Kingdom of Northumbria

Anglo-Saxon King Æthelfrith was able to unite Deira with the northern Kingdom of Bernicia, forming the Kingdom of Northumbria in about 600 AD. Its capital was at Eoforwic (York). Æthelfrith was killed in battle in 616 and was succeeded by King Edwin.

Edwin and his army now pushed westwards towards the Pennine region of Northumbria finally invaded Elmet in 617. The Elmetians, led by King Ceretic, fled south-east towards Danum (Doncaster), where they made a stand at Bawtry. The Anglo-Saxon force defeated the forces of Elmet and Ceretic was expelled. Edwin incorporated Elmet into Northumbria, finally bringing it under Anglo-Saxon Rule.

Elmet was the last Celtic Kingdom in Yorkshire to become incorporated into Northumbria.
Rheged, in the North West, also succumbed within a generation.

Struggles between Northumbria and Mercia

In 633 AD, Edwin was killed at the Battle of Hatfield Chase, near Doncaster. Of his two grown sons by his first wife, by Cwenburh of Mercia, Osfrith was killed in the battle and Eadfrith was captured by Penda of Mercia (and later killed).

Northumbria was again divided between its constituent kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira. Eanfrith, a son of the former king Æthelfrith, returned from exile to take power in Bernicia, while Edwin’s cousin Osric took over Deira.

Bede tells us that Penda of Mercia took over Edwin’s lands, probably in 642 after the battle of Maserfield. This whole period is characterised by the struggles for territority between Mercia and Northumbria, culminating in the Battle of Winwædfield, which was fought in West Yorkshire in 655 AD.

Battle of Winwædfield

The Battle of Winwædfield is thought to have taken place near Leeds, possibly at Whinmoor, where there was a fast-flowing beck, or alongside the River Aire. Another suggestion is that it took place in a marshy area between York and Tadcaster and that the translation would mean “white-water”.

In the year 655, when the winters of eighty years had bleached the head of the warlike and ferocious Penda, he again participated in a tremendous conflict which took place on the Field of Victory, or Winwædfield, on the northern bank of the Aire, near Leeds.

The occasion of the war was as follows: Adelwald, King of Deira, was threatened by Oswy, King of Bernicia, and perceiving that he could only hope to retain his crown by compassing the ruin of that powerful monarch, he formed a league with the Kings of Mercia and East Anglia, and declared war against Oswy, who, dismayed by so powerful a coalition, strove, by every possible means, to avert the bursting of the storm. All his efforts proving futile, he humbled himself in fervent supplications for victory on the solemn eve of the impending battle, and recorded a religious vow that, in the event of his being delivered from his enemies, his infant daughter, Elfleda, should be devoted to the service of the Holy Church.

While Oswy was buried in supplication, the shrewd brain of Adelwald was busily revolving the position. Should Oswy be defeated, he would be at the mercy of his allies of Mercia and East Anglia, and his own destruction and the division of his kingdom might be anticipated. To obviate such a disastrous result Adelwald resolved to reserve his own forces, and leave his allies to deal with Oswy, when he might reasonably hope to secure his kingdom against the decimated army, or armies of the victor.

On the morning of the 15th of November, the four Kings marshalled their forces, spearmen, and other variously armed infantry and cavalry; and Penda, animated and impetuous, his fiery spirit undimmed by the four score years that had passed over his head, rushed to the attack, and the clash of arms and tumult of war resounded over the field as the troops of Oswy nobly sustained the fierce assault.

At this juncture, the crafty Adelwald, assured that the deadly game would be continued to the bitter end, began to retire his troops, and the Mercians, losing heart under the suspicion of his treachery, relaxed their efforts, and commenced a hasty and confused retreat. Penda and his numerous chieftains appealed to them, and strove to restore their broken ranks, but in vain. Oswy pressed them hard; smote them with fierce charges of cavalry, and with the rush of his serried spearmen bore down all resistance.

The Kings of Anglia and East Mercia were put to the sword, and their armies decimated and scattered. Oswy, secured in the possession of life and throne, exulted in the signal victory which had blessed his arms. Amid the lifeless thousands that encumbered the sanguinary field, twenty-eight vassal chieftains of the highest rank had fallen with their Kings. Oswy satiated his regal ambition by taking possession of the realms of his conquered adversaries, but he respected the crown of the crafty Adelwald, who retained the glittering bauble until his death, a few years later.

YORKSHIRE BATTLES published 1891

After Deira’s defeat, Northumbria became dominant again. The battle marked the end of Anglo-Saxon Paganism in favour of Christianity. Mercia was converted to Christianity and all the kings that came afterwards were Christian.

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Danes and the Danelaw

The Danish (Viking) period began in Britain about 787 when so-called Norsemen or Vikings crossed the sea and landed in Norfolk returning each summer to raid the coastal towns, especially monasteries and priories, which contained great wealth. The raids continued throughout the 9th Century and it became the custom to “pay the Norsemen off” in what was known as “Danegeld”. In 793, a raiding party attacked, plundered and destroyed the church of St Cuthbert at Lindisfarne, which sent shock waves as far away as the Frankish Kingdom of Charlemagne.

From the 850s, recent evidence suggests that the Vikings didn’t just raid, but began to stay over winter in some parts of the British isles.

In 865, a huge Scandinavian Viking force, said to be about 3000 men, landed in Kent and wintered in East Anglia, where they obtained horses then moved northwards by degree. The Norse sagas describe the invasion by this “Great Heathen Army” as being led by the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, who was said to have been killed by the Nothumbrian King Ælla. This remains a contentious story, even whether Lothbrok existed is in debate, as the sagas were written centuries afterwards.

However, it is known from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a contemporary source, that in 867, two rival Anglian kings of Northumbria (Osberht and Ælla) were killed and that the Vikings stormed Eoforwic (York) which they called “Jorvik“. They made Jorvik their power-base, establishing themselves along the coasts and along navigable rivers and building towns and villages, Some intermarried with the Anglo-Saxon population. They farmed the land and traded from the River Humber with all of the countries in which they had influence.

The north and east of the country became known as the Danelaw and was ruled by Danish Kings. The Danelaw, a term used to describe both the territories that the Danes commanded and the laws under which they lived, lasted for about two centuries. It comprised much of the modern shire counties of York, Lancaster, Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln, Essex, Cambridge, Suffolk, Norfolk, Northampton, Huntingdon, Bedford, Hertford, Middlesex and Buckingham. 

New rules were introduced into court procedure. Administrative areas came to bear Norse names, such as a “wapentake”, in the Danelaw. The new names and customs were eventually accepted as a part of the Anglo-Saxon-Norse legal system. In Norse legislation, there was less mercy than before…and punishments became more severe  e.g. exile, mutilation, or death.

An accused criminal would be brought before the court (or ting), where a jury of 12 decided the question of guilt. If found guilty, the convicted man would be fined or outlawed, when he was able to be hunted down and killed by his accusers. If the court should convict a man of a second offence, the penalty might be the loss of the hands or the feet, or of both. Further mutilation was decreed if the criminal should continue to commit grave offences. 

A law that was aimed at the ancient practice of blood feud provided that the crime of murder should also entail the loss of lands as well as of personal property.

The Danes divided the area now known as Yorkshire into three areas, North, East and West, so it must have been an area with a distinct identity already. The divisions were called “Ridings” which is derived from a Danish word “Threthingr” or “Thridding”, meaning “a third”. The villages that were to become the metropolitan area that we now call Kirklees, were formerly situated in the Kingdom of Elmet, which became included in the West Riding.

Daily life under the Danelaw is an interesting article off-site.

10th Century – Eoferwicscir – Yorkshire begins

Danish colonisation was followed, in the 10th Century, by a more peaceful influx of Norwegian immigrant settlers, mainly to the North and West Ridings and that is evidenced by the Scandinavian origin of place names right across the county. In the Domesday Book, at the end of the 11th Century, 31% of all West Riding place names were attributed to Scandinavian origins and in the North Riding 46%, suggesting the pattern of settlement.

There was still no unifying King of all England. King Edgar, a great grandson of King Alfred the Great, was born in about 943 and was proclaimed King of Northumbria and Mercia, aged fourteen, when those regions revolted against his elder brother King Eadwig in 957. Edgar was to reign over a vast area in the East of Britain stretching from modern Scotland down to Wessex, including the territory that had been known as the Danelaw. In 959, he also succeeded to the West Saxon throne, when his brother Eadwig died. Edgar also died young, after an 18 year reign, in 975.

During his reign, Edgar brought in laws for his whole kingdom, which reduced the autonomy of the Danelaw, but recognised the best of their customs. In order to ensure that his laws were correctly enforced, courts were held regularly. Administrative districts known as Shires, Hundreds and Wapentakes (the latter name of Viking origin) enabled the King to keep administrative control of his subjects. In Eoferwicscir (the 10th century Anglo-Saxon name for Yorkshire), he retained the three divisions of Ridings that had originated with the Danelaw. Edgar’s known laws did not specify mutilation as punishment, but Lantfred of Winchester wrote of Edgar, shortly after his death :

‘At the aforesaid time and at the command of the glorious King Edgar, a law of great severity was promulgated throughout England to serve as a deterrent against all sorts of crime by means of a dreadful punishment: that, if any thief or robber were found anywhere in the country, he would be tortured at length by having his eyes put out, his hands cut off, his ears torn off, his nostrils carved open and his feet removed; and finally, with the skin and hair of his head shaved off, he would be abandoned in the open fields dead in respect of nearly all his limbs, to be devoured by wild beasts and birds and hounds of the night.’

Lapidge, ch. 26; Sauvage, pp. 409–10.

Unification in the 11th Century

The three Ridings were to become part of a unified England on the accession of the Danish King Cnut.

From 1016 to 1035, Cnut the Great ruled over a unified English kingdom, as part of his North Sea Empire, together with his kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and part of Sweden. Cnut was converted to Christianity and was acknowledged by the Pope as the first Viking to becoming a Christian King. He is sometimes referred to as the first King of England.

After the death of Cnut’s son and successor, Harthacnut, the kingdom reverted to a Saxon king, Edward the Confessor, who was the surviving son of King Ethelred and was a step-son to Cnut, through his mother Emma of Normandy.

The term “Yorkshire” is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles towards the end of his reign in 1065.

After the death of Edward the Confessor, Harold Godwinson quickly seized the throne. The Viking Harold Hardrada invaded, with the help and support of Harold’s exiled brother, Tostig Godwinson, former Earl of Northumbria. Two battles were fought against Harold’s army, the first at Fulford on 20th September 1066 and the second at Stamford bridge, on 25th September After a defeat at Fulford, Harold assembled an army of 15,000 men in two days, marched 185 miles in four days to meet the invaders at Stamford Bridge, taking the Norwegians entirely by surprise. Harold’s decisive victory at Stamford Bridge could have been the most memorable battle of 1066, but it wasn’t! Three weeks later, William of Normandy, also of Viking descent, defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings and there begins another period in our history.