Aldfrith
Also recorded as Aldfrith king of Northumbria · Flann Fina mac Ossu
Aldfrith
National Museum Liverpool, Janny Baxter, 2009-12-14 21:20:18 · The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum · https: Catalog: https: archive copy at the Wayback Machine Artefact: https: finds.org · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Born
- 600
- Died
- 705 · Driffield.
- Occupation
- sovereign · poet · monarch
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gnd · 10241937X · loc · n99037047 · wikidata · Q737618
In this article
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
The authorities additionally record the headings Aldfrith king of Northumbria and Flann Fina mac Ossu. His recorded confession was Christianity. He was the child of Oswiu and Fín. He married Cuthburh. 4 children are recorded: Osred I, Osric, Osana and Offa of Northumbria.
An early medieval silver sceat of Aldfrith of Northumbria (c.685-704).
Kent County Council, Andrew Richardson, 2004-01-13 16:18:27 · The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum · https: Catalog: https: Artefact
An early medieval silver sceat of Aldfrith of Northumbria (c.685-704).
Kent County Council, Andrew Richardson, 2004-01-13 16:18:27 · The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum · https: Catalog: https: Artefact
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
600
Aldfrith born.
705
Aldfrith died at Driffield.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 10241937X, Aldfrith, Northumbria, King.
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
- Library of Congress Name Authority File, Aldfrith, King of Northumbria, -705 (n99037047).
General reference · Library of Congress
scholarly publication
- Aldfrith (d. 704/5), king of Northumbria, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2004
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q737618: Aldfrith
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.For the identification as a lion, see Gannon, pp. 125–127.
- 2.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book IV, Chapter 26.
- 3.Hunter Blair, An Introduction, pp. 42–45.
- 4.Philip Holdsworth, "Oswiu", in Lapidge et al., Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England, p. 349.
- 5.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Chapter 25.
- 6.Kirby, Earliest English Kings, p. 143.
- 7.Grimmer, §25; Kirby, p. 143.; Williams, p. 18.
- 8.Colmán Rímid mac Báetáin died circa 604, and is listed as a High King of Ireland, see Charles-Edwards, pp. 502 & 504; for Fín as granddaughter of Colmán Rímid see Kirby, p. 143 and Cramp; for the possible relationship with Bishop Fínan, see Campbell, p. 86.
- 9.Grimmer, §23.
- 10.The term used is nothus, bastard. Some later sources doubt his paternity, but well-informed contemporary ones, including those derived from the Chronicle of Ireland are in no doubt that he was Oswiu's son, for example, the notice of his death in the Annals of Ulster, s.a. 704, which calls him "Aldfrith m. Ossu". See also Yorke, Conversion, pp. 226–227.
- 11.Holdsworth; Kirby, pp 95–98.
- 12.Fraser, pp. 119–120, and Kirby, pp. 84–85, suggest that the defeat at the Trent was a greater blow to Northumbrian pretensions to the overlordship of Britain than the defeat at Nechtansmere in 685.
- 13.Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, p. 85, makes this suggestion. Charles-Edwards, chapter 10, and especially pp. 429–438, suggests that ecclesiastical politics may have been of great importance. See also Fraser, pp. 43–47.
- 14.Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, p. 76.
- 15.Alan Thacker, "Ecgfrith", ODNB; Cramp, "Aldfrith", ODNB.
- 16.Kirby, Earliest English Kings, pp. 96, 103.
- 17.Bede, Life of Cuthbert, chapter XXIV. D. P. Kirby suggests that "[r]ather than asking Cuthbert ingenuously who would succeed Ecgfrith, [Ælfflæd] was probably testing his loyalties"; Kirby, p. 106. The anonymous Life of Cuthbert, written during Aldfrith's reign, is generally similar in its account, but differs in the last sentence, which reads "Then she quickly remembered that he spoke of Aldfrith who now reigns in peace, who was then on the island they call [Iona]"; Fraser, pp. 138–139.
- 18.'Was St.Cuthbert an Irishman'
- 19.http://www.celt.dias.ie/publications/celtica/c22/c22-64.pdf . Aldfrith of Northumbria and the Irish genealogies. Ireland, C. A., in Celtica 22 (1991)].
- 20.Dunnichen in Angus has, until recently, been the preferred site; see e.g. Kirby, Earliest English Kings, p. 99. An alternative site at Dunachton in Badenoch has been proposed by Woolf, Dun Nechtain, Fortriu and the Geography of the Picts
- 21.Bede, Life of Cuthbert, chapter XXVII.
- 22.Kirby, p. 106, notes "Aelfflaed's question to Cuthbert reveals the ambition of this family, which had possessed royal power continuously since 633 or 634, to hold on to it". The succession at Aldfrith's death was disputed, and a distant branches of his own as well as other families contested successfully for power after the death of Aldfrith's son Osred.
- 23.D. P. Kirby notes "[t]he prestige of Oswiu's family, or else its capacity for intimidation, must have been very considerable for Aldfrith to return and rule in what seems to have been domestic peace"; Kirby, p. 144.
- 24.Kirby, p. 144. Cramp suggests that Aldfrith may already have been present in Northumbria at Ecgfrith's death; Blair, Northumbria, p. 52, prefers Iona.
- 25.Moisl, "Bernician Royal Dynasty", p. 121.
- 26.Kirby, p. 142; Annals of Ulster, s.a. 697; Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapter 24.
- 27.Cramp, "Aldfrith", ODNB.
- 28.Campbell, pp. 88ff; Kirby, pp. 142–143.
- 29.Holdsworth, "Northumbria".
- 30.Alcock, Kings and Warriors, pp. 214–7, for discussion of Dunbar as a Bernician royal centre.
- 31.Blair, Introduction, pp 37–49, p. 42, map 7, & p. 145, map 9; Higham, cc. 4–5, passim.
- 32.Higham, pp. 140–144.
- 33.Nevell, Lands and Lordships, p. 41.
- 34.Kirby, p. 100; Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, pp. 92 & 171.
- 35.Blair, Introduction, pp. 132–141.
- 36.Yorke, Conversion, pp 226–227.
- 37.Lapidge, "Aldfrith"; Lapidge, "Aldhelm"; Blair, Northumbria, p. 53; Mayr-Harting, p. 195.
- 38.Blair, World of Bede, pp. 184–185; Bede, Life of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow, c. 15.
- 39.Grimmer, §25, note 60.
- 40.Blair, World of Bede, pp. 185–186; Yorke, Conversion, pp. 17–18; Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapters 15–17.
- 41.The use of the term sapiens is discussed by Charles-Edwards, pp. 264–271. Blair, Northumbria, p. 53–54, writes of Aldfrith as "a man perhaps not so very far removed from the Platonic ideal of the Philosopher king" and as "one of Northumbria's first and greatest scholars".
- 42.Whitworth, Victoria (2025), The Book of Kells: Unlocking the Enigma, Head of Zeus, London, p, 55,
- 43.Bede, "Letter to Egbert", in Sherley-Price, Bede, p. 346.
- 44.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapter 19.
- 45.Life of Wilfrid, Chapters 43–44.
- 46.Blair, Introduction, p. 137.
- 47.Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 143.
- 48.Stephen of Ripon, Life of Wilfrid, Chapter 45.
- 49.Stephen of Ripon, Life of Wilfrid, Chapters 46–48.
- 50.Stephen of Ripon, Life of Wilfrid, Chapters 49–55.
- 51.Life of Wilfrid, Chapters 58–59; Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapter 19.
- 52.Art and scholarship, see Higham, pp. 155–166; Blair, Introduction, pp. 311–329; missions, see Blair, Introduction, pp. 162–164.
- 53.The Northumbrian origins of the Echternach Gospels have been debated, with some historians arguing for an Irish origin, see Brown, "Echternach Gospels"; Higham, Kingdom of Northumbria, pp. 155–160; Verey, "Lindisfarne of Rath Maelsigi?". The Lichfield Gospels are sometimes linked to Northumbria although this is far from certain; Higham, Kingdom of Northumbria, p. 158.
- 54.Nees, Early Medieval Art, pp. 164–167 at 165; Alcock, Kings and Warriors, pp. 353–354.
- 55.Hall et al., "The Ripon Jewel".
- 56.Higham, Kingdom of Northumbria, p. 159.
- 57.Ó Carragáin, "The Necessary Distance", p. 192, argues that the Agnus Dei imagery on both monuments places them in an 8th-century context; likewise Ó Carragáin, "Ruthwell Cross", proposes a date between 730 and 750 for Ruthwell; Bailey, "Bewcastle", estimates between 725 and 750 for Bewcastle; more generally see Alcock, Kings and warriors, pp. 377–382.
- 58.Blair, "Escomb"; Alcock, Kings and warriors, pp. 273–285.
- 59.Kirby, p. 146. Higham, pp. 166–168, gives an overview of Northumbrian coinage.
- 60.Gannon, pp. 125–126.
- 61.Kirby, p. 145.
- 62.Kirby, pp. 143–150; Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, pp. 89–90 & 93.
- 63.Kirby, p. 147; Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms, pp. 88 & 90.
- 64.Coulstock, Collegiate Church, p. 31.
- 65.For the year of Aldfrith's death see Kirby, p. 145: the Irish annals record his death under the year 703, which is 704 A.D., while Bede gives 705 and a reign of nineteen years.
- 66.Life of Wilfrid, Chapters 59–60; Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapter 19.
- 67.Ireland, pp. 70–75.
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scholarly publication
Aldfrith (d. 704/5), king of Northumbria, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004Crossref registry
Institutional witnessauthority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 10241937X, Aldfrith, Northumbria, King.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessauthority file
Library of Congress Name Authority File, Aldfrith, King of Northumbria, -705 (n99037047).Library of Congress
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