History of medieval Cumbria

As a border region, of geopolitical importance, Cumbria changed hands between the Angles, Norse (Norwegians, Danes and Hiberno-Norse), Strathclyde Brythons, Picts, Normans, Scots and English; and the emergence of the modern county is also worthy of study.

[7] More popular in local legend are associations with Arthur's knight Gawain, who is linked with Tarn Wadling, formerly a lake but drained in the 19th century near High Hesket (and overlooked by Owain mab Urien's Castle Hewen).

[10] It is probably safer to say that successive withdrawals of Roman troops from Cumbria throughout the 4th and early 5th centuries created a power vacuum which, by necessity, was filled by local warlords and their followers, often just based around a single village or valley.

[15] It may be that Urien took advantage of the confusion and weakness as a result of this savage battle to make his move to take over Rheged, or maybe he did this after the deaths of Peredur and Gwrgi some years later (the brothers were killed fighting the Angles in 580 or 584).

[18] A consideration of the landscape aspects of the question by the same archaeologist, suggests that the Eden valley or the Rhinns / Machars area of Dumfries and Galloway offer the best places in which to locate a sub-Roman kingdom (but probably not both).

It is known, from the poetic sources, that under Urien's leadership the kings of the north fought against the encroaching Angles of Bernicia and that he was betrayed by one of his own allies, Morcant Bulc, who arranged his assassination after the battle of Ynys Metcaut (Lindisfarne) around 585 AD.

Patrick (died c. 460 or c. 493) was born to a family of local dignitaries at Banna venta Berniae, assumed to be Ravenglass (whose Roman name was Glannaventa) or somewhere in the Solway region of Carlisle, possibly near Birdoswald.

[22] As mentioned above, Rheged's involvement in this battle is not clear, but it seems they may have benefited by gaining the land of Caer-Wenddolau (modern Carwinley) by the Border Esk separating Cumbria from Dumfries and Galloway, and they may have even amalgamated with Strathclyde to form a dual kingdom.

Cumbria is likely to have become an international exporter of slaves, helping to pay for the exotic imports such as silks, wine, amber, gold and silver for the chiefs of the warbands (as noted in the poetic sources) - goods that were no longer being supplied via the Roman trading routes.

Most common is the form -tūn ('farmstead', 'village', 'settlement'), examples of which include Barton, Bampton, Broughton, Colton, Irton, Lorton and Embleton within the Lake District area[30] and Frizington, Harrington, Workington, Hayton, Clifton on the coast.

The ravages of bubonic plague, of which there were several visitations during the 7th century, are likely to have played some part in the process of Anglian expansion (rather than, say, the deliberate killing of Celtic peoples by the English, although some of that had taken place in Northumbria).

[31] At least one historian[32] believes that the core, strategically important, area of the Solway and the lower Eden valley, remained essentially 'Celtic', with Carlisle retaining its old Roman 'civitas' status under Northumbrian overlordship, occasionally visited by the King of Northumbria and bishops such as Cuthbert, and overseen by a 'praepositus' (English: 'reeve'), a kind of permanent official.

The exceptions, more colonised by the Northumbrian English than the rest of the Cumbrian region, were perhaps the following: a) the upper Eden valley, "perhaps colonised from Deira," in what was called by the Northumbrians Westmoringa land (that is, 'land west of the moors'), equating to the future shire of Westmorland, and including the area of the Lyvennet, reputedly containing Taliesin's hall of the men of Rheged, ("In the hall of the men of Rheged/ there is every/ esteem and welcome,"[33]) and the high-status residence at Bolton, plus the important church at Morland and including the Appleby and Ormside areas; b) the area to the east of the western edge of Bernicia (which may have reached the Eden river), along a strip about five miles wide west of the Pennine ridge, including the lost parish of Addingham, as well as such places as Skirwith and Kirkoswald (dedicated to King Oswald of Northumbria); c) the Cumbrian coast, probably settled from the sea; d) the south, which may have been subject to Wilfrid's attentions, and Cartmel which was given to Cuthbert.

In Cumbria, there were monasteries at Carlisle, Dacre, and Heversham, known from literary sources; and at Knells, Workington and Beckermet, known from stone inscriptions; and possible sites at Irton, with its early 9th-century cross, Urswick and Addingham without any evidence attached to them.

[44] The rise of the church, and the parallel decline in fortune of the secular royal power, meant that Northumbria and its Cumbrian appendage were not strong enough militarily to fend off the next set of raiders and settlers (who first attacked the Lindisfarne monastery in 793) - the Vikings.

Despite this, interest in the Viking aspect of Cumbria, arguably almost on a par with that of the Neolithic, Roman and Border Reivers aspects, has been fuelled, particularly from the 19th century on, by the tourism boom in the Lake District (with its preponderance of Scandinavian names), by notions of rugged, free and independent 'statesmen' (estates men) of Viking stock, forming, according to William Wordsworth, a "Perfect Republic of Shepherds and Agriculturalists",[70] and by an interest in Scandinavian history and language promoted by writers and antiquaries such as W. G. Collingwood, Thomas de Quincey, William Slater Calverley, Hardwicke Rawnsley, Richard Saul Ferguson, Charles Arundel Parker, George Stephens, Thomas Ellwood, and others, dubbed the "Old Northernists" by some modern historians.

This, along with evidence of dedication sites to Saint Kentigern, suggests that such a movement was confined largely to the Solway Plain, as well as the Irthing and the lower Eden valleys (southwards to the line of the River Eamont).

The bulk of what was to become Cumbria, south of the Eamont, seems to have been untouched by this movement of Brittonic peoples, although a case has been made that all of what became Cumberland, plus Low Furness and part of Cartmel, were under Strathclyde control, whether directly or indirectly.

On 12 July 927, Eamont Bridge (and/or possibly the monastery at Dacre, Cumbria, and/or the site of the old Roman fort at Brougham) was the scene of a gathering of kings from throughout Britain as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the histories of William of Malmesbury and John of Worcester.

Sometime between 1042 and 1055, Siward seems to have taken control of Cumbria south of the Solway, perhaps responding to pressure from the independent lords of Galloway or from Strathclyde[93] or perhaps taking advantage of Scottish troubles to do with the reign of Macbeth, King of Scotland.

The Norman takeover of the Cumbria region took place in two phases: the southern district, covering what were to become the baronies of Millom, Furness, Kendale and Lonsdale, were taken over in 1066 (see below under "Domesday"); the northern sector (the "land of Carlisle") was taken over in 1092 by William Rufus.

This in itself shows the isolated and remote nature of the area at this time, but the entries also provide evidence that Cumbria's prosperity had decreased significantly since the middle of the previous millennium - perhaps in part caused by the Conqueror's Harrying of the North.

The unsatisfactory end, as far as Rufus was concerned, to the invasion of Scotland that followed Malcolm's raid, led him to try another approach: in 1092, he took over Cumberland by expelling the local lord, Dolfin, (who may or may not have been related to Earl Cospatrick).

The creation of the new diocese, covering the areas of Carlisle, the Eden valley, Allerdale and the Appleby region of Westmorland only, was largely to avoid having the Bishop of Glasgow in charge of ecclesiastical affairs as he had been prior to this point.

Professor Barrow asserts that, even at the beginning of his reign, David was thinking of the lands of Carlisle and Cumberland, believing, as he did, that "Cumbria" (that is, the previous entity of Strathclyde/Cumbria, covered by the diocese of Glasgow) was under the overlordship of the King of Scots, and stretched as far as Westmorland and possibly down to north Lancashire or even to the River Ribble.

Nevertheless, it has been argued, the Percies and Nevilles rubbed along with each other, defending the border against the Scots, co-operating in the appointment of MPs in the region, and so on, until 1453, when tensions amongst the younger generation of the two families (including Lord Egremont) caused a crisis.

After the 'Kingmaker' went over to Henry VI's side in 1470, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Edward IV's brother, received most of the Neville lands in Cumbria and Yorkshire, becoming Warden of the West March and Sheriff of Cumberland.

[163] The extent to which these baronial structures were based on pre-Viking (and pre-Norman) "multiple estate" models (thus showing Celtic and Anglo-Saxon continuity), or whether there was a degree, at least, of Norman superimposition on the administrative landscape, is perhaps still an open question.

Wool (processed into cloth) and hides were important trades, plus those that supported the garrison forces and the administrative officers of regional government: tanners, blacksmiths, millers (corn-mills were located outside the walls), bakers, etc.

Houses were largely of wooden construction (Carlisle being severely damaged by fire on at least four occasions), and there was no running water-supply (with a reliance on wells to provide water and cess-pits and open sewers to get rid of it).