Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria

Siward himself died in 1055, and Waltheof being far too young to succeed as Earl of Northumbria, King Edward appointed Tostig Godwinson to the earldom.

When Sweyn II invaded Northern England in 1069, Waltheof and Edgar Aetheling joined the Danes and took part in the attack on York.

[1] The Domesday Book of 1086 mentions Waltheof ("Walleff"): "'In Hallam ["Halun"], one manor with its sixteen hamlets, there are twenty-nine carucates [~14 km²] to be taxed.

This land Roger de Busli holds of the Countess Judith" (Hallam, or Hallamshire, is now part of the city of Sheffield).

Construction of Durham Castle began under Waltheof in 1072 after receiving orders to commence this project from William.

In 1074, Waltheof made a decisive move by sending his retainers to ambush his rivals, succeeding in killing the two eldest of four brothers.

His body was initially thrown into a ditch, but was later retrieved and buried in the chapter house of Crowland Abbey in Lincolnshire.

The first of the two stanzas says that Waltheof made a hundred retainers of William burn in hot fire - "a scorching evening for the men" - and wolves ate the corpses of the Normans.

[4] In 1092, after a fire in the chapter house, the abbot had Waltheof's body moved to a prominent place in the abbey church.

[6][7] After a few years, healing miracles were reputed to occur in the vicinity of Waltheof's tomb, often involving the restoration of the pilgrim's lost sight.