POLITICAL HISTORY 



For the wretched inhabitants of Northumbria (which then included 

 the present county of Durham), the period of Norman Conquest, with 

 its repeated invasions by the Scots ^' and still worse devastations of the 

 Conqueror, was indeed a time of trial. The opportunities presented to 

 Malcolm Canmore, first by the Anglo-Danish struggle, and later by the 

 Northumbrian insurrections, were not allowed to pass. In 1018 his father 

 had added all Lothian to the Scotch dominion, and his son, kinsman to 

 the leading Northumbrians and brother-in-law to Edgar Atheling, might 

 reasonably hope during these commotions to round off his southern boundary 

 by the addition of the country north of the Tees to Cumbria, then a part 

 of the Scottish kingdom. Taking advantage of Earl Tosti's absence in 

 1 06 1 on a pilgrimage to Rome, Malcolm furiously 'ravaged the earldom 

 of his sworn brother Tosti and violated the peace of St. Cuthbert in the 

 Island of Lindisfarne.' Malcolm's second invasion did not take place 

 till after the first Northumbrian insurrection against the Conqueror's rule. 

 During the first two years after the battle of Hastings the Conqueror did not 

 attempt to exercise direct control over the country to the north of the Tees. 

 At the beginning of 1069 the Conqueror appointed Robert Cumin earl of 

 Northumberland. With a small force, only some 700 strong,^^ Cumin 

 marched north, his men acting with that licence which was customary when 

 the Conqueror's strong hand was not there to restrain them. On hearing of 

 his approach the Northumbrians at first decided to fly, but being prevented by 

 a sudden snowstorm, they determined to await and attack the earl. The 

 latter, disregarding Bishop iEthelwin's warning, entered the city of Durham 

 on 30 January, 1069. Very early the next morning the Northumbrians 

 assembled outside the town and rushed the gates. Most of the earl's men 

 scattered throughout the town fell an easy prey, but the bishop's house, 

 defended by the earl himself, offered an effective resistance until it was set on 

 fire, and its defenders either burnt to death or massacred as they attempted to 

 escape. Of the whole force one man alone escaped. The revolt thus begun 

 spread rapidly, and it was some time before the Conqueror found time to visit 

 and punish the district responsible for the death of the first Norman earl of 

 Northumberland. The first punitive expedition retired after reaching 

 Northallerton, the retirement being due to St. Cuthbert's intervention 

 according to Simeon," but the Danish invasion of Yorkshire is a more 

 probable cause. At the end of 1069 the Conqueror himself came north and 

 personally commanded the force which took such a terrible revenge for the 

 massacre of their fellow countrymen. The loss of property must have been 

 great; but the people, accustomed as they were to Scottish raids, appear to have 

 escaped, for we are told that although the king's army spread over the whole 

 of the area between the Tyne and the Tees, they found the dwellings every- 

 where deserted, the inhabitants having sought safety in flight or by lying hid in 

 the woods or in the fastnesses of the mountains. ^^ No sooner had the Conqueror 

 retired south than Malcolm, with a countless multitude of Scots, made his 

 second raid. Marching thr^^ugh Cumberland he turned east and devastated 



" As to these see Hodgson Hinde's note in Simeon, op. cit. (Surtees Soc), p. xxviii. 



" This is the figure given by Simeon, op. cit. (Rolls Sen), i, 98, the only author who gives details of this 

 affair. In the Angl.-Sax. Chron. sub anno 1068, the figure is 900, and in Ordericus Vit.ilis, Hist. EccL (Migne's 

 edition, 316), 500. 



" Simeon, op. cit. (Rolls Ser.), i, 99. " Ibid, ii, 189. 



