Uchtred the Bold

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Uchtred (or Uhtred), called the Bold, was the earl of Northumbria from 1006 to 1016, when he was assassinated. He was the son of Waltheof I, earl of Bernicia, whose ancient family had ruled from Bamburgh north of the Tees since the late ninth century. In 1006, while his father was alive but too aged to fight, Uhtred defeated Malcolm II of Scotland at the siege of Durham, and he was rewarded by King Ethelred II with the earldom of all Northumbria.

In 1013 King Sweyn of Denmark invaded England, and Uhtred submitted to him, but he transferred his allegiance back to King Ethelred II after Sweyn's death in 1014. In 1015 Uhtred supported a rebellion by Ethelred's son Edmund Ironside against his father, but in the same year Sweyn's son, Canute the Great, took up his father's fight (a fight he eventually won), and Uhtred then did homage to him as king of England.

In 1016, invited to a meeting with Canute, Uhtred was murdered by Thurbrand the Hold with the connivance of Canute. Uhtred was succeeded by his brother Eadwulf Cudel, but only in Bernicia. Over all Northumbria, Canute placed Eric of Hlathir. Uhtred's son Ealdred killed Thurbrand and Thurbrand's son Carl killed Ealdred. Nonetheless, Uhtred's dynasty continued to reign until 1041, and briefly a scion ruled in 1067.

[edit] Sources

Stenton, Sir Frank M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition. Oxford University Press, 1971.
Fletcher, Richard. Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England. Allen Lane 2002.