Uhtred of Bamburgh

He was the son of Waltheof I, ruler of Bamburgh (Bebbanburg), whose family the Eadwulfingas had ruled the surrounding region for over a century.

[1] In 1006 King Malcolm II of Scotland invaded Northumbria and besieged the newly founded episcopal city of Durham.

At that time the Danes were raiding southern England and the English King Æthelred was unable to send help to the Northumbrians.

Uhtred, acting for his father, called together an army from Bernicia and Yorkshire and led it against the Scots, winning a decisive victory.

[2]: 15–16 After receiving these honours Uhtred dismissed his wife, Ecgfrida, and married Sige, daughter of Styr, son of Ulf.

[2]: 15–16 In 1013 King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark invaded England, sailing up the Humber and Trent to the town of Gainsborough.

Cnut made the Norwegian, Eric of Hlathir, ealdorman ("earl" in Scandinavian terms) in southern Northumbria.

This did not occur, but they had two children before they separated circa 1006: Third, and last, Uhtred married Ælfgifu, daughter of King Æthelred the Unready.

They had a daughter: The killing of Uhtred by Thurbrand the Hold started a blood feud that lasted for many years and is the subject of the historical work, De obsessione Dunelmi.

The murder of his Norman replacement, Walcher, Bishop of Durham, by Uhtred's descendant Eadulf Rus led William the Conqueror to send an army northwards to harry the region again.

Adrian Mourby's two radio plays, The Corsaint (c. 1986), and its sequel, The King of the North Rides his Horse through the Sky (1992), provide dramatic realisations of the story of the siege of Durham and the severed heads on poles as told about the historical Uhtred.