Oslac of York

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Approximate extension of York (Jórvík) sphere of influence under Oslac's government

Oslac (fl. 966-975) is considered the first Ealdorman (or Earl) of York and the areas dependent thereon; these included , but need not have been limited to , the southern half of Northumbria . Oslac's background is unclear due to poor sources, which has led to disagreement among historians regarding his family and ethnicity .

It is believed that he took over the position of Ealdorman of York in 966 and held that position until his overthrow in 975. Possibly he was the first Ealdorman in southern Northumbria, although an alternative tradition provides for Northumbria to be divided into two Ealdormanries after his death. Little is known about his time as Ealdorman, except for the legend that he escorted King Kenneth II of Scotland to the English royal court and was expelled from England in 975. After that it no longer appears in the sources. It had a son, but it is not clear whether he ever followed him.

origin

Oslac's origin is unclear, and no specific association with any previous known figure can be made from available sources. As for Oslac's name, some historians suggest that he was a Norseman . Dorothy Whitelock pointed out that the name Oslac is often an Anglicization of the Norse name Áslákr , while the authors of the Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain write that the name comes from the Danelag , which is supported by the fact that Thored, Oslac's son who owned land in Cambridgeshire .

On the other hand, Oslac is also a real English name that has the element Os in common with Osulf I of Bamburgh , a former Ealdorman of York, which shows relationships with the family of the rulers of Bamburgh in the far north of England.

Beginnings

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports in 966 that Thored, son of Gunnar, attacked Westmorland and Oslac took over the office of Ealdorman. Some historians claim that Oslac became the "oldest ruler of all of Northumbria, including the territory of the High Reeves of Bamburgh". There are records that Oslac attested to 963 documents; this could mean the death of his predecessor Osulf and that he was appointed Ealdorman in 963. However, some of these documents are problematic as sources, since they were only recorded in later copy books ; there is thus the possibility of errors in their transmission. In addition, a charter dated 966 testifies to a bestowal by Dux Thored by Oslac Minister (i.e., thegn ), suggesting that Oslac was not given the office of Ealdorman of York until 966.

Division of Northumbria

De primo Saxonum adventu , a compilation of sources from the 11th or 12th century, claims that after the death of Osulf Northumbria was divided: Eadwulf Evil-child received the area between the Firth of Forth and the River Tees , Oslac the area south of it to the Humber .

After John of Wallingford († 1258), King Edgar divided the land at a council in York to avoid the whole area becoming the inheritance of a single man. The Historia Regum claims that such a division did not take place in the time of Oslac but of Osulf, and that the line of division was the River Tyne rather than the Tees; historian Dorothy Whitelock thinks this is apocryphal.

Career

Oslac often testified to King Edgar's records, suggesting that he had a position of trust in the royal court.

De primo Saxonum adventu reports that Oslac, together with Eadwulf Evil-child of Bamburgh and Bishop Ælfsige of Chester-le-Street, escorted the Scottish King Kenneth II to Wessex , where Edgar had his base.

The two earls [Oslac and Eadwulf] along with Ælfsige, who was bishop of St Cuthbert [968-990], conducted Cinaed to king Edgar. And when he had done homage to him, king Edgar gave him Lothian; and with great honor sent him back to his own.

This must have happened - if at all - between 968 and 975; H. after the elf had become bishop and before Edgar's death. Richard Fletcher dates the event to 973.

Historian GWS Barrow believes this event marked the beginning of Scottish control of the area between the Tweed and Firth of Forth, which was thereby defined as Lothian , while historian Alex Woolf has suggested that the account of Lothian was later invented was made to underline the claim that the Scottish kings received homage for land in Lothian.

Doom and Legacy

In 975, not long after the death of King Edgar, Oslac was banished from England for no reason. The historian Richard Fletcher suspects that the overthrow of Oslac was the result of a rejection of the succession by Edward the Martyr .

The Historia Eliensis reported Oslac have had a son named Thored. In fact, his successor was named Thored , but it is not clear whether it is Oslac's son or Gunner's son; historians tend to the second explanation.

The Gesta Herwardi announced that his great-great-granddaughter, Aedeva (Edith) was the mother of Hereward the Wake .

literature

  • Alan Orr Anderson (Ed., 1908), Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers AD 500 to 1286 (1991, revised and corrected edition), Stamford: Paul Watkins, ISBN 1-871615-45-3
  • Thomas Arnold (ed. 1882–85), Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia, Rerum Britannicarum Medii Ævi Scriptores, or, Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages ; Volume 75 (2 parts), London: Longman
  • Richard Fletcher (2003), Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England , London: Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-028692-6
  • William E. Kapelle (1979), The Norman Conquest of the North: The Region and Its Transformation, 1000-1135 , London: Croom Helm Ltd, ISBN 0-7099-0040-6
  • David Rollason (2003), Northumbria, 500-1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-04102-3
  • Frederic Seebohm (1902), Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law: Being an Essay Supplemental to: (1) The English Village Community, (2) The Tribal System in Wales , London: Longmans, Green & Co.
  • Dorothy Whitelock (1959), The Dealings of the Kings of England with Northumbria , in: Peter Clemoes (Ed.), The Anglo-Saxons: Studies in some Aspects of their History and Culture presented to Bruce Dickins , London: Bowes & Bowes, Pp. 70-88
  • Ann Williams; Alfred P. Smyth, DP Kirby (1991), A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain: England, Scotland and Wales, c.500 – c.1050 , London: Seaby, ISBN 1-85264-047-2
  • Alex Woolf (2007), From Pictland to Alba, 789-1070 , The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-1234-5

Remarks

  1. ^ Whitelock, p. 79
  2. ↑ Whitelock, pp. 78-9; Williams, Smyth, Kirby, p. 194
  3. ↑ Fletcher, p. 44
  4. ↑ ASC D, etc , s. a. 966
  5. ^ William, Smyth, Kirby, p. 194
  6. ↑ Fletcher, p. 44; Rollason, pp. 266-7
  7. ^ Whitelock, p. 78
  8. ↑ Whitelock, p. 77; Woolf, p. 211; Arnold (Ed.), P. 382; Anderson, p. 77
  9. ^ Whitelock, p. 77
  10. ↑ Whitelock, pp. 77-78
  11. ↑ Fletcher, p. 44
  12. ↑ trans. Woolf, p. 211; the Latin text in Arnold (ed.), p. 382
  13. ↑ a b Woolf, p. 211
  14. ↑ Fletcher, p. 56
  15. ↑ Barrow, pp. 121-125
  16. ↑ Fletcher, p. 45
  17. ↑ Fletcher, pp. 70-71; Whitelock, pp. 77-78
  18. ↑ Fletcher, p. 71; Whitelock, pp. 77-8; Woolf, p. 211; see. Williams, Smyth, Kirby, p. 194
  19. ↑ Gesta Herwardi Chapter 2 "... et mater Aediva trinepta Oslaci ducis ..."
personal data
SURNAME Oslac of York
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ealdorman of York
DATE OF BIRTH 10th century
DATE OF DEATH after 975