Bernicia

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Bernicia (disambiguation).

Kingdom of Bernicia
Beornice (
Deira
604
• merged with Deira
654
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Sub-Roman Britain
Votadini
Hen Ogledd
Northumbria
Today part ofUnited Kingdom
England
Scotland

Bernicia (

Old English: Bernice, Beornice) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England
.

The Anglian territory of Bernicia was approximately equivalent to the modern English counties of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and Durham, as well as the Scottish counties of Berwickshire and East Lothian, stretching from the Forth to the Tees. In the early 7th century, it merged with its southern neighbour, Deira, to form the kingdom of Northumbria, and its borders subsequently expanded considerably.

Etymologies

Bernicia occurs in

Brittonic kingdom,[citation needed] whose name was then adopted by the Anglian settlers who rendered it in Old English as Bernice or Beornice.[citation needed] The counter hypothesis suggesting these names represent a Brythonic adaption of an earlier English form is considered less probable.[citation needed
]

Local linguistic evidence suggests continued political activity in the area from the time of the Roman retreat from Britain and before the arrival of the Angles. Important Anglian centres in Bernicia bear names of British origin, or are known by British names elsewhere: Bamburgh is called Din Guaire in the Historia Brittonum; Dunbar (where Saint Wilfrid was once imprisoned) represents Dinbaer; and the name of Coldingham is given by Bede as Coludi urbs ("town of Colud"), where Colud seems to represent the British form, possibly for the hill-fort of St Abb's Head.[1]

Analysis of a potential derivation has not produced a consensus. The most commonly cited etymology gives the meaning as "Land of the Mountain Passes" or "Land of the Gaps" (tentatively proposed by Kenneth H. Jackson).[2] An earlier derivation from the tribal name of the Brigantes has been dismissed as linguistically unsound.[3] In 1997 John T. Koch suggested the conflation of a probable primary form *Bernech with the native form *Brïγent for the old civitas Brigantum as a result of Anglian expansion in that territory during the 7th century.[4]

Political history and memory

The Brythonic kingdom of the area was formed from what had once been the southern lands of the

bishops
. It is unknown when the Angles finally conquered the whole region, but around 604 is likely.

Kings of British Bryneich

There are several

Urien Rheged who was, at the time, besieging Lindisfarne.[5]

English Bernicia

Some of the Angles of Bernicia (

Old English: Derenrice or Dere) in the early 6th century.[6] The first Anglian king in the historical record is Ida
, who is said to have obtained the throne and the kingdom about 547. His sons spent many years fighting a united force from the surrounding Brythonic kingdoms until their alliance collapsed into civil war.

A forcibly united Northumbria

Ida's grandson,

Deira with his own kingdom by force around the year 604. He ruled the two kingdoms (united as Northumbria) until he was defeated and killed by Rædwald of East Anglia (who had given refuge to Edwin, son of Ælle, king of Deira) around the year 616. Edwin then became king. The early part of Edwin's reign was possibly spent fighting enemies from the Brythonic exiles of the old British kingdom, operating out of Gododdin. After this, it is said that on Easter Day 627 Edwin converted to Christianity in return for Elmet (a Cumbric-speaking[7] kingdom that once existed in the modern-day West Riding of Yorkshire, near Leeds), joining the kingdom of Northumbria;[8] which drew him into direct conflict with Wales proper.[citation needed
]

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. Bernicia was then briefly ruled by Eanfrith, son of Æthelfrith, but 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. The kings of Bernicia were thereafter supreme in that kingdom, although Deira had its own sub-kings at times during the reigns of

Oswiu and his son Ecgfrith
.

Rump of Northumbria

England in 878. The independent rump of the former Kingdom of Northumbria (yellow) was to the north of the Norse Danelaw and Kingdom of Jórvík

After the decisive defeat of Northumbrian forces by the Viking

Norman invasion.[10][11]

In 973, Scots sovereignty over northern Bernicia, now known as

Edgar of England
.

Kings of Bernicia

Main article: List of monarchs of Northumbria § Kings of Bernicia

(see also List of monarchs of Northumbria)

  • Ida, son of Eoppa (547–559)
  • Glappa, possibly Ida's brother (559–560)
  • Adda, son of Ida (560–568)
  • Æthelric, son of Ida (568–572)
  • Theodric, son of Ida (572–579)
  • Frithuwald, possibly Adda's son (579–585)
  • Hussa, possibly Adda's son (585–593)
  • Æthelfrith
    , son of Æthelric (593–616)

Under Deiran rule 616–633)

Under Oswald son of Æthelfrith, Bernicia was united with

Viking
invasion of the 9th Century.

Notes

  1. ^ Rollason, Northumbria 500–1100, p. 81.
  2. ^ Jackson, Language and History in Early Britain, pp. 701–5; Rollason, Northumbria 500–1100, p. 81.
  3. ^ Jackson, Language and History in Early Britain, pp. 701–5; Jackson, The Gododdin, p. 81.
  4. ^ Note 566 in
    ISBN 978-0-7083-1374-9
    . Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  5. ^ John Morris
  6. ISBN 978-1-4067-0896-7
  7. ISBN 9781851094400
    .
  8. ^ "Upper Wharfedale : Being a complete account of the history, antiquities and scenery of the picturesque valley of the Wharfe, from Otley to Langstrothdale". 1900.
  9. ISBN 978-1784080297
    .
  10. ISBN 9780521310260
    .
  11. ISBN 9780192542939
    .

References

Further reading
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