text: edwin of northumbria edwin ( old english : ; c . 586 – 12 october 632 / 633 ) , also known as eadwine or , was the king of deira and bernicia – which later became known as northumbria – from about 616 until his death . he converted to christianity and was baptised in 627 ; after he fell at the battle of hatfield chase , he was venerated as a saint . edwin was the son of ælle king of deira and seems to have had ( at least ) two siblings . his sister acha was married to æthelfrith , king of neighbouring bernicia . an otherwise unknown sibling fathered , who in turn fathered abbess hilda of whitby and hereswith , wife to æthelric , the brother of king anna of east anglia . early life and exile the anglo - saxon chronicle reported that on ælle 's death a certain " æthelric " assumed power . the exact identity of æthelric is uncertain . he may have been a brother of ælle , an elder brother of edwin , an otherwise unknown deiran noble , or the father of æthelfrith . æthelfrith himself appears to have been king of " northumbria " — both deira and bernicia — by no later than 604 . during the reign of æthelfrith , edwin was an exile . the location of his early exile as a child is not known , but late traditions , reported by reginald of durham and geoffrey of monmouth , place edwin in the kingdom of gwynedd , fostered by king cadfan ap iago , so allowing biblical parallels to be drawn from the struggle between edwin and his supposed foster - brother cadwallon . by the he was certainly in mercia under the protection of king cearl , whose daughter he married . by around 616 , edwin was in east anglia under the protection of king raedwald . bede reports that æthelfrith tried to have raedwald murder his unwanted rival , and that raedwald intended to do so until his wife persuaded him otherwise with divine prompting . æthelfrith faced raedwald in battle by the river idle in 616 , and æthelfrith was defeated ; raedwald installed edwin as king of northumbria . raedwald 's son may have been killed at this battle , but the exact date or manner of raedwald 's death are not known . he likely died between the years 616 – 627 , and the efficacy of edwin ’ s kingship ostensibly depended greatly on his fealty to raedwald . edwin was installed as king of northumbria , effectively confirming raedwald as bretwalda : æthelfrith 's sons went into exile in irish dál riata and pictland . that edwin was able to take power not only in his native deira but also in bernicia may have been due to his support from raedwald , to whom he may have remained subject during the early part of his reign . edwin 's reign marks an interruption of the otherwise consistent domination of northumbria by the bernicians and has been seen as " contrary to the prevailing tendency " . edwin as king with the death of æthelfrith , and of the powerful æthelberht of kent the same year , raedwald and his client edwin were well placed to dominate england , and indeed raedwald did so until his death a decade later . edwin expelled ceretic from the minor british kingdom of elmet in either 616 or 626 . elmet had probably been subject to mercia and then to edwin . the larger kingdom of lindsey appears to have been taken over c . 625 , after the death of king raedwald . edwin and eadbald of kent were allies at this time , and edwin arranged to marry eadbald 's sister æthelburg . bede notes that eadbald would agree to marry his sister to edwin only if he converted to christianity . the marriage of eadbald 's merovingian mother bertha had resulted in the conversion of kent and æthelburg 's would do the same in northumbria . edwin 's expansion to the west may have begun early in his reign . there is firm evidence of a war waged in the early 620s between edwin and fiachnae mac báetáin of the dál naraidi , king of the ulaid in ireland . a lost poem is known to have existed recounting fiachnae 's campaigns against the saxons , and the irish annals report the siege , or the storming , of bamburgh in bernicia in 623 – 624 . this should presumably be placed in the context of edwin 's designs on the isle of man , a target of ulaid ambitions . fiachnae 's death in 626 , at the hands of his namesake , fiachnae mac of the dál fiatach , and the second fiachnae 's death a year later in battle against the dál riata probably eased the way for edwin 's conquests in the irish sea province . the routine of kingship in edwin 's time involved regular , probably annual , wars with neighbours to obtain tribute , submission , and slaves . by edwin 's death , it is likely that these annual wars , unreported in the main , had extended the northumbrian kingdoms from the humber and the mersey north to the southern uplands and the . the royal household moved regularly from one royal vill to the next , consuming the food renders given in tribute and the produce of the royal estates , dispensing justice , and ensuring that royal authority remained visible throughout the land . the royal sites in edwin 's time included yeavering in bernicia , where traces of a timber amphitheatre have been found . this " roman " feature makes bede 's claim that edwin was preceded by a standard - bearer carrying a " tufa " ( oe , this may have been a winged globe ) appear to be more than antiquarian curiosity , although whether the model for this practice was roman or frankish is unknown . other royal sites included in elmet ( perhaps barwick ) , sancton in deira , and , the site where the pagan high priest coifi destroyed the idols according to bede . edwin 's realm included the former roman cities of york and carlisle , and both appear to have been of some importance in the 7th century , although it is not clear whether urban life continued in this period . edwin 's conversion to christianity the account of edwin 's conversion offered by bede turns on two events . the first , during edwin 's exile , tells how edwin 's life was saved by paulinus of york . the second , following his marriage to æthelburg , was the attempted assassination at york , at easter 626 , by an agent of cwichelm of wessex . edwin 's decision to allow the baptism of his daughter eanfled and his subsequent promise to adopt christianity if his campaign against cwichelm proved successful . apart from these events , the general character of bede 's account is one of an indecisive king , unwilling to take risks , unable to decide whether to convert or not . along with these events , the influence of edwin 's half - merovingian queen cannot be ignored , and the letters which bede reproduces , sent by pope boniface v to edwin and , are unlikely to have been unique . given that kent was under frankish influence , while bede sees the mission as being " roman " in origin , the franks were equally interested in converting their fellow germans and in extending their power and influence . bede recounts edwin 's baptism , and that of his chief men , on 12 april 627 . edwin 's zeal , so bede says , led to raedwald 's son eorpwald also converting . bede 's account of the conversion is oft - cited . after paulinus explains the tenets of christianity , the king asks his counselors what they think of the new doctrine . edwin 's priest coifi responds that they may be worthwhile ; after all , he says , no one has been more respectful of and devoted to their gods than he , and he has seen no benefits from his dedication to them . then , an unnamed counselor stands up and addresses the king , also seeing the benefit of the new faith . coifi speaks again and announces that they should destroy the idols and temples they had hitherto worshiped . king edwin agrees and embraces christianity ; coifi himself will set fire to the declaring " i will do this myself , for now that the true god has granted me knowledge , who more suitably than i can set a public example , and destroy the idols that i worshipped in ignorance ? ” bede goes on to describe the scene as cofi " formally renounces his superstitions , and asked the king to give him arms and a stallion . " armed with both a sword and spear , cofi rides edwin ’ s horse towards the idols , all within view of the crowd gathered to witness edwin ’ s conversion . upon reaching the temple , cofi " cast a spear into it and profaned it . " in an article titled " how cofi pierced christ ’ s side " , julia barrow examines bede ’ s latinate text and pays particular attention to the passage concerning cofi ’ s attack upon the temple . barrow notes that bede 's use of was " not the word medieval writers normally used for spear " , while “ hasta was the usual choice . " barrow goes on to claim that was likely used by bede as a reference to the details of the crucifixion of christ provided in the book of john , thus cofi ’ s desecration of the shrine is to be understood " as an inversion of the piercing of the temple of christ ’ s body . " all of these details support an understanding that bede had great " warmth and admiration " for edwin . the brief speech by the unnamed counselor , a nobleman , has attracted much attention ; suggesting the " wisdom and hopefulness of the christian message " , it has inspired poets such as william wordsworth and was called " the most poetic simile in bede " : the present life man , o king , seems to me , in comparison with that time which is unknown to us , like to the swift flight of a sparrow through the room wherein you sit at supper in winter amid your officers and ministers , with a good fire in the midst whilst the storms of rain and snow prevail abroad ; the sparrow , i say , flying in at one door and immediately out another , whilst he is within is safe from the wintry but after a short space of fair weather he immediately vanishes out of your sight into the dark winter from which he has emerged . so this life of man appears for a short space but of what went before or what is to follow we are ignorant . if , therefore , this new doctrine contains something more certain , it seems justly to deserve to be followed . noteworthy is bede ’ s summation of the nature of edwin ’ s reign as king of northumbria : “ it is told that at the time there was so much peace in britannia , that whenever king edwin ’ s power extended , as is said right up to today , even if a woman with a recently born child wanted to walk across the whole island , from sea to sea , she could do so without anyone harming her . ” kershaw indicates that “ bede ’ s decision to couch edwin ’ s peace in proverbial terms offers ... a chilling insight into the levels of lawlessness accepted in eighth - century england ” . furthermore , a definition of “ peace ” is to be understood as “ freedom from robbery , rape , or violence ; security to travel at will and to literally ‘ go in peace . ’ ” edwin 's conversion and eorpwald 's were reversed by their successors , and in the case of northumbria the roman paulinus appears to have had very little impact . indeed , by expelling british clergy from elmet and elsewhere in edwin 's realm , paulinus may have weakened the church rather than strengthening it . very few roman clergy were present in paulinus 's time , only james the deacon being known , so that the " conversion " can have been only superficial , extending little beyond the royal court . paulinus 's decision to flee northumbria at edwin 's death , unlike his acolyte james who remained in northumbria for many years afterwards until his death , suggests that the conversion was not popular , and the senior italian cleric unloved . edwin as overlord the first challenge to edwin came soon after his marriage - alliance with kent , concluded at canterbury in the summer of 625 . by offering his protection to lesser kings , such as the king of wight , edwin thwarted the ambitions of cwichelm of wessex . cwichelm 's response was to send an assassin , as noted already . edwin did not immediately respond to this insult , suggesting either that he felt unable to do so , or that bede 's portrayal of him as a rather indecisive ruler is accurate . following the failed assassination , as noted , edwin committed himself to christianity provided only that he was victorious against cwichelm . from about 627 onwards , edwin was the most powerful king among the anglo - saxons , ruling bernicia , deira and much of eastern mercia , the isle of man , and anglesey . his alliance with kent , the subjection of wessex , and his recent successes added to his power and authority . the imperium , as bede calls it , that edwin possessed was later equated with the idea of a bretwalda , a later concept invented by west saxon kings in the 9th century . put simply , success confirmed edwin 's overlordship , and failure would diminish it . edwin 's supposed foster - brother cadwallon ap cadfan enters the record circa 629 , but cadwallon was defeated and either submitted to edwin 's authority or went into exile . with the defeat of cadwallon , edwin 's authority appears to have been unchallenged for a number of years , until penda of mercia and cadwallon rose against him in 632 – 633 . edwin faced penda and cadwallon at the battle of hatfield in the autumn of 632 or 633 and was defeated and killed . for a time his body was ( allegedly ) hidden in sherwood forest at a location that became the village of ( trans . edwin 's resting place ) , his head being eventually buried at york and the rest of his body at whitby . of his two grown sons by of mercia , died at hatfield , and eadfrith was captured by penda and killed some time afterwards . after his death , edwin 's queen æthelburg , along with paulinus , returned to kent , taking her son , daughter eanfled , and 's son into exile with her . and were sent to the court of æthelburg 's kinsman dagobert i , king of the franks , but died soon afterwards . eanfled , however , lived to marry her first cousin king oswiu , son of acha and æthelfrith . death and legacy edwin 's realm was divided at his death . he was succeeded by osric , son of edwin 's paternal uncle ælfric , in deira , and by eanfrith , son of æthelfrith and edwin 's sister acha , in bernicia . both reverted to paganism , and both were killed by cadwallon ; eventually eanfrith 's brother oswald defeated and killed cadwallon and united northumbria once more . thereafter , with the exception of oswine son of osric , power in northumbria was in the hands of the , the descendants of ida of bernicia , until the middle of the 8th century . after his death , edwin came to be venerated as a saint by some , although his cult was eventually overshadowed by the ultimately more successful cult of oswald , who was killed in 642 . they met their deaths in battle against similar foes , the pagan mercians and the british , thus allowing both of them to be perceived as martyrs ; however , bede 's treatment of oswald clearly demonstrates that he regarded him as an unambiguously saintly figure , a status that he did not accord to edwin . edwin 's renown comes largely from his treatment at some length by bede , writing from an uncompromisingly english and christian perspective , and rests on his belated conversion to christianity . his united kingdom in the north did not outlast him , and his conversion to christianity was renounced by his successors . when his kingship is compared with his pagan brother - in - law æthelfrith , or to æthelfrith 's sons oswald and oswiu , or to the resolutely pagan penda of mercia , edwin appears to be something less than a key figure in britain during the first half of the 7th century . perhaps the most significant legacies of edwin 's reign lay in his failures : the rise of penda and of mercia , and the return from irish exile of the sons of æthelfrith , which tied the kingdom of northumbria into the irish sea world for generations .