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► “Æthelfrith became king of Bernicia around 592 or 593AD, and he is the first leader of what we now know as Northumbria that we have any kind of written detail about. He married Acha from the royal line of the rival Northumbrian kingdom Deira, and after around 12 years of ruling Bernicia alone, he also claimed the throne of Deira too. This sent Edwin, Acha's brother, into exile, and there are stories of Æthelfrith sending messengers to Rædwald of East Anglia offering to pay to have Edwin killed. When Æthelfrith was subsequently killed at the Battle of the River Idle in 616 or 617, it is said that Edwin saw this as an opportunity to exact revenge on Æthelfrith's family for the persecution he had been subjected to. Knowing her brother was out for reprisal, Acha took some of her children including Oswald and fled north. During this period in exile, Oswald spent some time with the monks from the small island of Iona
