625-7. Conversion of Northumbria
Bede tells a long story of the conversion of Edwin of Northumbria at HE, ii.9-14. It begins with Edwin of Northumbria sending ambassadors to Kent, to ask for the hand of Æthelberht's daughter (Eadbald's sister) Æthelburh. Eadbald objected that Edwin was a pagan, and Edwin responded that he would not prevent Æthelburh from practising her religion, and indeed might convert himself. At this, Æthelburh was betrothed to Edwin, and Paulinus was consecrated bishop (on 21 July 625) and went in Æthelburh's train to the Northumbrian court. (HE, ii.9. This all bears close comparison with the Frankish princess Bertha coming to pagan Kent and bringing bishop Liudhard with her: see entry on c.575.) We are told that Paulinus worked long and hard to convert the Northumbrians, but to no avail.
The following year, Cwichelm of the West Saxons sent an assassin to kill Edwin (see entry on 626), and Edwin promised Paulinus that if God would grant him life and victory over his enemies, he would renounce idols and serve Christ. As earnest of this, he gave his infant daughter (Eanflæd, later abbess of Whitby) to be baptised. His campaign against the West Saxons was successful, and though he did not accept the Christian faith immediately and without consideration, he did listen to Paulinus and consult with his counsellors (HE, ii.9).
Pope Boniface wrote letters of encouragement to Edwin and Æthelburh (HE, ii.10-11, compare the letters Pope Gregory had written to Æthelberht and Bertha in 601). Bede also recounts a moment in Edwin's exile with Rædwald (see entry on 616), in which a heavenly messenger appeared to give him hope, and in return Edwin promised to follow such a messenger in every particular. Paulinus came one day and spoke in the voice Edwin seemed to remember from the vision, and bade him remember his promise. Edwin then agreed that he would accept Paulinus's faith, but would confer with his counsellors first that they might all be converted together (HE, ii.12-13; note the echo of Bede's description of the first meeting of Augustine and the British bishops in c.602).
Bede goes on to describe Edwin's council (HE, ii.13), in which Coifi, the heathen high priest, claims that the heathen religion is worthless because it has not brought him better advancement, and another counsellor makes the famous comparison between life on earth and the flight of a sparrow through a hall. After the council Coifi rushes forth to profane the heathen shrines which he had consecrated, and Edwin with all his nobles and many others is baptised on Easter day of 627 (HE, ii.14).
One might be forgiven for thinking there is enough here to convert a normal person several times over. It is possible that Edwin was very cautious or very reluctant, but another possibility is that legends grew up quickly around Edwin's conversion, and that Bede, unable or untroubled to select the original, has presented them all. Support for this second possibility comes from the earliest Life of Gregory, composed at Whitby in the early 8th century (704?714). Chapter 16 tells the tale of the heavenly messenger at Rædwald's court, prefaced by the warning that this was not the tale as told by those who were closest to Edwin (his daughter and grand-daughter were abbesses of Whitby), but that it was included since it was related sincerely by faithful witnesses. This may suggest that the heavenly messenger glimpsed at Rædwald's court was a later and legendary addition.
The 9th-century Historia Brittonum (at ?63) and the Annales Cambriae make the counter-claim that Edwin was baptised by Rhun son of Urien (king of Rheged). This claim is probably rightly dismissed as a much later invention, though it is true that Bede's prejudice against the British church might keep him from mentioning British influence in the Northumbrian conversion (see further Campbell, p.24).
J. Campbell, "Bede I", reprinted in his Essays in Anglo-Saxon History (London, 1986), pp.1-27