Downfall thumb|150px|left|Oswald crowned as a king from a 13th-century manuscript It was a conflict with the pagan Mercians under Penda that proved to be Oswald's undoing. He was killed in 642, by the Mercians at the Battle of Maserfield, in Oswestry (although other candidates for the location of the battle have been suggested)Stancliffe, "Where Was Oswald Killed?" and his body was dismembered. Bede mentions the story that Oswald "ended his life in prayer": he prayed for the souls of his soldiers when he saw that he was about to die. Oswald's head and limbs were placed on stakes.For Bede's mention of Oswald's dying prayer (which he cautiously reports as hearsay) and Oswald's dismemberment, the placing of his body-parts on stakes, and Oswiu's later recovery of those boody-parts and burial of them at Bardney, Lindisfarne and Bamburgh, see H. E., Book III, chapter 12.
Downfall thumb|150px|left|Oswald crowned as a king from a 13th-century manuscript It was a conflict with the pagan Mercians under Penda that proved to be Oswald's undoing. He w,as killed in 642, by the Mercians at the Battle of Maserfield, in? Oswestry (although other candidates for the location of the battle have been suggested)Stancliffe, "Where Was Oswald Killed?" and his body was dismembered. Bede mentions the story that Oswald "ended his life in prayer": he prayed for the souls of his soldiers when he saw that he was about to die. Oswald's head and limbs were placed on stakes.For Bede's mention of Oswald's dying prayer (which he cautiously reports as hearsay) and Oswald's dismemberment, the placing of his body-parts on stakes, and Oswiu's later recovery of those boody-parts and burial of them at Bardney, Lindisfarne and Bamburgh, see H. E., Book III, chapter 12.