St Edwin of Northumbria Healing Oil

Description

St Edwin of Northumbria Healing Oil from A Blessed Call To Love, Ireland.

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, the first known king of Deira, and seems to have had at least two siblings. His sister Acha 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.

By around 616, Edwin was in East Anglia under the protection of king Rædwald. Bede reports that Æthelfrith tried to have Rædwald murder his unwanted rival, and that Rædwald intended to do so until his wife persuaded him otherwise with Divine prompting. Æthelfrith faced Rædwald in battle by the River Idle in 616, and Æthelfrith defeated; Rædwald installed Edwin as king of Northumbria. Rædwald’s son Rægenhere may have killed at this battle, but the exact date or manner of Rædwald’s death not known. He likely died between the years 616–627, and the efficacy of Edwin’s kingship ostensibly depended greatly on his fealty to Rædwald.

Edwin installed as king of Northumbria, effectively confirming Rædwald as bretwalda. Æthelfrith’s sons went into exile in Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata and Pictland. That Edwin was able to take power not only in his native Deira but also in Bernicia. May have been due to his support from Rædwald. To whom he may have remained subject during the early part of his reign. Edwin’s reign marks an interruption of the otherwise consistent domination of Northumbria by the Bernicians. And has seen as “contrary to the prevailing tendency”