Earl of East Anglia
The Earls of East Anglia were rulers of East Anglia in the 11th century . The title was first awarded by Canute the Great in 1017 and disappeared after Ralph de Gaël's participation in the failed uprising of the counts in 1075.
Earldormen of East Anglia
Until 917 East Anglia was a kingdom that was under Danish control from 870. That year, the East Anglia Danes submitted to King Edward the Elder and East Anglia became part of the expanding Kingdom of England . It is not clear who was commissioned there, but it is likely that the Ealdorman of south-east Mercia, Æthelfrith, received rule of the redesigned area from Edward. He died around 927 and was inherited by his son Æthelstan Half-King . This was a very powerful aristocrat who ruled a vast territory and whose family remained powerful in the area.
Danish Jarle and, English and Norman Earls
After his conquest of England in 1016, Canute the Great divided the empire into several large administrative areas in the following year, which were ruled by Jarlen . These corresponded to the territorial outlines that the former kingdoms of Wessex , Mercia , Northumbria, and East Anglia had possessed in the mid-9th century. However, the exact outlines of these Jarlt leads varied over the decades, as Jarlt leads were created for certain individuals with a different shape, which however mostly only existed for a short time. The core of East Anglia's Jarltum was Norfolk and Suffolk . Other administrative units such as Essex , Middlesex and Cambridgeshire also belonged to East Anglia at different times.
The first Jarl of East Anglia was Thorkell the Great , who was appointed in 1017. Thorkell and his family were ostracized by Canute the Great in 1021, but pardoned again in 1023. His immediate successors are unknown.
The original English dynasty was restored when King Edward the Confessor took office in 1042. During his reign, East Anglia, then smaller than the other three original earldoms and not the power base of any of the families that dominated English politics at the time, was held by two younger members of an equally influential family. By 1045 the Earldom of East Anglia was in the hands of Harold Godwinson , the second son of Godwin of Wessex . In 1051 Godwin and his sons were exiled and their possessions reassigned. East Anglia went to Ælfgar , son of Leofric of Mercia . However, in 1052 Godwin and his sons returned to England and regained their previous positions. When Godwin died in 1053, Harold was named Earl of Wessex in his place , and he was replaced again by Ælfgar in East Anglia. In 1055, Ælfgar was banished and driven into exile, but he too regained his former position within the year. In 1057, his father Leofric died, and Ælfgar was named Earl of Mercia in his father's place. The Earldom of East Anglia was then assigned to Gyrth Godwinson , one of Harold's younger brothers, who he held until his death at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
After the Norman conquest of England , William the Conqueror put Ralph the Staller, a Norfolk-born aristocrat of Breton descent, as the Earl of East Anglia. After his death he was replaced by his son Ralph de Gaël. He was a leader in a rebellion against William in 1075 known as the " Revolt of the Earls ". With the failure of this uprising, Ralph fled to his lands in Brittany and no successor was appointed, although many of Ralph's holdings were turned over to the great Breton magnate Alain the Reds .
Later earldoms created in the region were of a smaller size. This was in line with developments elsewhere in the country. While England had been ruled by a handful of earls with large territories in the mid-11th century, units were reduced in size under the Norman kings. An earl rarely had control of an entire Shire , and many earls only managed a fraction of it. In fact, the power of the earls was reduced from that of a duke to that of a count . Over time, the earl dignity developed from an office endowed with territorial governance to more of an honorary title.
List of Ealdormen, Jarle, and Earls of East Anglia
| English Ealdormanry from East Anglia | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | owner | died | comment |
| 930 | 931 | Ælfred | ||
| 932 | 956 | Æthelstan Half-King | ||
| 957 | 962 | Æthelwald | 962 | |
| 962 | 992 | Æthelwine | 992 | |
| 993 | 1002 | Leofsige | ||
| Danish jury of East Anglia | ||||
| 1017 | 1021 | Thorkell the Great | after 1023 | |
| around 1026 | 1044 or 1045 | Osgod Clapa | 1054 | Existence uncertain. |
| English Earldom of East Anglia | ||||
| 1044 or 1045 | 1051 | Harold Godwinson | 1066 | |
| 1051 | 1052 | Ælfgar | around 1060 | |
| 1052 | 1053 | Harold Godwinson | 1066 | |
| 1053 | 1057 | Ælfgar | around 1060 | |
| 1057 | 1066 | Gyrth Godwinson | 1066 | |
| Norman Earldom of East Anglia | ||||
| 1067 | 1069 | Radulf the Staller | 1068 | |
| around 1069 | 1075 | Radulf de Gael | around 1097 | |
literature
- Cyril Hart: The Danelaw. Hambledon, London 1992, ISBN 1-85285-044-2 , p. 195, table 5.2.
Individual evidence
- ^ Ian W. Walker: Mercia and the making of England. Sutton 2000 ISBN 0-7509-2131-5 , p. 130.
- ^ Cunninghams of SW Nova Scotia - Person Page - Aethelfrith (?), Ealdorman of Mercia. laurenandtristan.net, accessed April 7, 2017 .
- ↑ Person and Factoid: Æthelstan 26. pase.ac.uk, accessed April 7, 2017 .