Ealdred I of Bernicia

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Ealdred was the son of Eadwulf. He was a ruler or nobleman in Northumbria in the early tenth century.

Ealdred's father, called "king of the Saxons of the North" by the Annals of Ulster, but only reeve of Bamburgh by the chronicler Æthelweard (historian), died in 913. He may have been ruler of Northumbria following Eowils and Halfdan who were killed at Tettenhall circa 910. It is unknown whether the family had links to pre- or post-Viking kings of Northumbria.

The Historia de Sancto Cuthberto states that Ealdred "was a friend of King Edward the Elder, as his father had been a favourite of King Alfred the Great". Ealdred was driven from his lands, whether all of Northumbria or merely the northern part which had once been Bernicia is debated, by Ragnall ua Ímair, either in 914 or, more probably, in 918. The Historia states that Ealdred sought refuge with Constantín mac Áeda, the king of Alba, and that the two fought Ragnall at the battle of Corbridge, dated by the Annals of Ulster and the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba to 918. The battle appears to have been indecisive and Ragnall remained the master of at least southern Northumbria, former Deira, or perhaps of all.

In 920 "the sons of Eadwulf" were among those who met with Edward the Elder and, in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "chose him as father and lord". Ealdred is named as one of those present at Eamont Bridge on 12 July 927 when Edward's son Æthelstan met with the northern British kings.

While Ealdred is nowhere certainly recorded after 927, it may be that the Annals of Clonmacnoise report his death as "Adulf mcEtulfe, king of the North Saxons" circa 934, although this may be another of Eadwulf's sons.

[edit] Sources

• Stenton, Sir Frank M., Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition. Oxford University Press, 1971.
• Swanton, Michael, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Dent, 1996.
• Woolf, Alex, From Pictland to Alba 789–1070. Edinburgh University Press, 2007.