Gregory had planned his scheme with systematic completeness; he had
decided that there should be two metropolitan provinces, of York and
London (which he knew as the old Roman capitals of Britain), and that
each should consist of twelve episcopal sees. Paulinus now went to York
in furtherance of this comprehensive but abortive scheme. A miraculous
escape from assassination, or what was reputed one, gave the Roman monk
a hold over Eadwine's mind; but the king decided to put off his
conversion till he had tried the efficacy of the new faith by a
practical appeal. He went on an expedition against the treacherous king
of the West Saxons, who had endeavoured to assassinate him, and
determined to abide by the result. Having overthrown his enemy with
great slaughter, he returned to his royal city of Coningsborough (the
king's town), and put himself as a catechumen under the care of
Paulinus. The pope himself was induced to interest himself in so
promising a convert; and he wrote a couple of briefs to Eadwine and his
queen. These letters, the originals of which were carefully preserved at
Rome, are copied out in full by Bæda. No doubt, the honour of receiving
such an epistle from the pontiff of the Eternal City was not without its
effect upon the semi-barbaric mind of Eadwine, who seems in some
respects to have inherited the old Roman traditions of Eboracum.

Still the king held back. To change his own faith was to change the
faith of the whole nation, and he thought it well to consult his witan.
The old English assembly was always aristocratic in character, despite
its ostensible democracy, for it consisted only of the heads of
families; and as the kingdoms grew larger, their aristocratic character
necessarily became more pronounced, as only the wealthier persons could
be in attendance upon the king. The folk-moot had grown into the
witena-gemot, or assembly of wise men. Eadwine assembled such a meeting
on the banks of the Derwent–for moots were always held in the open air