Eanred of Northumbria

Who is Eanred of Northumbria?

Eanred was king of Northumbria in the early ninth century.

Very little is known for certain about Eanred. The only reference made by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to the Northumbrians in this period is the statement that in 829 Egbert of Wessex

thereby, at least temporarily, extending Egbert's hegemony to the entirety of Anglo-Saxon Britain. Roger of Wendover states that Eanred reigned from 810 until 840, the twelfth-century History of the Church of Durham records a reign of 33 years, and a recently discovered coin of Eanred has been dated to c.850 on stylistic grounds. Given the turbulence of Northumbrian history in this period, a reign of this length suggests a figure of some significance. Within a generation of Eanred's death, Anglian monarchy in Northumbria had collapsed.

Eanred was the son of King Eardwulf, who was deposed by an otherwise unknown Ælfwald in 806. According to the History of the Church of Durham, Ælfwald ruled for two years before Eanred succeeded. However Frankish sources claim that, after being expelled from England, Eardwulf was received by Charlemagne and then the pope, and that their envoys escorted him back to Northumbria and secured his restoration to power. Therefore the precise nature of the succession of Eanred is unclear. All sources agree that Eanred was eventually succeeded by his son, Æthelred.