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Edwin of Northumbria

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain); Historical figures

   Saint Edwin (alternately Eadwine or Æduini) (c. 586–October 12,
   632/633) was the King of Deira and Bernicia - which would later become
   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. His sister Acha was married to
   Æthelfrith, king of neighbouring Bernicia. An otherwise unknown sibling
   fathered Hereric, who in turn fathered Abbess Hilda of Whitby and
   Hereswith, wife to king Anna of East Anglia's brother Æthelric.
   The main Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms in Edwin's time.
   Enlarge
   The main Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms in Edwin's time.

Early life and exile

   The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports 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 610s he was certainly in Mercia, under the protection of king
   Cearl, whose daughter Cwenburh 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 was minded to do so, only being
   persuaded otherwise by his wife with Divine prompting. Regardless of
   the exact course of events, Raedwald faced Æthelfrith in battle by the
   river Idle in 616, and Æthelfrith was killed, along with Raedwald's son
   Raegenhere. 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 his native Deira, but also 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 annexed the minor British kingdom of Elmet following a
   campaign in either 616 or 626. Elmet had probably been subject to
   Mercia and then to Edwin. The much larger kingdom of Lindsey appears to
   have been taken over c. 625, after the death of king Raedwald.

   At this time Edwin and Eadbald of Kent were allies, and Edwin arranged
   to marry Eadbald's sister Æthelburh. It is said by Bede that Eadbald
   would only agree to marry his sister to Edwin if he converted to
   Christianity. The marriage of Eadbald's Merovingian mother Bertha had
   resulted in the conversion of Kent, and Æthelburh's would do the same
   in Northumbria.

   Edwin's expansion to the west may have begun in early in his reign. In
   the early 620s, there is firm evidence of a war being waged 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 Demmáin 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 Cheviots.

   The royal household moved regularly from one "royal villa" 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 thuuf, 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 Campodunum in Elmet (perhaps
   Barwick), Sancton in Deira and Goodmanham, 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 at 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 Æthelburh, 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.

   As well as 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 Athelburh 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 the 12th of April 627. Edwin's zeal, so Bede says, led to
   Raedwald's son Eorpwald also converting.

   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 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 Chase 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 Edwinstowe (trans. Edwin's resting place). Of his two grown
   sons by Cwenburh of Mercia, Osfrith died at Hatfield, and Eadfrith was
   captured by Penda and killed some time afterwards.

   After his death, Edwin's Queen Æthelburh, along with Paulinus, returned
   to Kent, taking her son Wuscfrea, daughter Eanfled, and Osfrith's son
   Yffi into exile with her. Wuscfrea and Yffi were sent to the court of
   Æthelburh'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 Idings, 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 in
   both cases, thus allowing both of them to be perceived as martyrs;
   however, Bede's treatment of Oswald clearly demonstrates that he
   regarded Oswald 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' 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.
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