Page "Edwin of Northumbria" Paragraph 24

After his death, Edwin came to be venerated as a saint by some, although his cult was eventually overshadowed by the ultimately more successful cult of Oswald, who was killed in 642.

They met their deaths in battle against similar foes, the pagan Mercians and the British in both cases, thus allowing both of them to be perceived as martyrs ; however, Bede's treatment of Oswald clearly demonstrates that he regarded Oswald as an unambiguously saintly figure, a status that he did not accord to Edwin.