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 920 -
Generation: 1
Generation: 2
Generation: 3
| 3. |  Earl of Northumberland Uchtred  (2.Waltheof2, 1.I1) was born in 960 in Northumberland, England; died in 1016 in Northumberland, England. Notes:
DANISH RULE.
The next reign was short, and devoid of interest so far as Northumbria is concerned; in that of ETHELRED the UNREADY, England reached the lowest depths of its degradation, and for more than thirty years, there is one sickening record of barbarian warfare or foul and bloody treasons. Fresh hosts of Northmen from Norway and Denmark, under Olave and Sweyn, invaded the country; and "there was muckle awe of the host, that no man could think how man could drive them from this earth or hold this earth against them; for they had cruelly marked each shire of Wessex with burning and with harrying." Sweyn next transferred the field of his operations to the north, and landing in the Humber in 1013, he ravaged the country on both sides of the river. He then proceeded to York, and encamped on the banks of the Ouse, where "Earl Uchtred and all the Northumbrians bowed to him." Sweyn died the following year at Gainsborough and the host chose his son Cnut, or Canute, for their king. Being obliged to return to Denmark, the English during his absence recalled their exiled king, Ethelred, who carried on a desultory war with the intruders for two years. The Northumbrians under Earl Uchtred declared for Ethelred, but were opposed by Canute on his return, and then, finding resistance useless, they gave in their submission to the Dane. The earl was summoned to attend the court of Canuteat Wiheal, and was there perfidiously murdered by Thurebrand and a body of assassins whom the Dane had concealed behind a curtain. Forty of his retainers shared his fate. "The history of Uchtred and his family," says Lingard, "afford striking proofs of the barbarism of the times. When Malcolm, King of Scotland, laid siege to Durham, Uchtred assumed the office of his aged father, the Earl Waltheof, and defeated the enemy. After the victory he selected the most handsome of the slain, whose heads by his orders were cut off, washed in the river, and, with their long braided hair, fixed on stakes round the walls of the city. To reward this service Ethelred appointed him earl, and gave him his daughter Elfgiva in marriage. His former wife Siga was the daughter of the opulent thane Styr. With her he had espoused the quarrels of the family, and engaged to satisfy the revenge of his father-in-law by the death of that nobleman's enemy, Thurebrand. But Thurebrand frustrated all his machinations, and at last, as appears above, obtained the consent of Canute to inflict on his foe the punishment which had been designed for himself. The murderer, however, fell soon after by the sword of Aldred, the son of the man whom he had murdered. The duty of revenge now devolved on Ceorl, the son of Thurebrand. The two chieftains spent some years in plotting their mutual destruction: by the persuasion of their friends they were reconciled; and the reconciliation was confirmed by oaths of brotherhood, and a promise of making together a pilgrimage to Rome. Aldred visited Ceorl at his house, was treated with apparent kindness, and then treacherously assassinated in the forest of Ridesdale. Ceorl escaped the fate which he merited; but at the distance of many years his sons, while they were feasting at the house of the elder brother, near York, were surprised by Waltheof, the grandson of Aldred. The whole family was massacred with the exception of Sumerlede, who chanced to be absent, and Canute, who owed his life to the pity inspired by his amiable character. The hereditary feud, which had now continued for five generations, was at last extinguished by the Norman Conquest. From it the reader may judge of the disunion, mistrust, and treachery which prevailed in armies composed of the retainers of chieftains, bound, by what they considered a most sacred duty, to seek the destruction of each other."
Taken from:
A History of Yorkshire
from Bulmer's Gazetteer (1892)
Family/Spouse: Elfrida (Eggfrida). Elfrida (daughter of Bishop of Durham Ealdhun) was born in 960 in Durham, England; died in 1010. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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Generation: 4
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