 The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" records that he was consecrated by Eanbald I, Archbishop of York, and Bishops Æthelberht, Beadwulf and Hygebald, at York Minster on 26 May 796.Eardwulf was evidently married before he became king, as Alcuin reproached him for abandoning his wife for a concubine soon after his coronation.This strained relations with the new Archbishop Eanbald II—Eanbald I had died in the year of Eardwulf's coronation.