 - 1076
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| Name |
Waltheof Of Huntingdon |
| Prefix |
Earl |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
1076 |
| Person ID |
I65710 |
Cecilie Family |
| Last Modified |
2 Mar 2009 |
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| Notes |
- Notes for Waltheof II of Northumbria:
Waltheof Earl of NorthumberlandEarl of Northumberland
Ashley: Waltheof, Earl of Huntingdon, beheaded outside Westminster in May 1076. He was involved in a plot against William the Conqueror along with Ralph de Gael, Earl of Norfolk, and Roger de Breteuil. The rebellion failed. Earl Roger was imprisoned until he died; Earl Ralph left the country, leaving his wife to defend Norwich Castle, and Earl Waltheof met the headsman. At the time of the rebellion, William I was in France, but it was put down even before he could return to England. "The Anglo-Saxon Chronicler wrote a little poem about the fate of the Bretons concerned:
Some of them were blinded,
Some of them were banished
So all traitors to William
Were laid low.
Also called Waldeophus, Earl of Northumberland. He, along with Morkere and Eadwine (sons of Aelfgar) were defeated at York by the outlaw Tostig and his Norse ally, Harald Sigurdsson / Harald Haardrada. King Harold subsequently defeated this force at Stamford Bridge, both Tostig and Harald being killed. But King Harold's loss of many soldiers, coupled with hard marching to Hastings, contributed to his defeat by William I.
Earl of Northampton, Huntingdon, and Northumberland, a supporter of King Harold and may have taken part in the Battle of Hastings. If so, he survived. He was 10 years old when his father died and the lands of his father, "the vast and turbulent northern province and the detached shires of Northampton and Huntingdon," were given to Tostig, Harold's brother. Evidently Waltheof received Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire after Tostig turned against his brother Harold.
Sile Rice in her novel, The Saxon Tapestry, says (page 337), "And the rebels Gospatric and Waltheof Siwardsson, a berserker in battle yet wanting of counsel when he had no axe to hand, had done homage (to William I) in return for rewards." Which Gospatric she referring to?
Page 343: Gospatric Snow and Waltheof Siwardsson have gone over to the Norman. And Waltheof Lack-Counsel...has married with the kinswoman of William Bastard and been granted not only his own lands but those of Cambridge and Lincoln..."
Page 369-70: "It irked Ralf de Gael (RIN 2858) who had braved the arrows of Ely, to see the King (William I) hoard it all as he hoarded all the land, and gave it out in dribs and drabs as the whim took him. And so de Gael plotted with others both Breton and Norman, and one who joined them in their folly was Waltheof Lack-Counsel. Hatched at a Bridal-Ale, their rebellion, when begun in Cambridge, took but a few days to quash by the forces of Odo the Butcher (half brother of William I) and Geoffrey Mowbary, Bishop of Coutances. "Whereupon de Gael and his fellow conspirators fled the country rather than face William's wrath, and Waltheof Siwardsson, accused of complicuty by his Norman wife, was beheaded.
"It was a relief to be rid of Waltheof, the last remaining English Earl. 'Though those Saxon knaves have buried him at Croyland and now venerate him as a martyr,' said Ivo Tallebois."
He was imprisoned and beheaded on St. Giles Hill. Buried at Crowland (sic).
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| Sources |
- [S1481] Stewart, M. J. A., Stewart (1998), (Shaftesburt, Dorset, UK: Element Books, 1998), p. 429 (Reliability: 3).
- [S1328] Schwennicke, Detlev, ES, (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt Verlag, 1980-), 3:701B (Reliability: 3).
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