Aldfrith (born before c. 650 - died 14 December 705) was King of Northumbria. He was a son of Oswiu of Northumbria and Fín, an Irish princess. His name sometimes appears as Aldfrid and as the Latin Aldfridus. In Classical Irish sources his name also appears as Flann Fína mac Ossu.

left:Northumbria in the 8th century

Aldfrith was probably educated for a career in the church as a young man. He unexpectedly became king in the period following the death of his half-brother King Ecgfrith at the Battle of Nechtansmere on 20 May 685. His reign was relatively peaceful, although marred by disputes with Bishop Wilfrid. Bede states that he led a partial restoration of Northumbrian fortunes after the losses following Ecgfrith's defeat.

He is described as a man of great learning, and wisdom literature attributed to him and letters written to him have survived. The writings of Bede and Eddius supply information on Aldfrith's reign, and in particular on his long-running dispute with Wilfrid.

He is described as a man of great learning, and wisdom literature attributed to him and letters written to him have survived. The writings of Bede and Eddius supply information on Aldfrith's reign, and in particular on his long-running dispute with Wilfrid.

Background

The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Britain in the early 7th century. After the defeat of Penda of Mercia, Aldfrith's father ruled the most powerful and the largest kingdom in Britain and Ireland. The twin kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira, which formed Northumbria, stretched from the River Humber in the south to the River Forth in the north. The Picts, the Gaels of Dál Riata, the many obscure and often nameless Brythonic kingdoms in what are now North West England and southern Scotland, and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the south, were subject to Oswiu and paid tribute to him.

This dominance did not last. Penda's son Wulfhere undermined Northumbrian power in the south. Although Wulfhere's defeat in 674 meant that Mercia was once again within the Northumbrian orbit, his brother Æthelred defeated Ecgfrith by the River Trent in 679, killed Ælfwine, brother of Ecgfrith and Aldfri, and drove the Northumbrians beyond the Humber for good.

It is probably under Ecgfrith that many of the Brythonic kingdoms were absorbed directly into Northumbria, and the Picts and Gaels in Scotland remained subject to Northumbria. In spite of losses in the south to Æthelred, Ecgfrith's ambitions stretched beyond the islands of Britain. His general Berht led an army to Ireland in 684, ravaging Mag Breg, the plain of Brega, heartland of Fínsnechta Fledach, the High King of Ireland, destroying churches and taking hostages.

Ecgfrith's marriages, first to the saintly virgin Æthelthryth (Saint Audrey), then to Eormenburg, produced no children, and his only surviving full brother Ælfwine was killed in 679, so that the succession in Northumbria was unclear for some years before Ecgfrith's death, although he was still a relatively young man, forty years of age in 685.

Bede's Life of Cuthbert recounts a conversation between Cuthbert and Abbess Ælfflæd of Whitby, daughter of Oswiu, where Cuthbert foresaw Ecgfrith's death. Ælfflæd asked of his successor, and was told that she would love him as a brother:

"But," said she, "I beseech you to tell me where he may be found." He answered, "You behold this great and spacious sea, how it aboundeth in islands. It is easy for God out of some of these to provide a person to reign over England. " She therefore understood him to speak of Alfrid, who was said to be the son of her father, and was then, on account of his love of literature, exiled to the Scottish islands.

Ecgfrith's death came unexpectedly, in a campaign against his cousin, the King of the Picts Bridei map Beli at a battle known as Nechtansmere to the Northumbrians, generally thought to be near Forfar.[6] Bede tells us that Queen Eormenburg and Cuthbert were visiting Carlisle that day, and that Cuthbert had a premonition of the defeat. Ecgfrith's death threatened the break the hold of the descendants of Æthelfrith on the newly united Northumbria, and the scholar Aldfrith found himself king.

Early life

Aldfrith was born in the second quarter of the 7th century. The earliest suggested date for his birth is the early 630s and the latest circa 650. The relationship between Aldfrith's father and mother was not considered a lawful marriage by contemporary Northumbrian churchmen, and he is described as the son of a concubine in early sources.

Aldfrith's father, although born to Anglo-Saxon parents—King Æthelfrith of Bernicia and Acha, sister of Edwin of Deira— was a child when he accompanied his brothers and supporters into exile in Dál Riata and Ireland. Oswiu grew up in an Irish milieu, was a fluent speaker of the Old Irish language, and married an Irish princess. He may have fought in Ireland and Britain for his hosts, Kings Eochaid Buide, Connad Cerr, and Domnall Brecc.

Whether Aldfrith returned to Northumbria with his father is unknown. Irish law would have confided his upbringing to his mother's kin, the northern Uí Néill Cenél nEógain kindred. His mother appears to have been a daughter of Colmán Rímid, and he was thus a cousin or nephew of the noted scholar Cenn Fáelad mac Aillila.

Aldfrith is known to have received confirmation at the hands of Aldhelm, later the Bishop of Sherborne in the south-western Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Wessex. Aldhelm too had received an Irish education, but in Britain, at Malmesbury. Correspondence between the two survives. Aldfrith also appears to have been a close friend of Adomnán, Abbot of Iona from 679, and may have studied with him or taught him.

Irish sources describe Aldfrith as a sapiens. This term, from the Latin for wise, refers to a scholar not usually associated with a particular church, and implies a high degree of learning, making Aldfrith an early example of the Anglo-Saxon philosopher king. He was the recipient of Aldhelm's treatise on the numerology of the number seven, the Epistola ad Acircium.

Aldfrith's Northumbria

Bede, quoting Virgil, tells us that following Ecgfrith's death, "the hopes and strengths of the English realm began 'to wave and slip backward ever lower'". It is true that the Northumbrians never regained the dominance of central Britain lost in 679, or of northern Britain, lost in 685. None the less, Northumbria was one of the most powerful states of Britain and Ireland, and remained so well into the Viking Age.

Aldfrith was the first king to rule both parts of Northumbria, northern Bernicia and southern Deira, throughout his reign. The kingdoms had originally been ruled by rival families. After the descendants of Æthelfrith gained the upper hand with the death of Edwin of Deira in 627, the two kingdoms were often ruled by a senior and a junior king—with Deira apparently the lesser of the two kingdoms ruled by the junior partner. However, the two parts remained distinct, and would again be divided in the Viking Age. The centre of Bernicia lay in the region around the later Anglo-Scottish border, with Lindisfarne, Hexham, Bamburgh, and Yeavering being important religious and royal centres. Even after the defeat of Ecgfrith, Bernicia include much of modern south east Scotland, with a presumed royal centre at Dunbar, and religious centres at Coldingham and Melrose. The details of the early Middle Ages in north west England and south west Scotland are more obscure, but a Bishop of Whithorn is known from shortly after Aldfrith's reign. York, Catterick, Ripon, and Whitby appear to have been important sites in Deira.

Northumbria's southern frontier with Mercia ran across England, from the Humber in the east, following the River Ouse and the River Don, to the Mersey in the west. The archaeological evidence appears to show that it was a heavily defended border, with large earthworks set back from the frontier. Examples include the Nico Ditch, to the south of modern Manchester, and the Roman Ridge dyke, near modern Sheffield. The scale of the works, although much smaller than Offa's Dyke, suggests a considerable degree of central authority.

In the far north, the evidence is less clear, and it appears that authority lay with shadowy sub-kings, and perhaps native Brythonic clients. The family of Ecgfrith's general Berht is reconstructed as being one such dynasty of under-kings.

Along with the king, royal family, and chief noblemen, the church was a major force in Northumbria. Churchmen were not merely figures of spiritual authority, but often major landowners, who also controlled trade, centred at major churches and monasteries in this age without cities and towns, and the wealth it generated. Although an Archbishopric of York had been created for Paulinus in the time of Edwin, it was dormant in Aldfrith's lifetime. The Northumbrian church was therefore subject to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore of Tarsus until his death in 690, then Berhtwald.

Oldest of the bishoprics in Northumbria was Lindisfarne, held by Cuthbert at Aldfrith's accession, then by the Irish-educated Eadberht, who would later be Abbot of Iona and bring the Easter controversy to an end, and finally by Eadfrith, creator of the Lindisfarne Gospels and also of Irish sympathies. The bishops of Lindisfarne sometimes held the see of Hexham, but during Aldfrith's reign it was held by John of Beverley, a pupil and protegé of Archbishop Theodore. The bishopric of York was held by Bosa in 685. Wilfrid was given the see in 687, but removed in 691 with Bosa returning to York. The short-lived see at Abercorn, created in 681 for BishopTrumwine, had collapsed in the aftermath of Nechtansmere and the first Bishop of Whithorn appears to have been appointed in the reign of King Ceolwulf. Other than those at episcopal sees, important monasteries existed at Whitby, where the known abbesses were generally a member of the Northumbrian royal family, at Monkwearmouth-Jarrow, where Bede was a monk, and at Ripon. Recent excavations at Whitby have shown that a very sizable settlement existed on the site.

His Reign

There was no recorded resistance to Aldfrith becoming king although rivals claiming descent from kings must have existed.[23] It has also been suggested that Aldfrith's peaceful ascent owed something to support from the Uí Néill, the Dál Riata, and the Picts, all of whom might have preferred the mature, known quantity of Aldfrith to an unknown candidate who might prove to be a mighty warrior such as Ecgfrith or Oswiu.

Bede states that Aldfrith "ably restored the shattered fortunes of the kingdom, though within smaller boundaries".[4] As well as the members of the royal family, he appears to have had the support of leading ecclesiastics, most notably his half-sister Ælfflæd and the highly respected Bishop Cuthbert.

Aldfrith's reign is taken to be the beginning of Northumbria's golden age, which would last until the end of the 8th century.This saw the flowering of Insular art in Northumbria, a fusion which produced the Lindisfarne Gospels, begun in Aldfrith's time. This early phase of the golden age was also marked by Bede's scholarship, and the beginnings of the Anglo-Saxon missions to Europe.

Northumbria remained a wealthy kingdom, and the earliest silver coinage appears in Aldfrith's reign, the sceat replacing the impractical gold thrymsa as a practical medium of exchange.

In the early years of Aldfrith's reign he was active in diplomacy. In 686 he allowed Wilfrid to return from his exile at Archbishop Theodore's urging. In 687 and 688 he met with Abbot Adomnán, who came to seek the release of the Irish captives taken in Berht's expedition of 684. These were released and Adomnán presented Aldfrith with a copy of his treatise De Locis Sanctis, a description of the places of pilgrimage in the Holy Land, and at Alexandria and Constantinople.

Aldfrith's relations with Wilfrid were stormy and by 691 or 692 their differences were beyond repair. Eddius writes:

For a while all would be peace between the wise King Aldfrith and our holy bishop, and a happier state of affairs could hardly be imagined. Then spite would boil up again and the situation would be reversed. And so they continued for years, in and out of friendship with each other, till finally their quarrels came to a head and the king banished Wilfrid from Northumbria.

Aldfrith's reign was not entirely peaceful as a battle between the Northumbrians and the Picts, where Berht was killed, is recorded in the Irish annals and by Bede in 697 or 7698.

Aldfrith's troubles with Wilfrid, who went into exile in Mercia, where King Æthelred proved to be his staunch supporter, were not ended. He convened a council at Austerfield in 702 or 703 where the question of Bishop Wilfrid's return to Northumbria was discussed, but things went badly, and he returned to his Mercian exile. This was followed by Wilfrid's excommunication, his trip to Rome, and an interview with Pope John VI who provided Wilfrid with letters to Aldfrith ordering that he should be restored to favour. Aldfrith refused to receive the letters, and Wilfrid remained in disfavor.

Aldfrith was married to Cuthburg, sister of King Ine of Wessex. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that they separated and Cuthburg established an abbey at Wimborne Minster where she was abbess. At least two sons were born to Aldfrith, although whether Cuthburg was their mother is unclear. Osred, born around 696 or 697, succeeded to the throne after a civil war following Aldfrith's death. Little is known of Offa, who is presumed to have been killed after being taken from Lindisfarne in 750 on the orders of King Eadberht of Northumbria. Osric, who was later king, may have been Aldfrith's son, or alternatively the son of Aldfrith's half-brother Alchfrith.

Aldfrith is said to have been ill for some time before his death, dying on 14 December 705. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle adds that he died at Driffield, in Deira. Power was immediately disputed by Eadwulf, supported initially by Bishop Wilfrid, and supporters of Aldfrith's young son Osred, apparently led by Berht's kinsman Berhtfrith.

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