Ælfhelm of York
Ælfhelm (died 1006) was the ealdorman of Northumbria, in practice southern Northumbria (the area around York), from about 994 until his death. An ealdorman (or earl) was a senior nobleman who governed a province—a shire or group of shires—on behalf of the king. Ælfhelm's powerful and wealthy family came from Mercia, a territory and former kingdom incorporating most of central England, and he achieved his position despite being an outsider. Ælfhelm first appears in charters as dux ("ealdorman") in about 994.
Most of Ælfhelm's subsequent historical appearances record him as a witness to
Origins
Ælfhelm was a Mercian, son of Wulfrun, a rich noblewoman who founded Burton Abbey. His father is unknown, but it is thought that he was of lower rank than Wulfrun as Wulfric Spot, Ælfhelm's brother, is called "Wulfric son of Wulfrun", suggesting that his status derived mainly from his mother.[2] Wulfric Spot founded Burton Abbey, but little is known about Ælfhelm's sister, Ælfthryth.[3]
Wulfrun also founded the
Ealdorman of southern Northumbria
Ælfhelm begins witnessing charters as dux, i.e.
Ælfhelm's apparent promotion in 994 is thought by some historians, for instance Richard Fletcher, to have been due to the Scandinavian attack on Northumbria in 993.
Wulfric Spot's will
Ælfhelm's brother, Wulfric Spot, left a
Wulfric granted the lands "between the
Death and legacy
Little else is recorded about Ealdorman Ælfhelm's career before his death. The Worcester Chronicle, which for this period consists of entries taken from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle supplemented with extra information, gives an expanded saga-like version of this account, attributing Ælfhelm's death to Eadric Streona: The crafty and treacherous Eadric Streona, plotting to deceive the noble ealdorman Ælfhelm, prepared a great feast for him at Shrewsbury at which, when he came as a guest, Eadric greeted him as if he were an intimate friend. But on the third or fourth day of the feast, when an ambush had been prepared, he took him into the wood to hunt. When all were busy with the hunt, one Godwine Porthund (which means the town dog) a Shrewsbury butcher, whom Eadric had dazzled long before with great gifts and many promises so that he might perpetrate the crime, suddenly leapt out from the ambush, and execrably slew the ealdorman Ælfhelm. After a short space of time his sons, Wulfheah and Ufegeat, were blinded, at King Æthelred’s command, at Cookham, where he himself was then staying.[18] This material in the Worcester Chronicle seems to have been part of a lost saga about Eadric Streona, not extant but used by various surviving 11th- and 12th-century sources.[19] Kapelle thought Ælfhelm's murder, conducted without King Æthelred's displeasure, was the result of suspect loyalty in the face of Scandinavian invasions.[20]
The sources appear to indicate that Ælfhelm's successor was Uhtred of Bamburgh, the first magnate in decades to govern northern and southern Northumbria together.[21] The text known as De obsessione Dunelmi ("On the siege of Durham"), relates that Uhtred took power after defeating a Scottish invasion.[22]
As well as his two sons Ælfhelm left a daughter,
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Stafford, "Ælfgifu"
- ^ Williams, Smyth and Kirby, Biographical Dictionary, p. 241, s.v. "Wulfric Spot" and "Wulfrun"
- ^ Baxter, Earls of Mercia, p. 301
- ^ a b Williams, Smyth and Kirby, Biographical Dictionary, p. 241, s.v. "Wulfrun"
- ^ Sawyer, "Wulfric Spot"; Williams, Smyth and Kirby, Biographical Dictionary, p. 241, s.v. "Wulfrun"
- ^ Sawyer 880; Sawyer 881, Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved 22 March 2009; Keynes, Atlas of Attestations, Table LXII (1 of 2)
- ^ Sawyer 841; Sawyer 843; Sawyer 845; Sawyer 858; Sawyer 860; Sawyer 868; Sawyer 862; Sawyer 861; Sawyer 867; Sawyer 865; Sawyer 868; Sawyer 872;Sawyer 877, Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved 22 March 2009; Keynes, Atlas of Attestations, Table LXIII (1 of 9), Table LXIII (2 of 9); Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE), s.v. Ælfhelm 15
- ^ See PASE, s.v. Ælfhelm 17 (definitely the ealdorman), and compare, for instance, Ælfhelm 7, Ælfhelm 9
- ^ a b Fletcher, Bloodfeud, pp. 72–3
- ^ Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 211; report in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, recensions C, D and E, translated in Whitelock, English Historical Documents, vol. i, p. 235; see text at ASC C, D & E
- ^ Darlington and McGurk, Chronicle of John of Worcester, vol. ii, pp. 442, 443; Kapelle, Norman Conquest, p. 15
- ^ Whitelock, English Historical Documents, vol. i, pp. 240, n. 4, 586
- ^ Whitelock, English Historical Documents, vol. i, p. 586
- ^ a b c Whitelock, English Historical Documents, vol. i, p. 587
- ^ Baxter, Earls of Mercia, p. 207, n. 22Whitelock, English Historical Documents, vol. i, pp. 587–9
- ^ PASE, s.v. Ælfhelm 17
- ^ Whitelock, English Historical Documents, vol. i, p. 240
- ^ Darlington and McGurk, Chronicle of John of Worcester, vol. ii, pp. 456–9
- ^ Keynes, "Eadric"
- ^ Kapelle, Norman Conquest, pp. 14–5
- ^ Rollason, Northumbria, pp. 267–9
- ^ Kapelle, Norman Conquest, pp. 15–7; Morris, Marriage and Murder, pp. 1–2.
References
- "The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: An edition with TEI P4 markup, expressed in XML and translated to XHTML1.1 using XSL". Tony Jebson. 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
- Baxter, Stephen (2007). The Earls of Mercia: Lordship and Power in Late Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-923098-3.
- Fletcher, Richard (2003). Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-028692-6.
- Miller, Sean. "New Regesta Regum Anglorum". Anglo-Saxons.net. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
- ISSN 1475-8520.
- Keynes, Simon (2004). "Eadric [Edric] Streona (d. 1017), magnate". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 March 2009. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ISBN 0-7099-0040-6.
- Morris, Christopher J. (1992). "Marriage and Murder in eleventh-century Northumbria: a study of 'De Obsessiones Dunelmi'". Borthwick Papers (82). York: Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, University of York. ISSN 0524-0913.
- ISBN 0-521-04102-3.
- Stafford, Pauline (2004). "Ælfgifu [Ælfgifu of Northampton] (fl. 1006–1036), first consort of King Cnut". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 March 2009. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Whitelock, Dorothy, ed. (1979). English Historical Documents. Vol. 1, c.500–1042. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode. ISBN 0-19-520101-9.
- ISBN 1-85264-047-2.
- ISBN 978-0-7486-1234-5.