OSRED (697?–716), king of Northumbria, son of Aldfrith [q. v.], king of Northumbria, probably by his wife Cuthburh or Cuthberga [q. v.], sister of Ine [q. v.], king of the West-Saxons, was about eight years old at his father's death in 705. For about two months the throne of Northumbria was usurped by Eadwulf; then a conspiracy was made against him, he was driven from the kingdom, and Osred, who was adopted by Bishop Wilfrith, and was perhaps the bishop's godson, was made king. In the first year of his reign he was present with his lords at a synod held on the Nidd, at which Wilfrith or Wilfrid was restored to the abbey of Ripon and the see and abbey of Hexham (Eddius, c. 60). In 711 his chief ealdorman Berctfrid defeated the Picts. He ruled with violence, slaying many of the nobles of his kingdom and compelling others to become monks. He was immoral; he debauched nuns, and forcibly entered religious houses (Æthelwulf, De Abbatibus, c. 2; S. Bonifacii Epistolæ, No. 59). A conspiracy was made against him, and in 716 he was betrayed by members of the royal house, and was slain beyond the southern border of his kingdom in battle against his kinsman Cenred, who succeeded him.
[Bede's Eccl. Hist. v. cc. 18, 19, 22 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Eddi's Vita Wilfr., c. 60, ap. Historians of York, i. 89 (Rolls Ser.); Æthelwulf's poem De Abbatibus, c. 2, ap. Sym. Dunelm. 1. 268 (Rolls Ser.); S. Bonifacii Epistolæ, No. 59, ed. Jaffé; Anglo-Saxon Chron. an. 716; William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum, i. c. 53 (Rolls Ser.); Henry of Huntingdon, iv. c. 9, Rolls Ser.]
OSRED (d. 792), king of Northumbria, was son of Alchred or Aired, king of Northumbria. The latter belonged to the house of Æthelric, a younger son of Ida [q. v.], who had been driven from his kingdom by his own people in 774 (Northumbrian Annals, ap. Hoveden, i. 23). Oswald's mother was Osgearn. He succeeded Alfwold, king of Northumbria, in 788, but was the next year betrayed by his nobles and taken prisoner by Æthelred, who had previously been king, and had been driven out by Alfwold. Æthelred took Osred's kingdom, caused him to be tonsured at York, and banished him. He found shelter in the Isle of Man. While he was there some of the Northumbrian nobles offered to support him; and, relying on their oaths, he returned secretly to Northumbria in 792. His troop deserted him, and he was betrayed to Æthelred, who made him prisoner and had him put to death at a place called Aynburg on 14 Sept. He was buried in the church of the abbey of Tynemouth.
[Symeon of Durham's Hist. Dunelm. Eccl. and Hist. Regum ap. Opera, i. 49, ii. 52, 54 (Rolls Ser.); Hoveden, i. 23 (Rolls Ser.); Dict. Chr. Biogr., art. 'Osred,' by Canon Raine.]
OSRIC (d. 634), king of Deira, was son of Ælfric, the brother of Ælla, king of Deira, and consequently cousin of Edwin or Eadwine (585?–633) [q. v.], king of Northumbria. Osric accepted Christianity from Paulinus [q. v.], and, when Eadwine was slain in battle with the Mercian king Penda, succeeded him in Deira. At the time the people of the northern kingdom of Bernicia, who had been subject to Eadwine, separated themselves from Deira, and chose as their king Eanfrith, son of Ethelfrid or Æthelfrith [q. v.], king of Northumbria, who was of their royal house, sprung from Ida [q. v.] When Osric became king he cast off Christianity and returned to his old heathenism. The next year (634) he laid siege to York, the capital of his kingdom, which was held by Caedwalla (d. 634) [q. v.], Penda's British ally. Caedwalla made a sudden sally from the city, fell upon him unawares, slew him, and destroyed his army. Deira was soon afterwards united to Bernicia under the rule of Oswald (d. 642) [q. v.] Osric left a son named Oswin or Oswini (d. 651) [q. v.]
[Bede's Hist. Eccl. iii. cc. 1, 14 (Engl. Hist. Soc); Flor. Wig., genealogies, i. 254, 269 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Miscell. Biogr. p. 2 (Surtees Soc.); Green's Making of England, pp. 272, 274, 296; Dict. Chr. Biogr., art. 'Osred,' by Canon Raine.]
OSRIC (d. 729), king of Northumbria, was the son of Alchfrith, and grandson of Oswy [q. v.] Bæda, in referring to his reign, merely notes the appearance or two comets, presaging calamity to a kingdom and the deaths of Wihtred of Kent and of the monk Ecgberht at Iona. The 'English Chronicle,' is even more meagre, and the manuscripts contain contradictory statements as to the year of his death. One of the manuscripts agrees with the date given by Bæda, viz., that it took place in 729; the other repeats the fact under 731. That 729 is the right date is proved
