Ælle (d. c.514), founder of the South Saxon kingdom, is said to have landed near Selsey Bill in 477, traditionally with three sons and three ships, driving the Britons back into Andredesweald, a great wood across south-eastern Britain. His next recorded battle, in 485, took place near an unknown stream, Mearcredes burna, and in 491, Ælle and his son Cissa successfully stormed the fort of Anderida, near Pevensey, wiping out the Britons. Named by Bede as first of the bretwaldas, a powerful overlord, he was probably leader of a general Anglo-Saxon push against Britons in the south, but his disappearance from records after Anderida seems to coincide with a revival of the Britons, who, led by Ambrosius Aurelianus, were victorious in battle at Mount Badon. The site is uncertain and the date debatable (516 in the Annals Cambriae), but Bede placed the event c.493.

Audrey MacDonald

Ælle (d. 867), king of Northumbria (c.863–7 or, possibly, his reign was confined to 867). He was the last independent English king of Northumbria. Though probably not of royal birth, he sought to usurp power from his predecessor Osberht at a dire time. Danish armies were in sight of taking York, and in November 866 they did. Ælle and Osberht united in an effort to regain the city on 21 March 867. They penetrated the walls, but both were then killed.

James Campbell