Portal:Yorkshire/Selected biography/9

King Edwin

Saint Edwin (alternately Eadwine or Æduini) (c. 586–12 October 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 in 627 was baptised in York; 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. 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. (read more . . . )