Osulf or Oswulf (died 1067) was the son of Eadwulf IV, Earl of Bamburgh (killed 1041), and grandson of

Uhtred the Bold Uhtred of Bamburgh (Uhtred the Bold—sometimes Uchtred; died ca. 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 Eadwulfingas, ...

ruler of Bamburgh The Rulers of Bamburgh (Old English: ''Bebbanburh''; Old Irish: ''Dún Guaire''; Brittonic: ''Din Guairoi'') were significant regional potentates in what is now northern England and south-eastern Scotland during the Viking Age. Sometimes referr ...

and

ealdorman of Northumbria Earl of Northumbria or Ealdorman of Northumbria was a title in the late Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian people, Anglo-Scandinavian and early Anglo-Norman England, Anglo-Norman period in England. The ealdordom was a successor of the ...

(killed 1016). Oswulf’s family ruled Bamburgh from 954 until 1041, though their independence may have been compromised after 1041 when Siward the Stout killed Eadwulf and gained hegemony over the north. In 1065,

Morcar Morcar (or Morcere) (, ) (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 William the Conqueror replaced him with Copsi. Dispute with the Godwins Morcar ...

succeeded Tostig as ealdorman of Northumbria and nominal overlord of Oswulf, ruling the portion north of 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, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The ...

. However, because of Morcar’s resistance to the

Norman invasion of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, French, Flemish, and Breton troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

in 1066, he was deposed and imprisoned. William then appointed

Copsi Copsi (or Copsig; ; 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), he joined Tosti ...

(sometimes Copsig), Tostig’s former deputy, as Morcar's replacement. In February 1067, Copsi came north and forced Oswulf to seek shelter in the hills. Oswulf began to gather an army. Because Copsi was seen as an invader and a tax-gatherer for William, he was deeply unpopular among the Northumbrians north and south of the Tyne, and Oswulf had no trouble in gathering recruits. On 12 March, he surprised Copsi and his men at a banquet at

Newburn-upon-Tyne Newburn is a village and district of Newcastle upon Tyne, in Tyne and Wear, England. Situated on the North bank of the River Tyne, it is built rising up the valley from the river. It is situated approximately from the city centre, east of H ...

. Copsi fled to a nearby church but this was set on fire, forcing Copsi out. Oswulf then had Copsi's head cut off. Oswulf appears to have seized control of the earldom of Bamburgh, and was not threatened by any expeditions to remove him. However, in the autumn of 1067, Oswulf, who appears to have been carrying out his duties as

earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the Peerages in the United Kingdom, peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ...

, intercepted an outlaw and was run through by the man’s spear. He was succeeded as earl by his cousin, Gospatric, who allegedly paid King William for the latter's recognition of his earldom.

Sources

* Aird, William M., "Osulf , earl of Bamburgh (d. 1067)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
, accessed 30 Dec 2008
* Kapelle, William E., ''The Norman Conquest of the North'', University of North Carolina Press, 1979. * Stenton, Sir Frank M. ''Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition''.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1971.

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Oswulf 02 Of Bamburgh 1067 deaths 11th-century English nobility Anglo-Saxon warriors Eadwulfing Year of birth unknown Rulers of Bamburgh