the borders of Wales, 18 m. N.W. from Shrewsbury. Pop. (1901) 9579. It is on a branch from the Chester line of the Great Western railway, and on the Cambrian main line. The situation is pleasant and the neighbouring district well wooded and hilly. The church of St Oswald, originally conventual, is Early English and Decorated, but has been greatly altered by restoration. There is a Roman Catholic chapel with presbytery, convent and school. The grammar school, founded in the reign of Henry IV., occupies modern buildings. The municipal buildings (1893) include a library, and a school of science and art. On a hill W. of the town are the castle grounds, laid out in 1890, but of the castle itself only slight remains are seen. The Cambrian railway engine and carriage works are here; and there are tanneries, malting works, machinery works and iron foundries. Frequent agricultural fairs are held. The town is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 1887 acres.
Old Oswestry, also called Old Fort (Welsh Hên Dinas), is a British earthwork about a mile from the modern town. There are various unsatisfactory accounts of the early history of Oswestry (Blaneminster, or Album Monasterium), as that it was called Trer Cadeirau by the Britons and Osweiling after Cunelda Wledig, prince of North Wales, had granted it to his son Osweil. It derives its present name from Oswald, king of Northumbria, who is said to have been killed here in 642, although it was not definitely known as Oswestry until the 13th century. In the Domesday Survey it is included in the manor of Maesbury, which Rainald, sheriff of Shropshire, held of Roger, earl of Shrewsbury; but Rainald or his predecessor Warin had already raised a fortification at Oswestry called Louvre. The manor passed in the reign of Henry I. to Alan Fitz-Flaad, in whose family it continued until the death of Henry Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, without male issue in 1580. The first charter, of which a copy only is preserved among the corporation records, is one given in 1262 by John Fitzalan granting the burgesses self-government. Richard II. by a charter dated 1398 granted all the privileges which belonged to Shrewsbury, and a similar charter was obtained from Thomas, earl of Arundel in 1407. The town was incorporated by Elizabeth in 1582 under the government of two bailiffs and a common council of 24 burgesses, and her charter was confirmed by James I. in 1616. A charter granted by Charles II. in 1672 appointed a mayor, 12 aldermen and 15 common councilmen, and remained the governing charter until the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 changed the corporation. In 1228 John Fitzalan obtained the right of holding a market every week on Monday instead of Thursday. The market rights were held by the lord of the manor until 1819, when Earl Powis sold them to the corporation. In the 15th and 16th centuries a weekly market was held at Oswestry for the sale of woollen goods manufactured in North Wales, but in the 17th century the drapers of Shrewsbury determined to get the trade into their own town, and although an Order in the Privy Council was passed to restrain it to Oswestry they agreed in 1621 to buy no more cloth there. The town was walled by the time of Edward I., but was several times burnt during Welsh invasions. In 1642 it was garrisoned for Charles I., but two years later surrendered to the parliamentary forces.
See William Cathrall, The History of Oswestry (1855); William Price, The History of Oswestry from the Earliest Period (1815); Victoria County History, Shropshire.
OSWIO (c. 612–670), king of Northumbria, son of Æthelfrith and brother of Oswald, whom he succeeded in Bernicia in 642 after the battle of Maserfeld, was the seventh of the great English kings enumerated by Bede. He succeeded in making the majority of the Britons, Picts and Scots tributary to him. At Gilling in 651 he caused the murder of Oswine, a relative of Edwin, who had become king of Deira, and a few years later took possession of that kingdom. He appears to have consolidated his power by the aid of the Church and by a series of judicious matrimonial alliances. It was probably in 642 that he married Eanfled, daughter of Edwin, thus uniting the two rival dynasties of Northumbria. His daughter Alhfled he married to Peada, son of Penda, king of Mercia, while another daughter, Osthryth, became the wife of Æthelred, third son of the same king. Oswio was chiefly responsible for the reconversion of the East Saxons. He is said to have convinced their king Sigeberht of the truth of Christianity by his arguments, and at his request sent Cedd, a brother of Ceadda, on a mission to Essex. In 655 he was attacked by Penda, and, after an unsuccessful attempt to buy him off, defeated and slew the Mercian king at the battle of the Winwaed. He then took possession of part of Mercia, giving the rest to Peada. As a thank-offering he dedicated his daughter Ælfled to the Church, and founded the monastery of Whitby. About this time he is thought by many to have obtained some footing in the kingdom of the Picts in succession to their king Talorcan, the son of his brother Eanfrid. In 660 he married his son Ecgfrith to Æthelthryth, daughter of the East Anglian king Anna. In 664 at the synod of Whitby, Oswio accepted the usages of the Roman Church, which led to the departure of Colman and the appointment of Wilfrid as bishop of York. Oswio died in 670 and was succeeded by his son Ecgfrith.
See Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, ii., iii., iv., v., edited by C. Plummer (Oxford, 1896); Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, edited by Earle and Plummer (Oxford, 1899).
OTHMAN (c. 574–656), in full Othmān ibn ʽAffān, the third of the Mahommedan caliphs, a kinsman and son-in-law of Mahomet and cousin of Abu Sofian, whose son Moawiya became the first of the Omayyad dynasty. He was elected caliph in succession to Omar in 644, but owing to his alternate weakness and cruelty and his preference of the Koreish for all responsible positions irrespective of their capacity, he produced strife throughout the empire which culminated in his assassination by Mahommed, son of Abu Bekr. He was succeeded by Ali (q.v.). See Caliphate, A. § 3.
OTHNIEL, in the Bible, a clan settled at Debir or Kirjathsepher in S. Palestine (Judg. i. 12 sqq.. Josh. xv. 16 sqq., contrast Josh. x. 38 seq.), described as the "brother" of Caleb. The name appears in Judg. iii. 7-11 (see Judges), as that of a hero who delivered Israel from a North Syrian king. That a king from the Euphrates who had subjugated Canaan should have been defeated by a clan of the south of Palestine has been
doubted. There is no evidence of such a situation, and it has been conjectured that Cushan-Rishathaim (the name suggests “C. of double wickedness”!) of Aram (ארם) has arisen from some king (cp. Husham, Gen. xxxvi. 34) or clan (cp. Cush, Num. xii. 1; Cushan, Hab. iii. 7) of Edom (אֱדוֹם) to the south or south-east of Palestine. Othniel recurs in 1 Chron. iv. 13.
See A. Klostermann, Gesch. d. Volkes Israel (1896), p. 122; Cheyne, Ency. Bib. col. 969 seq. and references; also the literature to Judges.
OTHO, MARCUS SALVIUS (32–69), Roman emperor from the 15th of January to the 15th of April A.D. 69, was born on the 28th of April A.D. 32. He belonged to an ancient and noble Etruscan family settled at Ferentinum in Etruria. He appears first as one of the most reckless and extravagant of the young nobles who surrounded Nero. But his friendship with Nero was brought to an abrupt close in 58, when Otho refused to divorce his beautiful wife Poppea Sabina at the bidding of Nero, who at once appointed him governor of the remote province of Lusitania. Here Otho remained ten years, and his administration was marked by a moderation unusual at the time. When in 68 his neighbour Galba, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, rose in revolt against Nero, Otho accompanied him to Rome. Resentment at the treatment he had received from Nero may have impelled him to this course, but to this motive was added before long that of personal ambition. Galba was far advanced in years, and Otho, encouraged by the predictions of astrologers, aspired to succeed him. But in January 69 his hopes were dissipated by Galba’s formal adoption of L. Calpurnius Piso as the fittest man to succeed him. Nothing remained for Otho but to strike a bold blow. Desperate as was the state of his finances, thanks to his previous extravagance, he found money to purchase the services of some three-and-twenty soldiers of the praetorian guard. On the morning of January 15, five days only after the adoption of Piso, Otho attended as usual to pay his respects to
