Ælla of Northumbria

Ælla (or Ælle) (died 21 March 867) was King of Northumbria, England in the middle of the 9th century. Sources on Northumbrian history in this period are limited. Ælla's ancestry is not known and the dating of his reign is problematic. He is a major character in Scandinavian historical saga, particularly in Ragnarssona þáttr (′The Tale of Ragnar's sons′)

Chronicles

Ælla became king after Osberht was deposed. This is traditionally dated to 862 or 863, but evidence about Northumbrian royal chronology is not decisive about dates prior to 867,[1] and it may have been as late as 866. Almost nothing is known of Ælla's reign. Symeon of Durham states that Ælla had seized lands at Billingham, Ileclif, Wigeclif, and Crece, which belonged to the church.[3] While Ælla is described in most sources as a tyrant, and not a rightful king, one source states that he was Osberht's brother.

The Great Heathen Army marched on Northumbria in the late summer of 866, seizing York on 21 November 866. Symeon of Durham, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Asser, and Æthelweard all recount substantially the same version of events in varying detail. Symeon's Historia Regum Anglorum gives this account of the battle on 21 March 867 where Osberht and Ælla met their deaths at the hands of the Vikings:

    In those days, the nation of the Northumbrians had violently expelled from the kingdom the rightful king of their nation, Osbryht by name, and had placed at the head of the kingdom a certain tyrant, named Alla. When the pagans came upon the kingdom, the dissension was allayed by divine counsel and the aid of the nobles. King Osbryht and Alla, having united their forces and formed an army, came to the city of York; on their approach the multitude of the shipmen immediately took flight. The Christians, perceiving their flight and terror, found that they themselves were the stronger party. They fought upon each side with much ferocity, and both kings fell. The rest who escaped made peace with the Danes.

After this, the Vikings appointed one Ecgberht to rule Northumbria.

According to an Anglo-Norman genealogy, Ælla had a daughter named Æthelthryth and through her was the grandfather of Eadwulf of Bamburgh, the ′King of the Northern English′ who died in 913.
Sagas