Odda the Younger (856-878) was the son of Ealdorman Odda of Devon. He was known to be an ambitious, cowardly, and malevolent nobleman who was rivals with Uhtred of Bebbanburg, and he was executed by his own father for siding with the Danes against King Alfred the Great in 878.
Biography[]
Odda was born in Exeter, Devon in 856, the son of Ealdorman Odda of Devon, King Aethelred of Wessex's right-hand man. He became a member of King Aethelred's court, and he formed a rivalry with Uhtred of Bebbanburg in 871, advising that Uhtred not be trusted due to his Danish upbringing, and criticizing Uhtred for interrupting him, a noble, as he spoke. However, King Aethelred hushed Odda as he lashed out at Uhtred, whose advice to King Aethelred ultimately won him the Battle of Ashdown. That same year, he conspired with Aethelred's son Aethelwold Aetheling to prevent Prince Alfred from rising to the throne by instructing Aethelwold to tell the Witenagemot that Aethelred had made Aethelwold, not Alfred, king; the plot failed, and Aethelwold was sent to a monastery, while Young Odda's role was concealed. In 878, Odda fought alongside his father at the Battle of Cynwit (a battle which he sought to back out of), during which his father was wounded; the younger Odda became the de facto Ealdorman of Devon during his father's infirmity, using his position to become even more ambitious and hostile towards Uhtred. He took the credit for the victory at Cynwit, humiliating Uhtred, and he earned Alfred's favor by building him a church with an altar of pure gold. However, when Guthrum and Skorpa of the White Horse's armies invaded Wessex and overran Winchester, Odda invited Skorpa to eat with him at his Great Hall in Exeter, where they made a peace; Odda even sold horses to the Danes. Upon hearing of the peace, Leofric of Winchester and Uhtred headed to Odda's estate at Exeter to bring him an order to raise the Somerset fyrd to fight for Alfred. However, Odda said that Alfred had abandoned him, and that he was now with the Danes. Seeing a cloaked Alfred as one of the figures in the crowd, the older Odda stabbed his son in the waist with a dagger, executing him for treason. Alfred refused to forgive Young Odda, and he had his father raise the fyrd.
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