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Northumbria

kingdom of the Angles (653–954)

56 dated entries naming Northumbria, drawn from 49 separate years between 604 CE and 1069 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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7th century

  • 604Oswald, king (bretwalda) of Northumbria (approximate date)source
  • 605King Æthelfrith annexes the neighboring kingdom of Deira (Northern England). The region between the Forth and Humber rivers will hereafter be known as Northumbria, the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.source
  • 612Oswiu, king of Northumbria (approximate date)source
  • 613Battle of Chester: King Æthelfrith of Northumbria invades Gwynedd (northwest Wales), in order to route out his old enemy, Edwin of Deira. A united Brythonic force (Gwynedd, Powys, Pengwern and Dumnonian warriors) is defeated near Chester.source
  • 616King Rædwald of East Anglia conquers Northumbria (Northern England) at the Battle of the River Idle. King Æthelfrith is killed during the fighting and his children are forced to flee north. His heir, prince Eanfrith (age 26), seeks refuge with his mother's family, probably in Gododdin (modern Scotland), and moves further north into Pictland. Princes Oswald (age 12), Oswiu (age 4) and others escape to the court of King Eochaid Buide of Dál Riata, where they are converted to Christianity by the monks of Iona.source
  • 616Æthelfrith, king of Northumbria (approximate date)source
  • 624April 24 – St. Justus is appointed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Boniface V upon the death of Archbishop Mellitus., receiving the pallium — symbol of the jurisdiction entrusted to archbishops. He oversees the dispatch of missionaries to Northumbria in northern England to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity.source
  • 626King Edwin of Northumbria defeats the West Saxons under Cynegils, who has tried to thwart the growing strength of Edwin by having him assassinated. Edwin obliges Cynegils to acknowledge Northumbria's supremacy.source
  • 626April 19 – Eanflæd, queen of Northumbriasource
  • 633October 12 or 632 – Edwin, king of Northumbriasource
  • 635Aidan of Lindisfarne, Irish missionary, founds the monastery of Lindisfarne in Northumbria (northern England).source
  • 638King Oswald and his Northumbrian army besiege and conquer Edinburgh (Scotland). His half-brother, Oswiu of Bernicia, marries Princess Rhiainfelt, heiress of North Rheged ("Old North"). Northumbria embraces North Rheged in a peaceful takeover, and Oswiu becomes a sub-king (approximate date).source
  • 640Hartlepool Abbey in Northumbria (northern England) is founded. Wooden huts surrounding a church are built in Saxon style.source
  • 642August 5 or 641 – Oswald, king of Northumbriasource
  • 645Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria (approximate date)source
  • 647Hilda of Whitby, age 33, is persuaded by Aidan, bishop of Lindisfarne, to enter the monastic life at Hartlepool Abbey (Northumbria).source
  • 647Æthelburh of Kent, queen of Northumbriasource
  • 656King Œthelwald of Deira is removed from office by his uncle Oswiu, because of his desertion at the Battle of the Winwaed, and replaced by the latter's son Alhfrith, as subject king in a united Northumbria.source
  • 656King Oswiu of Northumbria invades Pengwern (modern Wales) and kills King Cynddylan in battle, near the River Trent. Cynddylan's brother Morfael and the rest of the royal family flee to Glastening (Wessex).source
  • 663King Oswiu of Northumbria invades Pictland (modern Scotland). He establishes overlordship of, at least, the Southern Pictish sub-kingdoms of Fortriu and Fib (and possibly Circinn).source
  • 664Synod of Whitby: King Oswiu of Northumbria calls for a meeting at Whitby Abbey to settle the church practices in his kingdom—those of the Celtic Church (of Wales, Scotland and the north of England – preached by Irish missionaries) or the Roman Church (of the south of England). The matters discussed include how to calculate the date of Easter. It is decided to follow the practice of Rome. As a result, many Irish clergy leave Northumbria and return to Ireland.source
  • 665Wilfrid, Anglo-Saxon abbot, refuses to be consecrated in Northumbria as bishop, and travels to Compiègne (France) to be consecrated by Agilbert, archbishop of Paris.source
  • 666Wilfrid returns to Great Britain, but is shipwrecked in Sussex. When he finally reaches Northumbria, he finds he has been deposed and is forced to retire to Ripon.source
  • 670February 15 – Oswiu, king of Northumbriasource
  • 674Æthelthryth, former queen of Northumbria, gives large areas of land to bishop Wilfrid to found Hexham Abbey.source
  • 678King Æthelred of Mercia defeats the Northumbrian forces under King Ecgfrith, in a battle near the River Trent. Archbishop Theodore helps to resolve differences between the two, Æthelred agreeing to pay a weregild to avoid any resumption of hostilities (approximate date).source
  • 678Wilfrid, bishop of York, is at the height of his power and owns vast estates throughout Northumbria. After his refusal to agree to a division of his see, Ecgfrith and Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, have him banished from Northumbria.source
  • 679June 23 – Æthelthryth, queen of Northumbriasource
  • 680Wilfrid returns to Northumbria, with papal support, but is imprisoned by King Ecgfrith, and again exiled. He travels to the Kingdom of Sussex and begins to evangelise the people.source
  • 682King Ecgfrith requests Benedict Biscop to build a second monastery at Jarrow (Northumbria). Benedict leaves Monkwearmouth with 20 monks, (including his protégé, the young Bede).source
  • 684Cuthbert is elected Bishop of Hexham, and receives a visit from a large group under Ecgfrith. He agrees to return to Lindisfarne (Northumbria) to take up duties.source
  • 685Aldfrith, illegitimate half-brother of Ecgfrith, becomes (possibly with Irish and Scottish help) king of Northumbria. He is brought from Iona (Inner Hebrides), where he is studying for a career in the church.source
  • 685May 20 – Ecgfrith, king of Northumbriasource
  • 686Plague kills almost all of the Benedictine monks in the monastery of Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey (Northumbria), aside from the abbot Ceolfrith and one small boy – future scholar Bede.source
  • 686Eanflæd, queen of Northumbria (approximate date)source
  • 687Adomnán, Irish abbot of Iona, visits the court of King Ecgfrith, to ransom Irish captives (60 Gaels who had been captured in a Northumbrian raid).source
  • 688Eadberht is appointed bishop of Lindisfarne (Northumbria). He founds the holy shrine to his predecessor Cuthbert, a place that becomes a centre of great pilgrimage in later years.source
  • 691Wilfrid, abbot of Ripon, tries to make himself bishop of all Northumbria. King Aldfrith seizes many of his Ripon Abbey estates, and proposes to create a bishopric there. Wilfrid is banished and flees to Mercia, where King Æthelred makes him bishop of Leicester.source
  • 697Osred I, king of Northumbria (approximate date)source
  • 698Berhtred, Anglo-Saxon nobleman, is killed leading a Northumbrian army against the Picts. The kingdom of Cait (or Cat) in northern Scotland is absorbed (approximate date).source
  • 700Queen Cuthburh of Northumbria enters religious life. The Anglo-Saxon religious community at St. Mary's Nunnery is re-founded.source

8th century

  • 704December 14 – Aldfrith, king of Northumbria (or 705)source
  • 705Aldfrith, king of Northumbria (or 704)source
  • 706Berhtwald, archbishop of Canterbury, is obliged by the pope's insistence to call the Synod of Nidd (Northumbria).source
  • 711Dux Berhtfrith leads a Northumbrian campaign against the Picts, and defeats them in Manaw Gododdin (modern Scotland) (approximate date).source
  • 713King Ealdwulf of East Anglia dies, and is succeeded by his son Ælfwald. Queen Cuthburh of Northumbria travels south to found a monastery at Wimborne (Dorset).source
  • 717Eadwulf I, king of Northumbriasource
  • 718Former queen Cuthburh of Northumbria, abbess of Wimborne, dies at her abbey and is buried there (approximate date).source
  • 729May 9 – Osric, king of Northumbriasource
  • 739Willibrord, the first bishop of Utrecht in the Netherlands, and Northumbrian missionary, dies at Echternach (modern Luxembourg).source
  • 740King Eadberht of Northumbria marches his army north to attack the Picts. King Æthelbald of Mercia takes advantage of his absence, and ravages the city of York. Internal struggles re-emerge in Northumbria with the murder of Eardwine, probably the son of the late usurping king Eadwulf I.source
  • 762Æthelred I, king of Northumbria (d. 796)source
  • 768August 20 – Eadberht, king of Northumbriasource
  • 774Unrest in the Northumbrian Church appears to lead to the expulsion of King Alhred, who is driven from his capital York. He sails from Bamburgh into exile amongst the Picts, where he is received by King Ciniod I. He is replaced by Æthelred I, the 11-year-old son of the late king Æthelwald Moll.source
  • 778Unrest in Northumbria leads to King Æthelred I ordering the execution of three of his dukes. This considerably weakens his position (approximate date).source

11th century

  • 1069January 28 – Northumbrians kill the new Norman earl of Northumbria, Robert de Comines, at Durham, and attack York.source

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