Gaul; and Archbishop Laurentius himself was minded to follow them. Then
the Kentish king, admonished by a dream of the archbishop's, made
submission, recalled the truant bishops, and restored Justus to
Rochester. The Londoners, however, would not receive back Mellitus,
"choosing rather to be under their idolatrous high-priests." Soon
Laurentius died too, and Mellitus was called to take his place, and
consecrated at last a church in London in the monastery of St. Peter. In
624, the third archbishop was carried off by gout, and Justus of
Rochester succeeded to the primacy of the struggling church. Up to this
point little had been gained, except the conversion of Kent itself, with
its dependent kingdom of Essex–the two parts of England in closest
union with the Continent, through the mercantile intercourse by way of
London and Richborough.

Under the new primate, however, an unexpected opening occurred for the
conversion of the North. The Northumbrian kings had now risen to the
first place in Britain. Æthelfrith had done much to establish their
supremacy; under Eadwine it rose to a height of acknowledged
over-lordship. "As an earnest of this king's future conversion and
translation to the kingdom of heaven," says Bæda, with pardonable
Northumbrian patriotic pride, "even his temporal power was allowed to
increase greatly, so that he did what no Englishman had done
before–that is to say, he united under his own over-lordship all the
provinces of Britain, whether inhabited by English or by Welsh." Eadwine
now took in marriage Æthelburh, daughter of Æthelberht, and sister of
the reigning Kentish king. Justus seized the opportunity to introduce
the Church into Northumbria. He ordained one Paulinus as bishop, to
accompany the Christian lady, to watch over her faith, and if possible
to convert her husband and his people.