Eanfrith (Bernicia)

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Anglo-Saxon empires in the early 7th century

Eanfrith (also Eanfrid, Enfrid, Anfrith, Eanfirdus, Eanferð, Eanferþ ; † 634 ) was king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Bernicia in the years 633 / 634–634 .

Life

family

Eanfrith was the eldest son of King Æthelfrith of Northumbria and probably came from his first marriage to Bebba. His stepmother Acha was a cousin of Osric (633-634), the king of Deira .

He was married to the daughter of Gwid (633–653), a King of the Picts whose name has not been passed down. With her had the son Talorgan mac Enfret and a daughter, whose name is unknown. The daughter married Beli and became the mother of the later Pict king Brudei / Bridei Talorgan was later (653–657) King of the Picts.

youth

Eanfrith's father Æthelfrith conquered Deira around 604 and united both kingdoms to form the new kingdom of Northumbria . Æthelfrith fell in 616 in the battle of the river Idle against Rædwald of East Anglia and his protégé Edwin . Edwin had laid claim to the Northumbrian throne as heir to the kings of Deira, which he now ascended. Eanfrith, the son of his enemy, had to go into exile and moved to Scotland, where he learned about Christian culture and was baptized. In exile, a princess who married Picts .

Domination

In 633 the kings Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd and Penda of Mercia allied and rebelled against Eanfrith's predecessor, King Edwin of Northumbria. Together they brought together a sizable force that succeeded in destroying the Northumbrian army on October 12, 633 at the Battle of Hatfield Chase near Doncaster . Edwin fell in battle; likewise his son Osfrith. His son Eadfrith had to surrender and was later murdered by Penda. The immediate consequence of the defeat was the renewed division of Northumbria: While Osric , a relative of Edwin's, was able to hold on in the southern Deira , the northern Bernicia fell to Eanfrith, who had returned from exile, and thus to the old dynasty there. Eanfrith may have been assisted in taking power by Domnall Brecc , King of the Picts.

According to Beda Venerabilis , Osric and Eanfrith are said to have been baptized Christians who rejoined the Anglo-Saxon religion after ascending to the throne . Osric continued the fight against Cadwallon, which he included and besieged in 634, presumably in York . When a failure Cadwallons Osric and his army fell was wiped out. Cadwallon plundered Northumbria and murdered Eanfrith, who was ready to make peace. That same year, Cadwallon fell at the Battle of Heavenfield , fighting against Eanfrith's Christian half-brother Oswald , who reunited Northumbria under his rule.

swell

literature

  • Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 .
  • David W. Rollason: Northumbria, 500-1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom . Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0-521-81335-8 .
  • DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings , Routledge, 2000, ISBN 978-0-415-24211-0

Web links

  • Eanfrith in Foundation for Medieval Genealogy

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Æthelfrith In: DP Kirby, Alfred Smyth, Ann Williams (Eds.): A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain , Routledge, 1991, ISBN 978-1-85264-047-7 , pp. 22-23.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Michelle Ziegler: The Politics of Exile in Early Northumbria ( Memento of January 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
  3. ^ W. Stokes (trans.): The Annals of Tigernach Vol. I, Llanerch Publishers reprint, 1993, p. 153.
  4. ↑ Historia Brittonum , 57
  5. ^ A b Philip Holdsworth: Edwin, King of Northumbria . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 , pp. 163-164.
  6. ↑ Beda: HE 2.20
  7. ↑ a b Beda: HE 3,1
predecessor Office successor
Edwin King of Bernicia
633 / 634–634 		Oswald
personal data
SURNAME Eanfrith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eanfrid; Enfrid; Anfrith; Eanfirdus; Eanferð; Eanferþ
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Bernicia
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century or 7th century
DATE OF DEATH 634