Eadwulf, Earl of Northumbria (British Library Cotton MS Tiberius B I, folio 157r)

Eadulf IV or Eadwulf IV (died 1041) was the

earl of Bernicia The Rulers of Bamburgh were significant regional potentates in what is now northern England and south-eastern Scotland during the Viking Age. Sometimes referred to in modern sources as the Earldom of Bamburgh, their polity existed for roughly two ...

from 1038 until his death. He was a son of

Uhtred 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 second wife Sige, daughter of Styr Ulfsson. Eadwulf had one full sibling, a younger brother Gospatric. He succeeded his older half-brother Ealdred, who was murdered by the son of Thurbrand the Hold in a bloodfeud started when Thurbrand murdered Uhtred. The ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...

'' asserts that in 1041 Eadwulf was "betrayed" by King

Harthacnut Harthacnut ( da, Hardeknud; "Tough-knot"; – 8 June 1042), traditionally Hardicanute, sometimes referred to as Canute III, was King of Denmark from 1035 to 1042 and King of the English from 1040 to 1042. Harthacnut was the son of King ...

. The "betrayal" seems to have been carried out by

Siward, Earl of Northumbria Siward ( or more recently ) or Sigurd ( ang, Sigeweard, non, Sigurðr digri) was an important earl of 11th-century northern England. The Old Norse nickname ''Digri'' and its Latin translation ''Grossus'' ("the stout") are given to him by near-c ...

; When the '' Libellus de Exordio'' and other sources write about the same event, they say that Siward attacked and killed Eadulf.Rollason (ed.), ''Libellus de Exordio'', pp. 170–71 Siward then became earl of all Northumbria, perhaps the first person to do so since Uhtred the Bold. Eadulf was the last of the ancient Bernician line of earls to rule, until his son Osulf usurped the

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

n earldom in 1067.

Family

Eadwulf is known to have married Sigrid, daughter of Kilvert of Lumley and his wife Ecgfrida of Durham. The same Ecgfrida that was the first wife of his father Uchtred, and mother of Eadwulf's older half-brother Ealdred. Sigrid was born of Ecgfrida's second marriage to Kilvert, therefore Eadwulf and his wife were not blood-related. Eadwulf is only identified to have had one son,

Osulf II of Bamburgh Osulf or Oswulf (died 1067) was the son of Eadwulf IV, Earl of Bamburgh (killed 1041), and grandson of Uhtred the Bold, ruler of Bamburgh and ealdorman of Northumbria (killed 1016). Oswulf’s family ruled Bamburgh from 954 until 1041, though t ...

. Osulf's mother has not been confirmed but was presumably Sigrid, as she was Eadwulf's only known wife. After Eadwulf's death Sigrid married several more times. In the ''Historia Regum Anglorum'', Eadwulf is recorded as having led a military campaign against the Britons of Cumbria in 1038. The Cumbrians may have lost the lands which they had held south of the Solway at this time.

References

Sources

* Clarkson, Tim, ''Strathclyde and the Anglo-Saxons in the Viking Age'', Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2014. * Stenton, Sir Frank M. ''Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition''. Oxford University Press, 1971. * Fletcher, Richard. ''Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England''. Allen Lane, 2002.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eadwulf 04 Of Bamburgh 1041 deaths Rulers of Bamburgh Year of birth unknown