NORTHUMBRIA

616 – 633  Edwin (St Edwin)

Son of Ælle (of Deira).

Bede: “When Æthelfrith, his predecessor, was persecuting him, he [Edwin] wandered for many years as an exile, hiding in divers places and kingdoms” (HE II, 12).  Late yarns have it that Gwynedd was one of those kingdoms,[*] and he certainly must have spent time in Mercia, since Bede (HE II, 14) talks of: “Osfrith and Eadfrith, King Edwin’s sons who were both born to him, whilst he was in exile, of Cwenburh, the daughter of Cearl, king of the Mercians.”  Edwin (Old English: Eadwine) eventually found refuge with Rædwald, king of the East Angles, who took up his cause and led an army against Æthelfrith in 616. Æthelfrith was defeated and killed, and his sons were exiled. Edwin supplanted Æthelfrith as king of both Deira and Bernicia.[*] Rædwald was, explains Bede (HE II, 5), the fourth: “of the English kings who ruled over all the southern provinces that are divided from the northern by the river Humber and the borders contiguous to it”.  Taking its cue from Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (s.a. 827) lists Rædwald as the fourth of eight English kings to whom it grants the title Bretwalda. Edwin owed his position to Rædwald, and must, like the English kings south of the Humber, have recognized him as his overlord.

In due course, Edwin became the next overlord of the south-Humbrian English kingdoms (though with one notable exception) recorded by Bede:

The fifth was Edwin, king of the Northumbrian nation, that is, of those who live in the district to the north of the river Humber; his power was greater; he ruled over all the inhabitants of Britain, both English and Britons, except only the people of Kent; and he reduced also under the dominion of the English, the Mevanian Islands of the Britons [Anglesey and the Isle of Man], lying between Ireland and Britain …[*]

HE II, 5

Edwin is the fifth Bretwalda listed by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.  Bede believed that Edwin had been granted his earthly success because he was destined to become a Christian – the first Christian ruler in Northumbria.

Edwin’s Mercian wife, Cwenburh, must have died, because, evidently about the year 624, he contacted the king of Kent, Eadbald, and asked to marry his sister, Æthelburh. (It is, perhaps, reasonable to infer that Rædwald was dead, and that Edwin was already a power to be reckoned with by this time.) Eadbald and Æthelburh were the children of Æthelberht, who had, in 597, received the mission of Pope Gregory I, and had subsequently become the first English king to adopt Christianity. It may well be that Edwin had visited the Kentish court during his years as a wandering exile. At any rate:

When he first sent ambassadors to ask her in marriage of her brother Eadbald, who then reigned in Kent, he received the answer, “That it was not lawful to give a Christian maiden in marriage to a pagan husband, lest the faith and the mysteries of the heavenly King should be profaned by her union with a king that was altogether a stranger to the worship of the true God.”  This answer being brought to Edwin by his messengers, he promised that he would in no manner act in opposition to the Christian faith, which the maiden professed; but would give leave to her, and all that went with her, men and women, priests and servants, to follow their faith and worship after the custom of the Christians. Nor did he refuse to accept that religion himself, if, being examined by wise men, it should be found more holy and more worthy of God.
So the maiden was promised, and sent to Edwin, and in accordance with the agreement, Paulinus, a man beloved of God, was ordained bishop, to go with her, and by daily exhortations, and celebrating the heavenly Mysteries, to confirm her, and her company, lest they should be corrupted by intercourse with the pagans. Paulinus was ordained bishop by the Archbishop Justus, on the 12th of the Kalends of August [21st July], in the year of our Lord 625, and so came to King Edwin with the aforesaid maiden as an attendant on their union in the flesh. But his mind was wholly bent upon calling the nation to which he was sent to the knowledge of truth; according to the words of the Apostle, “To espouse her to the one true Husband, that he might present her as a chaste virgin to Christ.”  Being come into that province, he laboured much, not only to retain those that went with him, by the help of God, that they should not abandon the faith, but, if haply he might, to convert some of the pagans to the grace of the faith by his preaching. But, as the Apostle says, though he laboured long in the Word, “The god of this world blinded the minds of them that believed not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them.”
The next year [i.e. 626] there came into the province an assassin called Eomer, sent by the king of the West Saxons, whose name was Cwichelm, hoping to deprive King Edwin of his kingdom and his life at the same time. He had a two-edged dagger, dipped in poison, to the end that, if the wound inflicted by the weapon did not avail to kill the king, it might be aided by the deadly venom. He came to the king on the first day of the Easter festival, at the river Derwent, where there was then a royal residence, and being admitted as if to deliver a message from his master, whilst unfolding in cunning words his pretended embassy, he startled up on a sudden, and unsheathing the dagger under his garment, assaulted the king. When Lilla, the king’s most devoted thegn [minister], saw this, having no buckler at hand to protect the king from death, he at once interposed his own body to receive the blow; but the enemy struck home with such force, that he wounded the king through the body of the slaughtered soldier. Being then attacked on all sides with swords, he slew in the tumult, with his accursed dagger, another of the soldiers, whose name was Forthhere.
On that same holy Easter night [20th April 626], the queen had brought forth to the king a daughter, called Eanflæd. The king, in the presence of Bishop Paulinus, gave thanks to his gods for the birth of his daughter; and the bishop, on his part, began to give thanks to Christ, and to tell the king, that by his prayers to Him he had obtained that the queen should bring forth the child in safety, and without grievous pain. The king, delighted with his words, promised, that if God would grant him life and victory over the king by whom the murderer who had wounded him had been sent, he would renounce his idols, and serve Christ; and as a pledge that he would perform his promise, he delivered up that same daughter to Bishop Paulinus, to be consecrated to Christ. She was the first to be baptized of the nation of the Northumbrians, and she received baptism on the holy day of Pentecost [8th June], along with 11 others of his household.
At that time, the king, being recovered of the wound which he had received, raised an army and marched against the nation of the West Saxons; and engaging in war, either slew or received in surrender all those of whom he learned that they had conspired to murder him. —

— So he returned victorious into his own country, but he would not immediately and unadvisedly embrace the mysteries of the Christian faith, though he no longer worshipped idols, ever since he made the promise that he would serve Christ; but first took heed earnestly to be instructed at leisure by the venerable Paulinus, in the knowledge of faith, and to confer with such as he knew to be the wisest of his chief men, inquiring what they thought was fittest to be done in that case. And being a man of great natural sagacity, he often sat alone by himself a long time in silence, deliberating in the depths of his heart how he should proceed, and to which religion he should adhere.

HE II, 9

At this point in his narrative, Bede inserts two letters composed by Pope Boniface V. The first is to Edwin, urging him to convert to Christianity:

… we have learnt that your illustrious consort, who is discerned to be one flesh with you, has been blessed with the reward of eternity, through the regeneration of Holy Baptism. We have, therefore, taken care by this letter, with all the goodwill of heartfelt love, to exhort your Highness, that, abhorring idols and their worship, and despising the foolishness of temples and the deceitful flatteries of auguries, you believe in God the Father Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, to the end that, believing and being released from the bonds of captivity to the Devil, you may, through the co-operating power of the Holy and undivided Trinity, be a partaker of eternal life.

HE II, 10

The second letter is to Edwin’s wife, Æthelburh:

… when our fatherly love earnestly inquired concerning your illustrious consort, we were given to understand, that he still served abominable idols, and delayed to yield obedience in giving ear to the voice of the preachers. This occasioned us no small grief, that he that is one flesh with you still remained a stranger to the knowledge of the supreme and undivided Trinity. Whereupon we, in our fatherly care, have not delayed to admonish and exhort your Christian Highness, to the end that, filled with the support of the Divine inspiration, you should not defer to strive, both in season and out of season, that with the co-operating power of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, your husband also may be added to the number of Christians; that so you may uphold the rights of marriage in the bond of a holy and unblemished union. For it is written, “They twain shall be one flesh.”  How then can it be said, that there is unity in the bond between you, if he continues a stranger to the brightness of your faith, separated from it by the darkness of detestable error?

HE II, 11

Bede returns to his narrative:

… when Paulinus perceived that it was a difficult task to incline the king’s proud mind to the humility of the way of salvation and the reception of the mystery of the life-giving Cross, and at the same time was employing the word of exhortation with men, and prayer to the Divine Goodness, for the salvation of Edwin and his subjects; at length, as we may suppose, it was shown him in spirit what the nature of the vision was that had been formerly revealed from Heaven to the king.

HE II, 12

This was a vision that Edwin had experienced during his exile with Rædwald. A spirit had visited him and asked how he would reward a man who could keep him safe, destroy his enemies, and ensure that: “you would be a king surpassing in power, not only all your own ancestors, but even all that have reigned before you in the English nation?”  Edwin promised the spirit “that he would in all things follow the teaching of that man who could deliver him from so many great calamities and raise him to a throne.”  The spirit: “laid his right hand on Edwin’s head saying, ‘When this sign shall be given you, remember this present discourse that has passed between us, and do not delay the performance of what you now promise.’”  Paulinus, having received knowledge of the vision (“as we may suppose, it was shown him in spirit what the nature of the vision was”), went to Edwin: “laid his right hand on his head, and asked whether he recognized that sign.”

Edwin, “trembling”, did indeed recognize the sign. Paulinus told him that God had delivered what he desired, now he should stick to his side of the bargain. Edwin agreed to honour his promise and become a Christian (HE II, 13), but insisted that he would first discuss the matter with his chief-men, to the end that, if they thought it a good idea, they would be baptized at the same time as he was. Thanks to a little “Divine prompting”, they all decided to accept Christianity.[*] However, Edwin’s chief pagan priest, Coifi, asked to hear Paulinus himself speak about God:

When he did so, at the king’s command, Coifi, hearing his words, cried out, “This long time I have perceived that what we worshipped was naught; because the more diligently I sought after truth in that worship, the less I found it. But now I freely confess, that such truth evidently appears in this preaching as can confer on us the gifts of life, of salvation, and of eternal happiness. For which reason my counsel is, O king, that we immediately curse and commit to the flames those temples and altars which we have consecrated without reaping any benefit from them.”  In brief, the king openly assented to the preaching of the Gospel by Paulinus, and renouncing idolatry, declared that he received the faith of Christ. And when he inquired of the aforesaid high priest of his religion, who should first desecrate the altars and temples of their idols, with the precincts that were about them, he answered, “I; for who can more fittingly than myself destroy those things which I worshipped in my folly, for an example to all others, through the wisdom which has been given me by the true God?”  And at once, casting aside his vain superstitions, he asked the king to furnish him with arms and a stallion, that he might mount and go forth to destroy the idols; for it was not lawful before for the high priest either to carry arms, or to ride on anything but a mare. Having, therefore, girt a sword about him, with a spear in his hand, he mounted the king’s stallion, and went his way to the idols. The multitude, beholding it, thought that he was mad; but as soon as he drew near the temple he did not delay to desecrate it by casting into it the spear which he held; and rejoicing in the knowledge of the worship of the true God, he commanded his companions to tear down and set on fire the temple, with all its precincts. This place where the idols once stood is still shown, not far from York, to the eastward, beyond the river Derwent, and is now called Godmunddingaham [Goodmanham], where the high priest, by the inspiration of the true God, profaned and destroyed the altars which he had himself consecrated.

HE II, 13

King Edwin, therefore, with all the nobility of the nation, and a large number of the common sort, received the faith, and the washing of holy regeneration, in the 11th year of his reign, which is the year of our Lord 627, and about 180 years after the coming of the English into Britain. He was baptized at York, on the holy day of Easter, being the day before the Ides of April [i.e. 12th April], in the church of St Peter the Apostle, which he himself had built of timber there in haste, whilst he was a catechumen receiving instruction in order to be admitted to baptism. —

— In that city also he bestowed upon his instructor and bishop, Paulinus, his episcopal see. But as soon as he was baptized, he set about building, by the direction of Paulinus, in the same place a larger and nobler church of stone, in the midst whereof the oratory which he had first erected should be enclosed. Having, therefore, laid the foundation, he began to build the church square, encompassing the former oratory. But before the walls were raised to their full height, the cruel death of the king left that work to be finished by Oswald his successor. Paulinus, for the space of six years from this time, that is, till the end of the king’s reign, with his consent and favour, preached the Word of God in that province, and as many as were foreordained to eternal life believed and were baptized. Among them were Osfrith and Eadfrith, King Edwin’s sons who were both born to him, whilst he was in exile, of Cwenburh, the daughter of Cearl, king of the Mercians.
Afterwards other children of his, by Queen Æthelburh, were baptized, Æthelhun and his daughter Æthelthryth, and another, Uscfrea, a son; the first two were snatched out of this life whilst they were still in the white garments of the newly-baptized, and buried in the church at York. Yffi, the son of Osfrith, was also baptized, and many other noble and royal persons. So great was then the fervour of the faith, as is reported, and the desire for the laver of salvation among the nation of the Northumbrians, that Paulinus at a certain time coming with the king and queen to the royal residence which is called Adgefrin [Yeavering, Northumberland], stayed there with them 36 days, fully occupied in catechizing and baptizing; during which days, from morning till night, he did nothing else but instruct the people, who flocked to him from all the villages and places, in Christ’s saving Word; and when they were instructed, he washed them with the water of absolution in the river Glen, which is close by. This residence, under the following kings, was abandoned, and another was built instead of it, at the place called Mælmin.
These things happened in the province of the Bernicians; but in the province of the Deirans also, where he was wont often to be with the king, he baptized in the river Swale, which runs by the village of Cataract [Catterick, North Yorkshire]; for oratories or baptisteries could not yet be built, in the early infancy of the Church in those parts.

HE II, 14

Edwin persuaded Eorpwald, king of the East Angles and son of Edwin’s erstwhile benefactor, Rædwald, to adopt Christianity. Not long after his conversion, however, Eorpwald was killed by a pagan rival.

The kingdom of Lindsey covered much of modern-day Lincolnshire – indeed, it is named after the Roman name for Lincoln (Lindum Colonia). Its borders are fairly precisely known: the river Humber to the north; the sea to the east; the Foss Dyke and river Witham to the south; in the west, the river Trent, but including the Isle of Axholme, in the marshes (now drained) to the west of the Trent. Lindsey has no recorded independent history – appearing as a satellite of either Mercia or, as here, its earliest appearance in the record, Northumbria:

Paulinus also preached the Word to the province of Lindsey, which is the first on the south side of the river Humber, stretching as far as the sea; and he first converted to the Lord the praefectus of the city of Lincoln, whose name was Blæcca, with his whole household.[*] He likewise built, in that city, a stone church of beautiful workmanship; the roof of which has either fallen through long neglect, or been thrown down by enemies, but the walls are still to be seen standing, and every year miraculous cures are wrought in that place, for the benefit of those who have faith to seek them… A certain priest and abbot of the monastery of Peartaneu [Partney], a man of singular veracity, whose name was Deda, told me concerning the faith of this province that an old man had informed him that he himself had been baptized at noon-day, by Bishop Paulinus, in the presence of King Edwin, and with him a great multitude of the people, in the river Trent, near the city, which in the English tongue is called Tiowulfingacæstir [Littleborough]; and he was also wont to describe the person of the same Paulinus, saying that he was tall of stature, stooping somewhat, his hair black, his visage thin, his nose slender and aquiline, his aspect both venerable and awe-inspiring. He had also with him, in the ministry, James the deacon, a man of zeal and great fame in Christ and in the church, who lived even to our days.
It is told that there was then such perfect peace in Britain, wheresoever the dominion of King Edwin extended, that, as is still proverbially said, a woman with her new-born babe might walk throughout the island, from sea to sea, without receiving any harm. That king took such care for the good of his nation, that in several places where he had seen clear springs near the highways, he caused stakes to be fixed, with copper drinking-vessels hanging on them, for the refreshment of travellers; nor durst any man touch them for any other purpose than that for which they were designed, either through the great dread they had of the king, or for the affection which they bore him. His dignity was so great throughout his dominions, that not only were his banners borne before him in battle, but even in time of peace, when he rode about his cities, townships, or provinces, with his thegns, the standard-bearer was always wont to go before him. Also, when he walked anywhere along the streets, that sort of banner which the Romans call a tufa, the English a thuuf, was wont to be borne before him.

HE II, 16

Bede reports (HE II, 18) that Justus, archbishop of Canterbury, died on the 10th of November, but he doesn’t specify the year. It must, however, have been between 627 and 631, and events might tend to suggest that the later end of that range is more likely. At any rate, Justus’ successor, Honorius, was consecrated by Paulinus at Lincoln.[*] It had been the intention of Pope Gregory I (the Great) that there should also be an archbishop based at York.[*] That idea was at last viable, and it would appear that Archbishop Honorius, Edwin and Eadbald, king of Kent, wrote to Pope Honorius I (625–638) requesting that Paulinus be made archbishop of York. Bede quotes the pope’s reply to Edwin:

We are preparing with a willing mind immediately to grant those things which you hoped would be ordered by us for your bishops, and this we do on account of the sincerity of your faith, which has been made known to us abundantly in terms of praise by the bearers of these presents. We have sent a pallium to each of the two metropolitans [archbishops], that is Honorius and Paulinus; to the intent, that when either of them shall be called out of this world to his Creator, the other may, by this authority of ours, substitute another bishop in his place; which privilege we are induced to grant by the warmth of our love for you, as well as by reason of the great extent of the provinces which lie between us and you; that we may in all things support your devotion and likewise satisfy your desires. May God’s grace preserve your Highness in safety.

HE II, 17

Bede also quotes a letter from Pope Honorius to Archbishop Honorius, evidently written at the same time as the letter to Edwin:

… in accordance with your request, and that of the kings our sons, we do hereby in the name of the blessed Peter, chief of the Apostles, grant you authority, that when the Divine Grace shall call either of you to Himself, the survivor shall ordain a bishop in the room of him that is deceased. To which end also we have sent a pallium to each of you, beloved, for celebrating the said ordination; that by the authority which we hereby commit to you, you may make an ordination acceptable to God; because the long distance of sea and land that lies between us and you has obliged us to grant you this, that no loss may happen to your Church in any way, on any pretext whatever, but that the devotion of the people committed to you may increase the more. God preserve you in safety, most dear brother. Given on the 3rd of the Ides of June [11th June], in the reign of these our lords and emperors, in the 24th year of the reign of Heraclius, and the 23rd after his consulship; and in the 23rd year of his son Constantine, and the 3rd after his consulship; and in the 3rd year of the most prosperous Caesar, his son Heraclius, the 7th indiction. That is, in the year of our Lord 634.[*]

HE II, 18

Sadly, at the time Pope Honorius wrote these letters Edwin had been dead for eight months, and Paulinus had fled Northumbria.[*]

Bede twice (HE II, 5 & 9) refers to Edwin bringing “the Mevanian Islands” – the Isle of Man and Anglesey – under English control. A Welsh Triad (26WR) lists Edwin (whom it calls “king of Lloegr”, i.e. king of England) as the third of the: “Three Great Oppressions of Môn [Anglesey], nurtured therein.”  Plainly, the Triad refers to Edwin’s overlordship of Anglesey – the island stronghold of Gwynedd – but it also alludes to a ‘tradition’, which can be traced no earlier than the 12th century, that Edwin had been raised by Cadfan, king of Gwynedd, alongside his own son, Cadwallon (who would eventually be the agent of Edwin’s death). In Triad 29, “Three Faithful War-Bands of the Island of Britain”, first mentioned is: “The War-Band of Cadwallon son of Cadfan, who were with him seven years in Ireland; and in all that time they did not ask him for anything, lest they should be compelled to leave him” – which raises the possibility that, due to persecution by Edwin, Cadwallon was forced to flee Britain. Triad 69 refers to “the Action of Digoll” fought between Edwin and Cadwallon, when: “the Severn was defiled [with blood] from its source to its mouth”.[*]  According to a 9th or 10th century Welsh poem, Marwnad Cadwallon (Death-song of Cadwallon): “Cadwallon the illustrious encamped on Digoll Mount, for seven months and seven battles daily.”  Triad 62: “Three Fettered War-Bands of the Islands of Britain … And the third, the War-Band of Belyn of Llŷn when fighting with [i.e. against] Edwin at Bryn Edwin in Rhos.”[*]  The Annales Cambriae indicate that Belyn died in 627, and two years later record: “The besieging of King Cadwallon in the island of Glannauc.”[*]  Cadwallon evidently didn’t command sufficient forces to overthrow Edwin. What he needed was an ally.

Bede:

Edwin reigned most gloriously 17 years over the nations of the English and the Britons, six whereof, as has been said, he also was a soldier in the kingdom of Christ. Cædwalla [i.e. Cadwallon], king of the Britons, rebelled against him,[*] being supported by the vigorous Penda, of the royal family of the Mercians, who from that time governed that nation for 22 years with varying success. A great battle being fought in the plain that is called Hæthfelth [Hatfield Chase?], Edwin was killed on the 4th of the Ides of October [12th of October], in the year of our Lord 633, being then 48 years of age, and all his army was either slain or dispersed.[*] In the same war also, Osfrith, one of his sons, a warlike youth, fell before him; Eadfrith, another of them, compelled by necessity, went over to King Penda, and was by him afterwards slain in the reign of Oswald, contrary to his oath.[*] —

— At this time a great slaughter was made in the Church and nation of the Northumbrians; chiefly because one of the commanders, by whom it was carried on, was a pagan, and the other a barbarian, more cruel than a pagan; for Penda, with all the nation of the Mercians, was an idolater, and a stranger to the name of Christ;  —

— but Cædwalla, though he professed and called himself a Christian, was so barbarous in his disposition and manner of living, that he did not even spare women and innocent children, but with bestial cruelty put all alike to death by torture, and raged through all their provinces for a long time, intending to eradicate all the race of the English within the borders of Britain. Nor did he pay any respect to the Christian religion which had sprung up among them; it being to this day the custom of the Britons to despise the faith and religion of the English, and to have no part with them in anything any more than with pagans.[*] King Edwin’s head was brought to York, and afterwards taken into the church of the blessed Peter the Apostle, which he had begun, but which his successor Oswald finished, as has been said before. It was laid in the chapel of the holy Pope Gregory, from whose disciples he had received the word of life.[*]
The affairs of the Northumbrians being thrown into confusion at the moment of this disaster, when there seemed to be no prospect of safety except in flight, Paulinus, taking with him Queen Æthelburh, whom he had before brought thither, returned to Kent by ship, and was very honourably received by Archbishop Honorius and King Eadbald. He came thither under the conduct of Bass, a most valiant thegn of King Edwin, having with him Eanflæd, the daughter, and Uscfrea, the son of Edwin, as well as Yffi, the son of Osfrith, Edwin’s son [by his first wife]. Afterwards Æthelburh, for fear of the kings Eadbald and Oswald, sent Uscfrea and Yffi over into Gaul to be bred up by King Dagobert [of the Franks], who was her friend; and there they both died in infancy, and were buried in the church with the honour due to royal children and to Christ’s innocents. He also brought with him many rich goods of King Edwin, among which were a large gold cross, and a golden chalice, consecrated to the service of the altar, which are still preserved, and shown in the church of Kent.
At that time the church of Rochester had no pastor, for Romanus, the bishop thereof, being sent on a mission to Pope Honorius by Archbishop Justus, was drowned in the Italian Sea; and thus Paulinus, at the request of Archbishop Honorius and King Eadbald, took upon him the charge of the same, and held it until he too, in his own time [on 10th October 644], ascended to the heavenly kingdom with the fruits of his glorious labours. In which church also, on his death, he left the pallium which he had received from the Pope of Rome. He had left behind him in his church at York, James, the deacon, a true churchman and a holy man, who continuing long after in that church, by teaching and baptizing, rescued much prey from the ancient enemy; and from him the village, where he chiefly dwelt, near Cataract, has its name to this day. He had great skill in singing in church, and when the province was afterwards restored to peace, and the number of the faithful increased, he began to teach church music to many, according to the custom of the Romans and the people of Kent. And being old and full of days, as the Scripture says, he went the way of his fathers.

HE II, 20

King of Bernicia 633 – 634  Eanfrith Son of Æthelfrith.

King of Deira 633 – 634  Osric Son of Ælfric.

Bede:

Edwin being slain in battle [12th October 633], the kingdom of the Deirans, to which province his family belonged, and where he first began to reign, passed to Osric, the son of his uncle Ælfric, who, through the preaching of Paulinus, had also received the mysteries of the faith. But the kingdom of the Bernicians – for into these two provinces the nation of the Northumbrians was formerly divided – passed to Eanfrith, the son of Æthelfrith, who derived his origin from the royal family of that province. For all the time that Edwin reigned, the sons of the aforesaid Æthelfrith, who had reigned before him, with many of the younger nobility, lived in exile among the Scots or Picts, and were there instructed according to the doctrine of the Scots, and were renewed with the grace of baptism. Upon the death of the king, their enemy, they were allowed to return to their country, and the aforesaid Eanfrith, as the eldest of them, became king of the Bernicians. Both those kings, as soon as they obtained the government of their earthly kingdoms, abjured and betrayed the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom to which they had been admitted, and again delivered themselves up to defilement and perdition through the abominations of their former idolatry.
But soon after, the king of the Britons, Cædwalla [i.e. Cadwallon, king of Gwynedd], the unrighteous instrument of rightful vengeance, slew them both. First, in the following summer, he put Osric to death; for, being rashly besieged by him in the municipal town [presumably York is meant], he sallied out on a sudden with all his forces, took him by surprise, and destroyed him and all his army. Then, when he had occupied the provinces of the Northumbrians for a whole year, not ruling them like a victorious king, but ravaging them like a furious tyrant, he at length put an end to Eanfrith, in like manner, when he unadvisedly came to him with only 12 chosen soldiers, to sue for peace. To this day, that year is looked upon as ill-omened, and hateful to all good men; as well on account of the apostasy of the English kings, who had renounced the mysteries of the faith, as of the outrageous tyranny of the British king. Hence it has been agreed by all who compute the dates of kings, to abolish the memory of those faithless monarchs, and to assign that year to the reign of the following king, Oswald, a man beloved of God. This king, after the death of his brother Eanfrith, advanced with an army, small, indeed, in number, but strengthened with the faith of Christ; and the impious commander of the Britons, in spite of his vast forces, which he boasted nothing could withstand, was slain at a place called in the English tongue Denisesburna, that is, the brook of Denise [identified as Rowley Burn, near Hexham, Northumberland].

HE III, 1