Adda (fl. AD 560–568) was the third known ruler of the Anglo-Saxon

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 ap ...

. Adda was one of several sons born to Ida, the first ruler of Bernicia, as was his successor Æthelric. Adda may have been the Bernician commander at the battle of Caer Greu, where the British kings Peredur and Gwrgi of

Ebrauc The history of York, England, as a city dates to the beginning of the first millennium AD but archaeological evidence for the presence of people in the region of York dates back much further to between 8000 and 7000 BC. As York was a town i ...

were killed. There is some confusion here because of a conflict between sources. The

Annales Cambriae The (Latin for ''Annals of Wales'') is the title given to a complex of Latin chronicles compiled or derived from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales. The earliest is a 12th-century presumed copy of a mid-10th-century original; later ed ...

state that the Battle of Caer Greu took place in 580. The evidence for Adda being the Bernician king in question is that the

Welsh Triads The Welsh Triads ( cy, Trioedd Ynys Prydein, "Triads of the Island of Britain") are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three. The triad is a ...

identify that leader as Ida. Since the sources agree that Ida died in 559, it is assumed that the Triads have named Ida by mistake, and that Adda—the only son with a name similar to Ida's -- was meant. However, the

Historia Brittonum ''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British ( Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia B ...

states that Adda only reigned for 8 years after Ida, in which case either the Bernician leader must have been one of Adda's successors, or else one of the sources has the dates confused. It is also possible that Ælle of Deira led the Angles at Caer Greu—certainly, Ebrauc ceased to exist as a British kingdom after the battle, with Deira taking over its territory. Since, however, the surviving northern British kingdoms subsequently combined to launch a vigorous campaign directed against Bernicia rather than Deira, this suggests that Bernicia was the original combatant. Nothing else is known for certain about Adda's life or reign. The earliest authorities differ widely on the order and the regnal years of the Bernician kings between the death of Ida and the beginning of Æthelfrith's rule in 592/593.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adda of Bernicia 580 deaths Anglo-Saxon warriors Year of birth unknown Bernician monarchs History of Northumberland 6th-century English monarchs Idings