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XIV. How King Edwin and his nation became Christians;
and where Paulinus baptized them
CHAP. XIV.
. [627 A.D.]
KING EDWIN, therefore, with all the nobility of the nation, and a large number
of the common sort, received the faith, and the washing of holy regeneration, in
the eleventh year of his reign, which is the year of our Lord 627, and about one
hundred and eighty after the coming of the English into Britain. He was baptized
at York, on the holy day of Easter, being the 12th of April, in the church of
St. Peter the Apostle, which he himself had built of timber there in haste,
whilst he was a catechumen receiving instruction in order to be admitted to
baptism. In that city also he bestowed upon his instructor and bishop, Paulinus,
his episcopal see. But as soon as he was baptized, he set about building, by the
direction of Paulinus, in the same place a larger and nobler church of stone, in
the midst whereof the oratory which he had first erected should be enclosed.
Having, therefore, laid the foundation, he began to build the church square,
encompassing the former oratory. But before the walls were raised to their full
height, the cruel death of the king left that work to be finished by Oswald his
successor. Paulinus, for the space of six years from this time, that is, till
the end of the king's reign, with his, consent and favour, preached the Word of
God in that country, and as many as were foreordained to eternal life believed
and were baptized. Among them were Osfrid and Eadfrid, King Edwin's sons who
were both born to him, whilst he was in banishment, of Quenburga, the daughter
of Cearl, king of the Mercians.
Afterwards other children of his, by Queen Ethelberg, were baptized, Ethelhun
and his daughter Ethelthryth, and another, Wuscfrea, a son; the first two were
snatched out of this life whilst they were still in the white garments of the
newly-baptized, and buried in the church at York. Yffi, the son of Osfrid, was
also baptized, and many other noble and royal persons. So great was then the
fervour of the faith, as is reported, and the desire for the laver of salvation
among the nation of the Northumbrians, that Paulinus at a certain time coming
with the king and queen to the royal township, which is called Adgefrin, stayed
there with them thirty-six days, fully occupied in catechizing and baptizing;
during which days, from morning till night, he did nothing else but instruct the
people resorting from all villages and places, in Christ's saving Word; and when
they were instructed, he washed them with the water of absolution in the river
Glen, which is close by. This township, under the following kings, was
abandoned, and another was built instead of it, at the place called Maelmin.
These things happened in the province of the Bernicians; but in that of the
Deiri also, where he was wont often to be with the king, he baptized in the
river Swale, which runs by the village of Cataract; for as yet oratories, or
baptisteries, could not be built in the early infancy of the Church in those
parts. But in Campodonum, where there was then a royal township, he built a
church which the pagans, by whom King Edwin was slain, afterwards burnt,
together with all the place. Instead of this royal seat the later kings built
themselves a township in the country called Loidis. But the altar, being of
stone, escaped the fire and is still preserved in the monastery of the most
reverend abbot and priest, Thrydwulf, which is in the forest of Elmet.
