Northumbria
543
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173
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76
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Search complete. 543 mentions across 173 episodes found for "Northumbria".
Oct 3, 2026
Larry WilsonNARRATOR
But of all the things they found, the thing that counts most in English history is this, that some of the kingdoms at least did not correspond to genuine human divisions, which not only existed then but which exist now.
Larry WilsonNARRATOR
Northumbria is still a truer thing than Northumberland, Sussex is still Sussex, Essex is still Essex, and that third Saxon kingdom whose name is not even to be found upon the map, the kingdom of Wessex, is called the West Country and is today the most real of them all.
Larry WilsonNARRATOR
The last of the heathen kingdoms to accept the cross was Mercia, which corresponds very roughly to what we call the Midlands.
Larry WilsonNARRATOR
The unbaptized king Penda has even achieved a certain picturesqueness through this fact, and through the forays and furious ambitions which constituted the rest of his reputation, so much so that the other day one of those mystics who will believe anything but Christianity proposed to continue the work of Penda in Ealing, fortunately not on any large scale.
Tom KearnsHOST
This rebellion by Eadritch the Wild would last until late 1069.
Tom KearnsHOST
Even further north, in Northumbria, Oswulf, the Earl of Bamburgh, was also fomenting rebellion.
Tom KearnsHOST
Following the refusal of Earl Morcar to submit to William in 1066, the new king had him dispossessed of his lands and taken hostage.
Tom KearnsHOST
In his place, William appointed one Copseger, a man who had previously been loyal to Earl Tostig and had survived his failed invasion alongside Harold Hardrada in 1066.
Tom KearnsHOST
Copseger had fled Stamford Bridge and made his way south to William, to whom he now pledged his loyalty.
Tom KearnsHOST
In return, William made him the new Earl of Northumbria.
Tom KearnsHOST
Meanwhile, Oswulf refused to accept Norman rule.
Tom KearnsHOST
When Copseger came north in 1067 to take up his position and quash any rebellion, Oswulf was forced to flee into the hills.
Eleanor JanegaHOST
Like, all this is the sort of stuff I expect to see out of England, right? And it's like he's younger by about seven years.
Eleanor JanegaHOST
He, in theory, is the Earl of Northumbria, but he got on his brother's wrong side, as one does, and he was exiled, right? And the, the thing is with these people, right, if you, if you exile someone, you're kind of asking them to go off and see if they can come back with an army and do something about it.
Eleanor JanegaHOST
It's, it's almost like a dare, right?
Matt LewisHOST
Yeah, go and stew on it-
Matt LewisHOST
Yeah.
Matt LewisHOST
And so we get, what, 12 days after they land on the 20th of September, we get the Battle of Fulford, and this is before Harold Godwinson has arrived.
Matt LewisHOST
So we get two brothers, Edwin and Morcar, the Earls of Mercia and Northumbria, 'cause he's stolen Tostig's earldom.
Eleanor JanegaHOST
Mm.
Trent EastHOST
... something the Elsherigoath pointed out to me a few years ago, um, and we kinda circle back to it every now and then, sort of look into it and see if we can find anything new.
Trent EastHOST
Um, so in the Anglo-Frisian runes, with the Northumbrian rune row added, Northumbria being the Nor- like southern Scotland, northern England-
Jordan WellsGUEST
Mm-hmm
Trent EastHOST
... which had lots of ties to the Gaelic world, just due to proximity and such.
Trent EastHOST
Um, those four Northumbrian runes correlate one for one to the four treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann, if I'm pronouncing that right.
Jordan WellsGUEST
Wow.
Trent EastHOST
Of, uh, Gaelic mythology.
Trent EastHOST
I...
James MorrisGUEST
... uh, that's, you know, Guy Halsall was estimating around about 2,000 a side, possibly less, and that's one of the biggest battles of the era.
James MorrisGUEST
The clashes, uh, in Northumbria between Mercia, you know, we don't have exact figures obviously, but you're probably talking a few hundred...
James MorrisGUEST
A thousand men being a very, very big army.
Matthew HarfieHOST
Yeah, yeah.
James MorrisGUEST
But a- as you said, the vast majority of these fights, and, and this is well reflected in your Bernicia Chronicles books, are small war bands traveling quickly on horseback.
James MorrisGUEST
Uh, you know, the, the, the, if there's a bigger battle being fought or defense of an area, yes, they will be able to call up more local people, but actually to have a traveling force i- is, is a huge amount of work.
James MorrisGUEST
And we see that in the seventh century, things like the, the Dunnichen, the Nechtansmere campaign where Æthelfrith of Northumbria was killed, where he rode into Pictland and was slain, and he had some campaigns against the Picts in 671 and 672 as well.
James MorrisGUEST
So it...
BobBobHOST
Right, fine, we commit.
BobBobHOST
Much of Northumbria and the north of England had fallen to the Scots, and King Stephen had done little to stop it.
speaker_7VOICE_ACTOR
After messing up Lancashire, the Scots turned their attention to seemingly undefended York.
speaker_7VOICE_ACTOR
[church music] And now for the parish notices here in the city of York at the end of the mass that I, Bishop Eldred, Archbishop of York, have just concluded.
Icy SedgwickGUEST
And, and then if you look at the most recent sort of stuff where it's kind of, you know, there's the wartime stuff there as well, and it, you just think there's just been such a continual thread of human activity on this one site for so long.
Icy SedgwickGUEST
And then 'cause it dovetails with, you know, some of the Northumbrian saints.
NickyHOST
Mm.
Icy SedgwickGUEST
And obviously, you know I love a good saint story 'cause they're absolutely fascinating.
DianeHOST
These supported the infrastructure and garrisons of Hadrian's Wall, which was built starting in 122 AD under Emperor Hadrian.
DianeHOST
The Romans withdrew in the 5th century, and County Durham became part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Bernicia, which lasted for four centuries, eventually becoming the kingdom of Northumbria.
DianeHOST
It was during this time that Christianity arrived, as did St. Cuthbert.
DianeHOST
He became one of England's most venerated saints.
DianeHOST
When the Vikings invaded Northumbria, Lindisfarne monks fled with the body of St. Cuthbert in 995 AD and settled at a high peninsula called Dunholm, after a vision.
DianeHOST
This would be the beginning of Durham.
DianeHOST
And while we love stories of supernatural visions, historians poo-poo this fanciful story by pointing out that the area was readily defensible and the Earl of Northumbria granted them the land.
DianeHOST
But apparently St. Cuthbert came to them in a vision and he told them, stop right here.
Trent EastHOST
... something the Asatru groupie pointed out to me a few years ago, um, and we kinda circle back to it every now and then, sort of look into it and see if we can find anything new.
Trent EastHOST
Um, so in the Anglo-Frisian runes, with the Northumbrian rune row added, Northumbria being the nor- like southern Scotland, northern England-
Jordan WellsGUEST
Mm-hmm
Trent EastHOST
... which had lots of ties to the Gaelic world just due to proximity and such.
Trent EastHOST
Um, those four Northumbrian runes correlate one for one to the four treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann, if I'm pronouncing that right.
Jordan WellsGUEST
Wow.
Trent EastHOST
Of, uh, Gaelic mythology.
Jordan WellsGUEST
[laughs]
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