Aelle

Aelle (died 588) was the first king of Deira in northern England, whose people threw off the Bernician overlordship upon the death of Ida, king of Bernicia. Aelle became king, apparently in 559, while Ida’s descendants continued to reign in the northern kingdom. On Aelle’s death the Bernician king Aethelric again subdued Deira, but Aelle’s son Edwin (q.v.) would return to rule as the most powerful English ruler of the age.