Bamburgh Castle

The castle of Bamburgh has to be one of the most impressive fortresses in the kingdom. Its coffers were certainly boosted by its association with Berard Cornwell’s fictional Ughtred Ughtredson, disinherited prince of Bebbenburgh and Saxon warrior, whose books have been made into a popular Netflix series (The Lost Kingdom). Although much of the internals date from the 1890s when the appropriately named Lord Armstrong, the armaments magnate, purchased and restored it, it is still a genuinely ancient fortress. 

The site has probably been occupied since Roman times or even earlier, and it likely served as the capital of the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, which covered the lands now considered to be Lancashire and Yorkshire. Sometime around 615, King Æthelfrith of Northumbria renamed his rocky royal home of Din Guaire as Bebbanburgh, meaning Bebba’s fortress. Bebba was his second wife after his first’s, Acha’s, death. If Queen Bebba appreciated the honour then, she may not have grasped that the place would preserve her memory for at least fifteen hundred years, making it famous the world over. Indeed, more people recognise the name Bebba (with its imcorporation into the famous castle’s name) than that of her husband, who would have been considered more powerful while they lived. Queen Bebba would probably have been lost to history but for lending her name to one of England’s most iconic hill forts. Her name never came back into fashion, and I suspect it never shall, yet it lives on.

Most human beings are already forgotten. Most of us cannot recall our own ancestors' names beyond four generations, never mind all those countless anonymous folk who went before: medieval peasants who toiled the ground, ancient pyramid builders or bronze age Chinese rice farmers. Most of the eight billion who currently breathe the planet’s air come and go without a trace, too. Although a few kings and emperors, saints and villains, continue to be recalled and remembered, the majority are not. The only way any of us shall survive memory’s passing is being ‘in’ Jesus Christ. Bebba’s king proffered her long lasting fame; the Christians' King gives them everlasting life, everlasting joy and everlasting fame. Those rich, powerful and famous people who defy Jesus Christ today shall be forgotten tomorrow; those unknowns who called to Him from their hearts shall be celebrated and lauded by angels.

Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 1 Corinthians 6:2-3, NKJV