Easter, 774. Alhred of Northumbria driven out
Æthelred, son of Æthelwold Moll, chosen as king of Northumbria
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes that at Easter 774 the Northumbrians drove their king Alhred from York and took as their king Æthelred, son of Æthelwold Moll. Simeon of Durham adds that Alhred fled with a few companions, first to Bamburgh, and then to the land of the Picts.
This is the first of Æthelred's two reigns. His father Æthelwold reigned from 759 until 765, when he was exiled. Æthelred reigned from 774 until 778/9, when he was exiled in his turn; he was was reinstated in 790, and finally killed in 796. Nothing is known of the earlier history of the family before Æthelwold, but it seems likely that Æthelwold was involved in the killing of the previous king, Oswulf. The killing of three Northumbrian high-reeves in 778 at Æthelred's orders looks like Æthelred pre-emptively removing threats to his reign, and reaction to this may have caused his first expulsion. In his second reign he was much more thorough about removing the opposition from the beginning.