Earl of Northumbria

Earl of Northumbria or Ealdorman of Northumbria was a title in the late Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Scandinavian and early Anglo-Norman period in England. The ealdordom was a successor of the Norse Kingdom of York. In the seventh century, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira were united in the kingdom of Northumbria, but this was destroyed by the Vikings in 867. Southern Northumbria, the former Deira, then became the Viking kingdom of York, while the rulers of Bamburgh commanded territory roughly equivalent to the northern kingdom of Bernicia. In 1006 Uhtred the Bold, ruler of Bamburgh, by command of Æthelred the Unready became ealdorman in the south, temporarily re-uniting much of the area of Northumbria into a single jurisdiction. Uhtred was murdered in 1016, and Cnut then appointed Eric of Hlathir ealdorman at York, but Uhtred's dynasty held onto Bamburgh. After the Norman Conquest the region was divided into multiple smaller baronies, one of which was the earldom of Northumberland, with others like the earldoms of York and numerous autonomous liberties such as the County Palatine of Durham and Liberty of Tynedale.

West Saxon- and Danish-Era ealdormen

Ealdormen before 1066
Ruler	Accession	End	Notes
Oslac	963×966	975
Thored	975×979	992x994
Ælfhelm	c.994	1006
Uhtred of Bamburgh	1006	1016
Eiríkr Hákonarson	1016	1023×1033
Siward	1023×1033	1055
Tostig Godwinson	1055	1065	Deposed after rebellion.
Morcar	1065	c.1068

Post-Conquest ealdormen

Ealdormen after 1066
Ruler	Accession	End	Notes
Gospatric	c. 1068	c. 1068	Unclear if he was just ruler of Bamburgh or what if any jurisdiction he exercised south of the Tyne. Gospatric and his descendants were the forerunners of the earls of Dunbar.^[1]
Robert de Comines	1068	1069	Killed by rebels at Durham
Waltheof of Northampton	c.1070	1075
Walcher	1075	1080	Also bishop of Durham.
Aubrey de Coucy	1080	1086
Robert de Mowbray	c.1086×1090	1095

Anglo-Norman-Era baronial title

Scottish earls
Ruler	Accession	End	Notes
Henry of Scotland	1139	1152
William of Scotland	1152	1157	Title and holdings confiscated by Henry II of England. Later Purchased by Hugh de Puiset, the Bishop of Durham in 1189, and held until 1191 or so.^[2]

Notes

^ Aird, William M. (2004). "Gospatric, earl of Northumbria (d. 1073x5)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11110. Retrieved 25 August 2013. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
^ Barlow, Frank (1988). The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042–1216 (Fourth ed.). New York: Longman. p. 352. ISBN 0-582-49504-0.

[1] Aird, William M. (2004). "Gospatric, earl of Northumbria (d. 1073x5)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11110. Retrieved 25 August 2013. (subscription or UK public library membership required)

[Barlow352-2] Barlow, Frank (1988). The Feudal Kingdom of England 1042–1216 (Fourth ed.). New York: Longman. p. 352. ISBN 0-582-49504-0.

[1]

[2]

West Saxon- and Danish-Era ealdormen

Post-Conquest ealdormen

Anglo-Norman-Era baronial title

See also

Notes