Eadwulf Cudel

Eadwulf Cudel or Cutel (meaning cuttlefish^[1]) was Earl of Bernicia (or Bamburgh) in the early eleventh century. Following the destruction of the kingdom of Northumbria by the Vikings in 867, they established the Kingdom of York in southern Northumbria, but English rulers held on in the north, the former kingdom of Bernicia, from their base at Bamburgh. They were variously described as earls or ealdormen or high-reeves, and their independence from the kings of England and Scotland is uncertain. Uhtred the Bold and Eadwulf Cudel were sons of Waltheof, earl of Bamburgh, who died in 1006. He was succeeded by Uhtred, who was appointed by Æthelred the Unready as earl of the whole of Northumbria. Uhtred was murdered in 1016, and king Cnut then appointed Erik, son of Hakon, earl at York, while Eadwulf succeeded at Bamburgh.^[2]

In 1018, Eadwulf was defeated by Máel Coluim mac Cináeda (Malcolm II of Scotland) in the Battle of Carham. According to Symeon of Durham, who described Ealdulf as "a very lazy and cowardly man", he ceded Lothian, the northern part of Bernicia, to the Scots, but Lothian had probably passed under Scottish control in the tenth century. Eadwulf died in the early 1020s, and was succeeded by Uhtred's son, Ealdred.^[3][4]

References

1. Williams, Ann (2003). Athelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King. Continuum. p. 139. ISBN 9781852853822.
2. Aird, William M. (2004). "Uhtred, earl of Bamburgh (d. 1016)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27981. Retrieved 25 August 2013. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
3. Fletcher, Richard (2002). Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England. Allen Lane. pp. 55–56, 111. ISBN 0-14-028692-6.
4. Rollason, David (2003). Northumbria, 500-1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom. Cambridge University Press. pp. 275–276. ISBN 0 521 81335 2.

External links

• Eadwulf 47 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England