Arwald

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Arwald (died 686CE) was the last Jutish King of the Isle of Wight and last pagan king in or of England until the Vikings in the ninth century. His name may have been "Arwald" or "Atwald" because Bede's script is often difficult to read. PASE has "Arwald"

Nearly all we know of him is from the History of the English Church by St. Bede describing the invasion of the Isle of Wight by the Wessex King, St.Caedwalla who with merciless slaughter endeavoured to destroy all the inhabitants thereof and to replace them with his own followers and had vowed to give a quarter of the Isle of Wight to St. Wilfrid and the Church.

Arwald was killed in battle, but his two younger brothers escaped to the Great Ytene Forest (now called the "New Forest"). They were betrayed to St. Caedwalla and taken to a place where he "was in hiding with his wounds" at Stoneham, near Southampton.Shortly before they were put to the sword they converted to Christianity by the intervention of an abbot and so went straight to Heaven- thus being described by Bede as "the first fruits" of the massacre.

Thus canonised, their names are unknown, but are called collectively "St.Arwald"- after their pagan uncle (who died fighting Christianity).