 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "History of Northumberland" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Northumberland,England'snorthernmostcounty, is a land whereRoman occupiers once guarded a walled frontier, Anglian invaders fought with Celtic natives, and Norman lords built castles to suppress rebellion and defend a contested border with Scotland. The present-day county is a vestige of an independent kingdom that once stretched fromEdinburgh to theHumber, hence its name, meaning literally 'north of the Humber'.[1] Reflecting its tumultuous past, Northumberland has morecastles than any other county in England,[2] and the greatest number of recognised battle sites. Once an economically important region that supplied much of the coal that powered theindustrial revolution, Northumberland is now a primarily rural county with a small and gradually shrinking population.[3]
As attested by many instances ofrock art, theNorthumberland region has a rich prehistory. Archeologists have studied aMesolithic structure atHowick, which dates to 7500 BC and was identified as Britain's oldest house until it lost this title in 2010 when the discovery of the even olderStar Carr house in North Yorkshire was announced, which dates to 8770 BC. They have also found tools, ornaments, building structures and cairns dating to thebronze andiron ages, when the area was occupied byBrythonicCeltic peoples who had migrated from continental Europe, most likely theVotadini whose territory stretched from Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth to Northumberland. It is not clear where the boundary between the Votadini and the other large tribe, theBrigantes, was, although it probably frequently shifted as a result of wars and as smaller tribes and communities changed allegiances. Unlike neighbouring tribes, Votadini farms were surrounded by large walls, banks and ditches and the people made offerings of fine metal objects, but never wore massive armlets. There are also at least three very large hillforts in their territory (Yeavering Bell,Eildon Hill andTraprain Law, the latter two now in Scotland), each was located on the top of a prominent hill or mountain. The hillforts may have been used for over a thousand years by this time as places of refuge and as places for meetings for political and religious ceremonies.[4]Duddo Five Stones in North Northumberland andthe Goatstones nearHadrian's Wall arestone circles dating from the Bronze Age.[5]
WhenGnaeus Julius Agricola was appointedRoman governor of Britain in 78 AD, most of northern Britain was still controlled by native British tribes. During his governorship Agricola extended Roman control north of Eboracum (York) and into what is now Scotland. Roman settlements, garrisons and roads were established throughout the Northumberland region.
The northern frontier of the Roman occupation fluctuated betweenPons Aelius (nowNewcastle) and theForth.Hadrian's Wall was completed by about 130 AD, to define and defend the northern boundary ofRoman Britain. By 142, the Romans had completed theAntonine Wall, a more northerly defensive border lying between theForth andClyde. However, by 164 they abandoned the Antonine Wall to consolidate defences at Hadrian's Wall.
Two important Roman roads in the region were theStanegate andDere Street, the latter extending through theCheviot Hills to locations well north of theTweed. Located at the intersection of these two roads,Coria (Corbridge), a Roman supply-base, was the most northerly large town in theRoman Empire. The Roman forts ofVercovicium (Housesteads) on Hadrian's Wall, andVindolanda (Chesterholm) built to guard theStanegate, had extensive civil settlements surrounding them.
The Celtic peoples living in the region between the Tyne and the Forth were known to the Romans as theVotadini. When not under direct Roman rule, they functioned as a friendlyclient kingdom, a somewhat porous buffer against the more warlike Picts to the north.
The gradual Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century led to a poorly documented age of conflict and chaos as different peoples contested territories in northern Britain.
Nearly 2000-year-oldRoman boxing gloves were uncovered atVindolanda in 2017 by the Vidolanda Trust experts led by DrAndrew Birley. According to the Guardian, being similar in style and function to the full-hand modern boxing gloves, these two gloves found at Vindolanda look like leather bands date back to 120 AD. It is suggested that based on their difference from gladiator gloves warriors using this type of gloves had no purpose to kill each other. These gloves were probably used in a sport for promoting fighting skills. The gloves are currently displayed at Vindolanda's museum.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]
Conquests byAnglian invaders led to the establishment of the kingdoms ofDeira andBernicia. The first Anglian settlement was effected in 547 byIda, who, accompanied by his six sons, pushed through the narrow strip of territory between the Cheviots and the sea, and set up a fortress atBamburgh, which became the royal seat of the Bernician kings. About the end of the 6th century Bernicia was first united with the rival kingdom of Deira under the rule ofÆthelfrith of Northumbria, and the district between the Humber and the Forth became known as the kingdom ofNorthumbria.[14]
After Æthelfrith was killed in battle around 616,Edwin of Deira became king of Northumbria. Æthelfrith's sonOswald fled northwest to theGaelic kingdom ofDál Riata where he was converted to Christianity by the monks ofIona. Meanwhile,Paulinus, the firstbishop of York, converted King Edwin to Roman Christianity and began an extensive program of conversion and baptism. By his time the kingdom must have reached the west coast, as Edwin is said to have conquered the islands ofAnglesey andMan. Under Edwin the Northumbrian kingdom became the chief power inBritain. However, whenCadwallon ap Cadfan defeated Edwin atHatfield Chase in 633, Northumbria was divided into the former kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira and Christianity suffered a temporary decline.
In 634, Oswald defeated Cadwallon ap Cadfan at theBattle of Heavenfield, resulting in the re-unification of Northumbria. Oswald re-established Christianity in the kingdom and assigned abishopric atHexham, whereWilfrid erected a famous early English church. Reunification was followed by a period of Northumbrian expansion into Pictish territory and growing dominance over the Celtic kingdoms of Dál Riata andStrathclyde to the west. Northumbrian encroachments were abruptly curtailed in 685, whenEcgfrith suffered complete defeat by a Pictish force at theBattle of Nechtansmere.
WhenSaint Aidan came at the request of Oswald to preach to the Northumbrians he chose the island ofLindisfarne as the site of his church and monastery, and made it the head of thediocese which he founded in 635. For some years thesee continued in peace, numbering among its bishopsSaint Cuthbert, but in 793Vikings landed on the island and burnt the settlement, killing many of the monks. The survivors, however, rebuilt the church and continued to live there until 883, when, through fear of a second invasion of the Danes, they fled inland, taking with them the body of Cuthbert and other holy relics.
Against this background, the monasteries of Northumbria developed some remarkably influential cultural products.Cædmon, a monk atWhitby Abbey, authored one of the earliest surviving examples ofOld English poetry some time before 680. TheLindisfarne Gospels, an early example ofinsular art, is attributed to Eadfrith, the bishop of Lindisfarne from 698 to 721. Stenton (1971, p. 191) describes the book as follows.
In mere script it is no more than an admirable example of a noble style, and the figure drawing of its illustrations, though probably based on classical models, has more than a touch ofnaïveté. Its unique importance is due to the beauty and astonishing intricacy of its decoration. The nature of its ornament connects it very closely with a group of Irish manuscripts of which theBook of Kells is the most famous.
Bede's writing, at the Northumbrian monasteries atWearmouth andJarrow, gained him a reputation as the most learned scholar of his age. His work is notable for both its breadth (encompassing history, theology, science and literature) and quality, exemplified by the rigorous use of citation. Bede's most famous work isEcclesiastical History of the English People, which is regarded as a highly influential early model of historical scholarship.
The kingdom of Northumbria ceased to exist in 927, when it was incorporated into England as an earldom byAthelstan, the first king of a unitedEngland[citation needed].. In 937, Athelstan's victory over a combined Norse-Celtic force in thebattle of Brunanburh secured England's control of its northern territory.
The Scottish kingIndulf capturedEdinburgh in 954, which thenceforth remained in possession of the Scots. His successors made repeated attempts to extend their territory southwards.Malcolm II was finally successful, when, in 1018, he annihilated the Northumbrian army atCarham on the Tweed, and Eadulf the earl of Northumbria ceded all his territory to the north of that river as the price of peace. HenceforthLothian, consisting of the former region of Northumbria between the Forth and the Tweed, remained in possession of the Scottish kings.
The term Northumberland was first recorded in its contracted modern sense in 1065 in an entry in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle relating to a rebellion againstTostig Godwinson.[14]
The vigorous resistance of Northumbria toWilliam the Conqueror was punished by ruthlessharrying, mostly south of theRiver Tees.[14] As recounted by theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle:
A.D. 1068. This year King William gave Earl Robert the earldomover Northumberland; but the landsmen attacked him in the town ofDurham, and slew him, and nine hundred men with him. Soonafterwards Edgar Etheling came with all the Northumbrians toYork; and the townsmen made a treaty with him: but King Williamcame from the South unawares on them with a large army, and putthem to flight, and slew on the spot those who could not escape;which were many hundred men; and plundered the town. St. Peter'sminster he made a profanation, and all other places also hedespoiled and trampled upon; and the ethelling went back again toScotland.
TheNormans rebuilt the Anglian monasteries of Lindisfarne, Hexham and Tynemouth, and founded Norman abbeys atNewminster (1139),Alnwick (1147),Brinkburn (1180),Hulne, andBlanchland. Castles were built atNewcastle (1080),Alnwick (1096),Bamburgh (1131),Harbottle (1157),Prudhoe (1172),Warkworth (1205),Chillingham,Ford (1287),Dunstanburgh (1313),Morpeth,Langley (1350),Wark on Tweed andNorham (1121), the latter anenclave of the palatine bishops ofDurham.
Northumberland county is not mentioned in theDomesday Book of 1086, but the account of the issues of the county, as rendered by Odard the sheriff, is entered in the Great Roll of theExchequer for 1131.[14]
In 1237, Scotland renounced claims to Northumberland county in theTreaty of York.
During the reign ofEdward I (1272–1307), the county of Northumberland was the district between theTees and theTweed, and had within it several scatteredliberties subject to other powers:Durham,Sadberge,Bedlingtonshire, andNorhamshire belonging to thebishop of Durham;Hexhamshire to thearchbishop of York;Tynedale to theking of Scotland; Emildon to theearl of Lancaster; andRedesdale toGilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus. These franchises were exempt from the ordinary jurisdiction of the shire. Over time, some were incorporated within the county: Tynedale in 1495; Hexhamshire in 1572; and Norhamshire, Islandshire and Bedlingtonshire by theCounties (Detached Parts) Act 1844.[15]
Thecounty court for Northumberland was held at different times at Newcastle, Alnwick and Morpeth, until by statute of 1549 it was ordered that the court should thenceforth be held in the town and castle of Alnwick. Under the same statute thesheriffs of Northumberland, who had been in the habit of appropriating the issues of the county to their private use, were required thereafter to deliver in their accounts to theExchequer in the same manner as the sheriffs of other counties.[16]
From the Norman Conquest until the union of England and Scotland underJames I and VI, Northumberland was the scene of perpetual inroads and devastations by the Scots.Norham,Alnwick andWark were captured byDavid I of Scotland in the wars ofStephen's reign.[16] In 1174, during his invasion of Northumbria,William I of Scotland, also known as William the Lion, was captured by a party of about four hundred mounted knights, led byRanulf de Glanvill.[citation needed] This incident became known as theBattle of Alnwick. In 1295,Robert de Ros and the earls of Athol and Menteith ravagedRedesdale,Coquetdale andTynedale. In 1314 the county was ravaged byking Robert Bruce. And so dire was the Scottish threat in 1382, that by special enactment the earl of Northumberland was ordered to remain on his estates to protect the border. In 1388,Henry Percy was taken prisoner and 1500 of his men slain at thebattle of Otterburn, immortalised in theballad of Chevy Chase.[16]
Alnwick, Bamburgh andDunstanburgh were garrisoned for the Lancastrian cause in 1462, but after the Yorkist victories ofHexham andHedgley Moor in 1464, Alnwick and Dunstanburgh surrendered, and Bamburgh was taken by storm.[16]
In September 1513, KingJames IV of Scotland was killed at theBattle of Flodden onBranxton Moor.
Roman Catholic support in Northumberland forMary, Queen of Scots, led to theRising of the North in 1569.
After uniting the English and Scottish thrones,James VI and I sharply curbed the lawlessness of the border reivers and brought relative peace to the region. There wereChurch of Scotland congregations in Northumberland in the 17th and 18th centuries.[17]
During theCivil War of the 17th century, Newcastle was garrisoned for the king by theearl of Newcastle, but in 1644 it was captured by the Scots under theearl of Leven, and in 1646Charles I was led there a captive under the charge ofDavid Leslie.[16]
Many of the chief Northumberland families were ruined in theJacobite rebellion of 1715.[16]
The mineral resources of the area appear to have been exploited to some extent from remote times. It is certain that coal was used by the Romans in Northumberland, and some coal ornaments found at Angerton have been attributed to the 7th century. In a 13th-century grant toNewminster Abbey a road for the conveyance of sea coal from the shore aboutBlyth is mentioned, and the Blyth coal field was worked throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. The coal trade on the Tyne did not exist to any extent before the 13th century, but from that period it developed rapidly, and Newcastle acquired the monopoly of the river shipping and coal trade. Lead was exported from Newcastle in the 12th century, probably from Hexhamshire, the lead mines of which were very prosperous throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. In a charter fromRichard I toHugh de Puiset creating him earl of Northumberland, mines of silver and iron are mentioned. Asalt pan is mentioned at Warkworth in the 12th century; in the 13th century the salt industry flourished at the mouth of theriver Blyth, and in the 15th century formed the principal occupation of the inhabitants of North and South Shields. In the reign ofElizabeth I, glass factories were set up at Newcastle by foreign refugees, and the industry spread rapidly along the Tyne.Tanning, both of leather and of nets, was largely practised in the 13th century, and thesalmon fisheries in the Tyne were famous in the reign ofHenry I.[16]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Northumberland".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 790–793.