September 23, 788. Ælfwold of Northumbria killed by Sicga
Osred, Alhred's son and Ælfwold's nephew, succeeds to Northumbria
The Chronicle notes that on September 23 Ælfwold of Northumbria was killed by Sicga, and a heavenly light was seen where he was killed, and he was buried at Hexham, and that Osred, Alhred's son and Ælfwold's nephew, succeeded to the kingdom. Simeon of Durham adds that Sicga had formed a conspiracy to kill Ælfwold, that the death took place at Scythlescester (probably Chesters, a station by Hadrian's Wall), and that because of the light from heaven seen in that place a church was built there by the local faithful, in honour of God, St Cuthbert and St Oswald (another murdered Northumbrian king).
Sicga was probably the most important secular Northumbrian nobleman after the king: he is the first lay witness after the king to the legatine canons of 786, somewhat ironically since these emphasize loyalty to one's lord so strongly. The Chronicle notes that he died on February 23, 793, while Simeon adds that he died by his own hand and was conveyed to Lindisfarne on April 23. One has to wonder if any thoughtful Northumbrians saw a message in the sacking of Lindisfarne by Vikings a little over a month after they took in the body of a man who killed his king in defiance of the legatine canons he had sworn to uphold. A letter of Alcuin written after the sack suggests that the connection might have been drawn, though Alcuin was writing in very general terms (EHD 194: Alcuin suggests the sins of the community at Lindisfarne may have called the disaster upon them; but see further the entry on Æthelred's accession in 790).
Almost nothing is known of Osred's reign. He was supplanted and forced into exile by the returning Æthelred in 790, and killed when he attempted to reclaim the kingdom in 792.