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NORTHUMBRIA (regnum Northanhymbrorum)

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 794 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NORTHUMBRIA (regnum Northanhymbrorum) , one of the most important of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, extended from the See also:Humber to the Forth. Originally it comprised two in-dependent kingdoms, See also:Bernicia and See also:Deira (q.v.). Each of these had a See also:dynasty of its own. The first known See also:king of the former was See also:Ida, who, according to tradition, acquired the See also:throne in 547 and reigned twelve years. To him the See also:foundation of See also:Bamburgh is attributed. Four of Ida's sons successively occupied his throne: Glappa 559-560, See also:Adda 56o-568, Aethelric 568-572, and See also:Theodoric 572-579. Of the first three nothing is known, but Theodoric is said (Historia Brittonum) to have been besieged by the Welsh under Urien in Lindisfarne. Theodoric was succeeded by Frithuwald 579-585 or 586 and Hussa 586-592 or 593. Then !Ethelfrith (q.v.), son of iEthelric, came to the throne. He greatly extended his territories at the expense of the Welsh, and eventually provoked an invasion of See also:Aidan, king of the Scots, whom he defeated at a See also:place called Daegsastan (603). The first king of Deira of whom we know was See also:Ella, or Aelle, who, according to See also:Bede, was still reigning when See also:Augustine arrived in 597. The Saxon See also:Chronicle, which is a less reliable authority for Northumbrian See also:history, places his See also:death in the See also:year 588.

The compiler of this See also:

work, however, seems to have used a regnal See also:list of the Bernician See also:kings, which differed considerably from most of those found in our See also:early authorities. AEthelfrith eventually acquired See also:possession of Deira, probably in 604 or 605, perhaps on Ella's death, expelling his son See also:Edwin (q.v.). Thenceforward, with rare intervals, the two kingdoms remained See also:united. See also:iEthelfrith became involved in See also:war with the Welsh towards the end of his reign and captured See also:Chester, probably about 613. Shortly after-wards, in 616, he was defeated and slain in See also:battle on the See also:river Idle by Edwin, who was assisted by the See also:East Anglian king Raedwald. Edwin now became king over both Northumbrian provinces. By his See also:time the See also:kingdom must have reached the See also:west See also:coast, as he is said to have conquered the islands of Anglesea and See also:Man. Under Edwin the Northumbrian kingdom became the See also:chief See also:power in the See also:country. At his death in 633 the kingdom was again divided, Deira falling to his See also:nephew Osric, while Bernicia was occupied by Eanfrith son of 1Ethelfrith. Both these kings were slain by Ceadwalla in the following year, but shortly afterwards the Welsh king was overthrown by See also:Oswald (q.v.), See also:brother of Eanfrith, who reunited the whole of Northumbria under his sway and acquired a supremacy analogous to that previously held by Edwin. After Oswald's defeat and death at the hands of See also:Penda in 642 Bernicia See also:fell to his brother See also:Oswio, while Oswine son of Osric became king in Deira, though probably subject to Oswio. Oswine's death was compassed by Oswio in 651, and the throne of Deira was then obtained by sEthelwald son of Oswald. He is not mentioned, however, after 655, so it is probable that Deira was incorporated in the Bernician kingdom not See also:long afterwards.

After Oswio's victory over Penda in 654-655 he annexed the See also:

northern See also:part of See also:Mercia to his kingdom and acquired a supremacy over the See also:rest of See also:England similar to that held by his predecessors. The Mercians, however, recovered their See also:independence in 658, and from this time onward Northumbria played little part in the history of See also:southern England. But Oswio and his son See also:Ecgfrith greatly extended their territories towards the See also:north and north-west, making themselves masters of the kingdoms of See also:Strathclyde and See also:Dalriada, as well as of a large part of the Pictish kingdom. Ecgfrith (q.v.), who succeeded on Oswio's death in 671, expelled the Mercians from See also:Lindsey early in his reign, but was in turn defeated by them in 679, his brother )Elfwine being slain. From this time onwards the Humber formed the boundary between the two kingdoms. In 684 we hear of the first See also:English invasion of See also:Ireland, but in the following year Ecgfrith was slain and his See also:army totally destroyed by the Picts at a place called Nechtansmere (probably Dunnichen See also:Moss in See also:Forfarshire). The Picts and Britons now recovered their independence; for Aldfrith, apparently an illegitimate son of Oswio, who succeeded, made no See also:attempt to reconquer them. He was a learned man and a See also:patron of scholars, and during his reign the Northumbrian kingdom partially recovered its prosperity. He was succeeded in 705 by his son Osred, and under him and his successors Northumbria began rapidly to decline through the vices of its kings and the extravagance of their donations. Osred was slain in 716. He was succeeded by Coenred 716-718, and Coenred by Osric 718-729. The next king was Ceolwulf, to whom Bede dedicated his Historia Ecclesiastica in 731.

In the same year he was deposed and forced to become a See also:

monk, but was soon restored to the throne. In 737 he voluntarily retired to a monastery and See also:left the kingdom to his See also:cousin Eadberht. The latter appears to have been a vigorous ruler; in the year 740 we hear of his being involved in war with the Picts. IEthelbald of Mercia seems to have taken See also:advantage of this See also:campaign to ravage Northumbria. In 750 Eadberht is said to have annexed a large part of See also:Ayrshire to his kingdom. Finally in 756, having now allied himself with (Engus king of the Picts, he successfully attacked See also:Dumbarton (Alcluith), the chief See also:town of the Britons of Strathclyde. Eadberht showed considerable independence in his dealings with the See also:church, and his brother Ecgberht, to whom the well-known See also:letter of Bede is addressed, was from 734 to 766 See also:archbishop of See also:York. In 958 Eadberht resigned the kingdom to his son Oswulf, and became a monk. After his See also:abdication Northumbrian history degenerates into a See also:record of dynastic murders. Oswulf was slain by his See also:household at a place called Mechil Wongtun in 759. Moll iEthelwald, who may have been a brother of Eadberht, succeeded, and after a victory over a certain Oswine, who fell in the battle, abdicated and became a monk probably under compulsion in 765. His successor Alchred claimed descent from Ida, but See also:Simeon of See also:Durham appears to doubt the truth of his claim.

He sent an See also:

embassy to See also:Charlemagne in 768 and was deposed in 774, whereupon he fled to Bamburgh and afterwards to the Picts. His deposition has been ascribed to a formal See also:act of the See also:Witan, but this seems an antedating of constitutional methods and the circumstances point to a See also:palace revolution. The successor of Alchred was /See also:Ethelred son of Moll iEthelwald. In 778 three high-See also:reeves were slain at the instigation of the king. 'Ethelred was expelled during the next year, perhaps in See also:con-sequence of this event, andiElfwald son of Oswulf became king. IElfwald was murdered, by Sicga in 789s whereupon Osred his nephew the son of Alchred succeeded. In 790 the banished 'Ethelred returned to the throne and drove out Osred, whom he put to death in 792. "Ethelred, who had married iElflaed the daughter of See also:Offa, also killed See also:Elf and Elfwine, the sons of iElfwald and was murdered himself at See also:Corbridge in 796. Oswald, who is called patricius by Simeon of Durham, succeeded, but reigned only twenty-seven days, when he was expelled and eventually became a monk. Eardwulf See also:dux, who had apparently fled abroad to See also:escape the wrath of /Ethelred, was now recalled and held the See also:crown until 807 or 8o8. iElfwald then became king, but Eardwulf was restored in 8o8 or See also:Bog after appealing to the See also:emperor and the See also:pope. Earned, son of Eardwulf, probably came to the throne in Bog and reigned until 841. It was during his reign in 827 that Northumbria acknowledged the supremacy of Ecgberht, king of Wessex.

Eanred was succeeded by his son /Ethelred, who was slain in 85o, when Osberht came to the throne and reigned until 863. On the See also:

expulsion of Osberht, Ella or "See also:Elie, succeeded. The chroniclers emphasize the fact that this king was not of royal descent. He is said to have slain Ragnarr Lotsbrok. In the year 866 Lo6brok's sons Ingwaere (I'varr, q.v.), Hcalfdene, Ubba and others brought a vast army to England to avenge the death of their See also:father. In the following year they obtained possession of York. Ella seems now to have made See also:peace with the exiled king Osberht, and their united forces succeeded in recovering the See also:city. In the See also:great battle which ensued the Northumbrian army was annihilated and both kings slain (the death of Ella, according to Irish tradition, being due to the treachery of one of his followers). The southern part of Northumbria now passed entirely into the hands of the invaders, but they allowed a certain Ecgberht to reign over the portion of the kingdom north of the See also:Tyne. Ecgberht was expelled in 872 and died in the course of the following year. His successor Ricsig died in 876 and was followed by Ecgberht II., who reigned until 878. He was the last English king who reigned in Northumbria.

After him the chief power north of the Tyne came into the hands of a certain Eadulf of Bamburgh, who did not take the kingly See also:

title, but accepted the overlordship of See also:Alfred the Great perhaps in 886. In the See also:winter of 874–875 Healfdene returned to Northumbria, which he partitioned among his followers. He was probably killed in Ireland in 877. Simeon of Durham makes his death occur about the same time, after he had been expelled from his country and had lost his See also:reason as a See also:punishment for his misdeeds. After an See also:interregnum of a few years a certain Guthred became king in 883. He is said to have been a slave and to have been appointed king at the command of St See also:Cuthbert, who appeared to Eadred the See also:abbot of See also:Carlisle in a See also:dream. There is some reason for the conjecture that he belonged to the See also:family of Lo6brok. He died in 894, after which date little is known of Northumbrian history for a number of years. About the year 919 the country was invaded by Raegenald (Rognvaldr See also:grandson of I'varr), a See also:Norwegian king from Ireland, who seized York and occupied the lands of St Cuthbert. See also:Aldred, the son of Eadulf, who now ruled north of the Tyne, appealed to See also:Constantine II., king of the Scots, for help, but the Scottish and Northumbrian armies were defeated at Corbridge. Shortly after this, however, all the northern princes submitted to See also:Edward the See also:Elder. Raegenald was succeeded by Sihtric (Sigtryggr, another grandson of I'varr), who married 1Ethelstan's See also:sister.

He died in 926, and his brother and successor Guthfrith was soon afterwards expelled by /Ethelstan and fled to See also:

Eugenius, king of Strathclyde. The Welsh and Scottish kings, however, both submitted to iEthelstan, and Guthfrith was again driven into See also:exile. He died in 934, leaving a son Anlaf (Olafr), Godfredsson or Godfreyson. In 934 /Ethelstan invaded See also:Scotland as far as the See also:Tay. In 937 a great See also:fleet and army were brought together by Constantine and Anlaf, the son of Sihtric, another Norwegian chieftain who had allied himself with the Scots, helped by Anlaf Godfreyson from Ireland. iEthelstan, however, won a See also:complete victory over them at a place called Brunanburh, probably Burnswark in See also:Dumfries-See also:shire. Anlaf Godfreyson returned to Ireland and died in 941–942 in a raiding expedition in the See also:south of Scotland. Anlaf the son of Sihtric again came to England in 940 just after the death of iEthelstan. He became king of Northumbria and extended his territories as far as Watling See also:Street. Peace was made with King See also:Edmund by the See also:capture of King Anlaf, and a See also:good See also:deal later by the See also:confirmation of King Raegenald, brother to Anlaf Godfreyson and cousin to Anlaf Sihtricson. About two years later, however, both these kings were expelled by Edmund, and the whole of Northumbria was brought under his power. About the second year of Eadred's reign there was another revolt and See also:Eric Bloodaxe, the exiled king of See also:Norway, obtained the throne. During the next few years the kingdom alternated between Eric and Anlaf until 954, when Eadred finally succeeded in establishing his power.

Eric was killed by Maccus, the son of Anlaf, while Anlaf himself withdrew to Ireland, where he died in 980. Eadred placed Northumbria in the hands of a certain Osulf, who is called high-See also:

reeve at Bamburgh. In the reign of See also:Edgar, Oslac was appointed See also:earl of southern Northumbria, but he was banished at the beginning of the following reign. The next earl was See also:Waltheof and after him Uhtred, who defeated See also:Malcolm II., king of the Scots, in 1oo6. Twelve years later, however, the Northumbrians were completely defeated at Carhan, and See also:Lothian was annexed by the Sects (see LOTHIAN). Uhtred was slain by the orders of Canute, who gave the See also:province to Eric (Eirikr) earl of Lade. Shortly afterwards, however, part of it at least came into the hands first of Eadulf and then Aldred and another Eadulf, the brother and sons respectively of Uhtred. The younger Eadulf was slain by See also:Siward, probably in the reign of Hardacanute. Siward held the earldom till his death in 1055, when it was given to See also:Tostig, son of earl See also:Godwine, and after his banishment to Morkere, son of "Elfgar, earl of Mercia. Tostig's banishment led to the invasion of Harold Hardrada, king of Norway, and the battle of See also:Stamford See also:Bridge, in which both perished. AuTHox1TIEs.—Bede, Historia ecclesiastics, ed. C.

Plummer (See also:

Oxford, 1896) ; Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ed. See also:Earle and Plummer (Oxford, 1899) ; " Annales Lindesfarnenses," in the Monuments historica Germanica, See also:Band xix. (See also:Hanover, 1866) ; Simeon of Durham (" Rolls " See also:series), ed. T. See also:Arnold (1882); J. C. H. R. Steenstrup, Normannerne (See also:Copenhagen, 1876-1882).9 (F. G. M.

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