Edwin of Northumbria

St Edwin of Northumbria
King of Deira and Bernicia
St. Edwin of Northumbria depiction at St Mary, Sledmere, Yorkshire.
Reign	616 – 12 October 633
Predecessor	Æthelfrith
Born	c. 586 Deira, England
Died	12 October 633 Hatfield Chase, England
Spouse	Cwenburg Æthelburg of Kent
Issue	Osfrith, Uscfrea, Eadfrith, Æthelhun, Eanflæd, Æthelthryth
Father	Ælle

Edwin (Old English: Ēadwine; c. 586 – 12 October 632/633), also known as Eadwine or Æduinus, was the King of Deira and Bernicia – which later became 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 and seems to have had (at least) two siblings. 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 Æthelric, the brother of king Anna of East Anglia.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reported 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 Cwenburg he married.