Osberht (died 21 March 867) wasking of Northumbria in the middle of the 9th century. Sources onNorthumbrian history in this period are limited. Osberht's descent is not known and the dating of his reign is problematic.
Osberht became king afterÆthelred son ofEanred was murdered. The date of Æthelred's death is not certain, but is generally placed in 848.[1] However,Symeon of Durham writes that "Ethelred the son of Eanred reigned nine years. When he was slain Osbryht held the kingdom for thirteen years" and states that 854 was "the fifth year of the rule of Osbert, the successor of Ethelred, who had been put to death".[2]
Little is known of Osberht's reign. Symeon states that "Osbert had dared with sacrilegious hand to wrest from that church Wercewurde and Tillemuthe".[3] TheHistoria de Sancto Cuthberto dates the seizure of these lands to the year before Osberht's death.[4] Osberht was replaced as king byÆlla. While Ælla is described in most sources as a tyrant, and not a rightful king, one source states that he was Osberht's brother.[5]
TheGreat Heathen Army marched on Northumbria in the late summer of 866, seizingYork on 21 November 866.[6] Symeon of Durham, theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle,Asser, andÆthelweard all recount substantially the same version of events in varying detail. Symeon'sHistoria Regum Anglorum gives this account of the battle on 21 March 867 where Osberht and Ælla met their deaths at the hands of theVikings:[7]
Copper alloy of styca of King Osberht
In those days, the nation of the Northumbrians had violently expelled from the kingdom the rightful king of their nation, Osbryht by name, and had placed at the head of the kingdom a certain tyrant, named Alla. When the pagans came upon the kingdom, the dissension was allayed by divine counsel and the aid of the nobles. King Osbryht and Alla, having united their forces and formed an army, came to the city of York; on their approach the multitude of the shipmen immediately took flight. The Christians, perceiving their flight and terror, found that they themselves were the stronger party. They fought upon each side with much ferocity, and both kings fell. The rest who escaped made peace with the Danes.[8]
King Osberht may have been buried in Thornhill, Yorkshire. A rare cluster of high status Anglian gravestones from that era, one bearing his name, were discovered in Victorian times in the graveyard of the ancient church of St Michael and All Angels, where they are on public display.
After this, the Vikings appointed oneEcgberht to rule Northumbria.[9]
Earlier English sources record that Ælla and Osberht died in battle, theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle stating that "both the kings were slain on the spot".[11] The main figure in the revenge tales is Ivar, who is sometimes associated with the Viking leader Ímar, brother ofAmlaíb Conung, found in theIrish annals. Dorothy Whitelock notes that "it is by no means certain that he should be identified with the son of Ragnar, for the name is not uncommon".[12] TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle does not name the leaders in Northumbria, but it does state that "Hingwar and Hubba" slew KingEdmund of East Anglia (Saint Edmund) some years later.[13] Hubba is named as a leader of the army in Northumbria byAbbo of Fleury, and by theHistoria Historia de Sancto Cuthberto. Symeon of Durham lists the leaders of the Viking army as "Halfdene, Inguar, Hubba, Beicsecg, Guthrun, Oscytell, Amund, Sidroc and another duke of the same name, Osbern, Frana, and Harold."[14]
Norman historianGeoffrey Gaimar andGeoffrey of Wells both associate an Englishman named "Bern" or "Buern" with bringing the Danes to England, in Gaimar's case to Northumbria, in Geoffrey of Wells' mid-twelfth-century hagiography ofSaint Edmund, to East Anglia. Gaimar's account has "Buern" seeking revenge for Osberht's rape of his wife.[15]
^However, D.P. Kirby suggests that it may have been as late as 853; Kirby, p. 196.
^Symeon of Durham, pp. 653 & 761. Kirby, pp. 196–197, notes the dating problems: if Osberht reigned thirteen years, he was either deposed in around 862, or did not become king until c. 853. Kirby suggests that the discrepancies are due to confusion caused by the omission ofEardwulf's second reign from regnal lists.
Kirby, D.P.,The Earliest English Kings. London: Unwin, 1991.ISBN0-04-445692-1
Higham, N.J.,The Kingdom of Northumbria AD 350-1100. Stroud: Sutton, 1993.ISBN0-86299-730-5
Symeon of Durham (1855)."The Historical Works of Simeon of Durham".Church Historians of England, volume III, part II. Translated by Stevenson, J. Seeley's. Retrieved27 January 2007.
^Keynes, Simon (2014). "Appendix I: Rulers of the English, c.450–1066". InLapidge, Michael (ed.).The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.ISBN978-0-470-65632-7.
^Kirby, D. P.The Earliest English Kings. London and New York: Routledge.ISBN978-0-4152-4211-0.
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