List of monarchs of Northumbria

Northumbria, a kingdom of Angles, in what is now northern England and south-east Scotland, was initially divided into two kingdoms: Bernicia and Deira. The two were first united by Aethelfrith around the year 604, and except for occasional periods of division over the subsequent century, they remained so.

The exceptions are during the brief period from 633 to 634, when Northumbria was plunged into chaos by the death of King Edwin in battle and the ruinous invasion of Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd. The unity of the Northumbrian kingdoms was restored after Cadwallon's death in battle in 634.

Another exception is a period from about the year 644 to 664, when kings ruled individually over Deira. In 651, King Oswiu had Oswine of Deira killed and replaced by Aethelwald, but Aethelwald did not prove to be a loyal sub-king, allying with the Mercian king Penda; according to Bede, Aethelwald acted as Penda's guide during the latter's invasion of Northumbria but withdrew his forces when the Mercians met the Northumbrians at the Battle of Winwaed. After the Mercian defeat at Winwaed, Aethelwald lost power and Oswiu's own son, Alchfrith, became king in his place. In 670, Aelfwine, the brother of the childless King Ecgfrith, was made king of Deira; by this point the title may have been used primarily to designate an heir. Aelfwine was killed in battle against Mercia in 679, and there was not another separate king of Deira until the time of Norse rule.

Notes on the lists

Following are lists of the kings of Bernicia, Deira, and Northumbria. Note that many of their dates, particularly in the earlier period, are considered unreliable.

This was a time when spellings varied widely, even within a document. A number of variations of the details below exist. Amongst these are the preference between þ and ð (thorn and eth).

The "7"-like Tironian et (⁊) was used as the ampersand (&) in contemporary Anglo-Saxon writings. The era pre-dates the emergence of forms of writing accepted today, notably minuscule, and the letters "W" and "U". Where W was followed by U this was generally rendered as "VV" (which was also used for "W" alone).

Kings of Bernicia

Reign	Incumbent		Notes
fl.500	Esa (Oesa)	ESA INGVING CYNING ESA REX BERNICIA CYNING
fl c. 520	Eoppa	EOPPA ESING BERNICIA CYNING EOPPA REX BERNICIA
547 to 559	Ida	IDA EOPPING BERNICIA CYNING IDA REX BERNICIA
559 to 560	Glappa (Clappa)	GLAPPA BERNICIA CYNING GLAPPA REX BERNICIA
560 to 568	Adda	ADDA REX BERNICIA CYNING ADDA REX BERNICIA
568 to 572	Æthelric	ÆÞELRIC IDING BERNICIA CYNING ÆÞELRIC REX BERNICIA
572 to 579	Theodric (Deoric)	ÞEODRIC IDING BERNICIA CYNING ÞEODRIC REX BERNICIA
579 to 585	Frithuwald (Frithewlf)	FRIÞVVALD BERNICIA CYNING FRIÞVVALD REX BERNICIA
585 to 593	Hussa	HVSSA BERNICIA CYNING HVSSA REX BERNICIA
593 to 616	Æthelfrith	ÆÞELFRIÞ ÆÞELRICING BERNICIA 7 DEIRA CYNING ÆÞELFRIÞ REX BERNICIA ET DEIRA	Killed in battle
Deira Dynasty
616 to 12/14 October 632	Edwin	EDVVIN ÆLLING BERNICIA 7 DEIRA CYNING EDVVIN REX BERNICIA ET DEIRA	Killed in battle by Penda, King of Mercia
Bernicia Dynasty
late 632 to 633	Eanfrith	EANFRIÞ ÆÞELFRIÞING BERNICIA CYNING EANFRIÞ REX BERNICIA
634 to 5 August 642	Oswald	OSVVALD ÆÞELFRIÞING BERNICIA 7 DEIRA CYNING OSVVALD REX BERNICIA ET DEIRA	Killed by Penda, King of Mercia; Saint Oswald
late 642 to 654	Oswiu	OSVVIO ÆÞELFRIÞING BERNICIA CYNING OSVVIO REX BERNICIA	Became King of united Northumbria

Kings of Deira

Reign	Incumbent		Notes
559/560 to 589	Ælla (Aelli)	ÆLLA YFFING DEIRA CYNING ÆLLA REX DEIRA
589/599 to 604	Æthelric (Aedilric)	ÆÞELRIC DEIRA CYNING ÆÞELRIC REX DEIRA
Bernician Dynasty
593/604? to 616	Æthelfrith	ÆÞELFERÞ ÆÞELRICING DEIRA CYNING ÆÞELFERÞ REX DEIRA	Killed in battle
Deira Dynasty
616 to 12/14 October 632	Edwin	EDVVIN ÆLLING BERNICIA 7 DEIRA CYNING EDVVIN REX BERNICIA ET DEIRA	Killed in battle by Cadwallon of Gwynedd and Penda of Mercia; Saint Edwin
late 633 to summer 634	Osric	OSRIC ÆLFRICING DEIRA CYNING OSRIC REX DEIRA
633 to 5 August 642	Oswald	OSVVALD BERNICIA 7 DEIRA CYNING OSVVALD REX BERNICIA ET DEIRA	Killed by Penda, King of Mercia; Saint Oswald
642 to 644	Oswiu	OSVVIO ÆÞELFRIÞING BERNICIA 7 DEIRA CYNING OSVVIO REX BERNICIA ET DEIRA
644 to 651	Oswine	OSVVINE OSRICING DEIRA CYNING OSVVINE REX DEIRA	Murdered
summer 651 to late 654 or 655	Æthelwold	ÆÞELVVALD OSVVALDING DEIRA CYNING ÆÞELVVALD REX DEIRA
654 to 15 August 670	Oswiu	OSVVIO ÆÞELFERÞING NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING OSVVIO REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Restored
656 to 664	Alchfrith	ALCHFRIÞ DEIRA CYNING ALCHFRIÞ REX DEIRA
670 to 679	Ælfwine	ÆLFVVINE DEIRA CYNING ÆLFVVINE REX DEIRA	Sub-king under his brother Ecgfrith, King of Northumbria. Killed in the Battle of the Trent against King Æthelred of Mercia

Kings of Northumbria

Reign	Incumbent		Notes
654 to 15 February 670	Oswiu	OSVVIO ÆÞELFRIÞING NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING OSVVIO REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Hither of Bernicia and Deira
February 670 to 20 May 685	Ecgfrith	ECGFERÞ OSVVEOING NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING ECGFERÞ REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Killed in battle against the Picts
May 685 to 14 December 704	Aldfrith (Ealdfrith, Aldfrid)	ALDFERÞ OSVVEOING NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING ALDFERÞ REX NORÞANHYMBRA
late 704 to early 705	Eadwulf	EADVVLF NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING EADVVLF REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Usurper
705 to 716	Osred I	OSRED ALDFERÞING NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING OSRED REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Killed in battle or murdered
716 to 718	Coenred	COENRED NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING COENRED REX NORÞANHYMBRA
718 to 29 May 729	Osric	OSRIC ALDFERÞING NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING OSRIC REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Adopted Ceolwulf as his heir
729 to 731	Ceolwulf	CEOLVVLF NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING CEOLVVLF REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Deposed; Saint Ceolwulf
731 to 737/8	Ceolwulf	CEOLVVLF NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING CEOLVVLF REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Restored; abdicated to become a monk
737 to 758	Eadberht	EADBRYHT EATING NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING EADBRYHT REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Abdicated to become a monk
758 to 759	Oswulf (Osulf)	OSVVLF NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING OSVVLF REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Murdered by his servants
759 to 765	Æthelwald Moll	ÆÞELVVALD MOLL NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING ÆÞELVVALD MOLL REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Deposed
765 to 774	Alhred	EALCHRED NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING EALCHRED REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Deposed and exiled
774 to 779	Æthelred I	ÆÞELRED NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING ÆÞELRED REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Deposed
779 to 23 September 788	Ælfwald I	ÆLFVVALD NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING ÆLFVVALD REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Murdered
788 to 790	Osred II	OSRED ALCHREDING NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING OSRED REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Deposed and exiled
790 to 18 April 796	Æthelred I	ÆÞELRED NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING ÆÞELRED REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Restored
796	Osbald	OSBALD NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING OSBALD REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Exiled after a reign of 27 days
14 May 796 to 806/8	Eardwulf	EARDVVLF NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING EARDVVLF REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Deposed
806/8 to 808/10	Ælfwald II (Elfwald II)	ÆLFVVALD NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING ÆLFVVALD REX NORÞANHYMBRA
808 to 810	Eardwulf	EARDVVLF NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING EARDVVLF REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Restored
810 to 841	Eanred	EANRED EARDVVLFING NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING EANRED REX NORÞANHYMBRA
840/1 to 844	Æthelred II	ÆÞELRED EANREDING NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING ÆÞELRED REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Deposed
844	Rædwulf (Redwulf)	RÆDVVLF NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING RÆDVVLF REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Usurper
844 to c. 848/9	Æthelred II	ÆÞELRED EANREDING NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING ÆÞELRED REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Restored
c. 848/9 to 862/3	Osberht (Osbert)	OSBEORHT NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING OSBEORHT REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Deposed
862/3/7 to 23 March 867	Ælle II	ÆLLE NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING ÆLLE REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Usurper; Killed by the Danes with Osbeorht
867 to 21 March 867	Osberht (Osbert)	OSBEORHT NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING OSBEORHT REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Killed by the Danes with the usurper Aelle

Kings of Northumbria in the Norse era

Reign	Incumbent		Notes
867 to 872	Ecgberht I	ECGBRYHT NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING ECGBRYHT REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Puppet king of the Danes
872 to 876	Ricsige	RICSIGE NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING RICSIGE REX NORÞANHYMBRA
876 to 877	Halfdan Ragnarsson
877 to 883	Interregnum
c. 883 to 895	Guðroðr	GUTHFRID NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING GUTHFRID REX NORÞANHYMBRA
late 9th century/early 10th century	Sigfroðr
late 9th century/early 10th century	Knútr		Sigfroðr and Knútr may have been joint kings for part or all of the period between 895 and 905
fl. c. 900—902	Æthelwold
c.902-910	Hálfdan and Eowils		Another king, Ingwær, brother of the above, may have ruled too
914 (or before) to 921	Ragnall		Probably controlled much of Northumbria before finally becoming king of York in 918.
921 to 927	Sigtrygg		Known as Sitric Cáech in Irish chronicles.
927	Gofraid ua Ímair
927 to 939	Æthelstan of Wessex		As King of the English
939 to 941	Olaf Guthfrithson		Known as Amlaíb mac Gofraid in Irish chronicles
941 to 943 or 944	Amlaíb Cuarán		Known in England as Olaf Sihtricson
943 to 944 (with Amlaíb Cuarán?)	Ragnall Guthfrithson
roughly 944 to 946	Eadmund of Wessex		As King of the English
c. 947 to 948	Eric		Eric Bloodaxe
949 to 952	Amlaíb Cuarán (again)
952 to 954	Eric (again)
from 954	Eadred of Wessex		Claiming and enforcing rule from 946; Kingdom absorbed permanently into England after 954

Family tree

BERNICIA

Esa died c. 520 (c. 500 – c. 520)

Eoppa died 547 (c. 520–547

DEIRA

Ida born 517; died 559 (547–559)

Glappa died 560 (559–560)

Adda died 568 (560–568)

Æthelric born 540; died 572 (568–572)

Theodoric died 579 (572–579)

Frithuwald died 585 (579–585)

Hussa died 592 (585–592)

Ælle died 588 (569–588)

Aelfric

Æthelfrith born 570; died 616 (592–616)

Eadwine born 586; died 633 (616–633)

Osric I died 634 (633–634)

Eanfrith born 595; died 634 (633–634)

Oswald born 604; died 642 (634–642)

Oswiu born 612; died 670 (642–670)

Oswine died 651 (644–651)

Æthelwald I died 655 (651–655)

Ecgfriht born 645; died 685 (670–685)

Osred I born 697; died 716 (704–716)

Osric II died 729 (718–729)

See also

• Rulers of Bamburgh
• Earl of York
• Earl of Northumbria
• Earl of Northumberland
• List of English monarchs

References

• Mackenzie, E; Ross, M (1834). An Historical, Topographical, and Descriptive View of the County Palatine of Durham. Vol. I. Newcastle upon Tyne: Mackenzie and Dent. p. xi. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
• Downham, Clare (2007), Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014, Edinburgh: Dunedin, ISBN 978-1-903765-89-0, OCLC 163618313
• Woolf, Alex (2007), From Pictland to Alba, 789–1070, The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-1234-5, OCLC 123113911