Siward, Earl of Northumbria
Encyclopedia
Siward or Sigurd 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-contemporary texts. Siward was probably of Scandinavia
n origin, perhaps a relative of Earl Ulf, and emerged as a powerful regional strongman in England during the reign of Cnut ("Canute the Great", 1016–1035). Cnut was a Scandinavian ruler who conquered England in the 1010s, and Siward was one of the many Scandinavians who came to England in the aftermath of that conquest. Siward subsequently rose to become sub-ruler of most of northern England. From 1033 at the latest Siward was in control of southern Northumbria
, that is, present-day Yorkshire
, governing as earl on Cnut's behalf.
He entrenched his position in northern England by marrying Ælfflæd, the daughter of Ealdred, Earl of Bamburgh. After killing Ealdred's successor Eadulf in 1041, Siward gained control of all Northumbria. He exerted his power in support of Cnut's successors, kings Harthacnut and Edward
, assisting them with vital military aid and counsel. He probably gained control of the middle shire
s of Northampton
and Huntingdon
by the 1050s, and there is some evidence that he spread Northumbrian control into Cumberland
. In the early 1050s Earl Siward turned against the Scottish ruler Mac Bethad mac Findlaích ("Macbeth"). Despite the death of his son Osbjorn a year previously, Siward defeated Mac Bethad in battle in 1054. More than half a millennium later the Scotland adventure earned him a place in William Shakespeare
's Macbeth
. Siward died in 1055, leaving one son, Waltheof, who would eventually succeed to Northumbria. St Olaf's church
in York
and nearby Heslington Hill are associated with Siward.
Source material on Siward's life and career is scarce, and only a small and potentially unrepresentative amount of information exists. No contemporary or near-contemporary biography has survived, and narratives from around the time of his life such as the Encomium Emmae
and the Vita Ædwardi Regis
scarcely mention him; historians are therefore dependent on a few entries in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
and comparable Irish sources. Later Anglo-Norman
histories may or may not be reliable depending on their source material, but useful ones include the Chronicle of John of Worcester
(compiled between 1124 and 1140), William of Malmesbury
(writing between c. 1125 and 1142), Henry of Huntingdon
(writing between c. 1133 and 1154), and Orderic Vitalis
(writing between c. 1114 and 1141). Other sources include the material attributed to Symeon of Durham
(compiled and written as extant between the late 1000s and the first half of the 1100s). Legendary material, such as that in hagiography
or later medieval sources such as John of Fordun
or Andrew of Wyntoun
, is not generally regarded as useful beyond its limited potential for cleanly preserving earlier source material.
and Harthacnut into the early years of Edward the Confessor
. Most important was the reign of Cnut, in which so many new political figures rose to power that some historians think it comparable to the Norman conquest five decades later. These "new men" were military figures, usually with weak hereditary links to the West Saxon royal house that Cnut had deposed. As Cnut ruled several Scandinavia
n kingdoms in addition to England, power at the highest level was delegated to such strongmen. In England, it fell to a handful of newly promoted "ealdormen" or "earls", who ruled a shire
or group of shires on behalf of the king. Siward was, in the words of historian Robin Fleming, "the third man in Cnut's new triumvirate of earls", the other two being Godwine
, Earl of Wessex
and Leofwine
, Earl of Mercia
.
Northern England in the 11th-century was a region quite distinct from the rest of the country. The former kingdom of Northumbria stretched from the Humber
and Mersey
estuaries, northward to the Firth of Forth
, where, passing the western Kingdom of Strathclyde
, it met the Kingdom of Alba
(Scotland). Northumbria had been united with the West Saxon English kingdom only in the 950s, by King Eadred, and subsequent control was exerted through the agency of at least two ealdormen, one to the north and one to the south of the river Tees
. The former is associated with the stronghold of Bamburgh
, while the latter is associated with the great Roman city of York
. It was a politically fragmented region. The western part, from Lancashire
to Cumberland
, was heavily settled by Norse-Gaels, while in the rest of Northumbria English and Anglo-Scandinavian regional magnates—thegn
s, holds and high-reeve
s—exercised a considerable degree of independence from the ealdormen. One such example was the magnate Thurbrand
, a hold in Yorkshire, probably based in Holderness
, whose family were frequently at odds with the ruling earls at Bamburgh.
Historians generally claim Siward to be of Scandinavian origin, a conclusion supported by the Vita Ædwardi Regis, which states that Siward was "[called] Digri in the Danish tongue" (Danica lingua Digara). Legendary material incorporated in the Vita et passio Waldevi comitis (or simply Vita Waldevi), the hagiographic biography of Siward's son Waltheof, states that Siward was the son of a Scandinavian earl named Bjorn and provides a genealogy claiming that he was the descendant of a polar bear
, a commonplace piece of Germanic folklore.
Historian Timothy Bolton has recently argued that the similarities between these genealogies is evidence of a shared family tradition between the descendants of Siward and Thorgil Sprakling. Bolton hypothesized that Siward's alleged father Bjorn was probably a historical figure, a brother of Thorgil Sprakling. Siward would then have been first cousin to Earl Ulf, the earl of Denmark who married Cnut's sister Estrith and founded the dynasty of Danish monarchs that eventually succeeded Cnut's. Bolton argued that the Sprakling family had only recently risen to prominence in Scandinavia, and so Siward's career in England was another indication of that family's success in Scandinavian politics.
The Vita Waldevi provides further legendary detail of Siward's journey from Scandinavia to England. According to the Vita, Siward passed through Orkney, killing a dragon
there before moving on to Northumbria
. There he encountered another dragon, before meeting an Oðinn-like old man on a hill, who handed him a raven banner
and instructed him to proceed to London to receive the patronage of the king of England.
The exact date and context of Siward's arrival in England are unknown, though the Vita Waldevi offers a legendary account. Charters dating to 1019, 1024, 1032, 1033 and 1035 mention a Si[ge]ward Minister, "the thegn
Siward", but it is impossible to securely identify any of these names with the man who became Earl of Northumbria
. The earliest certain contemporary record of Siward occurs in a charter of King Cnut to Ælfric Puttoc, Archbishop of York
, in 1033. This charter attestation can be identified as Siward the earl because he is styled dux ("earl").
Although it is clear that Siward was earl by 1033, he may have attained the position somewhat earlier. His predecessor Erik of Hlathir last appeared in the historical sources in 1023, leaving a ten-year gap during which Siward could have taken the position. Although William of Malmesbury asserted that Erik was driven back to Scandinavia, Scandinavian tradition firmly maintained he died in England. Historian William Kapelle believed that Erik ceased to be earl in or soon after 1023, and that Carl son of Thurbrand was appointed hold or high-reeve (heahgerefa) for the king in Yorkshire. Carl retained this position, it was argued, even after Siward was installed as earl a few years later, but from then on he acted as a deputy to the earl rather than to the king. Richard Fletcher
remained agnostic on the point, although he did argue that Erik must have been dead by 1028. Timothy Bolton, although rejecting Kapelle's argument concerning Carl son of Thurbrand, believed Erik died c. 1023 and that the earldom may have remained vacant for a period. Bolton argued that Cnut left the earldom of Northumbria empty and appears to have paid it little attention until the last years of his reign, and another northerner Ealdred son of Uhtred rose to power in the political vacuum.
When Cnut died in 1035, there were a number of rival claimants for his throne. These included his son Harthacnut, and the nobleman Harold Harefoot
, as well as Alfred Ætheling and Edward (later, King Edward the Confessor
), the exiled sons of Æthelred the Unready. Isolated in Scandinavia, Harthacnut was unable to prevent Harold Harefoot seizing the crown for himself. Ruling England from 1035, Harold died in 1040 just as Harthacnut was preparing an invasion. Arriving soon after Harold's death, Harthacnut reigned in England only two years before his own death in 1042, a death that led to the peaceful succession of Edward. Frank Barlow speculated on Siward's political stance, guessing that during these upheavals Siward assumed "a position of benevolent or prudent neutrality".
Siward is found in 1038, as Sywardus Comes ("Earl Siward"), witnessing a charter of King Harthacnut to the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. He witnessed a confirmation granted by Harthacnut to Fécamp Abbey
, between 1040 and 1042, of an earlier grant made by Cnut. In 1042, he witnessed grants by Harthacnut to Abingdon Abbey
and to Ælfwine
, Bishop of Winchester
.
Siward was, at some stage, married to Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdred, Earl of Bamburgh, and granddaughter of Uhtred the Bold. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle asserts that, in 1041 Eadulf
, Earl of Bamburgh, was "betrayed" by King Harthacnut. The "betrayal" seems to have been carried out by Siward; since when the Libellus de Exordio
and other sources write about the same event, they say that Siward attacked and killed Eadulf. It was thus that Siward became earl of all Northumbria, perhaps the first person to do so since Uhtred the Bold. It is possible that Siward used Ælfflæd's lineage to claim the earldom of Bamburgh for himself, although it is unclear whether the marriage took place before or after Siward killed Eadulf. Kapelle has pointed out that no ruler of Bamburgh after Uhtred is attested at the English royal court, which he argued "must mean they were in revolt" against the monarchy, and that Siward's attack may therefore have been encouraged by a monarch wishing to crush a rebellious or disloyal vassal. Siward however probably had his own interests too. Killing Eadulf eliminated his main rival in the north, and the marriage associated him with the family of Uhtred the Bold, and with Uhtred's surviving son Gospatric.
There may nonetheless be a connection between the murder of Eadulf and events further south. For the same year the Chronicle of John of Worcester related that, because of an attack on two of Harthacnut's tax-collectors there, Siward took part in a reprisal on the city and monastery of Worcester
. Harthacnut reigned only another year, dying on 8 June 1042. He was succeeded by the exiled English ætheling Edward. As an ætheling, a royal prince with a present or likely future claim on the throne, Edward appears to have been invited back by Harthacnut in 1041, fortuitously smoothing over the coming change in ruler. Edward was crowned king on Easter Day, 3 April 1043.
Relations between Siward and King Edward appear to have been good. Neither Siward nor any associates of Siward were punished by Edward in later years. In fact, Siward appears to have been one of Edward's most powerful supporters. On 16 November 1043, Siward, along with Earls Godwine of Wessex and Leofric of Mercia, marched with King Edward against Queen Emma
, helping the king to deprive the queen of her huge treasury. Edward then accused Emma of treason and deposed Stigand
, Bishop of Elmham from his position "because he was closest to his mother's counsel".
The Norman propagandist and historian, William of Poitiers
, claimed that Siward was among those who had sworn an oath to uphold Edward the Confessor's alleged declaration that William, Duke of Normandy (later King William I), was to be his heir. Others said to have made that oath were Earls Godwine of Wessex and Leofric of Mercia, along with Stigand, who had been pardoned in 1044, and raised to Bishop of Winchester
in 1047). If this did happen, it was probably during or a little before spring 1051, when Robert
, Archbishop of Canterbury
, was journeying to Rome for his pallium
.
In 1051 Siward, along with Earls Leofric and Ralph the Timid
, mobilised forces in defence of the king against a rebellion by Earl Godwine and his sons. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates that although Siward had to call up reinforcements, King Edward was successful and Earl Godwine was temporarily exiled. Earl Godwine remained a threat in exile, and the continued "belligerent support" of Siward and Leofric was thus vital to King Edward's safety. It was apparently, however, the reluctance of these two earls to fight Earl Godwine that contributed to Godwine's re-establishment in England in 1052.
There is evidence to suggest that Siward extended his power southward, bringing the shire of Northampton
into his control in the 1040s and the shire of Huntingdon in the 1050s. The evidence comes from royal writ
s addressed to Siward as earl in these shires. Siward's predecessors as earl in these areas were other Scandinavians, Thuri and Bjorn son of Earl Ulf; the former was styled "earl of the Midlanders" (comes mediterraneorum), showing that this earldom represented the earlier polity of the Middle Angles
of Mercia. It was this area, rather than Northumbria, to which Siward's descendants were most attached.
Likewise, it has been argued that Siward brought Cumberland
, thought by some historians to have been lost to Strathclyde, back under Northumbrian lordship. The evidence comes from a document known to historians as "Gospatric's Writ". This is a written instruction, issued either by the future Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria
or Gospatric, son of Earl Uhtred) that was addressed to all Gospatric's kindred and to the notables dwelling in the "all the lands that were Cumbrian" (on eallun þam landann þeo Cōmbres); it ordered that one Thorfinn mac Thore be free in all things (þ Thorfynn mac Thore beo swa freo in eallan ðynges) in Allerdale
, and that no man is to break the peace which was given by Gospatric and Earl Siward. Historians such as Charles Phythian-Adams believed that such phraseology indicated that Siward conquered the region from its previous rulers, although others, like William Kapelle, believed that the region had come, were it ever lost, back into English power before Siward's time.
A little can be said about Siward's relations with the Northumbrian church, in particular with regard to his relations with Durham
. As a result of Siward's marriage to Ælfflæd, Siward gained possession of a group of estates in Teesside
claimed by the bishops of Durham. Acquisition of these estates might have brought opposition from the Bishop of Durham, but Æthelric the incumbent had been expelled by the clergy of Durham in either 1045 or 1046 and, according to the Libellus de Exordio
, only returned by bribing Siward. According to the Libellus, the clergy were "terrified and overwhelmed by the fearful power of the earl" and "were compelled willy nilly to be reconciled to the bishop, and to admit him into his episcopal see". Despite this, Siward escaped censure in the writings of later Durham monks, something which suggests relations between Siward and Durham were probably good in general.
Siward can be found witnessing numerous charters during Edward's reign, though not as many as the Godwinsons; Siward usually comes third in lists of earls, behind Godwine and Leofric but ahead of Godwine's sons and the other earls. He witnessed at least seven, possibly nine, extant charters in 1044, six or seven in 1045, two in 1046, one in 1048 and one in 1049. A Dux ("earl") named Sihroþ and Sihroð witnessed two charters in 1050, and this may be Siward. There is another attestation in 1050, and his name appears in two dubious witness lists attached to charters dating to 1052 and 1054. Possibly Siward's last historical appearance in English legal documents is in the agreement made—probably at Lincoln
—between Wulfwig, Bishop of Dorchester, and Earl Leofric, dating to between 1053 and 1055.
Siward is perhaps most famous for his expedition in 1054 against Mac Bethad mac Findlaích (known to the English of a later era as King Macbeth of Scotland), an expedition that cost Siward his eldest son, Osbjorn. The origin of Siward's conflict with the Scots is unclear. According to the Libellus de Exordio, in 1039 or 1040, the Scottish king Donnchad mac Crínáin attacked northern Northumbria and besieged Durham. Within a year, Mac Bethad had deposed killed Donnchad. The failed siege occurred a year before Siward attacked and killed Earl Eadulf of Bamburgh, and though no connection between the two events is clear it is likely that they were linked.
The Annals of Lindisfarne and Durham, written in the early 12th-century, relate under the year 1046 that "Earl Siward with a great army came to Scotland, and expelled king Mac Bethad, and appointed another; but after his departure Mac Bethad recovered his kingdom". Historian William Kapelle thought that this was a genuine event of the 1040s, related to the Annals of Tigernach entry for 1045 that reported a "battle between the Scots" which led to the death of Crínán of Dunkeld
, Donnchad's father; Kapelle thought that Siward had tried to place Crínán's son and Donnchad's brother Maldred on the Scottish throne. Another historian, Alex Woolf
, argued that the Annals of Lindisfarne and Durham entry was probably referring to the invasion of Siward in 1054, but misplaced under 1046.
During the invasion of 1054, a battle was fought somewhere in Scotland north of the Firth of Forth
, a battle known variously as the "Battle of the Seven Sleepers" or the "Battle of Dunsinane". The tradition that the battle actually took place at Dunsinane has its origins in later medieval legend. The earliest mention of Dunsinane as the location of the battle is in the early 15th-century by Andrew of Wyntoun
.
The earliest contemporary English account of the battle is found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, recension
D:
and Hugh, who had joined Mac Bethad earlier after fleeing from England, were killed in the battle.
The battle is mentioned in the Irish annals too, briefly in the Annals of Tigernach
and more extensively in the Annals of Ulster
:
Dolfin is unidentified, but may have been a relation of Mac Bethad's enemy Crínán of Dunkeld, on the basis that some of Crínán's descendants may have borne this name.
The purpose of Siward's invasion is unclear, but it may be related to the identity of the "Máel Coluim" (Malcolm) mentioned in the sources. The early 12th-century chronicle attributed to John of Worcester, probably using an earlier source, wrote that Siward defeated Mac Bethad and made "Máel Coluim, son of the king of the Cumbrians" a king (Malcolmum, regis Cumbrorum filium, ut rex jusserat, regem constituit) The identity of Máel Coluim and the reasons for Siward's help are controversial. The traditional historical interpretation was that "Máel Coluim" is Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, known sometimes today as Malcolm III or Malcolm Canmore, and that Siward was attempting to oust Mac Bethad in his favour.
The traditional historical interpretation that "Máel Coluim" is Máel Coluim mac Donnchada derives from the Chronicle attributed to the 14th-century chronicler of Scotland, John of Fordun, as well as from earlier sources such as William of Malmesbury. The latter reported that Mac Bethad was killed in the battle by Siward, but it is known that Mac Bethad outlived Siward by two years. A. A. M. Duncan argued in 2002 that, using the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry as their source, later writers innocently misidentified Máel Coluim "son of the king of the Cumbrians" with the later Scottish king of the same name. Duncan's argument has been supported by several subsequent historians specialising in the era, such as Richard Oram
, Dauvit Broun
and Alex Woolf. It has also been suggested that Máel Coluim may have been a son of the Strathclyde British king Owen the Bald, perhaps by a daughter of Máel Coluim II, King of Scotland.
Duncan in fact believes that the Battle of the Seven Sleepers did not lead directly to a change of leadership in the Kingdom of Scotland. It has been suggested that the chief consequence of Siward's expedition was not the overthrow of Mac Bethad, but the transfer of British territory—perhaps previously lying under Scottish suzerainty—to Northumbrian overlordship. Alex Woolf has posited that, in such a context, Máel Coluim might have been a discontented Cumbrian prince who had been forced to "put himself under English protection". Evidence for Northumbrian control of Strathclyde
in this period includes 11th-century Northumbrian masonry found at the site of Glasgow Cathedral as well as early 12th-century claims from the archbishopric of York that Archbishop Cynesige
(1051–1060) had consecrated two Bishops of Glasgow.
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The 12th-century historian, Henry of Huntingdon, in his Historia Anglorum, relates that when Siward was attacked by dysentery
, fearing to die "like a cow" and wishing rather to die like a soldier, he clothed himself in armour and took to hand an axe and shield. Ennobled in such a manner, Siward died. This anecdote is of doubtful historicity, and is thought to be derived from the saga
devoted to Earl Siward, now lost. The Vita Ædwardi Regis states that Siward died at York and was buried in "the monastery of St Olaf" at Galmanho, a claim confirmed by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, John of Worcester, and the Historia Regum
.
Material incorporated in two surviving sources is thought by some to attest to the existence of a lost saga or some other kind of literary tradition concerning Siward's life. The first source is the Vita et Passio Waldevi, a hagiographic history of Siward's cult-inspiring son Waltheof. This text contains an account of Waltheof's paternal
origin, and in the process recounts certain adventures of his father Siward (see boxes throughout article). The second major witness of the tradition is Henry of Huntingdon's Historia Anglorum, which contains extracts of saga-like material relating to Siward's invasion of Scotland (1054) and his death (1055). The Anglo-Saxonist Frank Stenton
declared that Siward was "not a statesman, but a Danish warrior of the primitive type". Writers in the half-century after his death remembered Siward as a strong ruler who brought peace and suppressed brigandage.
Siward died more than a decade before the death of Edward the Confessor, but despite this the Domesday Book
recorded 4 manors, 3 in Yorkshire and 1 in Derbyshire, owned directly by Earl Siward in 1066, all of them subsequently held by Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester. This land was stated to have been worth £212, while his son Waltheof was said to have held £136 worth of land across 9 counties. Domesday records give an incomplete picture of Siward's holdings. In total it recorded property worth £348 for Siward and his son, which on its own would compare poorly with the £2493 in value recorded to have been held by the family of the earls of Mercia. Of the latter, however, Morcar of Mercia
, Earl of Northumbria on the day of King Edward's death, possessed land worth £968, while Tostig, exiled earl at the time, had land worth £491; both may have come into possession of some of Siward's land in the course of becoming Earls of Northumbria. Moreover, the counties that would become Durham
, Northumberland
, Cumberland
and Westmorland
were largely omitted from the survey, while, besides being only very poorly documented, the lands in Yorkshire had been severely devastated and devalued during the Harrying of the North
.
Siward is said to have built a church dedicated to St Olaf at Galmanho, York. The record of his burial in this church is the only notice of a non-royal lay burial inside a church in pre-Norman England. Siward's Howe
, i.e., Heslington Hill near York, was most likely named after Earl Siward, although probably because Siward held popular courts there rather than because it was his burial place.
One of Siward's sons is known to have survived him, Waltheof, whose mother was Ælfflæd. Waltheof later rose to be an earl in the East Midlands
before becoming Earl of Northumbria. When Waltheof rebelled against William the Conqueror, however, the act led to his execution and to his subsequent veneration as a saint
at Crowland Abbey. Waltheof's daughter married David I, King of the Scots, and through this connection Siward became one of the many ancestors of the later Scottish and British monarchs.
Besides Ælfflæd, Siward is known to have been married to a woman named Godgifu, who died before Siward. The marriage is known from a grant she made of territory around Stamford, Lincolnshire
, to Peterborough Abbey. Although no surviving children are attested, and no source states the name of Osbjorn's mother, this marriage has nonetheless raised the possibility that Waltheof and Osbjorn were born to different mothers, and William Kapelle suggested that Siward may have originally intended Osbjorn to inherit his southern territories while Waltheof inherited those territories in the north associated with the family of his mother Ælfflæd.
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
of 11th-century northern England. The Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
nickname Digri and its Latin translation Grossus ("the stout") are given to him by near-contemporary texts. Siward was probably of Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n origin, perhaps a relative of Earl Ulf, and emerged as a powerful regional strongman in England during the reign of Cnut ("Canute the Great", 1016–1035). Cnut was a Scandinavian ruler who conquered England in the 1010s, and Siward was one of the many Scandinavians who came to England in the aftermath of that conquest. Siward subsequently rose to become sub-ruler of most of northern England. From 1033 at the latest Siward was in control of southern Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
, that is, present-day Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, governing as earl on Cnut's behalf.
He entrenched his position in northern England by marrying Ælfflæd, the daughter of Ealdred, Earl of Bamburgh. After killing Ealdred's successor Eadulf in 1041, Siward gained control of all Northumbria. He exerted his power in support of Cnut's successors, kings Harthacnut and Edward
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
, assisting them with vital military aid and counsel. He probably gained control of the middle shire
Shire
A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...
s of Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
and Huntingdon
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was chartered by King John in 1205. It is the traditional county town of Huntingdonshire, and is currently the seat of the Huntingdonshire district council. It is known as the birthplace in 1599 of Oliver Cromwell.-History:Huntingdon...
by the 1050s, and there is some evidence that he spread Northumbrian control into Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
. In the early 1050s Earl Siward turned against the Scottish ruler Mac Bethad mac Findlaích ("Macbeth"). Despite the death of his son Osbjorn a year previously, Siward defeated Mac Bethad in battle in 1054. More than half a millennium later the Scotland adventure earned him a place in William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
. Siward died in 1055, leaving one son, Waltheof, who would eventually succeed to Northumbria. St Olaf's church
St Olave's Church, York
St Olave's is an Anglican church in York, England. It is situated on Marygate by St Mary's Abbey.The church is situated within St Mary's Abbey walls, which was ruined in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It is dedicated to St Olaf, patron saint of Norway...
in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
and nearby Heslington Hill are associated with Siward.
Sources
Encomium Emmae
Encomium Emmae Reginae or Gesta Cnutonis Regis is an 11th-century Latin encomium in honour of Queen Emma of Normandy. It was written in 1041 or 1042 probably by a monk of St Omer.-Manuscripts:...
and the Vita Ædwardi Regis
Vita Ædwardi Regis
The Vita Ædwardi Regis qui apud Westmonasterium Requiescit or simply Vita Ædwardi Regis is a historical work completed by an anonymous author c. 1067 and commissioned by Queen Edith, wife of King Edward the Confessor. It survives in one manuscript, dated c. 1100, now in the British Library...
scarcely mention him; historians are therefore dependent on a few entries in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
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 Alfred the Great...
and comparable Irish sources. Later Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
histories may or may not be reliable depending on their source material, but useful ones include the Chronicle of John of Worcester
John of Worcester
John of Worcester was an English monk and chronicler. He is usually held to be the author of the Chronicon ex chronicis.-Chronicon ex chronicis:...
(compiled between 1124 and 1140), William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
(writing between c. 1125 and 1142), Henry of Huntingdon
Henry of Huntingdon
Henry of Huntingdon , the son of a canon in the diocese of Lincoln, was a 12th century English historian, the author of a history of England, Historia anglorum, "the most important Anglo-Norman historian to emerge from the secular clergy". He served as archdeacon of Huntingdon...
(writing between c. 1133 and 1154), and Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis was an English chronicler of Norman ancestry who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th and 12th century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. The modern biographer of Henry I of England, C...
(writing between c. 1114 and 1141). Other sources include the material attributed to Symeon of Durham
Symeon of Durham
Symeon of Durham was an English chronicler and a monk of Durham Priory. When William of Saint-Calais returned from his Norman exile in 1091, Symeon was probably in his company...
(compiled and written as extant between the late 1000s and the first half of the 1100s). Legendary material, such as that in hagiography
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
or later medieval sources such as John of Fordun
John of Fordun
John of Fordun was a Scottish chronicler. It is generally stated that he was born at Fordoun, Mearns. It is certain that he was a secular priest, and that he composed his history in the latter part of the 14th century; and it is probable that he was a chaplain in the St Machar's Cathedral of...
or Andrew of Wyntoun
Andrew of Wyntoun
Andrew Wyntoun, known as Andrew of Wyntoun was a Scottish poet, a canon and prior of Loch Leven on St Serf's Inch and later, a canon of St...
, is not generally regarded as useful beyond its limited potential for cleanly preserving earlier source material.
Background
Siward's career in northern England spanned the reigns of four different monarchs. It began during the reign of Cnut, and lasted through those of Harold HarefootHarold Harefoot
Harold Harefoot was King of England from 1037 to 1040. His cognomen "Harefoot" referred to his speed, and the skill of his huntsmanship. He was the son of Cnut the Great, king of England, Denmark, and Norway by Ælfgifu of Northampton...
and Harthacnut into the early years of Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
. Most important was the reign of Cnut, in which so many new political figures rose to power that some historians think it comparable to the Norman conquest five decades later. These "new men" were military figures, usually with weak hereditary links to the West Saxon royal house that Cnut had deposed. As Cnut ruled several Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n kingdoms in addition to England, power at the highest level was delegated to such strongmen. In England, it fell to a handful of newly promoted "ealdormen" or "earls", who ruled a shire
Shire
A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...
or group of shires on behalf of the king. Siward was, in the words of historian Robin Fleming, "the third man in Cnut's new triumvirate of earls", the other two being Godwine
Godwin, Earl of Wessex
Godwin of Wessex , was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors. Cnut made him the first Earl of Wessex...
, Earl of Wessex
Earl of Wessex
The title Earl of Wessex has been created twice in British history, once in the pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon nobility of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom...
and Leofwine
Leofwine, Earl of Mercia
Leofwine was an ealdorman of the Hwicce in Mercia. He is mentioned as Wicciarum Prouinciarum dux Ealdorman of Hwicce in 997.Leofwine may have been related by marriage to the family of Ælfgifu of Northampton...
, Earl of Mercia
Earl of Mercia
Earl of Mercia was a title in the late Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Danish, and early Anglo-Norman period in England. During this period the earldom covered the lands of the old Kingdom of Mercia in the English Midlands....
.
Northern England in the 11th-century was a region quite distinct from the rest of the country. The former kingdom of Northumbria stretched from the Humber
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal River Ouse and the tidal River Trent. From here to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank...
and Mersey
River Mersey
The River Mersey is a river in North West England. It is around long, stretching from Stockport, Greater Manchester, and ending at Liverpool Bay, Merseyside. For centuries, it formed part of the ancient county divide between Lancashire and Cheshire....
estuaries, northward to the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
, where, passing the western Kingdom of Strathclyde
Kingdom of Strathclyde
Strathclyde , originally Brythonic Ystrad Clud, was one of the early medieval kingdoms of the celtic people called the Britons in the Hen Ogledd, the Brythonic-speaking parts of what is now southern Scotland and northern England. The kingdom developed during the post-Roman period...
, it met the Kingdom of Alba
Kingdom of Alba
The name Kingdom of Alba pertains to the Kingdom of Scotland between the deaths of Donald II in 900, and of Alexander III in 1286 which then led indirectly to the Scottish Wars of Independence...
(Scotland). Northumbria had been united with the West Saxon English kingdom only in the 950s, by King Eadred, and subsequent control was exerted through the agency of at least two ealdormen, one to the north and one to the south of the river Tees
River Tees
The River Tees is in Northern England. It rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines, and flows eastwards for 85 miles to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar.-Geography:...
. The former is associated with the stronghold of Bamburgh
Bamburgh
Bamburgh is a large village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland, England. It has a population of 454.It is notable for two reasons: the imposing Bamburgh Castle, overlooking the beach, seat of the former Kings of Northumbria, and at present owned by the Armstrong family ; and its...
, while the latter is associated with the great Roman city of York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
. It was a politically fragmented region. The western part, from Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
to Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
, was heavily settled by Norse-Gaels, while in the rest of Northumbria English and Anglo-Scandinavian regional magnates—thegn
Thegn
The term thegn , from OE þegn, ðegn "servant, attendant, retainer", is commonly used to describe either an aristocratic retainer of a king or nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England, or as a class term, the majority of the aristocracy below the ranks of ealdormen and high-reeves...
s, holds and high-reeve
High-reeve
High-reeve was a title taken by some English magnates during the 10th and 11th-centuries, and is particularly associated with the rulers of Bamburgh. It was not however only used by rulers of Bamburgh...
s—exercised a considerable degree of independence from the ealdormen. One such example was the magnate Thurbrand
Thurbrand the Hold
Thurbrand , nicknamed "the Hold", was a Northumbrian magnate in the early 11th-century. Perhaps based in Holderness and East Yorkshire, Thurbrand was recorded as the killer of Uhtred the Bold, Earl of Northumbria...
, a hold in Yorkshire, probably based in Holderness
Holderness
Holderness is an area of the East Riding of Yorkshire, on the east coast of England. An area of rich agricultural land, Holderness was marshland until it was drained in the Middle Ages. Topographically, Holderness has more in common with the Netherlands than other parts of Yorkshire...
, whose family were frequently at odds with the ruling earls at Bamburgh.
Ancestry
| "The Stories of the ancients tell us that Ursus (a certain nobleman whom the Lord, contrary to what normally happens in human procreation, allowed to be created from a white bear as a father and a noblewoman as a mother), begot Spratlingus; Spratlingus begot Ulfius; and Ulfius begot Beorn, who was nicknamed Beresune, that is, "Bear's Son". This Beorn was Danish by race, a distinguished earl and famous soldier. As a sign, however, that due to part of his ancestry he was of a different species, nature had given him the ears of his father's line, namely those of a bear. In all other features he was of his mother's appearance. And after many manly deeds and military adventures, he begot a son, a tried imitator of his father's strength and military skill. His name was Siward, nicknamed Diere, that is, the Stout (grossus)". |
| — A description of Siward's ancestry and his father Beorn, taken from the Vita Waldevi, a saint's life dedicated to Siward's son Waltheof. |
Historians generally claim Siward to be of Scandinavian origin, a conclusion supported by the Vita Ædwardi Regis, which states that Siward was "[called] Digri in the Danish tongue" (Danica lingua Digara). Legendary material incorporated in the Vita et passio Waldevi comitis (or simply Vita Waldevi), the hagiographic biography of Siward's son Waltheof, states that Siward was the son of a Scandinavian earl named Bjorn and provides a genealogy claiming that he was the descendant of a polar bear
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
, a commonplace piece of Germanic folklore.
Historian Timothy Bolton has recently argued that the similarities between these genealogies is evidence of a shared family tradition between the descendants of Siward and Thorgil Sprakling. Bolton hypothesized that Siward's alleged father Bjorn was probably a historical figure, a brother of Thorgil Sprakling. Siward would then have been first cousin to Earl Ulf, the earl of Denmark who married Cnut's sister Estrith and founded the dynasty of Danish monarchs that eventually succeeded Cnut's. Bolton argued that the Sprakling family had only recently risen to prominence in Scandinavia, and so Siward's career in England was another indication of that family's success in Scandinavian politics.
The Vita Waldevi provides further legendary detail of Siward's journey from Scandinavia to England. According to the Vita, Siward passed through Orkney, killing a dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
there before moving on to Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
. There he encountered another dragon, before meeting an Oðinn-like old man on a hill, who handed him a raven banner
Raven banner
The raven banner was a flag, possibly totemic in nature, flown by various Viking chieftains and other Scandinavian rulers during the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries A.D...
and instructed him to proceed to London to receive the patronage of the king of England.
Career under Cnut, Harold and Harthacnut
| "[A]fter a short conversation the king took him [Siward] into his service, and promised him the first position of dignity which became vacant in his realm. After that Siward said farewell, and he and his men took the way back to London. On the bridge not far from the monastery [Westminster] he met the Earl of Huntingdon, Tosti, a Dane by birth; the king hated him because he had married Earl Godwine's daughter, sister to the queen. The earl crossed the foot-bridge so near Siward that he soiled his mantle with his dirty feet; for at that time it was fashionable to wear a mantle without any cord by which to hold it up. Then blood rushed to his heart; yet he checked himself from taking revenge on the spot, because the shame was inflicted upon him by one who was on his way to the king's hall. But he remained standing with his men by the same bridge until Tosti came from the king; then he drew his sword and hacked off Tosti's head, and went with it under his mantle back to the king's hall. Here he asked, according to his promise, to give him the earldom of Huntingdon. But as the earl had just left him, the king thought he was only joking. Then Siward related his deed, and, as sure proof, cast the head down before the king's feet. The king then kept his promise, and proclaimed him at once earl of Huntingdon ... A few days later, the Northmen began to attack the realm. The king then was in a state of uncertainty, and deliberated with the great men of his realm as to what means should be adopted; and they made over with one voice Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmoreland to Earl Siward, and the king invested him with earldom over them". |
| — A saga-like description of Siward's accession to power in England, taken from the Vita Waldevi |
The exact date and context of Siward's arrival in England are unknown, though the Vita Waldevi offers a legendary account. Charters dating to 1019, 1024, 1032, 1033 and 1035 mention a Si[ge]ward Minister, "the thegn
Thegn
The term thegn , from OE þegn, ðegn "servant, attendant, retainer", is commonly used to describe either an aristocratic retainer of a king or nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England, or as a class term, the majority of the aristocracy below the ranks of ealdormen and high-reeves...
Siward", but it is impossible to securely identify any of these names with the man who became Earl of Northumbria
Earl of Northumbria
Earl of Northumbria was a title in the Anglo-Danish, late Anglo-Saxon, and early Anglo-Norman period in England. The earldom of Northumbria was the successor of the ealdormanry of Bamburgh, itself the successor of an independent Bernicia. Under the Norse kingdom of York, there were earls of...
. The earliest certain contemporary record of Siward occurs in a charter of King Cnut to Ælfric Puttoc, Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
, in 1033. This charter attestation can be identified as Siward the earl because he is styled dux ("earl").
Although it is clear that Siward was earl by 1033, he may have attained the position somewhat earlier. His predecessor Erik of Hlathir last appeared in the historical sources in 1023, leaving a ten-year gap during which Siward could have taken the position. Although William of Malmesbury asserted that Erik was driven back to Scandinavia, Scandinavian tradition firmly maintained he died in England. Historian William Kapelle believed that Erik ceased to be earl in or soon after 1023, and that Carl son of Thurbrand was appointed hold or high-reeve (heahgerefa) for the king in Yorkshire. Carl retained this position, it was argued, even after Siward was installed as earl a few years later, but from then on he acted as a deputy to the earl rather than to the king. Richard Fletcher
Richard A. Fletcher
Richard A. Fletcher was a historian who specialized in the medieval period. He was Professor of History at the University of York and one of the outstanding talents in English and Spanish medieval scholarship....
remained agnostic on the point, although he did argue that Erik must have been dead by 1028. Timothy Bolton, although rejecting Kapelle's argument concerning Carl son of Thurbrand, believed Erik died c. 1023 and that the earldom may have remained vacant for a period. Bolton argued that Cnut left the earldom of Northumbria empty and appears to have paid it little attention until the last years of his reign, and another northerner Ealdred son of Uhtred rose to power in the political vacuum.
When Cnut died in 1035, there were a number of rival claimants for his throne. These included his son Harthacnut, and the nobleman Harold Harefoot
Harold Harefoot
Harold Harefoot was King of England from 1037 to 1040. His cognomen "Harefoot" referred to his speed, and the skill of his huntsmanship. He was the son of Cnut the Great, king of England, Denmark, and Norway by Ælfgifu of Northampton...
, as well as Alfred Ætheling and Edward (later, King Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
), the exiled sons of Æthelred the Unready. Isolated in Scandinavia, Harthacnut was unable to prevent Harold Harefoot seizing the crown for himself. Ruling England from 1035, Harold died in 1040 just as Harthacnut was preparing an invasion. Arriving soon after Harold's death, Harthacnut reigned in England only two years before his own death in 1042, a death that led to the peaceful succession of Edward. Frank Barlow speculated on Siward's political stance, guessing that during these upheavals Siward assumed "a position of benevolent or prudent neutrality".
Siward is found in 1038, as Sywardus Comes ("Earl Siward"), witnessing a charter of King Harthacnut to the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. He witnessed a confirmation granted by Harthacnut to Fécamp Abbey
Fécamp Abbey
Fécamp Abbey is a Benedictine abbey in Normandy, northern France.The abbey was the first producer of Bénédictine, a herbal liqueur, based on brandy.-First foundation:...
, between 1040 and 1042, of an earlier grant made by Cnut. In 1042, he witnessed grants by Harthacnut to Abingdon Abbey
Abingdon Abbey
Abingdon Abbey was a Benedictine monastery also known as St Mary's Abbey located in Abingdon, historically in the county of Berkshire but now in Oxfordshire, England.-History:...
and to Ælfwine
Ælfwine of Winchester
Ælfwine was a medieval Bishop of Winchester. He was a royal priest prior to his selection as a bishop. He was consecrated in 1032. He died on 29 August 1047.-References:...
, Bishop of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
.
Siward was, at some stage, married to Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdred, Earl of Bamburgh, and granddaughter of Uhtred the Bold. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle asserts that, in 1041 Eadulf
Eadulf III of Bernicia
Eadulf III or Eadwulf III was the earl of Bernicia from 1038 until his death. He was a son of Uhtred the Bold and succeeded his brother Ealdred. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he was betrayed by King Harthacnut and killed...
, Earl of Bamburgh, was "betrayed" by King Harthacnut. The "betrayal" seems to have been carried out by Siward; since when the Libellus de Exordio
Libellus de exordio
The Libellus de exordio atque procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, ecclesie , in short Libellus de exordio, is a historical work of marked literary character composed and compiled in the early 12th-century and traditionally attributed to Symeon of Durham...
and other sources write about the same event, they say that Siward attacked and killed Eadulf. It was thus that Siward became earl of all Northumbria, perhaps the first person to do so since Uhtred the Bold. It is possible that Siward used Ælfflæd's lineage to claim the earldom of Bamburgh for himself, although it is unclear whether the marriage took place before or after Siward killed Eadulf. Kapelle has pointed out that no ruler of Bamburgh after Uhtred is attested at the English royal court, which he argued "must mean they were in revolt" against the monarchy, and that Siward's attack may therefore have been encouraged by a monarch wishing to crush a rebellious or disloyal vassal. Siward however probably had his own interests too. Killing Eadulf eliminated his main rival in the north, and the marriage associated him with the family of Uhtred the Bold, and with Uhtred's surviving son Gospatric.
There may nonetheless be a connection between the murder of Eadulf and events further south. For the same year the Chronicle of John of Worcester related that, because of an attack on two of Harthacnut's tax-collectors there, Siward took part in a reprisal on the city and monastery of Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
. Harthacnut reigned only another year, dying on 8 June 1042. He was succeeded by the exiled English ætheling Edward. As an ætheling, a royal prince with a present or likely future claim on the throne, Edward appears to have been invited back by Harthacnut in 1041, fortuitously smoothing over the coming change in ruler. Edward was crowned king on Easter Day, 3 April 1043.
English affairs under Edward the Confessor
Emma of Normandy
Emma , was a daughter of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, by his second wife Gunnora. She was Queen consort of England twice, by successive marriages: first as second wife to Æthelred the Unready of England ; and then second wife to Cnut the Great of Denmark...
, helping the king to deprive the queen of her huge treasury. Edward then accused Emma of treason and deposed Stigand
Stigand
Stigand was an English churchman in pre-Norman Conquest England. Although his birthdate is unknown, by 1020, he was serving as a royal chaplain and advisor. He was named Bishop of Elmham in 1043, and then later Bishop of Winchester and Archbishop of Canterbury...
, Bishop of Elmham from his position "because he was closest to his mother's counsel".
The Norman propagandist and historian, William of Poitiers
William of Poitiers
William of Poitiers was a Norman chronicler most famous for his eulogistic account of Duke William of Normandy , called the Gesta Guillelmi II ducis Normannorum.-Life:...
, claimed that Siward was among those who had sworn an oath to uphold Edward the Confessor's alleged declaration that William, Duke of Normandy (later King William I), was to be his heir. Others said to have made that oath were Earls Godwine of Wessex and Leofric of Mercia, along with Stigand, who had been pardoned in 1044, and raised to Bishop of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
in 1047). If this did happen, it was probably during or a little before spring 1051, when Robert
Robert of Jumièges
Robert of Jumièges was the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. He had previously served as prior of the Abbey of St Ouen at Rouen in France, before becoming abbot of Jumièges Abbey, near Rouen, in 1037...
, Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, was journeying to Rome for his pallium
Pallium
The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...
.
In 1051 Siward, along with Earls Leofric and Ralph the Timid
Ralph the Timid
Ralph the Timid, also known as Ralf of Mantes, died 1057, was Earl of Hereford between 1051 and 1055 or 1057. His mother was Godgifu, the daughter of King Æthelred the Unready and his second wife Emma. His father was Drogo of Mantes, Count of the Vexin, who died on pilgrimage to Jerusalem in...
, mobilised forces in defence of the king against a rebellion by Earl Godwine and his sons. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates that although Siward had to call up reinforcements, King Edward was successful and Earl Godwine was temporarily exiled. Earl Godwine remained a threat in exile, and the continued "belligerent support" of Siward and Leofric was thus vital to King Edward's safety. It was apparently, however, the reluctance of these two earls to fight Earl Godwine that contributed to Godwine's re-establishment in England in 1052.
There is evidence to suggest that Siward extended his power southward, bringing the shire of Northampton
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
into his control in the 1040s and the shire of Huntingdon in the 1050s. The evidence comes from royal writ
Writ
In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court...
s addressed to Siward as earl in these shires. Siward's predecessors as earl in these areas were other Scandinavians, Thuri and Bjorn son of Earl Ulf; the former was styled "earl of the Midlanders" (comes mediterraneorum), showing that this earldom represented the earlier polity of the Middle Angles
Middle Angles
The Middle Angles were an important ethnic or cultural group within the larger kingdom of Mercia in England in the Anglo-Saxon period.-Origins and territory:...
of Mercia. It was this area, rather than Northumbria, to which Siward's descendants were most attached.
Likewise, it has been argued that Siward brought Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
, thought by some historians to have been lost to Strathclyde, back under Northumbrian lordship. The evidence comes from a document known to historians as "Gospatric's Writ". This is a written instruction, issued either by the future Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria
Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria
Gospatric or Cospatric , , was Earl of Northumbria, or of Bernicia, and later lord of sizable estates around Dunbar...
or Gospatric, son of Earl Uhtred) that was addressed to all Gospatric's kindred and to the notables dwelling in the "all the lands that were Cumbrian" (on eallun þam landann þeo Cōmbres); it ordered that one Thorfinn mac Thore be free in all things (þ Thorfynn mac Thore beo swa freo in eallan ðynges) in Allerdale
Allerdale
Allerdale is a non-metropolitan district of Cumbria, England, with borough status. Its council is based in Workington and the borough has a population of 93,492 according to the 2001 census....
, and that no man is to break the peace which was given by Gospatric and Earl Siward. Historians such as Charles Phythian-Adams believed that such phraseology indicated that Siward conquered the region from its previous rulers, although others, like William Kapelle, believed that the region had come, were it ever lost, back into English power before Siward's time.
A little can be said about Siward's relations with the Northumbrian church, in particular with regard to his relations with Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
. As a result of Siward's marriage to Ælfflæd, Siward gained possession of a group of estates in Teesside
Teesside
Teesside is the name given to the conurbation in the north east of England made up of the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar, Billingham and surrounding settlements near the River Tees. It was also the name of a local government district between 1968 and 1974—the County Borough of...
claimed by the bishops of Durham. Acquisition of these estates might have brought opposition from the Bishop of Durham, but Æthelric the incumbent had been expelled by the clergy of Durham in either 1045 or 1046 and, according to the Libellus de Exordio
Libellus de exordio
The Libellus de exordio atque procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, ecclesie , in short Libellus de exordio, is a historical work of marked literary character composed and compiled in the early 12th-century and traditionally attributed to Symeon of Durham...
, only returned by bribing Siward. According to the Libellus, the clergy were "terrified and overwhelmed by the fearful power of the earl" and "were compelled willy nilly to be reconciled to the bishop, and to admit him into his episcopal see". Despite this, Siward escaped censure in the writings of later Durham monks, something which suggests relations between Siward and Durham were probably good in general.
Siward can be found witnessing numerous charters during Edward's reign, though not as many as the Godwinsons; Siward usually comes third in lists of earls, behind Godwine and Leofric but ahead of Godwine's sons and the other earls. He witnessed at least seven, possibly nine, extant charters in 1044, six or seven in 1045, two in 1046, one in 1048 and one in 1049. A Dux ("earl") named Sihroþ and Sihroð witnessed two charters in 1050, and this may be Siward. There is another attestation in 1050, and his name appears in two dubious witness lists attached to charters dating to 1052 and 1054. Possibly Siward's last historical appearance in English legal documents is in the agreement made—probably at Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....
—between Wulfwig, Bishop of Dorchester, and Earl Leofric, dating to between 1053 and 1055.
Expedition against the Scots
| "Around this time Siward, the mighty earl of Northumbria, almost a giant in stature, very strong mentally and physically, sent his son to conquer Scotland. When they came back and reported to his father that he had been killed in battle, he asked 'Did he receive his fatal wound in the front or the back of his body?' The messengers said 'In the front'. Then he said, 'That makes me very happy, for I consider no other death worthy for me or my son'. Then Siward set out for Scotland, and defeated the king in battle, destroyed the whole realm, and having destroyed it, subjected it to himself". |
| — A description of Osbjorn's death and Siward's reaction, taken from the Historia Anglorum of Henry of Huntingdon |
Siward is perhaps most famous for his expedition in 1054 against Mac Bethad mac Findlaích (known to the English of a later era as King Macbeth of Scotland), an expedition that cost Siward his eldest son, Osbjorn. The origin of Siward's conflict with the Scots is unclear. According to the Libellus de Exordio, in 1039 or 1040, the Scottish king Donnchad mac Crínáin attacked northern Northumbria and besieged Durham. Within a year, Mac Bethad had deposed killed Donnchad. The failed siege occurred a year before Siward attacked and killed Earl Eadulf of Bamburgh, and though no connection between the two events is clear it is likely that they were linked.
The Annals of Lindisfarne and Durham, written in the early 12th-century, relate under the year 1046 that "Earl Siward with a great army came to Scotland, and expelled king Mac Bethad, and appointed another; but after his departure Mac Bethad recovered his kingdom". Historian William Kapelle thought that this was a genuine event of the 1040s, related to the Annals of Tigernach entry for 1045 that reported a "battle between the Scots" which led to the death of Crínán of Dunkeld
Crínán of Dunkeld
Crínán of Dunkeld was the lay abbot of the diocese 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....
, Donnchad's father; Kapelle thought that Siward had tried to place Crínán's son and Donnchad's brother Maldred on the Scottish throne. Another historian, Alex Woolf
Alex Woolf
Alex Woolf is a medieval historian based at the University of St Andrews. He specialises in the history of the British Isles and Scandinavia in the Early Middle Ages, especially in relation to the peoples of Wales and Scotland. He is author of volume two in the New Edinburgh History of Scotland,...
, argued that the Annals of Lindisfarne and Durham entry was probably referring to the invasion of Siward in 1054, but misplaced under 1046.
During the invasion of 1054, a battle was fought somewhere in Scotland north of the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
, a battle known variously as the "Battle of the Seven Sleepers" or the "Battle of Dunsinane". The tradition that the battle actually took place at Dunsinane has its origins in later medieval legend. The earliest mention of Dunsinane as the location of the battle is in the early 15th-century by Andrew of Wyntoun
Andrew of Wyntoun
Andrew Wyntoun, known as Andrew of Wyntoun was a Scottish poet, a canon and prior of Loch Leven on St Serf's Inch and later, a canon of St...
.
The earliest contemporary English account of the battle is found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, recension
Recension
Recension is the practice of editing or revising a text based on critical analysis. When referring to manuscripts, this may be a revision by another author...
D:
John of Worcester, using a related version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, adds that Normans named Osbern Pentecost
Her ferde Siward eolr mid miclum here on Scotland, ægðer ge mid scyphere 7 mid landfyrde, 7 feaht wið Scottas, 7 aflymde þone kyng Macbeoðen, 7 ofsloh eall þæt þær betst wæs on þam lande, 7 lædde þonan micele herehuðe swilce nan man ær ne begeat, At this time earl Siward went with a great army into Scotland, with both fleet and a land-force; and fought against the Scots, and put to flight the king Mac Bethad, and slew all that were best in the land, and brought thence much war-spoil, such as no man obtained before; ac his sunu Osbarn, 7 his sweostor suna Sihward, 7 of his huscarlum 7 eac þæs cynges wurdon þær ofslægene on þone dæg Septem Dormientium.. And there were slain his son Osbjorn, and his sister's son Siward, and some of his housecarl HousecarlIn medieval Scandinavia, housecarls and sometimes spelled huscarle or houscarl) were either non-servile manservants, or household troops in personal service of someone, equivalent to a bodyguard to Scandinavian lords and kings. This institution also existed in Anglo-Saxon England after its...
s, and also of the king's, on the day of the Seven SleepersSeven SleepersThe Seven Sleepers, commonly called the "Seven Sleepers of Ephesus", refers to a group of Christian youths who hid inside a cave outside the city of Ephesus around 250 AD, to escape a persecution of Christians being conducted during the reign of the Roman emperor Decius...
(July 27).
Osbern Pentecost
Sir Osbern Pentecost was a Norman knight who followed Edward the Confessor to England upon Edward's return from exile in Normandy in 1041.He was one of the few Norman landholders in England prior the the Norman Conquest of England in 1066...
and Hugh, who had joined Mac Bethad earlier after fleeing from England, were killed in the battle.
The battle is mentioned in the Irish annals too, briefly in the Annals of Tigernach
Annals of Tigernach
The Annals of Tigernach is a chronicle probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish....
and more extensively in the Annals of Ulster
Annals of Ulster
The Annals of Ulster are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years between AD 431 to AD 1540. The entries up to AD 1489 were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, under his patron Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa on the island of Belle Isle on Lough Erne in the...
:
Cath eter firu Alban & Saxanu i torchradur tri mile do Feraib Alban & mile co leth do Shaxanaib im Dolfinn m. Finntuir. A battle [was fought] between the men of Scotland and the English; and in it fell three thousand of the men of Scotland, and one thousand five hundred of the English, including Dolfin, Finntur's son;
Dolfin is unidentified, but may have been a relation of Mac Bethad's enemy Crínán of Dunkeld, on the basis that some of Crínán's descendants may have borne this name.
The traditional historical interpretation that "Máel Coluim" is Máel Coluim mac Donnchada derives from the Chronicle attributed to the 14th-century chronicler of Scotland, John of Fordun, as well as from earlier sources such as William of Malmesbury. The latter reported that Mac Bethad was killed in the battle by Siward, but it is known that Mac Bethad outlived Siward by two years. A. A. M. Duncan argued in 2002 that, using the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry as their source, later writers innocently misidentified Máel Coluim "son of the king of the Cumbrians" with the later Scottish king of the same name. Duncan's argument has been supported by several subsequent historians specialising in the era, such as Richard Oram
Richard Oram
Professor Richard D. Oram F.S.A. is a Scottish historian. He is a Professor of Medieval and Environmental History at the University of Stirling and an Honorary Lecturer in History at the University of Aberdeen. He is also the director of the Centre for Environmental History and Policy at the...
, Dauvit Broun
Dauvit Broun
Dauvit Broun is a Scottish historian, Professor of Scottish History at the University of Glasgow. A specialist in medieval Scottish and Celtic studies, he concentrates primarily on early medieval Scotland, and has written abundantly on the topic of early Scottish king-lists, as well as on...
and Alex Woolf. It has also been suggested that Máel Coluim may have been a son of the Strathclyde British king Owen the Bald, perhaps by a daughter of Máel Coluim II, King of Scotland.
Duncan in fact believes that the Battle of the Seven Sleepers did not lead directly to a change of leadership in the Kingdom of Scotland. It has been suggested that the chief consequence of Siward's expedition was not the overthrow of Mac Bethad, but the transfer of British territory—perhaps previously lying under Scottish suzerainty—to Northumbrian overlordship. Alex Woolf has posited that, in such a context, Máel Coluim might have been a discontented Cumbrian prince who had been forced to "put himself under English protection". Evidence for Northumbrian control of Strathclyde
Strathclyde
right|thumb|the former Strathclyde regionStrathclyde was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created by the Local Government Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc Act 1994...
in this period includes 11th-century Northumbrian masonry found at the site of Glasgow Cathedral as well as early 12th-century claims from the archbishopric of York that Archbishop Cynesige
Cynesige
Cynesige was a medieval Archbishop of York for nine years between 1051 and 1060.- Life :Cynesige perhaps came from Rutland, as he owned the manor of Tinwell there later in life...
(1051–1060) had consecrated two Bishops of Glasgow.
Death and legacy
| "Siward, the stalwart earl, being stricken by dysentery, felt that death was near, and said, "How shameful it is that I, who could not die in so many battles, should have been saved for the ignominious death of a cow! At least clothe me in my impenetrable breastplate, gird me with my sword, place my helmet on my head, my shield in my left hand, my gilded battle-axe in my right, that I, the bravest of soldiers, may die like a soldier." He spoke, and armed as he had requested, he gave up his spirit with honour". |
| — A description of Siward's death, taken from the Historia Anglorum of Henry of Huntingdon. |
The 12th-century historian, Henry of Huntingdon, in his Historia Anglorum, relates that when Siward was attacked by dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
, fearing to die "like a cow" and wishing rather to die like a soldier, he clothed himself in armour and took to hand an axe and shield. Ennobled in such a manner, Siward died. This anecdote is of doubtful historicity, and is thought to be derived from the saga
Saga
Sagas, are stories in Old Norse about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, etc.Saga may also refer to:Business*Saga DAB radio, a British radio station*Saga Airlines, a Turkish airline*Saga Falabella, a department store chain in Peru...
devoted to Earl Siward, now lost. The Vita Ædwardi Regis states that Siward died at York and was buried in "the monastery of St Olaf" at Galmanho, a claim confirmed by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, John of Worcester, and the Historia Regum
Historia Regum
The Historia Regum is a historical compilation attributed to Symeon of Durham, which presents material going from the death of Bede until 1129. It survives only in one manuscript compiled in Yorkshire in the mid-to-late 12th century, though the material is earlier...
.
Material incorporated in two surviving sources is thought by some to attest to the existence of a lost saga or some other kind of literary tradition concerning Siward's life. The first source is the Vita et Passio Waldevi, a hagiographic history of Siward's cult-inspiring son Waltheof. This text contains an account of Waltheof's paternal
Father
A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...
origin, and in the process recounts certain adventures of his father Siward (see boxes throughout article). The second major witness of the tradition is Henry of Huntingdon's Historia Anglorum, which contains extracts of saga-like material relating to Siward's invasion of Scotland (1054) and his death (1055). The Anglo-Saxonist Frank Stenton
Frank Stenton
Sir Frank Merry Stenton was a 20th century historian of Anglo-Saxon England, and president of the Royal Historical Society . He was the author of Anglo-Saxon England, a volume of the Oxford History of England, first published in 1943 and widely considered a classic history of the period...
declared that Siward was "not a statesman, but a Danish warrior of the primitive type". Writers in the half-century after his death remembered Siward as a strong ruler who brought peace and suppressed brigandage.
Siward died more than a decade before the death of Edward the Confessor, but despite this the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
recorded 4 manors, 3 in Yorkshire and 1 in Derbyshire, owned directly by Earl Siward in 1066, all of them subsequently held by Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester. This land was stated to have been worth £212, while his son Waltheof was said to have held £136 worth of land across 9 counties. Domesday records give an incomplete picture of Siward's holdings. In total it recorded property worth £348 for Siward and his son, which on its own would compare poorly with the £2493 in value recorded to have been held by the family of the earls of Mercia. Of the latter, however, Morcar of Mercia
Morcar of Northumbria
Morcar was the son of Ælfgār and brother of Ēadwine. He was himself the earl of Northumbria from 1065 to 1066, when he was replaced by William the Conqueror with Copsi....
, Earl of Northumbria on the day of King Edward's death, possessed land worth £968, while Tostig, exiled earl at the time, had land worth £491; both may have come into possession of some of Siward's land in the course of becoming Earls of Northumbria. Moreover, the counties that would become Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
, Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
and Westmorland
Westmorland
Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...
were largely omitted from the survey, while, besides being only very poorly documented, the lands in Yorkshire had been severely devastated and devalued during the Harrying of the North
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, and is part of the Norman conquest of England...
.
Siward is said to have built a church dedicated to St Olaf at Galmanho, York. The record of his burial in this church is the only notice of a non-royal lay burial inside a church in pre-Norman England. Siward's Howe
Siward's Howe
Siward's Howe, also known as Heslington Hill, is a terminal moraine located in York. It is fabled for its imposing water tower, rumours of pagan rites taking place on it, and Siward himself, the Danish warrior romanticised in Macbeth, rumoured to be buried beneath the hill.It is the contemporary...
, i.e., Heslington Hill near York, was most likely named after Earl Siward, although probably because Siward held popular courts there rather than because it was his burial place.
One of Siward's sons is known to have survived him, Waltheof, whose mother was Ælfflæd. Waltheof later rose to be an earl in the East Midlands
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...
before becoming Earl of Northumbria. When Waltheof rebelled against William the Conqueror, however, the act led to his execution and to his subsequent veneration as a saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
at Crowland Abbey. Waltheof's daughter married David I, King of the Scots, and through this connection Siward became one of the many ancestors of the later Scottish and British monarchs.
Besides Ælfflæd, Siward is known to have been married to a woman named Godgifu, who died before Siward. The marriage is known from a grant she made of territory around Stamford, Lincolnshire
Stamford, Lincolnshire
Stamford is a town and civil parish within the South Kesteven district of the county of Lincolnshire, England. It is approximately to the north of London, on the east side of the A1 road to York and Edinburgh and on the River Welland...
, to Peterborough Abbey. Although no surviving children are attested, and no source states the name of Osbjorn's mother, this marriage has nonetheless raised the possibility that Waltheof and Osbjorn were born to different mothers, and William Kapelle suggested that Siward may have originally intended Osbjorn to inherit his southern territories while Waltheof inherited those territories in the north associated with the family of his mother Ælfflæd.