Rædwulf of Northumbria

Rædwulf was king of Northumbria for a short time. His ancestry is not known, but it is possible that he was a kinsman of Osberht and Ælla.

Copper alloy of styca of King Raedwulf

Rædwulf became king when Æthelred son of Eanred was deposed. Coins from his reign are known, but other than a report of his death fighting pagans (i.e., Vikings) in Roger of Wendover's Flores Historiarum, nothing more is recorded of him.

Annals incorporated in Flores Historiarum date this reign to 844, but the annalist's chronology is not necessarily reliable. The recent discovery of a coin of King Eanred, dated on stylistic grounds to circa 850, led to a reappraisal of the reigns of Northumbrian rulers in the 9th century.[1] As a result, Rædwulf's reign is now thought to have been c. 858 rather than 844.[2]

The numismatic and written evidence agrees that Æthelred was restored to the kingship after Rædwulf's death.

Notes

1. H. E. Pagan, ‘Northumbrian numismatic chronology in the ninth century’, British Numismatic Journal, 38 (1969), pp. 1–15.
2. Rollason, David (2004). "Eardwulf (fl. 796–c.830), king of Northumbria". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2007-10-03.

References

• Kirby, D.P., The Earliest English Kings. London: Unwin, 1991. ISBN 0-04-445692-1
• Higham, N.J., The Kingdom of Northumbria AD 350-1100. Stroud: Sutton, 1993. ISBN 0-86299-730-5
• Pagan, H. E. (1969). "Northumbrian numismatic chronology in the ninth century" (PDF). British Numismatic Journal. 38: 1–15. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
• Rollason, David (2004). "Eardwulf (fl. 796–c.830), king of Northumbria". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
• Yorke, Barbara, Kings and Kingdoms of early Anglo-Saxon England. London: Seaby, 1990. ISBN 1-85264-027-8

External links

• Rædwulf 3 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
• The Fitzwilliam Museum's Corpus of Early Medieval Coin Finds website