Edwin, King of Northumbria, St.
EDWIN, KING OF NORTHUMBRIA, ST.
B. 585; d. Oct. 12, 633. As king of Deira (616) Edwin first united the Northumbrian kingdoms, and then became overlord of all English peoples south of the Humber except those of Kent. In 625 he married ethelburga, daughter of ethelbert of kent. After his baptism by his wife's chaplain paulinus, Bishop of York, he opened his lands to Christianity (627). But his death in the Battle of Hatfield Chase against the pagan King Penda of Mercia halted missionary activity there. King Edwin was venerated, at least locally, as a martyr.
Feast: Oct. 12; formerly Oct. 4.
Bibliography: Sources. bede, Historia ecclesiastica, ed. c. plummer (Oxford 1896; reprint 1956) bk. 2, ch. 5, 9–20; bk. 3, ch. 1, 6; Opera historica, ed. c. plummer, 2 v. (Oxford 1896) 2:86, 93–117. Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae ct mediae aetatis (Brussels 1898–1901), 1:2428. Literature. w. hunt, The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to 1900 (London 1885–1900) 6:550–552. r. stanton, A Menology of England and Wales (London 1887) 487–488, 491. f. m. stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (2d ed. Oxford 1947) 65–66, 79–81. c. j. godfrey, The Church in Anglo-Saxon England (New York 1962).
[b. w. scholz]