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A
INTRODUCTORY.
sovereignty. At the end of this strange interview
his unknown visitor laid his hand upon his head,
bade him remember that sign and bear in mind the
promise he had made.
Finding at last that bribes, entreaties, and threats
failed to procure the object he had in view, Ethelfrith
took the field with a large force against the East
Anglian king, in the hope of crushing him by
numbers. But victory did not follow. He was
defeated by Redwald in a battle that was fought on
the banks of the Idle, near Retford. After this
Edwin was enabled to return to Deira. He subsequently
attacked Bernicia and by his conquest of
that province re-united the two states, and Northumbria
was again one kingdom, extending, as has been
already said, from the estuary of the Humber to the
Firth of Forth. Tradition marks him as the founder
of Edinburgh—Edwin's burgh. He was a born ruler
of men, and was not only a consummate leader in
the field, but a sovereign whose energy and determination
promoted the arts of peace and the security of
his people. " With him began the English proverb
so often applied to after kings : woman with her
babe might walk scathless from sea to sea in
Eadwine's day.' Peaceful communication revived
along .the deserted highways ; the springs by the
roadside were marked with stakes, and a cup of
brass set beside each for the traveller's refreshment.
Some faint traditions of the Roman past may have
flung their glory round this new ' Empire of the
English ; ' a royal standard of purple and gold floated
before Eadwine as he rode through the villages ; a