Edwin

Edwin, king of Northumbria, was the son of Ælla, king of Deira, who died in 588. His father died when he was but three years old, whereupon Æthelric, king of Bernicia, seized his territories. The child was carried into North Wales, and there brought up. At length he found refuge with Rædwald, king of East Anglia, who took up arms on his behalf against Æthelfrith, the son of his oppressor, and defeated him in a great battle, in which the usurper fell (617). Edwin now obtained his father's kingdom of Deira, and ere long overran Bernicia, thus bringing under his rule a united Northumbria, which extended northward to Edinburgh, a city which he fortified, and which still retains his name. He next conquered Elmet (the West Riding of Yorkshire) from the Britons, and pushed his power westward to the sea, and even to Anglesea and Man. After Rædwald's death he also obtained the overlordship in East Anglia, and overthrew the West Saxons, a victory which gave him the overlordship of all England, save Kent. Edwin had already married Æthelburh, daughter of Æthelberht, the convert of Augustine. Under Paulinus' influence, and moved by his escape from assassination at the hands of the king of Wessex, and by his victory over Wessex, Edwin was converted to Christianity; and he and his nobles were baptised in the eleventh year of his reign. Thereafter, he became the most powerful prince in England. In 634 he fell in a disastrous battle at Hatfield Chase in Yorkshire. Edwin was canonised; his festival falls on 4th October. His story forms the subject of Alexander Smith's poem, Edwin of Deira (1861).