conflated in medieval Latin to a sound like an Italian E

It's probably that Latin, towards the end of the Western Roman Empire, was going through this change, (i.e., æ /aj/ and œ /oj/ > /E/). Although, I use the /'EdIp@s/ pronounciation now, I pronounce Æschylus /'isk@l@s/, though /'Esk@l@s/ is the preferred American pronunciation. Diphthongs yielding simple vowels is a common enough historical change.