A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



his nephew i^^thelwald disputed the possession of Deira with him, and seems to have held at least 

 the position of under-king in the North Riding.' Meanwhile the aged Penda ravaged Northumbria 

 as he pleased and scornfully refused to be bought off. At last Oswy was goaded into a desperate 

 effort and met the forces of Penda, jEthelwald, and iEthelhere, King of the East Angles, in a 

 pitched battle on the banks of the ' Winwoed ' near Leeds, probably at Win Moor in Barwick-in- 

 Elmet, on 15 November 655.^" Penda's allies, iEthelwald and Cadwaladr of Gwynedd, proved 

 treacherous and withdrew from the fight, which ended in a crushing victory for Oswy, Penda and 

 thirty of his generals being left dead on the field. 



For the next hundred years the history of Northumbria is little more than a catalogue of 

 successive rulers, few of whom were wise enough to resign or fortunate enough to die before they 

 were killed by their successors. Oswy died in 671, and Alchfrid his son, who had been acting as 

 under-king of Deira, seems to have rebelled and been deprived of his kingship prior to this date," 

 Egfrith, another son of Oswy, now becoming King of Northumbria, and so remaining until his death 

 during an expedition against the Picts in 685, when his half-brother Aldfrid succeeded. That 

 king, a man of studious and literary tastes, died a natural death in 705 and was buried at Little 

 Driffield, but his son Osred was slain in 716 by Cenred and Osric. Cenred died two years later, 

 but Osric survived until 730, when he was slain ; Ceolwulf, his successor, the patron of Bede, 

 reigned for seven years and then retired to the monastery of Lindisfarne, and his example was 

 followed by Edbert, his cousin and successor, in 758. His son Oswulf reigned but one year and 

 was then killed at Market Weighton;*' Moll jEthelwold was elected, but was expelled in 765 

 by Alchred, who was deposed in 774 in favour of iEthelred, son of jEthelwold, who in his turn was 

 banished in 779. The pious JElfvfold, son of Oswulf, was then elected, but upon his murder in 

 789 iEthelred returned; during his reign, in 793, the Danes or Northmen made their first appearance 

 on the northern coast, ravaging Lindisfarne. iEthelred was slain in 795, and Osbald, who had 

 seized the throne, was expelled after holding office for twenty-seven days,^' Eardwulf being crowned 

 at York in May 796. Of him it is said that jEthelred had condemned him to death at Ripon in 

 790, but that during the performance of his funeral service in the monastery after his execution he 

 was discovered to be still alive, and was nursed back to health by the monks of Ripon. ^* After 

 defeating at least one conspiracy against his throne he was driven out of the country by ^Ifwold 

 about the end of 807, but was restored through the influence of Pope Leo III and the Emperor 

 Charles, whose daughter he is said to have married," and was succeeded in 810 by his son Eanred, 

 who in 827 submitted to Egbert, the first king of all England. 



For some fifteen years Yorkshire formed part of the West Saxon kingdom, but in 841, two 

 years after the death of Egbert, Northumbria regained its independence under iEthelred son 

 of Eanred." He was killed in 850 and was succeeded by Osbert. In 863 a rival to Osbert was 

 put forward in the person of JEAla, a thegn not of royal blood, and Gaimar records a tradition that 

 this was done by Beorn the Butsecarle in revenge for Osbert's dishonouring his wife.'' The 

 tradition goes so far as to make Beorn call in the aid of the Danes, and though it is unlikely that 

 they were invited it is certain that while Northumbria was torn by the rival factions of Osbert and 

 .^Ua the Danes, in 867, swarmed up out of East Anglia under Healfdene and Inguar, captured 

 York and ravaged the neighbourhood, filling the land with blood and slaughter. Osbert and 

 JE\h, in face of the common danger, joined hands and marched at the head of a large army, in 

 March 868, to retake York ; but though the Northumbrians forced their way into the city they 

 were disastrously defeated, the two kings being slain and the army shattered.'* For the next few 

 years the Danes seem to have retained York itself, wintering there in 869, but to have left the rule 

 of Northumbria, and more particularly of Bernicia, in the hands of Saxons (Egbert, Ricsig, and 

 Egbert II) with the nominal rank of kings." By 876 Deira had so far submitted to the invaders 

 that Healfdene was able to portion the province out amongst his followers, and it is possible that 

 from this time we may date the formation of the three Ridings. A few years later, in 883, a 

 Danish Christian, Guthred or Cnut, son of Hardacnut, was elected King of Northumbria and made 

 York his capital, from which city he issued coins,^as did Sicfred, who was associated with him from 

 893 till the following year, when Guthred died and Alfred's supremacy was acknowledged. On 

 the death of Alfred, in 901, his nephew jEthelwold tried to seize the throne of Wessex, but being 

 attacked by Edward the Elder, fled to the Northumbrians, by whom he was accepted as king, 



' Ramsay, loc. cit. '" See Leadman, Battles Fought in Yorkshire, 3, 4. 



" Bede, Ecd. Hist. (ed. Plummer), ii, 198. 



" Plummer, Two Saxon Chrons. ii, 48. " Ibid. 63. 



" Symeon of Durham, Hist. Regum (Rolls Ser.), ii, 52. 



" Plummer, op. cit. 68. " Plummer, op. cit. 84. 



" Gaimar, Hist, des Engles (Rolls Ser.), ii, 84. 



'* Symeon of Durham, Op. Hist. (Rolls Ser.), i, 54 ; ii, 74-5. 



" Ibid. *> Yorks. Arch. Joum. iv, 74. 



394 



