Ælfwine (c. 661 – 679) was the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Deira Deira ( ; Old Welsh/ or ; 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 , meaning 'oak' ( in modern Welsh), in which case ...

from 670 to 679. He was a son of Oswiu of Northumbria and a brother of Ecgfrith of Northumbria. After the succession of Ecgfrith as king of

Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

in 670, he made Ælfwine king of the sub-kingdom of Deira. Ælfwine was still a boy at the time, and the title may have been intended to designate him as the heir of the childless Ecgfrith. He was, however, killed in battle against the

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

ns at the Battle of the Trent in 679. Although his death could have led to an escalation of the war, further conflict was averted by the intervention of the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

, Theodore, and King

Æthelred of Mercia Æthelred (; died after 704) was king of Mercia from 675 until 704. He was the son of Penda of Mercia and came to the throne in 675, when his brother, Wulfhere of Mercia, died from an illness. Within a year of his accession he invaded Kent, ...

paid a ''

weregild Weregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld (in archaic/historical usage of English), weregeld, etc.), also known as man price ( blood money), was a precept in some historical legal codes whereby a monetary value was established for a person's life, ...

'' to Ecgfrith in compensation for Ælfwine's death. Bede writes: “In the ninth year of the reign of King Ecgfrith (in 679), a great battle was fought between him and Æthelred, king of the Mercians, near the

river Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

, and Ælfwine, brother to King Ecgfrith, was slain, a youth about eighteen years of age, and much beloved by both provinces; for King Æthelred had married his sister Osthryth. There was now reason to expect a more bloody war, and more lasting enmity between those kings and their fierce nations; but Theodore, the bishop, beloved of God, relying on the Divine aid, by his wholesome admonitions wholly extinguished the dangerous fire that was breaking out; so that the kings and their people on both sides were appeased, and no man was put to death, but only the due mulct paid to the king who was the avenger for the death of his brother; and this peace continued long after between those kings and between their kingdoms.”Bede, '' Historia ecclesiastica''
Book IV, chapter 21

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aelfwine of Deira 660s births 679 deaths Deiran monarchs Anglo-Saxon warriors Anglo-Saxons killed in battle 7th-century English monarchs Monarchs killed in action Royal House of Northumbria