was compiled centuries later and contains some obvious anachronisms, the author had access to certain earlier sources, no longer extant, making the account credible. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle names King Eadred as the new ruler of Northumbria following the expulsion of Erik:Her Norðhymbre fordrifon Yric, 7 Eadred feng to Norðhymbra riceIn this year the Northumbrians drove out Eric and Eadred succeeded to the kingdom". This is why Richard Fletcher thinks Oswulf was working at Eadred's instigation, and that a grateful Eadred promoted Oswulf ruler of the entire Northumbrian sub-kingdom. Another twelfth-century source, De primo Saxonum adventu, summarises his status as follows:Primus comitum post Eiricum, quem ultimum regem habuerunt Northymbrenses, Oswulf provincias omnes Northanhymbrorum sub Edrido rege procuravit.First of the earls after Erik, the last king whom the Northumbrians had, Oswulf administered under King Eadred all the provinces of the Northumbrians. Similar sentiments were expressed in the related Historia Regum: "Here the kings of Northumbrians came to an end and henceforth the province was administered by earls". Eadred's takeover and Oswulf's rule thus came to be remembered as the beginning of permanent West Saxon control of the North. Historian Alex Woolf argued that this take-over was a personal union of crowns rather like that between Scotland and England in 1603. Death and legacy Little else is known about Oswulf's period in power. The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba says that in the time of Indulf (King of Scots from 954 to 962), Edinburgh was abandoned to the Scots, though nothing is said about the involvement of Northumbrians or Oswulf. The date of Oswulf's death is not known. He was probably dead before 963, as that is the date Oslac appears for the first time as ealdorman in York. It is unclear whether Oslac was related to Oswulf. According to the De primo Saxonum adventu, Northumbria was divided into two parts after Oswulf's death, part came under the control of Oslac, the other under the dominion of Eadwulf Evil-child. De Northumbria post Britannos says that Oswulf had a son named Ealdred, father of Waltheof of Bamburgh (fl. 994), father of Uhtred of Northumbria. There was speculation in the nineteenth century suggesting that Oslac and Eadwulf Evil-child were Oswulf's sons. Others have suggested that Oslac, Eadwulf, and Oswulf were probably related, admitting our ignorance about the precise detail. Notes References External links Anglo-Saxon warriors Rulers of Bamburgh Earls of Northumbria 10th-century rulers in