Deira

Northumbria, showing Deira

Deira was a kingdom enduring between approximately 559 and 664, when it was united with its northern neighbour Bernicia to form Northumbria.

Deira probably emerged early in the period known as the "Coming of the English", the colonisation of Great Britain by Germanic tribes from the end of the fifth century. The Deirans as a kingdom may have arisen as Anglian settlers conquered the Derwent Valley in the third quarter of the fifth century. The Kingdom of the Deirans extended from the Humber northwards to the River Tees, and from the sea to the western edge of the Vale of York and later beyond. It was in effect the prototype of Yorkshire.

Name

The Deirans are known in Old English as the Dere, and the kingdom was Dera rice. The name "Deira" is a Latinised form, probably just imitating the English pronunciation.

The name of the kingdom appears though to be of the British language in origin, perhaps from Deifr, meaning "waters", or from Daru, meaning "oak", in which case it would mean "the people of the Derwent", a derivation also found in the Latin name for Malton; Derventio. It is tempting to see something of the Old English verb derian, meaning "to injure" but apart from warlike connotations, etymologists do not see an obvious root in the word.

According to Simeon of Durham (writing early in the 12th century) Deira extended from the Humber to the Tyne, but the land was waste north of the Tees. The major seat of the kingdom came to be York, a major city of Britain under the Romans and the British kingdoms following them. The British name for the city, Ebrauc, became Anglicised to Eoforwic, which echoes the old name but also means "Boar-settlement".

The first recorded King of the Deirans was Ælla, who flourished in the later 6th century after conquering the realm from the Britons in 581. After his death, Deira was subject to king Æthelfrith of the Bernicians, who united the two kingdoms into Northumbria. Æthelfrith ruled until the accession of Ælla's son Edwin, in 616 or 617, who also ruled both kingdoms until 633.

After Edwin's death his nephew Osric ruled the Deirans, but his son Oswine was put to death by Oswy of Northumbria in 651. For a few years subsequently Deira was governed by Æthelwald son of Oswald of Bernicia.

Bede wrote of Deira in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (completed in 731). In one famous narrative Bede records, Pope Gregory was struck by a group of handsome slaves in the market. Learning that they were Angles he said "non angli sed angeli" (not "Angles but Angels") and hearing that they were from Deira, he said that they would be delivered de ira (from wrath). (There is no record though that they were delivered from slavery.)

Kings of Deira

Reign	Incumbent		Notes
559/560 to 589	Aella (Aelli)	ÆLLA YFFING DEIRA CYNING ÆLLA REX DEIRA
589/599 to 604	Aethelric (Aedilric)	ÆÞELRIC IDING BERNICIA 7 DEIRA CYNING ÆÞELRIC REX BERNICIA ET DEIRA
Bernicia Dynasty
593/604? to 616	Aethelfrith	ÆÞELFERÞ ÆÞELRICING DEIRA CYNING ÆÞELFERÞ REX DEIRA	Killed in battle
Deira Dynasty
616 to 12/14 October 632	Edwin	EDVVIN ÆLLING BERNICIA 7 DEIRA CYNING EDVVIN REX BERNICIA ET DEIRA	Killed in battle by Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd and Penda of the Mercians
late 633 to summer 634	Osric]]	OSRIC ÆLFRICING DEIRA CYNING OSRIC REX DEIRA
Bernicia Dynasty
633 to 5 August 642	Oswald (St Oswald)	OSVVALD BERNICIA 7 DEIRA CYNING OSVVALD REX BERNICIA ET DEIRA	Killed by Penda of Mercia
642 to 644	Oswiu (Oswy)	OSVVIO ÆÞELFRIÞING BERNICIA 7 DEIRA CYNING OSVVIO REX BERNICIA ET DEIRA
Deira Dynasty
644 to 651	Oswine	OSVVINE OSRICING DEIRA CYNING OSVVINE REX DEIRA	Murdered
Bernicia Dynasty
summer 651 to late 654 or 655	Æthelwold	ÆÞELVVALD OSVVALDING DEIRA CYNING ÆÞELVVALD REX DEIRA
654 to 15 August 670	Oswiu	OSVVIO ÆÞELFERÞING NORÞANHYMBRA CYNING OSVVIO REX NORÞANHYMBRA	Restored
656 to 664	Alchfrith	ALCHFRIÞ DEIRA CYNING ALCHFRIÞ REX DEIRA
670 to 679	Aelfwine	ÆLFVVINE DEIRA CYNING ÆLFVVINE REX DEIRA

References

• Higham, N.J. (1993). The Kingdom of Northumbria AD 350-1100. Stroud: Sutton. ISBN 0-86299-730-5
• Mackenzie, E.; Ross, M. (1834), An Historical, Topographical, and Descriptive View of the County Palatine of Durham, I, Newcastle upon Tyne: Mackenzie and Dent, p. xi, http://books.google.com/?id=azEQAAAAYAAJ, retrieved 2008-07-23 

Further reading

• Geake, Helen & Kenny, Jonathan (eds.) (2000). Early Deira: Archaeological studies of the East Riding in the fourth to ninth centuries AD. Oxford: Oxbow. ISBN 1-900188-90-2