Chapter 19
Queen of NorthumbriaIn the oak church at Bamburgh Egfrid knelt to receive the crown of Northumbria. Beside him his queen bent her heart to her God and prayed that she would have the strength to support him in this new and difficult role.
Bishop Eata of Lindisfarne, one of Saint Aidan’s protégés, and Wilfrid, Bishop of York, were presiding, but Cuthbert, now Prior of Lindisfarne, knelt beside Etheldreda, his presence giving her a sense of comfort. She remembered that once when she had queried the arduous life he had led since his illness, noticing that he had to lean heavily on his stick and was frequently out of breath, he had said that nothing was ever required of him by God that he was not capable of giving. She must hold to this truth now, not only in the matter of the crow
