thy person. Thus he remayning by himself alone & solitarie, sitting in a great study, there apeared vnto him sodaynely, a certain straunger, to him vnknowen & sayd: I knowe well the cause of thy thought and heauynes. What wouldest thou geue hym that should deliuer thee out of this feare, and should reconcile king Redwald to thee agayne? I would geue him (sayd Edwyne) all that euer I could make. And he sayd agayne: And what if he make thee a myghtier king, then was anye of thy Progenitours? He answered againe as before. Moreouer, (sayth he) and what if he shew thee a better kinde & way of life, then euer was shewed to anye of thine aunceters before thee: wilt thou obey him and do after his counsel? Yea (sayd Edwyn) promising most firmly, with all hys hart so to do. MarginaliaThe maruelous callyng of Edwine.Thē he laying hys hand vpō his head, whē (sayd he) this token happeneth vnto thee: then remember this tyme of thy tribulation, & the promise which thou hast made, and the woorde which now I say vnto thee. And with that he vanished out of his sight sodainly. MarginaliaEdwine miraculously delyuered.After this so done, as Edwyne was sittyng alone by hym selfe pensiue and sad: his forsayd friende, which moued him before to flee, commeth to him, biddyng him be of good chere, for the hart (sayde hee) of king Redwaldus, which had before intended thy destruction, was now altered through the counsell of the Queene, and is fullye bent to keepe his promise with you, what soeuer shall fall therupon. MarginaliaW. Malmesberiensis. lib. de Reg.To make the storye short, Redwallus the kyng (although Fabian following Henry Huntington, sayth it was Edwine) with al conuenient speede assembled an host: wherwith he sodaynly comming vpon Ethelfride, gaue battaile vnto him aboute the borders of Mercia, where Ethelfride king of Northumberlande, also with Reyner Redwallus Sonne was slayne in the fielde. By reason wherof Edwyne (his enemies now being destroyed) was quietlye placed in the possession of Northumberland. All this while yet Edwyne remayned in his old Paganisme: albeit hys Quene, MarginaliaThis quene was Edelburga, daughter to kyng Ethelbert the christened kyng of Kent.being (as is aboue declared) kyng Ethelberts daughter, a christen woman, with Paulinus the Bishop, ceased not to styrre and perswade the kyng to Christian faith. But he taking counsel with his nobles and counsellers vpon the matter, was hard to be wonne. Then the Lord, who disposeth all thinges after his purpose, to bring all good thynges to passe, sent an other trouble vpon hym, by meanes therof to cal him. MarginaliaGod calleth commonly by affliction and trouble.For by afflictiō God vseth cōmonly to call them whom he wyl saue, or by whom he wil worke saluation vnto other. So his diuine wysdom thinketh good to make them fyrst to know them selues, before they come to know him, or to teach him to other. So it was with Paule, who was strickē downe, before he was lyfted vp, with Constantinus, Edwinus, & manye mo. How long was Ioseph in prison before he bare rule? How hardely escaped this our Quene now being, (Quene Elizabeth) by whō yet notwithstāding it hath pleased God to restore this his Gospel now preached amongest vs? In what conflictes and agonies inwardlye in hys spirite was M. Luther, before he came to preach the iustification of Christ openly? And so be al they most commonly, which come to any lyuely feeling ot sensible working of Christ the Lord.

MarginaliaAn other daunger of Edwine
An. 627
Polychr. lib. 5 cap. 12.
Henr. Huntyng. lib. 3But to returne to Edwyne againe. The occasion of his trouble was this: Quicelinus with Kynegislus hys brother, kinges of Westsaxons (as aboue is mencioned in the table of the Saxon kinges) conspiring the death of Edwyne now king of Northumberland: vpon enuye and malice sent vpō an Easter day a swordman named Emner, priuely to slay the sayd Edwyne. This swordman or cutthrote came to a Citie beside the water of Darwent in Darbyshiere, there to wayte his time, and lastly found the king smally accompanied, and entēded to haue run the king through with a sword inuenemed. But one Lilla the kinges trusty seruaunt, disgarnishedof a shield or other weapon, to defend his maister: MarginaliaFabianus parte. 5. A part of a trusty seruant.start betwene the king and the sword, and was stricken thorough the body and dyed, and the kyng was wounded with the same stroke. And after he wounded also þ^e third which was a knight, and so was taken, and confessed by whom he was sent to woorke that treason. The other knight that was secondly wounded dyed, and the kyng lay after long sycke, or he were healed.

After this, about whytsontide the king being scantly whole of hys wounde, assembled his host, intending to make against þ^e king of Westsaxō: promising to Christ to be Christened, if he would geue him the victorye ouer his enemies. And in token thereof caused his daughter, borne of Edelburge, the same Easter day when he was wounded, named Eufled to be baptised: with. xij. other of his family, of Paulinus. Thus Edwine proceeded to the battaile against Quiceline and Kinegislus, with his sonne Kenwalcus and other enemies: who in the same battayle being al vanquished and put to flight, Edwine (through the power of Christ) returneth home victorer. MarginaliaEdwyn forgetteth his promise to Christe.
Prosperitie forgetfull.
Old custōe in matters of religion not to bee followed but onelye truth.But for al this victory, and other thinges geuen to hym of God, as he was in wealth of the world, forgat his promise made, and had litle minde thereof, saue onelye that he by the peaching of Paulinus forsooke his maumentry. And for his excuse sayd that he might not clearelye renye hys olde lawe, which his forefathers had kept so long, and sodenly to be Christned without autoritie and good aduise of his counsail.

MarginaliaOld custome letteth Edwin to be christened.About the same season Pope Boniface. 5. sent also to the said Edwine letters exhortatorie, with sundrye presentes from Rome to him, and to Edelburg the Quene. But nether would that preuayle. Then Paulinus seing the kyng so harde to bee conuerted, poured out hys praiers vnto God for his conuersion: who the same time had reuealed to him by the holy ghost, the oracle aboue mencioned, which was shewed to the king, whē he was with Redwallus king of the Eastangles. MarginaliaA miracle of God in the conuersiō of king Edwine.Whereupon Paulinus cōming afterward to the king, on a certaine day, and laying his hand vpō the kings head, asked him if he knew that token. The king hearing this, and remēbring wel the token, was ready to fal down at his feete. MarginaliaThe part of a godly bishop exemplified in Paulin⁹But Paulinus not suffering that, did lift him vp again, saying vnto him: behold, O king, you haue vanquished your enemies, you haue obtayned your kingdome, now performe the third, which you haue promised, that is to receiue the fayth of Christ, and to bee obedient to hym. Wherupon the king conferring with his counsell, and his nobles, MarginaliaEdwine baptised.
He was baptised in s. Peters churche at Yorke which he first caused to be made of woode, which after by s. Oswald was builded of stone.was baptised of the said Paulinus at York, with many of his other subiectes with hym: In so much that Coyfi the chiefe of the prelates of his old maumentry armed himselfe with his other idolatrous bishops, and bestrode good horses, which before by their old law they might not do, nor ryde but onelye on a Mare: and so destroyed all the altars of their manmentrie, & their temple of Idoles, which was a Godmundham, nor far from Yorke, & this was the. xi. yeare of his raygne.

MarginaliaAnno. 628
Note Paulinus christened in ryuers.From that time forth, during the lyfe of Edwyne, which was the terme of. vi. yeares, Paulinus christned continually in the riuers of Gweny, and Swala, in both prouinces of Deira, and in Brenicia, vsing the sayd ryuers for hys fountes, and preached in the shiere of Lyncesey, wher he builded also a church of stone at Lincoln.

MarginaliaWhat true iustice of a good prince can do in a realme.
Great peace & truth among the people in the dayes of Edwin⁹In this time was so great peace in the kingdome of Edwyne after his conuersion, that a womā laden with golde might haue gone from the one syde of the sea to the other, and no man molest her. Moreouer by the hye way sydes through al his kingdome, he caused by euery wel or spring to be chayned a dyshe or bole of brasse to take vp water, for the refreshing of such as went by the way. Which boles of brasse there remained safe, so that no man touched them, during all the life of the said Edwyne. Such was then the tender care and study of chri-