POLITICAL HISTORY 



^thelwold was killed in 905 by Edward ; and in 9 1 8, shortly before her death, ^thelflaed, the heroic 

 * lady of the Mercians,' compelled the men of York to acknowledge her supremacy. Within a few 

 years, either in 919 or 923,^^ Ragnall, a Scandinavian chief, came over from Ireland and seized 

 York. He found it wise to do homage to Edward the Elder, in 924 ; and his brother, associate, and 

 successor, Sihtric, King of Dublin, the following year married a sister of Athelstan, but died shortly 

 afterwards, being succeeded by Guthfrith, whom Athelstan expelled in 927. Guthfrith made 

 attempts to recover York, but Athelstan retained the city and destroyed the Danish citadel. The 

 Scots proving troublesome, Athelstan advanced in 934 through Beverley and Ripon ^^ and inflicted 

 a temporary check upon them ; but in 937 his dominion in the north was threatened by a combina- 

 tion of the Scots, Strathclyde Welsh, and the Danes of Dublin. Athelstan seems to have assembled 

 his forces at York and to have marched thence to the crowning victory of ' Brunanburh,' of which 

 the site is much disputed.^^ Three years later Athelstan died and the Northumbrians shook off the 

 West Saxon yoke, making Anlaf of Ireland, son of Sihtric, their king. Edmund of Wessex did not 

 at once attempt to reconquer Northumbria, but contented himself with holding the northern 

 boundary of Mercia, which is described as running from Dore, near Sheffield, to Whitwell and 

 thence to the Humber, exactly on the lines of the southern boundary of the later Yorkshire. 

 Anlaf, however, in 943 pushed southwards, taking Tamworth, and met Edmund at Leicester, 

 where a treaty was made by which all England north of the Watling Street was to be held by 

 Anlaf. Next year Edmund, possibly taking advantage of a revolt of AnlaPs subjects, seized 

 Northumbria and expelled Anlaf and Ragnall son of Guthfrith, who appears to have been King of 

 Bernicia. On the death of Edmund, Northumbria reasserted its independence, but Edred marched 

 across the border to Shelf, near Halifax, and compelled the Witan to swear fealty to him. Hardly 

 was his back turned when they broke their oath and set up Eric son of Harold Blue-tooth of 

 Denmark as king.^ Accordingly next year, in 948, Edred harried Northumbria, burning Ripon 

 with its famous monastery ; as he was returning southwards the army from York overtook his 

 rearguard at Castleford, where the Roman road crosses the Aire, and slew a number of his men. 

 Turning back in a rage, he was only kept from devastating the country afresh by the complete 

 submission of the Northumbrians, who expelled Eric. In 949 Anlaf son of Sihtric recovered the 

 Northumbrian throne, only to be deposed in 952 in favour of Eric, who in his turn was expelled 

 and slain, according to one authority, on Stainmore,^' on the borders of Yorkshire and Westmorland, 

 in 954, when the northern kingdom ceased and Northumbria was constituted an earldom, with its 

 seat at York. 



For sixty years there is little to record, but in 1013 Swegen of Denmark, brother of that Eric 

 who had once reigned at York, appeared* with his fleet in the Humber and was at once accepted by 

 Earl Uhtred and all Northumbria. The rest of England followed suit ; but Swegen's reign was 

 short, for next year he died at Gainsborough and was buried at York, whence his body was after- 

 wards removed to Denmark. Uhtred then adhered to the party of Ethelred and Edmund, but in 

 10 1 6 was treacherously slain at Wighill near Tadcaster^^ by Cnut, who gave his Yorkshire earldom 

 to Eric son of Hakon. 



In 1055 Earl Siward, who the previous year had led an expedition into Scotland against 

 Macbeth, fell ill at York and, donning his armour for the last time, met death like a warrior ^' and 

 was buried in the monastery of Galmanho which he had founded outside the city walls. His 

 earldom was at once given to Tostig, son of the powerful Earl Godwine, a step which proved of 

 tremendous national importance. Tostig was frequently absent from Northumbria, leaving the 

 government to a deputy, Copsig,^* and when in residence ruled with arbitrary harshness. The 

 discontent of his subjects was increased by a series of treacherous murders, Gamel son of Orm and 

 Ulf son of Dolfin being killed in the earl's house at York and Gospatric murdered at the royal 

 court by Tostig's procurement.^' At last, on 3 October 1065, the men of Yorkshire and 

 Northumberland (which counties now appear for the first time under those names), led by 

 Gamelbearn, Dunstan, and Gloineorn, attacked and plundered Tostig's palace at York, killing his 

 retainers.'" They then elected Morkere son of Earl jElfgar as their earl, and under his leadership 

 marched southwards through Northampton as far as Oxford. King Edward endeavoured to support 

 Tostig's claims, but Harold threw his influence on the side of Morkere, and Tostig was obliged to 

 go into exile.'i Mortification at the failure of his efforts on behalf of Tostig hastened the death of 

 King Edward, and when that event occurred, on 5 January 1066, and Harold was at once elected 



" See Plummer, Two Saxon Chrons. ii, 130-1. " Ibid. 138. 



''Ibid. 140-1. «Ibid. 147-8. 



'' Ramsay, Foundations of Engl, i, 300. "* Plummer, op. cit. 195. 



" Henry of Huntingdon, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), 195-6. 



" Symeon of Durham, Op. Hist. (Rolls Ser.), i, 97. 



»»Ibid. ii, 178. '"Ibid. 



" Lives of Edward the Confessor (Rolls Ser.), 422. 



395 



