[2] He was installed as bishop by Tostig, the Earl of Northumbria and was the choice of King Edward the Confessor.
[3] Æthelwine was the brother of the previous bishop, Æthelric, who had been forced to resign after a financial scandal.
[5] Æthelwine oversaw the translation of the relics of the saint Oswine of Deira to Durham in 1065.
Unfortunately, the new earl did not pay heed to the warning, and was surprised and burned to death in the bishop's house on 29 January 1069.
[11] When King William marched north in retaliation on the scorched earth campaign generally known as the Harrying of the North, Æthelwine tried to flee with many Northumbrian treasures (including the body of Saint Cuthbert) to Lindisfarne,[12] but he was caught, outlawed, imprisoned, and later died in confinement in the winter of 1071–1072;[2][13] his see being temporarily left vacant until William appointed the native of Lorraine Walcher.