| Notes |
- Thored
Ealdorman of York
Reign c. 964/974x979–992x994
Predecessor Oslac (?)
Successor Ælfhelm
Born unknown
unknown
Died 992x994 (?)
Burial unknown
Issue Ælfgifu (died 1002)
Æthelstan (died 1010)
Father Gunnar (probable)/
Oslac (potential)
Mother unknown
Thored
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thored (Old English: Ðoreð or Þoreð; fl. 979–992) was a
10th-century ealdorman of York, ruler of the southern half of
the old Kingdom of Northumbria on behalf of the king of
England. He was the son of either Gunnar or Oslac, northern
ealdormen. If he was the former, he may have attained
adulthood by the 960s, when a man of his name raided
Westmorland. Other potential appearances in the records are
likewise uncertain until 979, the point from which Thored's
period as ealdorman can be accurately dated.
Although historians differ in their opinions about his
relationship, if any, to Kings Edgar the Peaceable and
Edward the Martyr, it is generally thought that he enjoyed a
good relationship with King Æthelred II. His daughter
Ælfgifu married Æthelred. Thored was ealdorman in
Northumbria for much of his reign, disappearing from the
sources in 992 after being appointed by Æthelred to lead an
expedition against the Vikings.
Contents
1 Origins
2 Ealdorman
3 Death
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
Origins
Thored appears to have been of at least partially Scandinavian origin, suggested by the title applied to him in
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 992. Here, the ealdorman of Hampshire is called by the English title
"ealdorman", while Thored himself is styled by the Scandinavian word eorl (i.e. Earl).[1]
Two accounts of Thored's origins have been offered by modern historians. The first is that he was a son of
Oslac, ealdorman of York from 966 until his exile in 975.[2] This argument is partly based on the assertion by
the Historia Eliensis, that Oslac had a son named Thorth (i.e. "Thored").[3] The other suggestion, favoured by
most historians, is that he was the son of a man named Gunnar.[4] This Gunnar is known to have held land in
the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire.[5]
If the latter suggestion is correct, then Thored's first appearance in history is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
recension D (EF)'s entry for 966, which recorded the accession of Oslac to the ealdormanry of southern
Northumbria:
The area shaded under "Jorvik"
(York), probably corresponds very
roughly with Thored's territory of
southern Northumbria; it should be
noted that the Danelaw as a territory
is a modern construct, though
Yorkshire was in the area where Dena
lagu ("Scandinavian law") was
practised
O: Draped bust of
Æthelred II left.
+ÆĐELRED REX
ANGLOR
R: Long cross.
+EADǷOLD MO CÆNT
'LonCross' penny of Æthelred II , moneyer Eadwold,
Canterbury, c. 997-1003. The cross made cutting the
coin into half-pennies or farthings (quarter-pennies)
easier. (Note spelling Eadƿold in inscription, using
Anglo-Saxon letter wynn in place of modern w.)
In this year, Thored, Gunnar's son, harried Westmoringa
land, and, in this same year, Oslac succeeded to the office
of ealdorman.[6]
The Anglo-Saxon scholar Frank Stenton believed that this was an act of
regional faction-fighting, rather than, as had been suggested by others,
Thored carrying out the orders of King Edgar the Peaceable.[7] This
entry is, incidentally, the first mention of Westmoringa land, that is,
Westmorland.[7] Gunnar seems to have been ealdorman earlier in the
decade, for in one charter (surviving only in a later cartulary) dated to
963 and three Abingdon charters dated to 965, an ealdorman (dux)
called Gunnar is mentioned.[8]
Thored may be the Thored who appears for the first time in charter
attestations during the reign of King Edgar (959–75), his earliest
possible appearance being in 964, witnessing a grant of land in Kent by
King Edgar to St Peter's, Ghent. This is uncertain because the
authenticity of this particular charter is unclear.[9] A charter issued by
Edgar in 966, granting land in Oxfordshire to a woman named Ælfgifu,
has an illegible ealdorman witness signature beginning with Þ, which may be Thored.[10]
Ealdorman
Thored's governorship as ealdorman, based on charter
attestations, cannot be securely dated before 979.[11] He did
attest royal charters during the reign of Æthelred II, the first
in 979,[12] six in 983,[13] one in 984,[14] three in 985,[15] one
in 988,[16] appearing in such attestations for the last time in
989.[12] It is possible that such appearances represent more
than one Thored, though that is not a generally accepted
theory.[17] His definite predecessor, Oslac, was expelled
from England in 975.[18] The historian Richard Fletcher
thought that Oslac's downfall may have been the result of
opposing the succession of Edward the Martyr, enemy and
brother of Æthelred II.[19] What is known about Thored's
time as ealdorman is that he did not have a good relationship
with Oswald, Archbishop of York (971–92). In a
memorandum written by Oswald, a group of estates
belonging to the archdiocese of York was listed, and Oswald
noted that "I held them all until Thored came to power; then
was St Peter [to whom York was dedicated] robbed".[20] One of the estates allegedly lost was Newbald, an
estate given by King Edgar to a man named Gunnar, suggesting to historian Dorothy Whitelock that Thored
may just have been reclaiming land "wrongly alienated from his family".[21]
His relationship with King Edgar is unclear, particularly given the uncertainty of Thored's paternity, Oslac
being banished from England in 975, the year of Edgar's death.[2] Richard Fletcher, who thought Thored was
the son of Gunnar, argued that Thored's raid on Westmorland was caused by resentment derived from losing out
Modern imaginative depiction of the
ship of Óláfr Tryggvason, the "Long
Serpent" (Illustration by Halfan
Egedius)
on the ealdormanry to Oslac, and that Edgar thereafter confiscated various territories as punishment.[5] The
evidence for this is that Newbald, granted by Edgar to Gunnar circa 963, was bought by Archbishop Osketel
from the king sometime before 971, implying that the king had seized the land.[5]
Thored's relationship with the English monarchy under Æthelred II seems to have been good. Ælfgifu, the first
wife of King Æthelred II, was probably Thored's daughter.[22] Evidence for this is that in the 1150s Ailred of
Rievaulx in his De genealogia regum Anglorum wrote that the wife of Æthelred II was the daughter of an
ealdorman (comes) called Thored (Thorth).[23] Historian Pauline Stafford argued that this marriage was
evidence that Thored had been a local rather than royal appointment to the ealdormanry of York, and that
Æthelred II's marriage was an attempt to woo Thored.[24] Stafford was supported in this argument by Richard
Fletcher.[25]
Death
The date of Thored's death is uncertain, but his last historical
appearance came in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, recension C (D, E),
under the year 992, which reported the death of Archbishop Oswald and
an expedition against a marauding Scandinavian fleet:
In this year the holy Archbishop Oswald left this life and
attained the heavenly life, and Ealdorman Æthelwine [of
East Anglia] died in the same year. Then the king and all
his counsellors decreed that all the ships that were any use
should be assembled at London. And the king then
entrusted the expedition to the leadership of Ealdorman
Ælfric (of Hampshire), Earl Thored and Bishop Ælfstan
[.of London or of Rochester.] and Bishop Æscwig [of
Dorchester], and they were to try if they could entrap the
Danish army anywhere at sea. Then Ealdorman Ælfric sent
someone to warn the enemy, and then in the night before
the day on which they were to have joined battle, he
absconded by night from the army, to his own disgrace, and
then the enemy escaped, except that the crew of one ship
was slain. And then the Danish army encountered the ships
from East Anglia and from London, and they made a great
slaughter there and captured the ship, all armed and
equipped, on which the ealdorman was.[26]
Scandinavians led by Óláfr Tryggvason had been raiding England's coast since the previous year, when they
killed Ealdorman Brihtnoth of Essex at the Battle of Maldon.[27]
Historians think that Thored was either killed fighting these Scandinavians, or else survived, but became
disgraced through defeat or treachery.[28] Fletcher speculated that Thored was removed from office and
replaced by the Mercian Ælfhelm as a result of his failure against the Scandinavians.[29] Another historian,
William Kapelle, believed Thored was removed because of his Scandinavian descent, an argument based on the
Worcester Chronicle's claim, added to the text borrowed from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, that Fræna, Godwine
and Frythegyst fled a battle against the Danes in the following year because "they were Danish on their father's
side".[30]
A man named Æthelstan who died at the Battle of Ringmere in 1010, "the king's aþum", was probably Thored's
son.[31] The term aþum means either "son-in-law" or "brother-in-law", so this Æthelstan could also have been
Thored's grandson by an unknown intermediary.[32] Thored's immediate successor was Ælfhelm, who appears
witnessing charters as ealdorman from 994.[33]
Notes
1. Whitelock, "Dealings of the Kings", p. 79; entry
quoted below
2. ASC MS D (http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/d/d-L.html), E (htt
p://asc.jebbo.co.uk/e/e-L.html), retrieved 2009-03-26,
s.a. 966, 975; Oslac 7 (http://pase.ac.uk/jsp/DisplayPer
son.jsp?personKey=7707), Prosopography of Anglo-
Saxon England (PASE), retrieved 2009-03-26;
Williams, Smyth and Kirby, Biographical Dictionary,
s.v. "Oslac ealdorman 963–75", p. 194, s.v. "Thored
ealdorman 979–92", p. 223
3. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, pp. 70–1; Whitelock, "Dealings of
the Kings", pp. 77–8
4. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 71; Stenton, "Pre-Conquest
Westmorland", p. 218; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 211
5. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 71
6. ASC MS D (http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/d/d-L.html),
retrieved 2009-03-26, s.a. 966; Stenton, "Pre-Conquest
Westmorland", p. 218; Whitelock,E nglish Historical
Documents, vol. i, p. 227
7. Stenton, "Pre-Conquest Westmorland", p. 218
8. Whitelock, "Dealings of the Kings", p. 78
9. Sawyer 728 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+728), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved
2009-03-26
10. Sawyer 738 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+738), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved
2009-03-26; Keynes, Atlas of Attestations, Table LVI
(2 of 3)
11. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 70
12. Sawyer 834 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+834), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved
2009-03-26
13. Sawyer 848 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+848); Sawyer 846 (http://www.anglo-sa
xons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+846;) Sawyer 844
(http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=
S+844); Sawyer 851 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwa
et/?do=seek&query=S+851); Sawyer 843 (http://www.
anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+843;)
Sawyer 845 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+845), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved
2009-03-26
14. Sawyer 855 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+855), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved
2009-03-26
15. Sawyer 856 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+856); Sawyer 858 (http://www.anglo-sa
xons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+858;) Sawyer 860
(http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=
S+860), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved 2009-03-26
16. Sawyer 872 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
16. Sawyer 872 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+872), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved
2009-03-26
17. Thored 4 (http://pase.ac.uk/jsp/DisplayPerson.jsp?pers
onKey=7822), Thored 5 (http://pase.ac.uk/jsp/Display
Person.jsp?personKey=12627), Thored 6 (http://pase.a
c.uk/jsp/DisplayPerson.jsp?personKey=1845) and
Thored 7 (http://pase.ac.uk/jsp/DisplayPerson.jsp?pers
onKey=15414), PASE, retrieved 2009-03-26; compare
Keynes, Atlas of Attestations, Tables LVI and LXII
18. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 44; see also William, Smyth &
Kirby, Biographical Dictionary, s.v. "Oslac, ealdorman
963–75", p. 194; Whitelock, Historical Documents,
vol. i, p. 229
19. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 45
20. Whitelock, "Dealings of the Kings", p. 79
21. Whitelock, "Dealings of the Kings", p. 79. n. 6
22. Williams, Smyth and Kirby, Biographical Dictionary,
s.v. "Thored ealdorman 979–92", p. 223
23. Keynes, "Æthelred II"; Whitelock, "Dealings of the
Kings", p. 80
24. Stafford, Unification and Conquest, pp. 57–8
25. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 72
26. Whitelock (ed.), English Historical Documents, vol. i,
p. 234; ASC MS C (http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/c/c-L.html),
D (http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/d/d-L.html), E (http://asc.jebb
o.co.uk/e/e-L.html), retrieved 2009-03-26, s.a. 992
27. Whitelock (ed.), English Historical Documents, vol. i,
p. 234; ASC MS A (http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/a/a-L.html),
which gives Óláfr's name as the leader; alsoM S C (htt
p://asc.jebbo.co.uk/c/c-L.html), D (http://asc.jebbo.co.u
k/d/d-L.html), E (http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/e/e-L.html),
retrieved 2009-03-26, s.a. 991
28. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 72; Kapelle, Norman Conquest,
pp. 14–5; Stafford, Unification and Conquest, p. 60;
Whitelock, "Dealings of the Kings", p. 80
29. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, pp. 72–3
30. Darlington and McGurk, Chronicle of John of
Worcester, vol. ii, pp. 442, 443; Kapelle,N orman
Conquest, p. 15
31. Suggested in Williams, Smyth and Kirby, Biographical
Dictionary, s.v. "Thored ealdorman 979–92", p. 223
32. Whitelock (ed.), English Historical Documents, vol. i,
p. 243, n. 4
33. Sawyer 880 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+880); Sawyer 881 (http://www.anglo-sa
xons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+881,) Anglo-
Saxons.net, retrieved 2009-03-22; Keynes, Atlas of
Attestations, Table LXII (1 of 2)
References
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: An edition with TEI P4 markup, expressed in XML and translated to XHTML1.1 using
XSL, Tony Jebson, 2007, retrieved 2009-03-26
Fletcher, Richard (2003), Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England, London: Penguin Books, ISBN 0-
14-028692-6
Kapelle, William E. (1979), The Norman Conquest of the North: The Region and Its rTansformation, 1000–1135,
London: Croom Helm Ltd, ISBN 0-7099-0040-6
Keynes, Simon (2002), An Atlas of Attestations in Anglo-Saxon Charters, c. 670–106,6 ASNC Guides, Texts, and
Studies, 5, Cambridge: Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Studies, University of CambridgIeS,B N 0-
9532697-6-0, ISSN 1475-8520
Miller, Sean, New Regesta Regum Anglorum, Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved 2009-03-26
Stafford, Pauline (1989), Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in thee Tnth and Eleventh
Centuries, London: Edward Arnold, ISBN 0-7131-6532-4
Stenton, Frank (1970), "Preconquest Westmorland", in Stenton, Dorothy Mary, Preparatory to 'Anglo-Saxon England':
Being the Collected Papers of Frank Merry Stento,n Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 214–23,I SBN 0-19-822314-5,
reprinted from Royal Commission on Historical Monuments: Westmorland, 1936, pp. xlviii–lv
Whitelock, Dorothy (1959), "The Dealings of the Kings of England with Northumbria", in Clemoes, Pet,e Trhe Anglo-
Saxons: Studies in some Aspects of their History and Cultuer presented to Bruce Dickins, London: Bowes & Bowes,
pp. 707–88
Whitelock, Dorothy, ed. (1979), English Historical Documents. [Vol.1], c.500–1042, London: Eyre and Spottiswoode,
ISBN 0-19-520101-9
Williams, Ann; Smyth, Alfred P.; Kirby, D. P. (1991), A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain: England,
Scotland and Wales, c.500–c.1050, London: Seaby, ISBN 1-85264-047-2
Woolf, Alex (2007), From Pictland to Alba, 789–1070, The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-1234-5
External links
Thored 7 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England; see also Thored 4, Thored 5, Thored 6
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Oslac (?)
Ealdorman of York
x 979–992 x 994
Succeeded by
Ælfhelm
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thored&oldid=783502675"
Categories: 990s deaths Earls and ealdormen of York
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d. DECEASED, York, Yorkshire, England