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Annals of the Anglo-Norse
Table of Contents
Siward the Stout [Sigeweard Digri], Earl of Northumbria
Lived 1000-
Reigned 1023-
"Earl Siward was one of the old breed; he himself had been born in the land of the Danes, and journeyed to England as a young man."
--Bishop Cola of Durham, Annals of the Anglo-Norse, Anno Domini 1217
Table of Contents
Siward the Stout [Sigeweard Digri], Earl of Northumbria
Lived 1000-
Reigned 1023-
"Earl Siward was one of the old breed; he himself had been born in the land of the Danes, and journeyed to England as a young man."
--Bishop Cola of Durham, Annals of the Anglo-Norse, Anno Domini 1217
Earl Siward "the Stout" of Northumbria started his dazzling career of political and military prowess as the thane of Eirik Hakonsson, who had been Regent of Norway and, afterward, had been obliged as a vassal of Knud the Great to aid in his conquest of England. As a reward for his services, Eirik had been given the Earldom of Northumbria; Thorkel the Tall was given East Anglia, Eadric Streona the Traitor Mercia, and Knud kept the developed and defensible lands of Wessex and Kent for himself.
In 1023 Eirik died, and Siward the thane, though rather young, became Earl Siward of York. The lands of Bernicia, part of and beholden to Northumbria, gained independence from Siward's rule under Earl Ealdred of Bernicia, descendant of the Anglo-Saxon Kings of Northumbria. Facing a hungry Mercia and vengeful Bernicia, Siward legitimized his early rule by marrying Aelflad, the daughter of Ealdred; this meant that his son Osbjorn, born in 1027, had the blood of Anglo-Saxon kings and Danish conquerors in him.
In 1038 Ealdred was killed by Carl Thurbrandson, whose father Thurbrand the Hold had killed Ealdred's father Uhtred the Bold, last Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria, just after Knut's conquest in 1016. Ealdred's brother Eadulf was much less dear to Siward, and was disposed of in 1041 with the sanction and connivance of King Hardeknud. In this way, Earl Siward of York attained the Earldom of Bernicia and combined the two titles. He was now Earl Siward of Northumbria, with a realm stretching across the northern quarter of the English realm.
In 1042 Hardeknud died, and England came under the rule of an English king once more; Edward the Confessor, remnant of the mighty Kings of Wessex was left juggling three very powerful vassals, who were remnants of those that Knud had put in power in 1016. Earl Siward was one of these vassals; the remaining two were Earl Godwin of Wessex, and Earl Leofric of Mercia.
The three men spent the decade between 1042 and 1051 building up their defenses and causing small border wars between each other's thanes; King Edward the Confessor, impotent politically as well as in the marriage bed, was in no position to stop them. Change arrived when the anti-French Earl Godwin refused to punish the inhabitants of Dover for clashing with the visiting retainers of young Duke Eustache II of Boulogne, called Aux Gernons for his marvelous mustaches; taking this as a threat to his authority, King Edward easily enlisted the help of his other two Earls, and Godwin and his sons were exiled. In lieu of Godwin's son Harold, Earl Leofric's son Aelfgar became Earl of East Anglia; this greatly shifted power into the Mercians' hands.
The next year, however, Godwin and his brood returned with an armed force of Bretons and Frisians, and with popular support were reinstated in Wessex and East Anglia. A year later, in 1053, Godwin died and left the Earldom to his 31-year-old son Harold Godwinson; Harold's own Earldom of East Anglia was ironically handed back to Aelfgar.
Earl Siward of Northumbria watched these events with amusement; in York, north of the Humber River, he was far from action or sanction. His southern border was safe, and he could focus his entire power on the Scots, which he did with low-key warfare every year. In 1046 he had in fact invaded Scotland all the way up to Moray, and installed Mael Coluim, son of dead King Donnchad and Siward's sister Sibyla, on the throne in place of the usurper Mac Bethad. A year later, however, and the 15-year-old Mael Coluim had lost the throne again to Mac Bethad, and was an exile at Edward the Confessor's court.
In 1054, finding himself powerful enough, Earl Siward again invaded the Scots, with the purpose of seizing Teviotdale and making inroads into broad, fertile Lothian and the Scottish lowlands adjacent, as well as reinstalling his nephew. He himself remained in York to keep an eye on interesting developments in Wales and the actions of Earl Harold Godwinson, and sent his son Osbjorn to command his men. At the Battle of the Seven Sleepers, Osbjorn and the Northumbrians carried the day, and Mac Bethad was afterwards in no position to deny Northumbrian occupation of Teviotdale and the high hills south of Lothian.
Osbjorn Siwardsson took an arrow to the left eye during the battle, but continued to command and even fought on foot with this grievous wound [POD. In OTL Osbjorn died in this battle and Siward's powerful Earldom was given to a Godwinson]; this earned him the nickname One-Eye, or Anegde. This bravery, along with other victories and distinctions earned before the age of 27, forced Earl Siward to proudly honor his son with a great feast in the autumn of 1054, at the end of the campaign season.
Teviotdale belonged to the Earldom of Northumbria, and there was no telling at the time what the future would hold.
Great Britain in AD 1054. Northumbria under Earl Siward in green, Mercia under Earl Leofric in blue, Hereford under Earl Ralph "the Timid" of Mantes in orange, Wessex under Earl Harold Godwinson in red, Kent under Earl Leofwine Godwinson in yellow, East Anglia under Earl Aelfgar Leofricson in purple, King Edward's personal crown lands in white.
1 - Moray, King Mac Bethad's almost Norse-Gael homeland and power base
2 - Alba and the Lowlands, Gaelic areas leaning more now to Mael Coluim son of Donnchad
3 - Argyll, a rather independent Norse-Gael Earl
4 - The Isles, a Norse-Gael stew of semi-independent statelets
5 - Isle of Mann, a small independent Norse kingdom
6 - Strathclyde, a Gaelic kingdom of waning importance
7 - Gwynedd, led by the mighty Gruffyd ap Llywelyn and allied to Mercia
8 - Deheubarth
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