Eadwulf Evil-child

Eadwulf Evil-child Latin: Eadulphus cognomento Yvelcildus
Born	10th-century
Title	Earl of Bamburgh

Eadulf, Eadwulf, or occasionally Adulf, surnamed Evil-child (Old English: Yvelcild or Ewelthild^[1]), (fl. AD 973) was Earl of Bamburgh in the late tenth century.^[2] Although Eadwulf is sometimes described as the Earl of Northumbria, he ruled only the northern portion of Northumbria from the River Tees to possibly as far north as the Firth of Forth.

Biography

The details of Eadwulf's early life are not known except that his surname evil-child may indicate that he was a wild youth with evil-child being equivalent to "bad boy" in modern English.^[3] Additionally, given his name, he may have been related to a previous ruler of Northumbria, Eadwulf II who died in 913.^[4] At least one 19th century work suggests that Eadwulf was probably the son of Osulf, the man whom Eadwulf later succeeded as ruler of Bamburgh.^[5]

De primo Saxonum adventu, an 11th- or 12th-century compilation from earlier sources, notes that after the death of Osulf (no later than 963), Northumbria was divided into two parts. The English king Edgar granted Eadulf Evil-child the lands between the Myreford (arguably the Firth of Forth) and the River Tees, while Oslac received the lands between the Humber Estuary and the Tees.^[6][7] According to John of Wallingford, King Edgar made this division during a council at York, in order to prevent the whole area becoming the inheritance of one man.^[8]

Assuming that Myreford was the Saxon name for the Firth of Forth (which some dispute, suggesting it might be the River Tweed^[9]), Eadwulf's control over the northern part of Northumbria was not to last. In AD 972 Eadwulf's son was captured by Kenneth King of Scots during a raid.^[10] The following year, Eadwulf, Oslac and Bishop Ælfsige escorted Kenneth to King Edgar who was at Chester, and after Kenneth had reportedly done homage, Edgar rewarded Kenneth by granting him Lothian.^[11] Although no ancient sources mention what happened to Eadwulf's son,^[12] it has been speculated that Eadwulf ceded his possessions north of the Tweed in exchange for his safe return.^[13]

The details of the later part of Eadwulf's life are not known. It may be that he fell from office as late as 975 in the violence which attended the succession crisis after the death of King Edgar.^[14] It has been suggested that both Eadwulf and Oslac backed the unsuccessful Æthelred the Unready rather than the successful Edward the Martyr as the successor to King Edgar and hence lost their positions.^[15] In any case the Earldom of Bamburgh was held by Waltheof from 975 onwards.^[2]

Sources

The English grammarian and lexicographer C T Onions states that the De primo Saxonum adventu is the only known source for details about Eadwulf's life, as other extant authorities are based upon it.^[16] There are however some 10th century charters which briefly mention him.^[17]

Eadwulf Evil-child's name is not to be found in De Omnibus Comitibus Northimbrensibus, probably because he was not considered by the eleventh century Anglo-Norman earls to be an important ancestor.^[3]

References

1. Douglas, Sir George; Douglas, Sir George Brisbane (1899). History of the Border Counties: (Roxburgh, Selkirk, Peebles). Blackwood. p. 47.
2. Rollason, David W. (2003). Northumbria, 500 - 1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom. Cambridge University Press. p. 267. ISBN 0521813352.
3. McGuigan, Neil (20 November 2015). "4.1.3 ‘Northumbrian Earldom Foundation Legend’". Neither Scotland nor England : Middle Britain, c.850–1150 (PhD). University of St Andrews. pp. 92, 93. Docket uk.bl.ethos.675224. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
4. Fletcher, Richard A. (2004). Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford University Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0195179446.
5. Armitage, Ella S (1885). The Connection Between England and Scotland. Rivingtons. p. 20.
6. Whitelock, "Dealings of the Kings", p. 77; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 211; Arnold (ed.), Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia, vol. ii, p. 382; Anderson, Scottish Annals, p. 77
7. Barrow, Geoffrey (1962). The border: inaugural lecture of the Professor of Medieval History. University of Durham. p. 13.
8. Whitelock, "Dealings of the Kings", p. 77
9. Barrow, Geoffrey (2003). The Kingdom of the Scots: Government, Church and Society from the Eleventh to the Fourteenth Century. Edinburgh University Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0748618033.
10. Ann Williams, Edgar (943/4–975), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
11. Rollason, David W. (2003). Northumbria, 500 - 1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom. Cambridge University Press. p. 275. ISBN 0521813352.
12. Clarkson, Tim (2014). Strathclyde and the Anglo-Saxons in the Viking Age. Edinburgh: Berlinn. ISBN 9781907909252.
13. Armitage, Ella S (1885). The Connection Between England and Scotland. Rivingtons. p. 21.
14. Fletcher, Richard A. (2004). Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford University Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0195179446.
15. Hayes, Jean Anne (August 2005). "4 - Northumbrian Earls, 927 A.D. TO 1075 A.D.". Anglian leadership in Northumbria, 547 A.D. through 1075 A.D. (PDF) (Dissertation). Louisiana State University. pp. 122, 123. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
16. Onions, Charles Talbut (1940). Medium Ævum 9–10. Society for the Study of Mediæval Languages and Literature. p. 110.
17. Robertson, A J, ed. (1939). Anglo-Saxon charters. CUP Archive. p. 341.