Welcome to the British History Podcast.

My name is Jamie, and this is episode 131, Edwin's Conversion.

And members, have a look on your feeds, because there's more stuff about King Arthur

on there, and there's another talk on what went wrong and what went right in a few more

episodes of History Channel's Vikings.

So make sure you update your feeds on your British History Podcast apps, and if you

haven't yet downloaded the app, you should do so.

It's free.

Okay, so when we last left off, Bishop Paulinus thought that he was about to get Edwin

to convert.

But then Edwin pulled a bait and switch, and said that God hadn't jumped through enough

hoops yet, and that he wanted to speak with his counsel and then deliberate privately

before making a decision.

Now, Edwin was slick.

He built political ties on the island, he also tied himself across the channel with

the Maravingsians, as his children with Ethelburr were kin of the Frankish King.

And he was also aware of the importance of symbology and appearances, so he did things

like having a standard bore ahead of him that harkened back to Roman times.

And ties to Rome still carried an aura of authority, and he almost certainly knew that

Christianity would put him even closer to Rome, and I suspect that he had that in mind

when he chose to marry Ethelburr.

And that ambition probably also played a role in why Edwin allowed the church to establish

...