In
Anglo-Saxon England, the Earl of York or Ealdorman of York was the ruler of the southern half of
Northumbria. The titles
ealdorman and
earl both come from Old English. The ealdormanry (earldom) seems to have been created in 966 following a period when the region was under the control of
Oswulf, already
high-reeve of Bamburgh in northern Northumbria, from about 954, when
Norse rule at York came to an end.[1]
Siward (1023x1033–1055),[1] ruled all Northumbria after 1041
Later earls
William le Gros, having already been charged with the defence of the city of York, was created earl by King
Stephen in 1138. He was the king's administrator of all Yorkshire. In 1155 he was forced to relinquish the earldom to King
Henry II.[2]
Otto of Brunswick was created earl of York by King
Richard I in 1190. Otto had difficulty in proving the authenticity of this grant to his vassals in Yorkshire.[3] He probably visited Yorkshire only once in 1191,[4] although he continued to claim the revenues of the earldom after being elected
King of Germany in 1198.[5]
^
abcdefgGeorge Molyneaux (2017). The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century. Oxford University Press. pp. 177–179. In footnote 289, he provides the following list with dates based on charter witnesses: "Thored (witnesses 979–c.989), Ælfhelm (993–1005), Uhtred (1009–1015), Erik (1018–1023), Siward (1033–1053×1055),
Tostig (1059–1065), and
Morcar (1065)."
^Joseph Patrick Huffman (2000). "Richard the Lionheart and Otto IV: Itinerant Kingship and the City of Cologne". The Social Politics of Medieval Diplomacy: Anglo-German Relations (1066–1307). University of Michigan Press. pp. 157–58.
^Frank McLynn (2007). Lionheart and Lackland: King Richard, King John and the Wars of Conquest. Vintage. p. 390.