A.D. 618. COSDBOA LAYS WASTE JERUSALEM. trous* worship, and renounced his illegal marriage, he received the faith of Christ and was baptized ; and endeavoured with all his might, in all matters, to consult and favour the interests of the church. And he himself, with all his nation, from the tune that he was converted to the Lord, studied to submit himself to the laws of God. He also sent into Gaul and recalled the bishops Mellitus and Justus, and desired them to return fearlessly to their churches ; and so, after seeing this miracle, he returned to the unity of the church. A.D. 617. The bishops Melhtue and Justus returned to Britain, and were received with due honour by king Eadbald and all his nation. The same year, Redwald, king of the East Angles, provoked Ethelred, king of Northumberland, to war. Therefore, the armies of these two monarchs met in the district of the Jutes, on the eastern bank of the river which is called the Idle. From which circumstance, the proverb arose, which remains in force to the present day, "The Idle river was foul with Anglian blood/' Therefore, Ethelred, being fierce and indignant, and greatly marvelling that any one should dare to fight with him, rushed boldly, but in no kind of order, upon the enemy, although the army of Redwald, being arranged with great skill, caused no slight alarm to those who beheld it. But the king of Northumberland, as if he had found a prey, suddenly rushed upon the close battalions and overthrew Reiner, the captain of the host of Redwald, with all his army, and sent them in haste to hell. But Redwald, being not at all alarmed at the great slaughter, but only animated to seek revenge, gloriously pierced the battalions of Ethelred, and having shed a great deal of the blood of the enemy, slew that haughty king. Then pursuing the enemy, without any mercy, he routed all their army, and utterly crushed them. In this battle the prowess of Edwin was particularly eminent, who, having been expelled from that kingdom, had lived in exile with Redwald for seventeen years. Therefore, Edwin, the son of Ella, reigned over the two kingdoms of the Deiri and the Bernicians ; and afterwards becoming a Christian, he reduced all the kings, both of the Angles and of the Welch, to submission to him. A.D. 618. Cosdroa, king of Persia, took Damascus, and laid waste Jerusalem, and burnt all the sacred places in that city, and took prisoners an immense multitude of the people,