Ecgfrida of Durham

• 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)

Married

• Married: (1) UHTRED, son of WALTHEOF Earl of Northumbria. Simeon of Durham's Account of the Siege of Durham records the marriage of "Cospatric's son…Ucthred" (although from the context "Cospatric" appears to be an error for "Waltheof") and Bishop Aldun…his daughter…Ecgfrida" and her repudiation by her husband, following which Uhtred married "the daughter of a rich citizen…Styr the son of Ulf…Sigen"[424]. Project MedLands states they had no children together, even though some sources have that EALDRED was their son.
• Married: (2) Ecgfrida's second marriage to "a certain thane in Yorkshire…Kilvert the son of Ligulf and their daughter Sigrida…wife of Arkil the son of Ecgfrid" whose son was "Cospatric…[who married] the daughter of Dolfin the son of Tolfin, by whom he begot Cospatric who of late ought to have fought with Waltheof the son of Eilaf", her repudiation by her second husband, her taking the veil, and her burial at Durham.

ENGLAND, ANGLO-SAXON NOBILITY

• UHTRED, son of WALTHEOF Earl of Northumbria & his wife --- (-murdered 1016). Simeon of Durham records that "his son Uchtred" succeeded "the elder Walthef" in Northumbria, stating that he was killed by "a powerful Dane Thurbrand surnamed Hold with the consent of Cnut"[418]. Earl of Northumbria. Inquisitions by "David…Cumbrensis regionis princeps", dated 1124, concerning land owned by the church of Glasgow, refer to donations by "Uchtred filius Waldef…"[419]. "Uhtred dux" subscribed charters of King Æthelred II dated 1009 to 1015[420]. He defeated a Scottish army which had besieged Durham in 1006. After the invasion of Svend King of Denmark in 1013, Earl Uhtred submitted to him[421]. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that he was murdered on the orders of Eadric "Streona"[422]. Stenton refers to "northern sources of the Norman age" which show that the chief agent of the murder was Thurbrand, who was in turn killed by Uhtred's son Ealdred[423], presumably referring to Simeon of Durham quoted above. King Canute appointed Erik Haakonson Jarl in Norway as Earl of Northumbria after Uhtred's death. Married firstly (repudiated) as her first husband, ECGFRIDA, daughter of ALDUN Bishop of Durham & his wife --- bur Durham). Simeon of Durham's Account of the Siege of Durham records the marriage of "Cospatric's son…Ucthred" (although from the context "Cospatric" appears to be an error for "Waltheof") and Bishop Aldun…his daughter…Ecgfrida" and her repudiation by her husband, following which Uhtred married "the daughter of a rich citizen…Styr the son of Ulf…Sigen"[424]. Simeon of Durham's Account of the Siege of Durham records Ecgfrida's second marriage to "a certain thane in Yorkshire…Kilvert the son of Ligulf" and "their daughter Sigrida…wife of Arkil the son of Ecgfrid" whose son was "Cospatric…[who married] the daughter of Dolfin the son of Tolfin, by whom he begot Cospatric who of late ought to have fought with Waltheof the son of Eilaf", her repudiation by her second husband, her taking the veil, and her burial at Durham[42.

History

In the 969th year after the birth of Our Lord, in the reign of Ethelred, King of the English; Malcolm, king of the Scots, son of King Kenneth, having gathered the army of all Scotland, devastated the province of the Northumbrians by fire and slaughter. and surrounded Durham in a siege. Waltheof who had been earl of the Northumbrians, shut himself up in Bamburgh. He was in fact of great age and so too old to he able to make a stand against the enemy. At this time, the bishop in this same place was Ealdun. Bishop Ealdun had given his daughter, Ecgfrida, as a wife to Earl Waltheoes son, Uhtred - a young man of great energy and very skilled in war. Ealdun gave with her these vills of the Church of St Cuthbert - Barmpton, Skirningham, Elton, Carlton, School Aycliffe, Monk Heselden - under this condition, that he (Uhtred) retain them for as long as he always lived honourably in marriage with his daughter. Seeing the land devastated by the enemy and Durham besieged. and his father unable to act, the young warrior gathered the army of the Northumbrians and the people of York, no small force. and killed almost all the Scottish host: whose king himself barely escaped by fleeing with a few men. He had the heads of the dead made more presentable with their hair combed, as then was the custom, and transported to Durham; there washed by four women, and fixed on stakes round the walls; they gave the women who had washed them a cow each as payment. Hearing of this. King Ethelred called the aforementioned young man to him, and whilst his father, Waltheof, was still living, gave him as a reward for his prowess and the way in which he fought. his father's earldom, adding the earldom of York.

But on his return home, Uhtred dismissed the daughter of Bishop Ealdun, and because he put her away against that which he had promised and sworn, the father of the girl. namely the bishop, took back the aforesaid church lands which he had given with her to Uhtred. Having sent away the bishop's daughter, Uhtred married Sige, the daughter of Styr, son of Ulf, a wealthy and prominent man; her father gave her to him on the condition that he would kill Styr's leading enemy Thurbrand. After this, of course. Uhtred went on to greater and greater military success and King Ethelred united him in marriage with his daughter Aelfgifu, from whom he had a daughter, Ealdgyth, whose father gave her in marriage to Maldred son of Crinan the thegn. To them was born Cospatric, father of Dolfin, Waltheof, and Cospatric.

Meanwhile, 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. Kilvert, son of Ligulf, dismissed the daughter of Bishop Ealdun, Ecgfrida, at which the bishop told her to come back to Durham at once. To comply with what her father had ordered, she returned with Barmpton, Skirningham and Elton which she had retained in her own hand, and she gave back her own lands with herself to the church and the bishop. Later on she took the veil and served well until the end of her days, and was buried in the cemetery of Durham where she awaits Judgement Day.
[A Study of Marriage and Murder in Eleventh-century Northumbria:Issue 82 By Christopher J. Morris]

Sources

• Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England By Richard Fletcher - https://books.google.com/books?id=Mz7k0NeveBYC&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&d...
• Wikipedia of Aldhun of Durham - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldhun
• 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" - https://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/minibios/s/Uchtred-Buccle...
• A History of Northumberland, in Three Parts: General history of the country By John Hodgson, John Hodgson-Hinde, James Raine, John Collingwood Bruce - https://books.google.com/books?id=D1IGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=...
• Marriage and Murder in Eleventh-century Northumbria: A Study of 'De ...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
• a b Rollason 2004, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• a b Stenton 1971, Anglo-Saxon England p. 418 footnote 2
• a b Williams 2003, Æthelred the Unready pp. 72–73
• Fletcher 2003, Bloodfeud pp. 75-
• Stirnet Genealogy, Peter Barns-Graham, Temp06 (Reliability: 3)
• Stirnet Genealogy, Peter Barns-Graham, Swinton01 (Reliability: 3)
• See "My Lines" ( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/p142.htm#i16202 )from Compiler: R. B. Stewart, Evans, GA ( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/index.htm )