Ecgfrith of Northumbria
| Ecgfrith | |
|---|---|
| King of Northumbria | |
| Reign | 670-685 |
| Predecessor | Oswiu |
| Successor | Aldfrith |
| Died | 20 May 685 Battle of Nechtansmere |
| Consort | Æthelthryth |
| Father | Oswiu |
| Mother | Eanflæd |
Ecgfrith (c. 645 – 20 May 685) was the King of Deira from 664 until 670, and then King of Northumbria from 670 until his death in 685. He ruled over Northumbria when it was at the height of its power, but his reign ended with a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Nechtansmere in which he lost his life.
Ecgfrith was born in 645 to king Oswiu and Eanflæd his queen. At about the age of 10 Ecgfrith was held as a hostage at the court of Queen Cynewise after her husband king Penda of Mercia invaded Northumbria in 655. Penda was eventually defeated and killed in the Battle of the Winwaed by Oswiu a victory which greatly enhanced Northumbrian power. To secure his hegemony over other English kingdoms Oswiu arranged a marriage between Ecgfrith and Æthelthryth, a daughter of Anna of East Anglia, he was possibly as young as 15 at the time. Ecgfrith was then made king of Deira in 664 after his half-brother Alhfrith had rebelled against Oswiu earlier that year.
In 671, at the Battle of Two Rivers, Ecgfrith put down an opportunistic rebellion by the Picts, which resulted in the Northumbrians taking control of the land between the Firth of Forth and the Tweed for the next fourteen years. Around the same time, Æthelthryth wished to leave Ecgfrith to become a nun. Eventually, in about 672, Æthelthryth persuaded Ecgfrith to allow her to become a nun, and she entered the monastery of the Abbess Æbbe, who was aunt to King Ecgfrith, at Coldingham. A year later Æthelthryth became founding abbess of Ely.
In 674, Ecgfrith repelled the Mercian king Wulfhere, which enabled him to seize Lindsey. In 679, he fought the Mercians again, now under Wulfhere's brother Æthelred who was married to Ecgfrith's sister Osthryth, at the Battle of the Trent. Ecgfrith's own brother Ælfwine was killed in the battle and following intervention by Theodore, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lindsey was returned to the Mercians.
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