Onlafbald[note 1] and Scula (Old Norse: Skúli) were two early 10th-century Viking chieftains, notable for receiving lands through successful campaigning in what is now northern England.
[7] Some of these lands had formerly been in the possession of an English noble named Ælfed, son of Brihtulf, who had received them from Cutheard, Bishop of Lindisfarne after he had fled Viking devastations in the west, to resettle on the eastern coast.
Scula received a massive tract of land which comprised the estates from Castle Eden to Billingham; and Onlafbald received a similarly large tract, which included the rest from Eden to the River Wear.
[7][9] These lands lie on the coast, and it has been suggested that the two men were also granted the surrounding interior-lands as well.
[7] Onlafbald is said to have uttered profane blasphemies against the English saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (d.687); after which the spirit of the saint miraculously tortured the pagan chieftain until he acknowledged the power of the Christian god and died on the spot.