him. Steven Plunkett relates that, according to the version of events as told in the Whitby Life of St Gregory, it was Paulinus who visited Edwin and obtained his promise to convert to Christianity in return for regal power. After Edwin emerged as the ruler of Deira, with its centre at York, he became accepted as king of the northern Northumbrian province of Bernicia. Following his victory over the Northumbrians, Rædwald was not only king of the East Angles, but also the most powerful king amongst the rulers of the various English kingdoms, occupying the role which was later described by the term Bretwalda. He is thought by many to have been buried in the sumptuous ship burial at Sutton Hoo. Eorpwald was the son of Rædwald by a wife whose name is not recorded. He had at least one brother, Rægenhere, and another sibling, Sigeberht, may also have been his brother. Rædwald used the letters R and E when naming two of his own sons (as did his own father when he and his younger brother Eni were named), which suggests that Eorpwald was the younger sibling and would only have become Rædwald's heir after his elder brother Rægenhere was slain in battle in 616. It is unclear whether, as Bede understood, Sigebert and Eorpwald were brothers, or whether they shared the same mother but not the same father, as was stated by the 12th-century chronicler William of Malmesbury. According to the historian Barbara Yorke, Sigebert may have been a member of a different line of Wuffings who, as his rival, was forced into exile, in order to ensure that Eorpwald became king. Accession and conversion to Christianity Eorpwald was still a pagan when he became king of the East Angles, following the death of Rædwald in around 624. D. P. Kirby maintains that Sigeberht fled from East Anglia to Gaul during the internal strife that followed Eorpwald's accession and that the new king's paganism created tension between Christian and pagan factions within the kingdom, which resulted in a reduction in his influence. In 627, Edwin undertook the conversion of the peoples of Northumbria, Lindsey and East Anglia and at his prompting Eorpwald was, according to Bede, "persuaded to accept the Christian faith and sacraments". It can be calculated that this event occurred in 627, taking into account the years that Felix of Burgundy was known to have held