In Bede’s history, Penda plays an unusual role: he is the killer of Christian kings, most notably Oswald, Bede’s exemplar of Christian kingship, but Bede never evinces the same dislike for Penda as he does for Cadwallon or even Rædwald.

For Bede, Penda was an honest pagan who allowed the preaching of the new religion in his kingdom even if he did not follow it himself. Penda’s own son converted to Christianity when he married Oswiu’s daughter. (Politics was a complicated and bloody family affair, made more complex and bloody in this case when Oswiu’s daughter murdered her husband.)

Bede’s true scorn was reserved for Cadwallon, whom he saw as a traitor to Christianity by his warring on Edwin and the newly converted Northumbrians. Similar scorn he poured upon Rædwald, who hedged his religious bets, keeping altars to the old gods as well as the new god. For Bede, this hedging of religious bets was worthy of despite.