Christianity first came to the north through the marriage of the Angle King Edwin to St Ethelburga princess of Kent and his consequent conversion.
He was baptised in 627 in a small wooden church built for the purpose in York by St Paulinus. He had been made bishop in 625 in Kent to accompany St Ethelburga on her trip north. St Edwin afterwards built the church in stone. The church lay within the Roman camp HQ and was called St Peter’s in order to make clear its connections with Rome.
But though Edwin and many of his people were baptised, he was not the first. Previously St Eanfled, the daughter of Edwin and St Ethelburga was baptised, along with 11 others of the royal household, in 626.
St Paulinus may have founded other churches in Dewsbury and Ilkeley. Edwin and St Paulinus also worked on the conversion of Lindsey (Lincolnshire) and the East Angles. Edwin however was killed and St Paulinus had to go back south. St Eanfled, later, became a nun at Whitby
