Northumbria
This article is about the specific polity Northumbria and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.
If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics
Was an early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is now Northern England and south-east Scotland.
Establishment
January 605: Æthelfrith of Bernicia united Deira and Bernicia by force, establishing the Kingdom of Northumbria around the year 604.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
Northumbria emerged from the union of the Kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia.
January 618: After the unification of the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria, King Edwin of Northumbria led an invasion of Elmet which was incorporated into Northumbria on Easter in 627.
Was a battle of Northumbria against Gwynedd and Mercia.
October 633: Following the disastrous Battle of Hatfield Chase on 12 October 633, in which Edwin was defeated and killed by Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd and Penda of Mercia, Northumbria was divided back into Bernicia and Deira.
Was the Viking invasion of the British Isles that started with the arrival of the Great Heathen Army in 865 and resulted in the establishment of the Danelaw, the part of England dominated by the Danes.
November 865: The Viking army moved north across the Humber into Northumbria, which was torn by disputes over the throne, and took its capital York on November 1. Northumbria with its capital York subsequently became a Scandinavian-dominated kingdom.
March 867: The rivals for the Northumbrian throne Osberht and Ælle combined their forces against the Vikings, but were defeated on March 21, 867. Halfdan Ragnarsson was a Viking leader of the Great Heathen Army which invaded England in 865. He allegedly wanted revenge against Northumbria for the death of his father, who was supposedly killed by Ælla of Northumbria. While he himself only ruled Northumbria directly for about a year in 876, he placed Ecgberht on the throne as a client-king, who ruled from 867 to 872.
January 631: The missionary Paulinus worked in Lindsey in the 620s when it was under the rule of Edwin of Northumbria.
January 635: After about a year he went to Cadwallon to sue for peace and was killed. Eanfrith's brother Oswald then raised an army and finally defeated Cadwallon at the Battle of Heavenfield in 634. After this victory, Oswald appears to have been recognised by both Bernicians and Deirans as king of a properly united Northumbria.
January 639: After Bernicia united with Deira to become the kingdom of Northumbria, Rheged was annexed by Northumbria, some time before AD 730. There was a royal marriage between Prince (later King) Oswiu of Northumbria and the Rhegedian princess Rieinmelth, granddaughter of Rum, probably in 638, so it is possible that it was a peaceful takeover, both kingdoms being inherited by the same man.
January 639: In 638, Eidyn, modern Edinburgh, was under siege and fell to the Angles, for the Gododdin seem to have come under the rule of Bernicia around this time.
January 680: The next king, Æthelred, defeated Northumbria in the Battle of the Trent in 679, settling once and for all the long-disputed control of the former kingdom of Lindsey.
Disestablishment
March 867: The rivals for the Northumbrian throne Osberht and Ælle combined their forces against the Vikings, but were defeated on March 21, 867. Halfdan Ragnarsson was a Viking leader of the Great Heathen Army which invaded England in 865. He allegedly wanted revenge against Northumbria for the death of his father, who was supposedly killed by Ælla of Northumbria. While he himself only ruled Northumbria directly for about a year in 876, he placed Ecgberht on the throne as a client-king, who ruled from 867 to 872.
