relates that two Northumbrian princes, Osbrecht and Ella, took the castle at Stirling. Cultural references Aella, King of Northumbria, has a major supporting role in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Man of Law's Tale. Ælla was played by Frank Thring in the film The Vikings (1958) as the main antagonist. A character broadly based on Ælla is played by Ivan Kaye in the History Channel's drama series Vikings (2013), though it is set nearly 70 years before the real Ælla's reign. The show gives no indication that this Ælla had usurped his throne, and he is shown to have reigned in Northumbria for more than 15 years. The show also gave Ælla a daughter, Judith, who takes the historical role of Osburh, as the mother of Alfred the Great. The character's name seems taken from Judith of Flanders, Alfred's stepmother, but doesn't share much more. In The Last Kingdom, a historical novel by Bernard Cornwell, Ælla appears very briefly as a minor character at the beginning of the book. He, along with Osberht and Uhtred, a fictional Ealdorman of Bernicia, lead a Northumbrian army to repel invading Danes at York. The battle ends disastrously for the Northumbrians when the Norse army feigns a retreat, and Ælla dies on the field. Notes References Kirby, D.P., The Earliest English Kings. London: Unwin, 1991. Higham, N.J., The Kingdom of Northumbria AD 350-1100. Stroud: Sutton, 1993. * External links The Tale of Ragnar's sons in translation by Tunstall at Northvegr 867 deaths Anglo-Saxon warriors Northumbrian monarchs 9th-century English monarchs Anglo-Saxons killed in battle Year of birth unknown Place of birth unknown