Holy Lance
The name of the soldier who pierced Christ's side with a "lonchē" is not given in the Gospel of John, but in the oldest known references to the legend, the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus appended to late manuscripts of the 4th century "Acts of Pilate", the soldier is identified as a centurion and called Longinus (making the spear's Latin name "Lancea Longini").
Edwin of Northumbria
In an article titled "How Coifi Pierced Christ’s Side", Julia Barrow examines Bede’s Latinate text and pays particular attention to the passage concerning Coifi’s attack upon the temple. Barrow notes that Bede's use of "lancea" was "not the word medieval writers normally used for spear", while “"hasta" was the usual choice." Barrow goes on to claim that "lancea" was likely used by Bede as a reference to the details of the crucifixion of Christ provided in the vulgate book of John, thus Coifi’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.