sacrifice and oblation in his honour the next morning.
- Up until Bede's day, the wooden cross remains the conduit for many miracles. Several details are given, notably the story of Bothelm, brother of the church of Hexham, and the injured man he cured with some of the moss that had been taken from the cross.
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