Guthred Hardacnutsson (
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
: ''Guðrøðr''; la, Guthfridus; born c.844 – died 24 August 895 AD) was the Christian king of
Viking Northumbria from circa 883 until his death.
Life
Kings of Northumbria in the Norse era
The first known king of Viking York,
Halfdan
Halfdan (, ang, Healfdene, Medieval : "half Dane") was a late 5th and early 6th century legendary Danish king of the Scylding (Skjöldung) lineage, the son of king named Fróði in many accounts, noted mainly as the father to the two kings who ...
, was expelled in 877. In c. 883,
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 ...
's ''History of the Kings'' simply states, "Guthred, from a slave, was made king", but his ''History of the Church of Durham'' gives a longer account. Here he writes that after Halfdan was driven out:
During this time the ikingarmy, and such of the inhabitants as survived, being without a king, were insecure; whereupon the blessed Cuthbert
Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Nort ...
himself appeared in a vision to abbot Eadred f_the_monastery_at_Carlisle.html" ;"title="Carlisle.html" ;"title="f the monastery at Carlisle">f the monastery at Carlisle">Carlisle.html" ;"title="f the monastery at Carlisle">f the monastery at Carlisle..[and] addressed him in the following words:—"Go to the army of the Danes," he said, "and announce to them that you are come as my messenger; and ask where you can find a lad named Guthred, the son of Hardacnut, whom they sold to a widow. Having found him, and paid the widow the price of his liberty, let him be brought forward before the whole aforesaid army; and my will and pleasure is, that he be elected and appointed king at Oswiesdune, (that is, Oswin's hill), and let the bracelet be placed upon his right arm.
It is not clear whether Guthfrith was a Christian, but his relations with the community of Saint Cuthbert, which was a major force in the former
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 which had lain outside the influence of Halfdan, whose authority was limited to the former
Deira
Deira ( ; Old Welsh/Cumbric: ''Deywr'' or ''Deifr''; ang, Derenrice or ) was an area of Post-Roman Britain, and a later Anglian kingdom.
Etymology
The name of the kingdom is of Brythonic origin, and is derived from the Proto-Celtic *''daru' ...
—approximately
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
—were good. He granted much land between the
River Tyne and the
River Wear to the community. This had once belonged to the
Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery, and formed the core lands of the church of Durham. Other lands, at the mouth of the
River Tees, Guthred allowed Eadred to purchase for the church.
Symeon recounts that Guthred faced a large invasion by the
Scots, which was defeated with the aid of Saint Cuthbert.
Death
Guthred died on 24 August 895 (or perhaps 894) and was buried at
York Minster
The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Arch ...
.
Æthelweard the historian, whose tenth-century ''Chronicon'' is a more reliable source for this period than the later works of Symeon, records that in 895:
Cultural depictions
Literature
Guthred appears as a character in
Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written ''The Saxon ...
's ''
The Saxon Stories'' series, figuring particularly in ''
The Lords of the North'' (2006).
Television
He is portrayed by
Thure Lindhardt in the TV adaptation, ''
The Last Kingdom
''The Last Kingdom'' is the first historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2004. This story introduces Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a Saxon noble who is kidnapped by Danish Vikings as a young child and is assimilated ...
''.
Video games
In
Total War
Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-combata ...
Saga: Thrones of Britannia, Guthred (spelled Guthfrid in the game) leads the playable faction of
Northymbre.
Notes
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Guthfrith, King of York
895 deaths
Monarchs of Jorvik
9th-century English monarchs
Viking rulers
Year of birth unknown
9th-century Vikings