Alchfrid

Family: Northumbrians · Role: son of Oswy · First appears: Book III · Chap. XIV

Alchfrid, son of Oswy, appears in Book III, Chap. XIV, in an account that describes Oswy as attacked by the pagan Mercians and by Alchfrid. By c. 653, Alchfrid was Peada’s brother-in-law and friend, having married Cyneburg, Penda’s daughter; he chiefly influenced Peada to accept Christianity.

Around the same time, Alchfrid had Wilfrid as his teacher in Christianity and preferred his doctrine to the traditions of the Scots. He granted Wilfrid a monastery of forty families at Inhrypum—“he had also given him a monastery of forty families”—and was a friend of both Wilfrid and Agilbert. At Streanaeshalch, a synod was arranged with Oswy to decide the Easter controversy and other ecclesiastical rules. Book V later records that Alchfrid granted Wilfrid the monastery and a thirty-family estate at Inhrypum, “which place he had formerly given to those that followed the doctrine of the Scots.”

Relationship record

Life events

• c. 653 · Peada accepted Christianity, chiefly influenced by Alchfrid’s preaching and friendship.(Book III · Chap. XXI)
  • With: Peada
  • “being chiefly prevailed on to receive the faith by King Oswy’s son Alchfrid, who was his brother-in-law and friend”
• c. 653 · Alchfrid granted Wilfrid a monastery of forty families.(Book III · Chap. XXV · part 1 · 📍 Inhrypum)
  • With: Wilfrid
  • “he had also given him a monastery of forty families, at a place called Inhrypum”
• c. 653 · A synod was arranged to decide the Easter controversy and other ecclesiastical rules.(Book III · Chap. XXV · part 1 · 📍 Streanaeshalch)
  • With: Oswy
  • “it was arranged, that a synod should be held in the monastery of Streanaeshalch”
• c. 705 · Alchfrid granted Wilfrid a monastery and thirty-family estate at Inhrypum.(Book V · Chap. XIX · part 1 · 📍 Inhrypum)
  • With: Wilfrid
  • “and not long after, the monastery, with land of thirty families, at the place called Inhrypum; which place he had formerly given to those that followed the doctrine of the Scots, to build a monastery there.”

Book III · Chap. XIV

• parent: Oswy “being attacked by the pagan nation of the Mercians, that had slain his brother, as also by his son Alchfrid”

Book III · Chap. XXI

• friends with Peada “being chiefly prevailed on to receive the faith by King Oswy’s son Alchfrid, who was his brother-in-law and friend”
• with Peada (They were brothers-in-law.) “being chiefly prevailed on to receive the faith by King Oswy’s son Alchfrid, who was his brother-in-law and friend”
• married with Cyneburg “for he had married his sister Cyneburg, the daughter of King Penda.”
• pupil: Peada “being chiefly prevailed on to receive the faith by King Oswy’s son Alchfrid, who was his brother-in-law and friend, for he had married his sister Cyneburg, the daughter of King Penda.”

Book III · Chap. XXIV

• parent: Oswy “King Oswy and his son Alchfrid met them with a very small army, as has been said, but trusting in Christ as their Leader;”

Book III · Chap. XXV · part 1

• parent: Oswy “This reached the ears of the rulers, King Oswy and his son Alchfrid.”
• mentor: Wilfrid “but Alchfrid, having for his teacher in Christianity the learned Wilfrid, who had formerly gone to Rome to study ecclesiastical doctrine, and spent much time at Lyons with Dalfinus, archbishop of Gaul, from whom also he had received the crown of ecclesiastical tonsure, rightly thought that this man’s doctrine ought to be preferred before all the traditions of the Scots.”
• friends with Wilfrid “Agilbert, bishop of the West Saxons, above-mentioned, a friend of King Alchfrid and of Abbot Wilfrid, had at that time come into the province of the Northumbrians.”
• friends with Agilbert “Agilbert, bishop of the West Saxons, above-mentioned, a friend of King Alchfrid and of Abbot Wilfrid, had at that time come into the province of the Northumbrians.”
• protégé: Wilfrid “For this reason he had also given him a monastery of forty families, at a place called Inhrypum.”

Book III · Chap. XXVIII

• parent: Oswy (Alchfrid is identified as Oswy's son by the immediately following reference to Oswy's son.) “King Alchfrid sent the priest, Wilfrid, to the king of Gaul, in order that he should cause him to be consecrated bishop for himself and his people. That prince sent him to be ordained by Agilbert, of whom we have before spoken, and who, having left Britain, was made bishop of the city of Paris; and by him Wilfrid was honourably consecrated, several bishops meeting together for that purpose in a village belonging to the king, called In Compendio. He stayed some time in the parts beyond the sea for his ordination, and King Oswy, following the example of his son’s zeal, sent into Kent a holy man”

Book V · Chap. XIX · part 1

• protégé: Wilfrid “Returning to Britain, he won the friendship of King Alchfrid, who had learnt to follow always and love the catholic rules of the Church; and therefore finding him to be a Catholic, he gave him presently land of ten families at the place called Stanford; and not long after, the monastery, with land of thirty families, at the place called Inhrypum.”
• parent: Oswy “he, with the advice and consent of his father Oswy, sent him into Gaul, to be consecrated as his bishop”

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Extracted from the original text of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England. Made with Rho MD.