Gospatric or Cospatric (from the
Cumbric
Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North" in what is now the counties of Westmorland, Cumberland and northern Lancashire in Northern England and the souther ...
"Servant of
aint
The word "ain't" is a contraction for ''am not'', ''is not'', ''are not'', ''has not'', ''have not'' in the common English language vernacular. In some dialects ''ain't'' is also used as a contraction of ''do not'', ''does not'' and ''did not''. ...
Patrick Patrick may refer to:
* Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name
* Patrick (surname), list of people with this name
People
* Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint
*Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
"), (died after 1073), was
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-Saxo ...
, or of
Bernicia
Bernicia ( ang, Bernice, Bryneich, Beornice; la, Bernicia) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England.
The Anglian territory of Bernicia was ap ...
, and later lord of sizable estates around
Dunbar
Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and gave its name to an ecc ...
. His male-line descendants held the
Earldom of Dunbar, later known as the
Earldom of March
Earl of March is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of England. The title derived from the "marches" or borderlands between England and either Wales (Welsh Marches) or Scotland (Scottish Marche ...
, in south-east
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
until 1435, and the
Lordship and Earldom of Home from 1473 until the present day.
Background
Symeon of Durham
__NOTOC__
Symeon (or Simeon) of Durham (died after 1129) was an English chronicler and a monk of Durham Priory.
Biography
Symeon entered the Benedictine monastery at Jarrow as a youth. It moved to Durham in 1074, and he was professed in 1085 or ...
describes Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria, as maternal grandson, through his mother Ealdgyth, of
Northumbrian ealdorman Uchtred the Bold
Uhtred of Bamburgh (sometimes Uchtred); died c. 1016), was ruler of Bamburgh and from 1006 to 1016 the ealdorman of Northumbria. He was the son of Waltheof I, ruler of Bamburgh (Bebbanburg), whose family the Eadwulfings had ruled the surrou ...
and his third wife, Ælfgifu, daughter of King
Æthelred II
Æthelred (; ang, Æþelræd ) or Ethelred () is an Old English personal name (a compound of ''wiktionary:æþele, æþele'' and ''wiktionary:ræd, ræd'', meaning "noble counsel" or "well-advised") and may refer to:
Anglo-Saxon England
* Æthel ...
. This follows the ancestry given in the earlier ''
De obsessione Dunelmi
''De obsessione Dunelmi'' ("On the siege of Durham"), is an historical work written in the north of England during the Anglo-Norman period, almost certainly at Durham, and probably in either the late 11th- or early 12th-century.
Provenance
The ...
'', in which Gospatric's father is named as Maldred, son of ''Crinan, tein'' (
thegn
In Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there w ...
Crínán), perhaps the
Crínán of Dunkeld
Crínán of Dunkeld (died 1045) was the hereditary abbot of the monastery of Dunkeld, and perhaps the Mormaer of Atholl. Crínán was progenitor of the House of Dunkeld, the dynasty which would rule Scotland until the later 13th century. He was t ...
who was father of Scottish king
Duncan I
Donnchad mac Crinain ( gd, Donnchadh mac Crìonain; anglicised as Duncan I, and nicknamed An t-Ilgarach, "the Diseased" or "the Sick"; c. 1001 – 14 August 1040)Broun, "Duncan I (d. 1040)". was king of Scotland (''Alba'') from 1034 to 1040. H ...
. Even were thegn Crínán the same as Crínán of Dunkeld, it is not certain Maldred was born to Duncan's mother,
Bethóc
Bethóc ingen Maíl Coluim meic Cináeda was the elder daughter of Malcolm II of Scotland, Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots, and the mother of his successor, Duncan I of Scotland, Duncan I.
Biography
Bethóc was the eldest daughter and ...
, daughter of the Scots king
Malcolm II
Máel Coluim mac Cináeda ( gd, Maol Chaluim mac Choinnich, label=Modern Scottish Gaelic; anglicized Malcolm II; c. 954 – 25 November 1034) was King of Scots from 1005 until his death. He was a son of King Kenneth II; but the name of his moth ...
.
The ''Life of
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.
Edward was the son of Æth ...
'', commissioned by
Queen Edith, contains an account of the
pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
to
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
of
Tostig Godwinson
Tostig Godwinson ( 102925 September 1066) was an Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria and brother of King Harold Godwinson. After being exiled by his brother, Tostig supported the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada's invasion of England, and was killed ...
, Earl of Northumbria. It tells how a band of robbers attacked Tostig's party in Italy, seeking to kidnap the Earl. A certain Gospatric "was believed because of the luxury of his clothes and his physical appearance, which was indeed distinguished" to be Earl Tostig, and succeeded in deceiving the would-be kidnappers as to his identity until the real Earl was safely away from the scene. Whether this was the same Gospatric, or a kinsman of the same name, is unclear, but it is suggested that his presence in Tostig's party was as a hostage as much as a guest.
Gwas Patrik and other spelling variants of this meaning servant of Patrick are recorded as names in Wales in the middle ages
Harrying of the North
After his victory over
Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson ( – 14 October 1066), also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon English king. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings, fighting the Norman invaders led by William the C ...
at
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
,
William of Normandy
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 108 ...
appointed a certain
Copsi
Copsi (or Copsig; ang, Cōpsige; died 1067) was a Northumbrian magnate in late Anglo-Saxon England. He was a supporter of Tostig, and was exiled along with him in 1065. Copsi soon fled to Orkney (then a part of Norway). The next year (1066), ...
or Copsig, a supporter of the late Earl Tostig, who had been exiled with his master in 1065, as Earl of Bernicia in the spring of 1067. Copsi was dead within five weeks, killed by
Oswulf, grandson of Uchtred, who installed himself as Earl. Oswulf was killed in the autumn by bandits after less than six months as Earl. At this point, Gospatric, who had a plausible claim to the Earldom given the likelihood that he was related to Oswulf and Uchtred, offered King William a large amount of money to be given the Earldom of Bernicia. The King, who was in the process of raising heavy taxes, accepted.
In early 1068, a series of uprisings in England, along with foreign invasion, faced King William with a dire threat. Gospatric is found among the leaders of the uprising, along with
Edgar Ætheling
Edgar Ætheling or Edgar II (c. 1052 – 1125 or after) was the last male member of the royal house of Cerdic of Wessex. He was elected King of England by the Witenagemot in 1066, but never crowned.
Family and early life
Edgar was born ...
and
Edwin, Earl of Mercia
Edwin (Old English: ''Ēadwine'') (died 1071) was the elder brother of Morcar, Earl of Northumbria, son of Ælfgār, Earl of Mercia and grandson of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. He succeeded to his father's title and responsibilities on Ælfgār's de ...
and his brother
Morcar
Morcar (or Morkere) ( ang, Mōrcǣr) (died after 1087) was the son of Ælfgār (earl of Mercia) and brother of Ēadwine. He was the earl of Northumbria from 1065 to 1066, when he was replaced by William the Conqueror with Copsi.
Dispute with t ...
. This uprising soon collapsed, and William proceeded to dispossess many of the northern landowners and grant the lands to
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
incomers. For Gospatric, this meant the loss of his earldom to
Robert Comine
Robert de Comines (died 28 January 1069) (also Robert de Comines, Robert de Comyn) was very briefly Earl of Northumbria.
Life
His name suggests that he originally came from Comines, then in the County of Flanders, and entered the following of W ...
and exile in Scotland. King William's authority, apart from minor local troubles such as
Hereward the Wake
Hereward the Wake (Traditional pronunciation /ˈhɛ.rɛ.ward/, modern pronunciation /ˈhɛ.rɪ.wəd/) (1035 – 1072) (also known as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and a leader of local resista ...
and
Eadric the Wild
Eadric ''the Wild'' (or Eadric ''Silvaticus''), also known as Wild Edric, Eadric ''Cild'' (or ''Child'') and Edric ''the Forester'', was an Anglo-Saxon magnate of Shropshire and Herefordshire who led English resistance to the Norman Conquest, acti ...
, appeared to extend securely across England.
Gospatric joined the invading army of
Danes
Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
Danes generally regard t ...
,
Scots, and
Englishmen
The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language, a West Germanic language, and share a common history and culture. The English identity is of Anglo-Saxon origin, when they were known in O ...
under
Edgar the Aetheling
Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear").
Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, rev ...
in the next year. Though the army was defeated, he afterwards was able, from his possession of
Bamburgh
Bamburgh ( ) is a village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland, England. It had a population of 454 in 2001, decreasing to 414 at the 2011 census.
The village is notable for the nearby Bamburgh Castle, a castle which was the seat of ...
castle, to make terms with the conqueror, who left him undisturbed until 1072. The widespread destruction in Northumbria known as the
Harrying of the North
The Harrying of the North was a series of campaigns waged by William the Conqueror in the winter of 1069–1070 to subjugate northern England, where the presence of the last House of Wessex, Wessex claimant, Edgar Ætheling, had encouraged An ...
relates to this period.
Exile
According to Anglo-Norman chroniclers, in 1072
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
stripped Gospatric of his Earldom of Northumbria,
[Anderson, Alan O., MA Edin., ''Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers AD500 to 1286'', London, 1908, p.96] and replaced him with Siward's son
Waltheof, 1st Earl of Northampton
Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria ( enm, Wallef, on, Valþjóf) (died 31 May 1076) was the last of the Anglo-Saxon earls and the only English aristocrat to be executed during the reign of William I.
Early life
Waltheof was the second son of Siw ...
.
Gospatric fled into exile in Scotland and not long afterwards went to
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...
. When he returned to Scotland he was granted the castle at "Dunbar and lands adjacent to it" and in
the Merse
Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of th ...
by King
Malcolm III
Malcolm III ( mga, Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, label=Medieval Gaelic; gd, Maol Chaluim mac Dhonnchaidh; died 13 November 1093) was King of Scotland from 1058 to 1093. He was later nicknamed "Canmore" ("ceann mòr", Gaelic, literally "big head" ...
, his cousin. This earldom without a name in the Scots-controlled northern part of Bernicia would later become the Earldom of Dunbar.
Gospatric did not long survive in exile according to
Roger of Hoveden
Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...
's chronicle:
t long after this, being reduced to extreme infirmity, he sent for Aldwin and Turgot, the monks, who at this time were living at Meilros, in poverty and contrite in spirit for the sake of Christ, and ended his life with a full confession of his sins, and great lamentations and penitence, at Ubbanford, which is also called Northam, and was buried in the porch of the church there.
Neil McGuigan has argued that Waltheof's Norman earldom did not extend beyond the
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...
, and that Gospatric may have continued to rule the territory to the north from Bamburgh until the late 1070s.
Issue
Gospatric was the father of three sons, and several daughters. The sons Dolfin, Waltheof and Gospatric are named in ''
De obsessione Dunelmi
''De obsessione Dunelmi'' ("On the siege of Durham"), is an historical work written in the north of England during the Anglo-Norman period, almost certainly at Durham, and probably in either the late 11th- or early 12th-century.
Provenance
The ...
'' and by
Symeon of Durham
__NOTOC__
Symeon (or Simeon) of Durham (died after 1129) was an English chronicler and a monk of Durham Priory.
Biography
Symeon entered the Benedictine monastery at Jarrow as a youth. It moved to Durham in 1074, and he was professed in 1085 or ...
,
while a document from about 1275 apparently prepared to instruct advocates in a land dispute reports that of these three sons, only Waltheof was born to a legitimate marriage and that he was full sibling of Gospatric's daughter Ethelreda.
[Joseph Bain, ed., ''Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland'', vol. II AD 1272-1307, p. 1]
/ref> A second document with some "nearly identical" content prepared about the same time names three sisters of Waltheof of Allerdale, Gunnilda, Matilla and Ethreda, their husbands, as well as Ethreda's son William Fitz Duncan
William fitz Duncan (a modern anglicisation of the Old French Guillaume fils de Duncan and the Middle Irish Uilleam mac Donnchada) was a Scottish prince, the son of King Duncan II of Scotland by his wife Ethelreda of Dunbar. He was a territoria ...
.[The so-called ''Chronicon Cumbriæ'' or ''Distributio Cumberlandiæ ad Conquestum Angliæ'', surviving in several error-prone copies with many differences, published by: J. E. Prescott, ed., ''The register of the Priory of Wetherhal'', p. 38]
James Wilson, ed., ''The Register of the Priory of St. Bees'', p. 49
and William Digdale, ''Monasticum Angliae'', vol. 3, p. 58
Gospatric's children were:
* Dolfin of Carlisle, Dolfin, oldest son, received from Malcolm the government of Carlisle
Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...
.
* Gospatric who was killed at the battle of the Standard
The Battle of the Standard, sometimes called the Battle of Northallerton, took place on 22 August 1138 on Cowton Moor near Northallerton in Yorkshire, England. English forces under William of Aumale repelled a Scottish army led by King David ...
in 1138.
* Waltheof, Lord of Allerdale and Abbot of Crowland
* Ethelreda (Ethreda), married Duncan II of Scotland
Donnchad mac Máel Coluim ( Modern Gaelic: ''Donnchadh mac Mhaoil Chaluim'';''Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim'' is the Mediaeval Gaelic form. anglicised as Duncan II; c. 1060 – 12 November 1094) was king of Scots. He was son of Malcolm III (Máel Col ...
, the son of Malcolm III of Scotland
Malcolm III ( mga, Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, label=Medieval Gaelic; gd, Maol Chaluim mac Dhonnchaidh; died 13 November 1093) was King of Scotland from 1058 to 1093. He was later nicknamed "Canmore" ("ceann mòr", Gaelic, literally "big head" ...
; mother of William fitz Duncan
William fitz Duncan (a modern anglicisation of the Old French Guillaume fils de Duncan and the Middle Irish Uilleam mac Donnchada) was a Scottish prince, the son of King Duncan II of Scotland by his wife Ethelreda of Dunbar. He was a territoria ...
; also married to Waltheof, son of Gillemin.[T. Graham, 'The Honour of Cockermouth', ''Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society'', 2nd series, 29:69-79]
* Matilda/Matilla married Dolfin, son of Aylward
* Gunhilda (Gunnild), married Orm of Workington, son of Ketil
Notes
References
*
* Barrow, G.W.S., ''The Kingdom of the Scots.'' Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2003.
* Fletcher, Richard, ''Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England.'' London: Penguin, 2003.
* Forte, Angelo, Oram, Richard, & Pedersen, Frederik,
Viking Empires
'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
*
* Higham, N.J., ''The Kingdom of Northumbria AD 350-1100.'' Stroud: Sutton, 1993.
* Stenton, Frank M., ''Anglo-Saxon England.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Northumbria
11th-century deaths
11th-century English nobility
Year of birth unknown
Rulers of Bamburgh
Earls of Northumbria (Peerage of England)