Earl Gospatric

Earl Gospatric fitz Arkill

• Son of Arkil Morel and Sigrida
• His mother was Sigfrida, daughter of the Yorkshire thane Kilvert son of Ligulf. Gospatric fitz Arkill married a daughter of Dolfin son of Thorfin, and had sons, Gospatric, Thurstan, Dolfin, Uctred, and Thorfin, all great men in after date, and progenitors of landed proprietors in a smaller degree.
• Speight, Harry, "Chronicles and Stories of Old Bingley"(London: Elliot Stock, 1898., p. 73 states,
  • "Archil, the father of Gospatric, who lived in the reign of Edward the Confessor, also rebelled against the Conqueror, and was likewise dispossessed. Gospatric took to wife a daughter of Dolphin, son of Thorfin, and ones of his sons was named after him. Gospatric, the elder, was the only Englishman in Yorkshire permitted to keep any of his estates after the survey of England completed by the Conqueror in 1086. Gospatric forfeited the manor of Bingley, but retained many others, including the manor of Holden-in-Craven, which he continued to hold as the king's thane. He must not be confounded with Gospatric, ancestor of the Earls of Dunbar...".
• On page 74 of Speight's book is a pedigree chart showing the relationship between Gospatric, Earl of Dunbar and Gospatric, son of Arkil. In addition to Gospatric, Arkil is the father of another Arkil who was the father of Alwyn, ancestor to the Earls of Lennox as noted in "Complete Peerage" Vol. VII, p. 586. This chart fills in the early part of the pedigree suggested in CP.
• Symeon of Durham. De obsessione Dunelmi (late 11th or early 12th century) says: "'Ecgfritha, the daughter of bishop Ealdhun, whom earl Uchtred sent away, became the wife of a certain thegn in Yorkshire, namely, Kilvert, son of Ligwulf; their daughter, Sigrida, became the wife of Arkil, son of Ecgfrith, and she bore him a son named Gospatric.'" (Source: Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England)
• Death: He died circa 1075 in Northumberland, England.1,3
• Notes The daughter of Bishop Ealdun, whom Earl Uhtred had dismissed. was taken by Kilvert, son of Ligulf. a Yorkshire thegn; from whom he fathered a daughter named Sigrid: Arkil, son of Ecgfrith, took her as his wife from whom he had a son called Cospatric. Cospatric married the daughter of Dolfin. son of Torfin, and they had a son called Cospatric who recently had to fight against Waltheof son of Aelfsige. Source - A Study of Marriage and Murder in Eleventh-century Northumbria:Issue 82 By Christopher J. Morris
• The elder Arkil, son of Uchtred, Earl of Northumbria, is not to be confused with a contemporary Arkil of Ripley, who Ellis identifies as the son of Ulf (Ellis, 4:390). Gospatric Fitz Arkil had another son named Dolfin, which name does not appear in the family of Gospatric before his supposed marriage with the daughter of Dolfin, son of Thorfin. Gospatric also had a son named Thorfin, presumably named for Thorfin, the son of Sigurd, who later became the Earl of Caithness (cf. CP II: 473).

Married

• Married a daughter of Dolphin THORFINNSSON Their sons were Gospatric, only mentioned by Simeon of Durham, but perhaps the father of Thurstan; Uchlred of Allerston and Kayton, and Dolfin of Staveley and Thoresby.~ Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, Vol. IV, pp. 384-387

Children

• Gospatric fitz Gospatric was born 1080 in Bingley, West Riding, Yorkshire, England. He was killed at the battle of the Standard in 1138.
• Dolfin fitz Gospatric , was born 1078. Dolfin has also been identified with Dolfin de Bradeley and is believed to be the progenitor of the Bradley, Staveley, De Hebden, and Thoresby families.
• Thurstan fitz Gospatric was born 1082 in Bingley, West Riding, Yorkshire, England.
• Uchtred fitz Gospatric, was born 1084 in Bingley, West Riding, Yorkshire, England. He died 1109 in Allerston, North Riding, Yorkshire, England..
• Thorfin fitz Gospatric was born 1086 in Bingley, West Riding, Yorkshire, England.

Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal, Volume 4

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON TIE YORKSHIRE TENANTS NAMED IN DOMESDAY BOOK, By ALFRED 8. ELLIS. (CONTINUED YROM P. 245).

XXIX. GOSPATRIC.
Although there may have been others of this name, only two are known by the chroniclers to have been adults at this time; they were cousins, nearly related to, and no doubt named after, Gospatric, third son of Uchtred, earl of Northumberland, who was treacherously killed by order of queen Eadgith, at the king's court, on the fourth of Christmas, 1065, for her brother Tostig's sake. He seems to have been the first of this strange name Patrick--with a prefix said to mean boy or disciple, but latinised by some of the chroniclers as "Caius Patricius."

Of the two cousins, one made his peace with the Conqueror, and had influence and wealth enough to get by purchase the earldom of Northumberland, after earl Copsi's death, but he was soon after (1072) deprived of it, and " retired" into Scotland, where he was welcomed by king Malcolm, and obtained the lands of Dunbar. He was the ancestor of the earls of Dunbar and several other Scotch families. (See Mr. Drummond's British Families.) The date of his death is not known, but he was buried at Durham, where he had great influence, though south of the Tees he does not appear to have had any possessions.

The entries under this name in the Survey seem, however, all of them to refer to one man--the other cousin-Gospatric, son of the thane Arkill. In 1068 this Arkill, being the most powerful chief of the Northumbrians, made a treaty of peace with the Conqueror, who accepted his son as a hostage for his fidelity. (Ordericus, IV. iv.) This son was probably the Gospatric of the Survey, even then a man, for he had been a landowner in the days of king Edward, as will be seen. Not long after, Arkill, joining Merlesweyn, Gospatric

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON THE YORKSHIRE TENANTS. Page 385

(afterwards earl), Edgar Atheling. the four sons of Karl, and others, with the nssistance of the burghers of York, made a desperate attack on the royal fortress there, of which William Malet was governor, but they were surprised by the active king and surrounded.

Many were slain and many were taken prisoners, but Arkill was among those who escaped by flight. (1b. IV. v.) Arkill's estates were no doubt then forfeited, and Gospatric, probably still his father's hostage, would have been sacrificed had he not found favour in the king's eyes.

Again, Arkill and the others, assisted by the Danes, attacked York, 1069; this time the city was taken and sacked, but the ultimate consequences were as disastrous as before, and we do not hear of him again. It is said he escaped to Scotland, and king Malcolm granted him the lands which afterwards constituted the earldom of Lennox, his grandson Alwyne, son of his son Arkill, being the first earl.' What further we know of his son, Gospatric, is recorded by Simeon of Durham, who states that his mother was Sigrida, (daughter of the Yorkshire thane, Kilvert, son of Ligulf), who had been the wife of another Arkill, (son of Fridgist), and also of earl Eadulf.

Arkill had with this wife, who was a granddaughter of bishop Aldun, certain lands of the see of Durham, which he gave back to St. Cuthbert after her death. Gospatric took to wife a daughter of Dolfin, son of Thorfin, and had a son, Gospatric, who "of late ought to have fought with " (his cousin) Waltheof, son of Eilsi of Tees, perhaps about some of those lands of the see of Durham, which bishop Aldun had given his daughter, from whom they were both descended.

This tenant in capite was the only Englishman in Yorkshire who found sufficient favour with the Conqueror to be allowed to keep any of his private estate:-some, as we shall see, were permitted to retain their thane-lands, but all of them, with this exception, were deprived of their own property. Gospatric himself was probably the king's thane of that name, who retained lands as such in Holden and Heworth, for in the latter place he had also another estate.

• It is not improbable that Arkill had been another member of this family: Gitatrice Younger brothers and res to 54 MPs Abbey, wine shuenter cover into favour Dis initience. Cops, son of relat, who witnease a de Mantickl. charter of earl Alan, c 15, may lave. [sic. sic. sic. A messy mélange???

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON TIE YORKSHIRE TENANTS, Page 386

Gospatric continued to hold, besides certain lands, thirty-two manors (distinctly so named), which had been his in the days of King Edward the Confessor; some twenty or more of these were in that part of Burghshire (now Claro Wapentake) between the rivers Ure and Nidd, and between the towns of Ripon, Aldborough, Knaresborough, and Pateley Bridge.

In this district his lands were intermixed with those of William de Perci and Gilbert Tison, chiefly the former. We need only notice the following, as affording some means of identifying him and his descendants, among whom some of his lands seem to have been distributed. At Marton he had twelve carucates, the largest are held by him at any one place; it was formerly rated at only 40s., and now at 20s.,and perhaps he had a hall there. Farnham is the only place in the whole number stated to have had a church.

At Stanley (South ?) he had a manor and eight carucates; at Stolley (Staveley or Studley ?), a manor and lands, but they were waste. In three other places, Aldfield, Bickerton, and Burton, he had obtained manors, formerly belonging to Arkill, his father; only, however, a very small portion of the latter's former estate. In Weardley, he had the manors of Ligulf and Saxulf, whose heir he may have been, through his mother, daughter of the thane Kilvert, son of Liulph, or Ligulf.

We also find that he retained a manor of nine carucates of land and 100 acres of meadow in Sledmere, an outlying estate which, no doubt, had come to him through his mother, for Kilvert, and Thorfin also, had held a manor here, which the earl of Mortain obtained. Gospatric had a few other manors out of Burghshire, but adjoining it, and the fief of most if not of all of these lands, Nigel de Albini, or Roger de Mowbray obtained with others from Henry I. Alan, son of Thurstan,? ' son of Gospatric, exchanged with archbishop Roger all the lands which his father and ancestors held in Stanley (see above) of the archbishop's fief, for lands in Bishopton and Ripshire, by deed dated at Ripon, in the archbishop's court, " in the nineteenth year of king Henry nephew of king Henry," 1173. (Mon. Angl. vi. 1191.) 'The descendants of another son. Dolphin, it is said, retained Staveley.

NAMED IN DOMESDAY BOOK, page 387

In Langburgh wapentake, and other parts of the North Riding, Gospatric (the same no doubt) had held Brafferton, Harton, Ulveston, and fourteen other manors, but the king was retaining them in his own hands. At Ulveston this tenant in capite holds also another manor, not retained by the king, which serves to identify him as the same Gospatric.

Among the fourteen others, we find Cayton and Allerston, which his descendants afterwards held, although they were retained by the king at the date of the Survey.

Uctred de Alverstain, (Allerston), son of Gospatric, gave to prior Serlo (ob. c. 1102), and the monks of Whitby, two carucates of land in Kaiton (all which, by the Survey, Gos-patric had there in the days of king Edward), on condition they would receive him into their house, should he choose at any time to leave the world; and Thorfin, his son, gave them the church at Crosby-Ravenswart, in Westmorland, about

1140. Thorfin's son, Alan, left a daughter and heiress, Helen, whom Thomas de Hastings married, and their present representative in the male line is the Earl of Hunting-don. Nor was this all Gospatric's former estate, for his manor of Misham had been given to Ernes de Burun; three others to Roger the Poictevin count; two to the earl of Mortain; and four, with lands in Thoresby and other places, to earl Alan, who allowed him to hold them under him, as also to succeed Arkill as his tenant in eight others.
These hunts in Thoresby, if we may trust that fine old "Rotulus Ilistorico-Genealogieus" of Henry VI's time,? descended by another son, Dolfin, to the family called de Thoresby, which produced an archbishop of York, and our genial old antiquary of Leeds, who was not a little proud of his long pedigree, "series longissima. Per tot dueta viros antiqui al origine gentis.

Gospatric's property was, it seems, divided among his sons, who sunk to be under-tenants of what they retained. They were Gospatric, only mentioned by Simeon of Durham, but perhaps the father of Thurstan named above; Uchtred of Allerston and Kaston, and Dolfin of Staveley (?).

Gospatric de Rigton

~ The Publications of the Thoresby Society, Vol. IX, p. 113, Gospatric the son of Arkil married a daughter of Dolfin son of Thorfin and was the father of Dolphyn , who had three sons: Torphyn, Swayn, and Ughtred.
Gospatric was the son of the than Arkill. In 1068, Arkill, being the most powerful chief of the Northumbrians, made a treat of peace with the Conqueror, who accepted his son, Gospatric, as a hostage for his fidelity. At this time Gospatric was already of age and a had been a landowner in the days of king Edward. Arkill joined Edgar Atheling in a desperate attack on the royal fortress at York where William Malet was governor. They were surprised by the king, many of them slain or taken prisoner, but Arkill was among those who escaped. Arkill's estates were undoubtable forfeited, and Gospatric, likely still a hostage, would have been sacrificed had Gospatric not found favor with the king. Gospatric was the only Englishman in Yorkshire to have sufficient favor with the Conqueror to be allowed to keep any of his private estate. His lands were divided among his sons, who sunk to be under-tenants of what they retained.

Gospatric married a daughter of Dolfin, son of Thorfin. Their sons were Gospatric, only mentioned by Simeon of Durham, but perhaps the father of Thurstan; Uchlred of Allerston and Kayton, and Dolfin of Staveley and Thoresby.~ Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, Vol. IV, pp. 384-387

Links

• BradleyFoundation.org
• EnglishMonarchs.co.uk
• Freepages,Rootsweb.com
• GFlynn.com.

Sources

• Who was the ‘Cumbrian’ Earl Gospatric? The Wild Peak.wordpress.com.
• Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England By Richard Fletcher, Google Books.
• Wikipedia: Aldhun of Durham.
• Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England, by Richard Fletcher, page 132. Google Books.
• EADWULF (-murdered 1041). Simeon of Durham names "Aldred, Eadulf and Cospatric" as the three sons of "Uchtred"[354]. Simeon of Durham records that Eadwulf succeeded in Northumbria after his brother Ealdred was murdered but that he was "put to death by Siward"[355]. Named son of Uhtred by Roger of Hoveden, second of the three sons he lists, specifying that he succeeded his brother as Earl of Northumbria [356]. He was betrayed and murdered on the orders of King Harthacnut[357]. m as her second husband, SIGRIDA, [widow] of ARKIL (son of Fridegist), daughter of KILVERT & his wife Ecgfrida. Simeon of Durham's Account of the Siege of Durham records that "Sigrida, the daughter of Kilvert and of Ecgfrida, the daughter of bishop Aldun" (first wife of Eadwulf's father Uhtred) married "Arkil the son of Fridegist, and earl Eadulf, and Arkil the son of Ecgfrith". ElectricScotland.com, PDF.
• A History of Northumberland, in Three Parts: General History of the Country, by John Hodgson, John Hodgson-Hinde, James Raine, John Collingwood Bruce. Google Books.
• Marriage and Murder in Eleventh-century Northumbria: A Study of... . by Christopher J. Morris - https://books.google.com/books?id=Crnv8jaK7hkC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=...
• Fryde et al. 1996, Handbook of British Chronology, p. 214
• Fryde et al. 1996, Handbook of British Chronology, p. 216
• Fletcher 2003, Bloodfeud. p. 70
• Rollason 2004, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Stenton 1971, Anglo-Saxon England. p. 418 footnote 2
• Williams 2003, Æthelred the Unready, pp. 72–73
• Fletcher 2003, Bloodfeud pp. 75-
• “Gospatric". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
• Stirnet Genealogy, Peter Barns-Graham, Temp06 (Reliability: 3)
• Origins Clan Dunbar
• Stirnet Genealogy, Peter Barns-Graham, Swinton01 (Reliability: 3)