Bamburgh

Simeon’s account of the siege of Durham
Earl Aldred was the father of five daughters, three of whom bore the same name, Aelfleda; the fourth was called Aldgitha, and the fifth Etheldritha. One of these Aelfledas married earl Siward, by whom she became the mother of Waltheof; and as this Aelfleda was countess,—being the daughter of earl Aldred, and he the son of earl Ucthred and the daughter of bishop Aldun,—she laid claim to these lands following, as belonging to her by hereditary right; namely, Bernetun, Kyrningeim, Eltun, Carltun, Heaclif, and Heseldene, which earl Siward her husband had given her; and she gave to her son Waltheof the earldom of Northumberland, as it had been held by Waltheof’s grandfather, earl Aldred.
Upon the death of earl Siward and the countess Alfleda, the daughter of earl Aldred, a war broke out, in consequence of which that land was devastated.

SIWARD, EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND (d. 1055) … By his first wife Ælflæd, he had two sons, Osbeorn and Waltheof [q. v.] On his marriage with her he gave her Barmpton, near Darlington, and five other estates which were claimed by the church of Durham; she, however, declared that they were hers by hereditarv right, and left them to her son Waltheof (SYM. DUNELM. i. 219-20).

NORTHUMBERLAND
(^b) Idem [Simeon of Durham], p. 92. Waltheovus in comitatum sustollitur, ei ex patris ac matrix prosapia debitum (Idem, p. 93). The unknown author of the account of the siege of Durham (Simeon of Durham, p. 157), in a statement re certain demesne lands of the Earldom, says that Waltheof’s mother, Elfleda, being Countess, since she was daughter of Earl Aldred, and he was the son of Ughtred and of the daughter of Bishop Aldun, claimed these lands as hers by hereditary right, which Earl Siward, her husband, gave her; and she gave to her son Waltheof the Earldom of the Northumbrians, as Waltheof’s grandfather, to wit, Earl Aldred, had it. [Aldred had had the Earldom North of Tyne]

Simeon’s account of the siege of Durham
Aldred—whom the aforesaid Ucthred had begotten by Ecfrid, the daughter of bishop Aldun, of whom we have already made mention,—became possessed of the earldom of Northumberland only, and put to death Turebrant, who had murdered his father. Carl, the son of this Turebrant, and earl Aldred were engaged in a mutual enmity, and were constantly laying traps the one for the other; but at last, by the agency of their friends, they were brought to an agreement; by whose instrumentality also they made satisfaction to each other. So firmly knit, indeed, was their friendship, that, like sworn brethren, they meant to visit Rome together; but a long-continued tempest of the sea hindered them, and they were constrained to abandon their plan, and return homewards. Carl received the earl into his house with great pomp and due respect; but, after having provided an entertainment for him, and when he was entirely thrown off his guard, he conducted him, as if out of compliment, into the wood called Risewude, and there he slew him, when he suspected no harm. A little cross of stone marks, even to this day, the spot at which he was murdered.
… Earl Aldred was the father of five daughters, three of whom bore the same name, Aelfleda; the fourth was called Aldgitha, and the fifth Etheldritha.

A.D. 1016. … Eadmund Atheling … went into Northumbria, whence some thought that he would yet raise a greater army against Cnut; but as Cnut and Edric on one side, so he and Uhtred earl of the Northumbrians on the other, devastated some provinces; for they laid waste first Staffordshire, then the provinces of Shropshire and Leicestershire, because they would not go out to battle against the host of the Danes. Meanwhile Cnut and Edric Streone ravaged first the provinces of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, and then Northumbria. When this was known to Eadmund Atheling, he left off his pillaging and hastened to his father at London, and earl Uthred speedily returned home, and, forced by necessity, yielded himself, with all the Northumbrians, to Cnut, and gave him hostages; and nevertheless by his order and permission was slain by Turebrand, a Danish nobleman, and with him Turketel, the son of Navena. Having committed this act, Cnut appointed Eiric to be earl in place of Uthred

Osulf administered the affairs on the north side of the Tyne, and Oslac at York and its territories. To them succeeded the elder Walthef, who had his son Uchtred as his successor. He, when in the reign of Agelred king Cnut made an attack upon Northumbrian was compelled by necessity to betake himself with his men to Cnut; and after havmg taken an oath and given hostages, he was slain by a powerful Dane, Thurbrand, surnamed Hold, with the consent of Cnut. His brother, Eadulf Cutel, was put in his place. But earl Uchtred had left three sons, Aldred, Eladulf, and Cospatric, of whom the first two were successively earls of the Northumbrians.

A.D. 997.] CHAP. XXXVII—HOW THE PLACE WAS MADE HABITABLE.
WHEN the whole assembly of the people accompanied the holy body of the father Cuthbert into Durham, it was discovered that the place, although naturally strong, was not easily habitable; for the whole space, with the sole exception of a moderate-sized plain in the midst was covered with a very dense wood. This had been kept under cultivation, having been regularly ploughed and sown; and hereon, at a later period, bishop Aldhun erected a tolerably large church of stone, as will appear hereafter. The said bishop, assisted by all the populace, and by Uhtred,² earl of the Northumbrians, cut down the whole of the timber, and in a brief space of time made the place habitable. The entire population of the district, which extends from the river Coquet to the Tees, readily and willingly rendered assistance as well to this work as to the erection of the church at a later period; nor did they discontinue their labours until the whole was completed. When the wood had been uprooted, and a residence assigned by lot to each person, the bishop, in the warmth of his love for Christ and St. Cuthbert, commenced to build a fine church upon a large scale, and devoted all his energies to its completion. In the meantime the sacred corpse had been translated from that smaller church, which we have already mentioned, and removed into another which was called the White Church; and there it remained for the three years during which the larger fabric was being built.
² See Dugdale’s Baron, i. 3.

Simeon’s account of the siege of Durham
IN the year of our Lord’s incarnation nine hundred and sixty-nine, during the reign of Ethelred, king of the English, Malcolm, king of the Scots, the son of king Kyned, collected together the entire military force of Scotland; and having devastated the province of the Northumbrians with the sword and fire, he laid siege to Durham. At this time bishop Aldun had the government there; for Waltheof, who was the earl of the Northumbrians, had shut himself up in Bebbanburc [Bamborough]. He was exceedingly aged, and in consequence could not undertake any active measures against the enemy. Bishop Aldun had given his daughter, named Ecgfrida, in marriage to Cospatric's son, named Ucthred, a youth of great energy, and well skilled in military affairs; and along with her the bishop had given him these vills—part of the lands of St. Cuthbert, namely, Bermetun, Skirningheim, Eltun, Carltun, Heaclif, and Heseldene, upon these terms, namely, that so long as he lived, he would treat his wife with honour.
Now, when this young man perceived that the land was devastated by the enemy, and that Durham was in a state of blockade and siege, he collected together into one body a considerable number of the men of Northumbria and Yorkshire, and cut to pieces nearly the entire multitude of the Scots; the king himself, and a few others, escaping with difficulty. He caused to be carried to Durham the best-looking heads of the slain, ornamented (as the fashion of the time was) with braided locks, and after they had been washed by four women,—to each of whom he gave a cow for her trouble,—he caused these heads to be fixed upon stakes, and placed round about the walls.
When king Ethelred heard of this, he summoned this young man to his presence (this was during the lifetime of his father Waltheof,) and as a reward for his courage, and for the battle which he had fought so gallantly, he gave him the earldom which had been his father’s, adding thereto the earldom of the men of York. Upon his return home, however, Ucthred sent away the daughter of bishop Aldun; and because in so doing he had acted contrary to his promise and oath, the father of the young woman (I mean, the bishop) took back to the church the land which he had given Ucthred, along with his daughter. Having thus put away the bishop’s daughter, as we have mentioned, Ucthred took to wife the daughter of a rich citizen, named Styr, the son of Ulf, (her name was Sigen); and her father gave her to him upon the understanding that he would put to death Turbrand. who was most hostile towards himself (Styr). Afterwards, when Ucthred had made additional progress in military affairs, king Ethelred gave him his own daughter Elfgiva in marriage; by whom he had Algitha, whom her father wedded to Maldred, the son of Crinan the thane; by whom Maldred became the father of Cospatric, who begat Dolphin, and Waltheof, and Cospatric. The daughter of bishop Aldun, whom earl Ucthred had sent away, became the wife of a certain thane in Yorkshire, namely, Kilvert, the son of Ligulf; their daughter, Sigrida, became the wife of Arkil, the son of Ecgfrid, and she bore him a son named Cospatric. This Cospatric took to wife the daughter of Dolfin, the son of Torfin, by whom he begot Cospatric, who of late ought to have fought with Waltheof, the son of Eilaf. Kilvert, the son of Ligulf, sent away the daughter of bishop Aldun, (I mean, Ecgfrida.) whereupon her father commanded her to return forthwith to Durham; and when she obeyed his commands, she brought back with her Bermetun, and Skirningheim, and Eltun, which she had retained in her own possession; and thus she restored to the church and the bishop the lands which properly belonged to them. After this she took the veil, which she kept faithfully until the day of her death: she lies buried in the churchyard of Durham, awaiting the day of judgment.
In order to detail the death of earl Ucthred, our narrative must revert a little. Suein, the king of the Danes, having driven Ethelred, the king of the English, into Normandy, took possession of his realm; but upon his death, which occurred no long time afterwards, king Ethelred returned to his own kingdom, having taken to wife Emma, the daughter of Richard, the duke of the Normans. Only a very short time had elapsed, when Cnut, the son of Suein, the king of the Danes, whom we have already mentioned, came to England, accompanied by a countless multitude, meaning to reign over it. He sent a message to Ucthred, asking him to join him, along with all the men whom he could muster, to render him assistance against king Ethelred; promising him that, in the event of his compliance, not only should he retain possession of the honour which he then held, but that something yet more extensive should be added. This earl was a man of considerable influence, for he had under him the counties of Northumberland and York. Ucthred, however, answered that he would do nothing of the sort, and declared that it would be the depth of baseness were he to act thus against his lord and father-in-law. “Nothing would induce me,” said he, “to take such a step: nor, indeed, ought I to do so. So long as king Ethelred lives, I will be faithful to him; for he is my lord and my wife’s father, and the abundant honours and riches which are mine, I possess by his gift. I will never be a traitor to him.” Thus Cnut had no assistance from Ucthred.
But upon the death of Ethelred, when Cnut became possessed of the whole realm of England, he sent a message to the earl, commanding that he would come to him as his lord. Having received a safe-conduct for his journey there and home again, the earl went Upon the day appointed, as he was going to the king to treat of peace, certain of the king’s armed soldiers, who were hidden within the traverse of the house at Wiheal, behind a curtain which was there suspended, suddenly rushed out and killed the earl, and forty of the chiefest of his men, who had entered along with him. This was planned by the treachery of a certain powerful man, Turebrant, surnamed Hold.

UHTRED or UCHTRED (d. 1016), Earl of Northumbria, was son of Waltheof the elder, earl of Northumbria, who had been deprived of the government of Deira (Yorkshire), the southern part of the earldom. Uhtred helped Ealdhun or Aldhun, bishop of Durham, when in 995 he moved his see from Chester-le-Street, to prepare the site for his new church. He married the bishop’s daughter Ecgfrida, and received with her six estates belonging to the bishopric, on condition that as long as he lived he should keep her in honourable wedlock. When in 1006 the Scots invaded Northumbria under their king, Malcolm II (d. 1034) [q. v.], and besieged Durham, Waltheof, who was old and unfit for war, shut himself up in Bamborough; but Uhtred, who was a valiant warrior, went to the relief of his father-in-law the bishop, defeated the Scots, and slew a great number of them. Ethelred II (968?-1016) [q.v.], on hearing of Uhtred’s success, gave him his father’s earldom, adding to it the government of Deira. Uhtred then sent back the bishop’s daughter, restoring the estates of the church that he had received with her, and married Sigen, the daughter of a rich citizen, probably of York or Durham, named Styr Ulfson, receiving her on condition that he would slay her father’s deadly enemy, Thurbrand. He did not fulfil this condition and seems to have parted with Sigen also; for as he was of great service to the king in war, Ethelred gave him his daughter Elgiva or Ælfgifu to wife. When Sweyn [q.v.], king of Denmark, sailed into the Humber in 1013, Uhtred promptly submitted to him; but when Canute [q. v.] asked his aid in 1015 he returned, it is said, a lofty refusal, declaring that so long as he lived he would keep faithful to Ethelred, his lord and father-in-law. He joined forces with the king’s son Edmund in 1016, and together they ravaged the shires that refused to help them against the Danes. Finding, however, that Canute was threatening York, Uhtred hastened northwards, and was forced to submit to the Danish king and give him hostages. Canute bade him come to him at a place called Wiheal (possibly Wighill, near Tadcaster), and instructed or allowed his enemy Thurbrand to slay him there. As Uhtred was entering into the presence of the king a body of armed men of Canute’s retinue emerged from behind a curtain and slew him and forty thegns who accompanied him, and cut off their heads. He was succeeded in his earldom by Canute’s brother-in-law Eric, and on Eric’s banishment the earldom came to Uhtred’s brother, Eadwulf Cutel, who had probably ruled the northern part of it under Eric.
By Ecgfrida, Uhtred had a son named Ealdred (or Aldred), who succeeded his uncle, Eadwulf Cutel, in Bernicia, the northern part of Northumbria, slew his father’s murderer, Thurband, and was himself slain by Thurbrand’s son Carl; he left five daughters, one of whom, named Elfleda, became the wife of Earl Siward [q. v.] and the mother of Earl Waltheof [q. v.] By Ethelred’s daughter Elgiva, Uhtred had a daughter named Aldgyth or Eadgyth,who married Maldred, and became the mother of Gospatric (or Cospatric), earl of Northumberland [q. v.] He also had two other sons—Eadwulf, who succeeded his brother Ealdred as earl in Bernicia and was slain by Siward, and Gospatric. His wife, Ecgfrida, married again after he had repudiated her, and had a daughter named Sigrid, who had three husbands, one of them being this last-named Eadwulf, the son of her mother's husband. Ecgfrida was again repudiated, returned to her father, became a nun and died, and was buried at Durham (on these northern marriages see ROBERTSON’S Essays, p. 172).
[De Obsid. Dunelm. ap. Sym. of Durham, i. 215-20, also ii. 197, 383; Will, of Malmesbury’s Gesta Regum, ii. cc. 170, 180 (both Rolls Ser.); A.-S. Chron. ann. 1013, 1016; Flor. Wig. (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Freeman’s Norm. Conq. i. 358, 394, 416.] W. H.

The last of the kings of that province was Eiric, whom the Northumbrians, in violation of the faith which they had sworn to king Eadred, made their king. Wherefore the king, being enraged, ordered that the whole province should be utterly devastated. Hereupon the Northumbrians, their king being driven out and slain by Maccus, the son of Onlaf, pacified king Eadred by oaths and presents, and the province was committed to earl Osulf. From that time Osulf administered the affairs on the north side of the Tyne, and Oslac at York and its territories. To them succeeded the elder Walthef, who had his son Uchtred as his successor.

UHTRED or UCHTRED (d. 1016), Earl of Northumbria, was son of Waltheof the elder, earl of Northumbria, who had been deprived of the government of Deira (Yorkshire), the southern part of the earldom. … When in 1006 the Scots invaded Northumbria under their king, Malcolm II (d. 1034) [q. v.], and besieged Durham, Waltheof, who was old and unfit for war, shut himself up in Bamborough; but Uhtred, who was a valiant warrior, went to the relief of his father-in-law the bishop, defeated the Scots, and slew a great number of them. Ethelred II (968?-1016) [q.v.], on hearing of Uhtred’s success, gave him his father’s earldom, adding to it the government of Deira.

Bamburgh

Ælflæd

Ealdred of Bamburgh

Uhtred of Bamburgh

Waltheof the Elder