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{{short description|Anglo-Saxon king (c. 630–c. 664)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox royalty
| type         = monarch
| name         = Alhfrith 
| succession   = [[King of Deira]]
| image        = 
| caption      =
| reign        = 655–664 AD
| predecessor  = [[Æthelwold of Deira|Æthelwold]]
| successor    = [[Ecgfrith of Northumbria|Ecgfrith]]
| spouse       = [[Cyneburh]]
| issue        = [[Rumwold of Buckingham|Rumwold]]?
| father       = [[Oswiu of Northumbria|Oswiu]]
| mother       = [[Rhiainfellt|Rieinmelth]] 
| birth_date   = c. 630 
| death_date   = c. 664
| death_place  = 
| burial       = 
| religion     =
}}
'''Alhfrith''' or '''Ealhfrith''' (c. 630 – c. 664) was [[King of Deira]] under his father [[Oswiu]], [[King of Bernicia]], from 655 until sometime after 664. Appointed by Oswiu as a subordinate ruler, Alhfrith apparently clashed with his father over religious policy, which came to a head at the [[Synod of Whitby]] in 664. After this, Alhfrith disappears from the historical record.

==Life==
Alhfrith was the oldest son of [[Oswiu]], who became [[King of Bernicia]] in 642. His mother was Oswiu's first wife, [[Rhiainfellt|Rieinmelth]], granddaughter of king [[Rhun of Rheged|Rhun]] of [[Rheged]]; the marriage also produced a daughter, [[Alhflæd|Alhflaed]]. Both children were likely born in the 630s.<ref>Kirby, ''The Earliest English Kings'', p. 75.</ref> In the early 650s, when Alhfrith was a young man, Oswiu had him married to [[Cyneburh]], daughter of Oswiu's great rival [[Penda of Mercia]]. Shortly after, Alhflaed married Penda's son [[Peada of Mercia|Peada]]. Alhflaed, a devout Christian, urged Peada to convert.<ref>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 82.</ref><ref>Kirby, ''The Earliest English Kings'', p. 79.</ref>

Relations between Oswiu and Penda remained contentious, and Penda invaded Bernicia with a large army in 655.<ref name="Kirby81"/> One of Penda's allies was [[Œthelwald of Deira|Œthelwald]], king of [[Deira]] and Oswiu's nephew; Oswiu considered Deira part of his realm and Œthelwald his sub-king, but resistance to his rule continued throughout his reign.<ref name=Yorke>Yorke, ''Kings and Kingdoms'', p. 79.</ref> Alhfrith served in his father's significantly smaller army as they pursued Penda. Their forces caught Penda's at the [[Battle of the Winwaed]]; Œthelwald and others withdrew their troops at a critical moment, which contributed to Oswiu winning a decisive victory in which Penda was killed.<ref name=Yorke/><ref name=Kirby81>Kirby, ''The Earliest English Kings'', p. 81.</ref>

The victory enabled Oswiu to re-establish his control over Deira. He evidently removed Œthelwald and installed Alhfrith as under-king (a largely autonomous ruler) owing homage to him.<ref name=Yorke/><ref>Kirby, ''The Earliest English Kings'', p. 81, 87.</ref> However, Deiran resistance to Oswiu's rule continued under Alhfrith, who might have tried to use it to assert his independence.<ref name=Yorke/> Alhfrith initially followed his father in adhering to [[Celtic Christianity]], which practised certain customs at odds with those endorsed by the [[Bishop of Canterbury]] and Continental Europe. However, he soon began challenging his father's policies of preferring the Celtic practices. Around 658, Alhfrith's ally [[Cenwalh]] introduced him to [[Wilfrid]], a Northumbrian churchman who had studied in Europe and strongly advocated the Roman customs. Subsequently, he began openly challenging the Celtic customs and his father's policies.<ref>Kirby, ''The Earliest English Kings'', p. 87.</ref> In 664, Oswiu convened the [[Synod of Whitby]] to determine which form of Christianity Northumbria would follow; Alhfrith served as a key proponent of Wilfrid and the Roman system, which ultimately prevailed.<ref name=Yorke/>

Alhfrith requested that Wilfrid be made bishop for Deira, most likely with a see at [[Archbishop of York|York]]. Apparently with Oswiu's consent, Wilfrid travelled to Gaul to be consecrated, as he did not consider any bishops in Great Britain or Ireland to be validly consecrated; he did not return until around 666. In the mid-660s, Alhfrith requested to go on pilgrimage to Rome with [[Benedict Biscop]], which Oswiu forbade. Alhfrith subsequently vanishes from the historical record. In the ''[[Ecclesiastical History of the English People]]'', [[Bede]] mentions that Alhfrith "attacked" his father. David Kirby suggests that Alhfrith may have participated and died in a rebellion against Oswiu, perhaps inspired by their continuing religious differences, Alhfrith's anxieties about the rise of his half-brother [[Ecgfrith of Northumbria|Ecgfrith]], or Oswiu's military aspirations to the north that shifted focus away from Deira in the south.<ref>Kirby, ''The Earliest English Kings'', pp. 88–89.</ref>

According to later tradition, Oswiu replaced Alhfrith as King of Deira with his brother Ecgfrith, who subsequently became king of Bernicia and installed another brother, [[Ælfwine of Deira|Ælfwine]], in Deira.<ref>Kirby, ''The Earliest English Kings'', p. 8, 81, 89.</ref> It is not clear if Alhfrith had children; it is possible that the later Northumbrian king [[Osric of Northumbria|Osric]] was his son, though he might instead have been the son of [[Aldfrith of Northumbria|Aldfrith]].<ref>Kirby, ''The Earliest English Kings'', pp. 92, 123.</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Kirby, David P., ''The Earliest English Kings.'' London: Unwin Hyman, 1991. {{ISBN|0-04-445691-3}}
* [[Barbara Yorke|Yorke, Barbara]], ''Kings and Kingdoms in Early Anglo-Saxon England.'' London: Seaby, 1990. {{ISBN|1-85264-027-8}}

==External links==
{{DNB Poster|Alchfrith}}
* {{PASE|3155|Ealhfrith 1}}
*[https://www.ccel.org/ccel/bede/history Bede's Ecclesiastical History and the Continuation of Bede], at [https://www.ccel.org CCEL], translated by A.M. Sellar.
*[https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/bede-jarrow.asp Bede's Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow] at [https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/sbook.asp Internet Medieval Sourcebook], translated by [[J. A. Giles]].

{{Kings of Northumbria}}
{{Deira Monarchs}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alhfrith of Deira}}
[[Category:630s births]]
[[Category:660s deaths]]
[[Category:Northumbrian monarchs]]
[[Category:7th-century English monarchs]]
[[Category:Royal House of Northumbria]]