Thurbrand the Hold | |
|---|---|
| Born | birth date unknown birth place unknown |
| Died | c. 1024 |
| Cause of death | Ealdred II of Bamburgh,Earl of Northumbria |
| Other names | Thorbrand |
| Known for | KillingUhtred the Bold,Earl of Northumbria |
| Children | 1 known son: Carl. 4 known grandsons: Thurbrand, Cnut, Sumarlithr, and another (whose name is lost) |
| Parent | unknown |
Thurbrand (Old English:Þūrbrand;fl. 1010s; diedc. 1024), nicknamed "the Hold", was aNorthumbrianmagnate in the early 11th century. Perhaps based inHolderness andEast Yorkshire, Thurbrand was recorded as the killer ofUhtred the Bold,Earl of Northumbria. The killing appears to have been part of the war betweenSweyn Forkbeard andCnut the Great against theEnglish kingÆthelred the Unready, Uhtred being the latter's chief Northumbrian supporter. Thurbrand may also have attested a charter of 1009 and given a horse to Æthelred's sonÆthelstan Ætheling. The killing is the first-known act, if it did not initiate, a bloodfeud between Thurbrand's family and Uhtred going into the time of EarlWaltheof. It is possible that Holderness took its name because of Thurbrand's presence or ownership of the peninsula.
Thurbrand'sfloruit lay in the reigns ofÆthelred (978–1016),Sweyn Forkbeard (1013–1014) andCnut (1016–1035). TheHistoria Regum andChronicle ofJohn of Worcester say that Thurbrand was a "Danish nobleman" (nobilo et Danico viro)[1] His title, that of "Hold", derives from an office said by theNorðleoda laga ("Law of the North People") to have been equal inwergild to a royalhigh-reeve, above athegn but below anealdorman.[2] There is a strong possibility that Thurbrand ruledHolderness (see below).[3]
In acharter of 1009, recording King Æthelred's grant of land inDerbyshire to a thegn named Morcar, the 26th thegn on the witness list is named Thurbrand (Þurbrand).[4] In the will ofÆthelstan Ætheling, dating to 1014, aÞurbrand is said to have given theætheling a horse.[5] It is possible that either or both are Thurbrand the Hold.[6]
According to the late-11th- or early-12th-century Durham tract calledDe obsessione Dunelmi, Thurbrand was the "leading enemy" of Styr son of Ulf.[7] The same source says that Styr was a "wealthy citizen", perhaps of the city ofYork, and he was notable according to theHistoria de Sancto Cuthberto and theLibellus de Exordio for givingDarlington and other lands to the church of Durham.[8]De Obsessionee says that the Earl of the NorthumbriansUhtred the Bold married Styr's daughter Sige on the condition that he would kill Thurbrand, becoming "a kind of contract killer" [Fletcher].[9] It becomes apparent, however, that Uhtred failed to carry out his task—although it is presumed he tried—as Thurbrand lived to slay Uhtred.[10]
De Obsessione relates that Uhtred had taken KingÆthelred's daughterÆlfgifu as his new wife, perhaps as part of a deal made by the king in order to ensure Uhtred's loyalty against Sweyn Forkbeard and Cnut or else as a reward for loyalty already proven.[11]De Obsessione goes on to describe Earl Uhtred's death at the hands of Thurbrand:
After King Æthelred's death, when Cnut had laid hands upon the whole kingdom of England, he sent to the earl ordering him to come to him as his new lord. He did so, having accepted safe conduct for his journey and return. On the appointed day, he entered the king's presence atWiheal to discuss terms of peace; through the treachery of a powerful king's thegn, Thurbrand, known as "Hold", the king's soldiers who had hidden behind a curtain spread across the width of the hall, suddenly sprang out in mail and slaughtered the earl and forty of his chief men who had entered with him.[12]
TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle versions C D and E, John of Worcester'sChronicle and theHistoria Regum add that one of the nobles killed with Uhtred was Thurcytel son of Nafena.[13] The sources indicate that Cnut had been behind the killing, following it up with the appointment ofEric of Hlathir as earl.[14]
The killing has been dated to 1016, as this is the year it falls under in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, theChronicle of John of Worcester and theHistoria Regum.[15] HistorianA. A. M. Duncan has argued that this date is unreliable. TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, reflecting closely the source for theHistoria Regum and the WorcesterChronicle on this entry, does not say that Uhtred died in this year, merely adding as an aside that Uhtred and Thurcytel were later killed despite having submitted to Cnut in this year.[16] The location of this killing is given asWiheal. This has been identified as Wighill, a place just north-west of the Roman road north ofTadcaster but south of York. This identity, however, is far from secure, an alleged weak point being that the early spellings of Wighill (e.g.Wichele) do not resembleDe Obsessione'sWiheal very closely.[17] Another possibility isWorrall near Sheffield, spelledWihala andWihale in theDomesday Book.[18]
IfDe Obsessione is to be believed, Thurbrand met his death at the hands of Uhtred's son,Ealdred.[19] This is thought to have occurred around 1024.[20] One son of Thurbrand is known, Carl. Carl was known to have had four sons; two of them, Cnut and Sumarlithr, are known definitely by name, and the eldest is thought to have been Thurbrand ofSettrington, whose land was taken byBerengar de Tosny after the Norman conquest of Northumbria.[20] As some of Thurbrand's descendants, Cnut in particular, held land in theEast Yorkshire peninsula ofHolderness, it has been suggested that Thurbrand may have been "the Hold" from whom the peninsula gained its name, "Cape of the Hold".[3]
Ealdred was killed by Carl, and two of Carl's sons in turn were killed by Ealdred's grandson, EarlWaltheof.[21] The multi-generational feud allegedly behind all these killings are the subject ofRichard A. Fletcher'sBloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England, published in 2002 byPenguin Books. Fletcher's fellow historianWilliam E. Kapelle had argued that these events do not signify a pre-existing bloodfeud at all.[22] Kapelle thought that the dispute between Uhtred and Thurbrand was a result of Uhtred's attempt to control Yorkshire, and this led to the later bloodfeud.[23] Fletcher rejected Kapelle's arguments, claiming that Kapelle misunderstood the context and created a false distinction between social and political conflict.[24] William M. Aird and other historians have held that Thurbrand represented a "Scandinavian party", and Uhtred a "Wessex faction", while the dispute in general is taken as evidence of tension between ["English"] Northumbria north and ["Danish"] Northumbria south of theRiver Tees.[25]
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