The first bishop of York in Anglo-Saxon history is a shadowy figure and, to some historians, not an altogether impressive one, but a conference devoted mainly to the ecclesiastical province of York perhaps provides an opportune moment to consider afresh one or two of the more interesting aspects of his career. We might discuss first what exactly Paulinus was about in his efforts to convert Edwin of Northumbria.
Paulinus was one of the monks of Augustine of Canterbury and he was sent north with Ethelburga of Kent, who was a Christian, when she married the pagan King Edwin—in 625 according to Bede. Edwin promised to think about taking his bride’s religion, but to bring him finally to the point of accepting Christianity in 628 proved, despite all Paulinus’s powers of preaching and prophecy, to be a Herculean labour.