 Æthelbert, was the teacher and intimate friend of Alcuin, whose poem on the saints and prelates of the Church of York, Versus de Patribus Regibus et de Sanctis et Pontificibus Ecclesiæ Eboracensis, is the principal source of information concerning Æthelbert's life. He was a kinsman of his predecessor Ecgbert, who was brother to Eadberht, King of Northumbria. Æthelbert's family placed him in a monastery as a young child, where he was a pupil in the school founded at York by Ecgbert. Ecgbert ordained Æthelbert as a priest put him in charge of the school.
