| Ecgfrith | |
|---|---|
| King of Northumbria | |
| Reign | 670–685 |
| Predecessor | Oswiu |
| Successor | Aldfrith |
| Born | 645 |
| Died | 20 May 685 (aged c. 40) Battle of Nechtansmere |
| Spouses | |
| Father | Oswiu |
| Mother | Eanflæd |
| Religion | Christianity |
Ecgfrith (/ˈɛdʒfrɪð/;Old English:Ecgfrið[ˈedʒfrið];c. 645 – 20 May 685) was theKing of Northumbria from 670 until his death on 20 May 685. He ruled over Northumbria when it was at the height of its power, but his reign ended with a disastrous defeat at theBattle of Nechtansmere against thePicts ofFortriu in which he lost his life.
Ecgfrith was born in 645 or less likely 646 to kingOswiu of Northumbria and his wifeEanflæd. At about the age of 10, Ecgfrith was held as a hostage at the court of Queen Cynewise, wife of KingPenda of Mercia.[1] Penda was eventually defeated and killed in theBattle 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 andÆthelthryth, a daughter ofAnna of East Anglia.
In 671, Ecgfrith defeated thePicts at theBattle of Two Rivers, and as a result in the Northumbrians took control of Pictland for the next fourteen years.[2] 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 AbbessÆbbe, who was aunt to King Ecgfrith, atColdingham. A year later, Æthelthryth became foundingabbess of Ely. Her taking the veil may have led to a long quarrel withWilfrid,Bishop of York, which ended with Wilfrid's expulsion from hisEpiscopal see.[3] Ecgfrith married as his second wifeEormenburg (or Iurminburh).[4] She and Bishop Wilfrid became bitter enemies.[5]
In 674, Ecgfrith repelled the Mercian kingWulfhere, which enabled him to seize theKingdom of Lindsey.[3] In 679, he fought the Mercians again, now under Wulfhere's brotherÆthelred who was married to Ecgfrith's sisterOsthryth, at theBattle of the Trent. Ecgfrith's own brotherÆlfwine was killed in the battle and following intervention byTheodore, theArchbishop of Canterbury, Lindsey was returned to the Mercians.
In June 684,[6] Ecgfrith sent a raiding party toBrega inIreland under his general Berht, which resulted in the seizing of a large number of slaves and the sacking of many churches and monasteries. The reasons for this raid are unclear, though it is known that Ecgfrith acted against the warnings ofEcgberht of Ripon and that the raid was condemned byBede and other churchmen.
In 685, against the advice ofCuthbert of Lindisfarne, Ecgfrith led a force against the Picts ofFortriu, who were led by his cousinBridei mac Bili. On 20 May, Ecgfrith was slain at the age of 40, having been lured by a feigned flight to the mountains, at what is now called theBattle of Dun Nechtain, located at eitherDunnichen inAngus orDunachton inBadenoch.[3] This defeat, in which most of Ecgfrith's army was lost, severely weakened Northumbrian power in the north and Bede dates the beginning of the decline of the kingdom of Northumbria from Ecgfrith's death and wrote that following Ecgfrith's death, "the hopes and strengths of the English realm began 'to waver and to slip backward ever lower'".[7] The Northumbrians never regained the dominance of central Britain lost in 679; nor of northern Britain lost in 685. Nevertheless, Northumbria remained one of the most powerful states of Britain and Ireland well into theViking Age.[8] Ecgfrith was buried onIona and succeeded by his illegitimate half-brother,Aldfrith.
Like his father before him, Ecgfrith supported the religious work ofBenedict Biscop in the kingdom and gave him 70hides of land near the mouth of theRiver Wear in 674 to undertake the building of amonastery dedicated toSt. Peter. About ten years later, he made a second gift of land, 40 hides on theRiver Tyne atJarrow, for the establishment of a sister house dedicated toSt. Paul. These two houses came to be known as theMonastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow,[9] an establishment made famous by the scholarBede, who, at the age of seven, was put into the care of Benedict Biscop at Wearmouth and remained for the rest of his life as a monk. HisEcclesiastical History of the English People was completed there in 731.[10]
Ecgfrith appears to have been the earliest Northumbrian king, and perhaps the earliest of theAnglo-Saxon rulers, to have issued the silverpenny, which became the mainstay of English coinage for centuries afterwards. Coins had been produced by the Anglo-Saxons since the late 6th century, modelled on the coins being produced by theMerovingians inFrancia, but these were rare, the most common being goldscillingas (shillings) orthrymsas. Ecgfrith's pennies, also known assceattas, were thick and cast in moulds, and were issued on a large scale.