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Northumberland has witnessed much conflict between England and Scotland. As evidence of its violent history, Northumberland has more castles than any other county in England, including those of Alnwick, Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh, Newcastle and Warkworth.

The region of present-day Northumberland once formed the core of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia (from ca. 547), which united with Deira (south of the River Tees) to form the kingdom of Northumbria in the 7th century. The historical boundaries of Northumbria under King Edwin (reigned 616-633) stretched from the Humber in the south to the Forth in the north, though in 1018 its northern part, between the Tweed and the Forth (including Lothian, the region which contains Edinburgh), was ceded to the Kingdom of Scotland.

Northumberland is often called the “cradle of Christianity” in England, because Christianity flourished on Lindisfarne – a tidal island north of Bamburgh, also called Holy Island – after King Oswald of Northumbria (reigned 634-642) invited monks from Iona to come to convert the English. Lindisfarne saw the production of the Lindisfarne Gospels (ca. 700) and it became the home of St Cuthbert (ca. 634-687, abbot from ca. 665), who is buried in Durham Cathedral.