IETHELFRITH  ,

king of Northumbria, is said to have come to the throne in A.D . 593, being the son of IEthelric (probably reigned 568-572) . He married Acha, daughter of Ella (Mle), king of Deira, whom he succeeded probably in 6o5, expelling his son Edwin . In 603 he repelled the attack of Aidan, king of the Dalriad Scots, at Daegsastan, defeating him with great loss . The appearance of Hering, son of Hussa, iEthelfrith's predecessor, on the side of the invaders seems to indicate family quarrels in the royal house of Bernicia . Later in his reign, probably in 614, he defeated the Welsh in a great battle at Chester and massacred the monks of Bangor who were assembled to aid them by their prayers . This war may have been due partly to iEthelfrith's persecution of Edwin, but it had a strategic importance in the separation of the North Welsh from the Strathclyde Britons . In 617 IEthelfrith was defeated and slain II at the river Idle by Rmdwald of East Anglia, whom Edwin had persuaded to take up his cause . See Bede, Chronica Majora, § 531; Hist . Ecc . (Plummer) i . 34, ii .

2; Saxon

Chronicle, s.a . 593, 603, 605, 6,6; Hist . Brittonum, §§ 57, 63 ; Annales Cambriae, s.a . 613 . (F . G . M .