Æthelric (died c. 604?) was supposedly a King of Deira (c. 589/599–c. 604). He is thought to have succeeded Ælla of Deira, but his existence is historically obscure.
Manuscript A of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that Ælle, king of Deira, was succeeded by Æthelric in 588, who reigned for five years.[1] According to Bede, Deira was invaded and taken over by Æthelfrith of Bernicia in about the year 604.[2] The circumstances of this are unclear, and Æthelric's fate is unknown. The fact that Edwin, a son of Ælla and possibly Æthelric's brother, had to flee into exile suggests that Deira may have been conquered by Æthelfrith, and in this case Æthelric may have been killed during warfare. Æthelfrith ruled both Deira and Bernicia, the two components of Northumbria, until he was killed in battle and the Deiran line was restored for a time under Edwin.
^Downham, Clare (2007), Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014, Edinburgh: Dunedin, ISBN 978-1-903765-89-0, OCLC163618313
^Woolf, Alex (2007), From Pictland to Alba, 789–1070, The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-1234-5, OCLC123113911
^Zaluckyj, Sarah & Feryok, Marge. Mercia: The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Central England (2001) ISBN 1-873827-62-8
^Barbara Yorke (1995), Wessex in the early Middle Ages, A & C Black, ISBN 071851856X; pp 79-83; table p. 81
^Keynes, Simon (2014). "Appendix I: Rulers of the English, c.450–1066". In Lapidge, Michael (ed.). The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-65632-7.
^Kirby, D. P. The Earliest English Kings. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-4152-4211-0.
^Lapidge, M.; et al., eds. (1999). "Kings of the East Angles". The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. London: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-6312-2492-1.
^Searle, W. G. 1899. Anglo-Saxon Bishops, Kings and Nobles.
^Yorke, B. 1990. Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England.
^Carpenter, Clive. Kings, Rulers and Statesmen. Guinness Superlatives, Ltd.
^Ross, Martha. Rulers and Governments of the World, Vol. 1. Earliest Times to 1491.
