Rędwald (died c. 627) was King of East Anglia from about 599 until his death and Anglo-SaxonBretwalda from about the year 616. He was the son of Tytila. During Raedwald's reign, East Anglia reached the height of its power, and he was the only East Anglian king to be recognized as Bretwalda.
The exiled prince Edwin of Deira took refuge in East Anglia around the year 615, seeking protection from his rival, the Northumbrian king Aethelfrith. Aethelfrith attempted to bribe Raedwald into having Edwin killed, and it is said that at first Raedwald meant to accept, but later refused after he was admonished by his wife that it would be dishonorable to murder a guest. It may be that Raedwald's actual reasoning was more pragmatic, but in any case, he then assembled an army and marched against Northumbria, and a battle was fought by the river Idle. The Northumbrian army was apparently the smaller force, and it seems that this was because Raedwald's attack had taken Aethelfrith by surprise and not allowed him enough time to assemble a great force. Although Raedwald's son Raegenhere was killed, the battle was a great East Anglian victory: Aethelfrith was killed, his sons fled to the north, and Edwin became king of Northumbria. It was from this point that Raedwald was considered Bretwalda.
Raedwald converted to Christianity at the urging of King Ethelbert of Kent, but he is thought to have vacillated between the new religion and the old pagan beliefs. According to Bede, after his conversion "he was seduced by his wife and certain perverse teachers, and turned back from the sincerity of the faith; and thus his latter state was worse than the former; so that, like the ancient Samaritans, he seemed at the same time to serve Christ and the gods whom he had served before".1 Furthermore, at his temple in Rendlesham, he is said to have had both a Christian shrine and a pagan shrine side by side. This juxtaposition was not an uncommon occurrence during the early years of Christianity in Britain.
He is thought to be the most likely candidate to be the principal of the Sutton Hooship burial, although no bodily remains were ever retrieved from this site.
Reference
Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, Book II, Chapter XV. (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book2.html)
Upon Ælla's death in 588, the sovereignty over both divisions of Northumbria was usurped by Ethebric of Bernicia, and retained at his death by his son Ethelfrid; Edwin, Ælla's infant son, being compelled until his thirtieth year to wander from one friendly prince to another, in continual danger from Ethelfrid's attempts upon his life.
Finally, however, Redwald's refusal to betray his guest led in 616 to a battle, fought upon the river Idle, in which Ethelfrid himself was slain, and Edwin was invited to the throne of Northumbria.
In instance of this, Venerable Bede tells how, at their royal villa of Yeverin in Northumberland, the king and queen entertained Paulinus for five weeks, whilst he was occupied from morning to night in instructing and baptizing the crowds that flocked to him.
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