From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ælfwine (c. 661–679) was the King of Deira from 670 to 679. He was a son of Oswiu of Northumbria and a brother of Ecgfrith of Northumbria.
After the succession of Ecgfrith as king of Northumbria in 670, he made Aelfwine king of the sub-kingdom of Deira. Aelfwine was still a boy at the time, and the title may have been intended to designate him as the heir of the childless Ecgfrith. He was, however, killed in battle against the Mercians at the river Trent in 679. Although his death could have led to an escalation of the war, further conflict was averted by the intervention of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore, and King Æthelred of Mercia paid a weregild to Ecgfrith in compensation for Aelfwine's death. Bede describes Aelfwine as being about eighteen years old at the time of his death.[1]
[edit] References
