Aethelric or Æþelric was the fourth known king of the

Kingdom of Bernicia Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) 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 appr ...

which he ruled from 568 to 572. Aethelric was one of the sons of

Ida of Bernicia Ida () (died c. 559) is the first known king of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia, which he ruled from around 547 until his death in 559. Little is known of his life or reign, but he was regarded as the founder of a line from which later Anglo-Saxo ...

, founder of the kingdom. During his reign the Bernicians met the Britons in three important battles, the first on the offensive, the others on the defensive.Leonard Dutton, ''The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: the power struggles from Hengist to Ecgberht'' (1993), p. 108 He was the father of

Æthelfrith Æthelfrith (died c. 616) was King of Bernicia from c. 593 until his death. Around 604 he became the first Bernician king to also rule the neighboring land of Deira, giving him an important place in the development of the later kingdom of North ...

, who was the first monarch to rule both Bernicia and

Deira Deira ( ; Old Welsh/Cumbric: ''Deywr'' or ''Deifr''; ang, Derenrice or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom. Etymology The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic *''daru' ...

, the two constituent parts of what came to be considered

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

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* 572 deaths Anglo-Saxon warriors Bernician monarchs History of Northumberland 6th-century English monarchs Year of birth unknown {{UK-royal-stub