Egfrid

Also known as: King Egfrid · Family: Northumbrians · Role: son of Oswy · First appears: Book III · Chap. XXIV

Earlier, Egfrid, son of Oswy, was kept hostage at the court of Cynwise in Mercia. Around 664, during Egfrid’s reign, Eadhaed was made bishop of Ripon. In 678, a dissension with Wilfrid led Egfrid to drive him from his see and replace him with other bishops; that year Egfrid also defeated Wulfhere and drove him from Lindsey, while Benedict built a monastery with Egfrid’s consent and gift of land.

Around the same time, Egfrid took Ethelthryth as his wife, and she later entered the monastery of his aunt Aebba at Coludi, receiving the religious veil from Wilfrid. In the ninth year of his reign, Egfrid fought Ethelred near the Trent, where his brother Aelfwine was slain; Theodore then brought peace between the kings and their kingdoms. Egfrid also promised Wilfrid lands and money if he could persuade the queen to fulfil her marriage duty.

In 684, Egfrid sent Berct with an army into Ireland, where churches and monasteries were laid waste. The following year, he was drawn into a narrow mountain pass in the province of the Picts and slain with most of his forces, aged forty and in the fifteenth year of his reign. In the same year, he caused Cuthbert to be ordained bishop of Lindisfarne and was present at his consecration at York; after Egfrid’s death, his brother Aldfrid succeeded him and ruled the Northumbrians for nineteen years.