Guthfrith, King of York
Encyclopedia
Guthfrith (Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

: Guðroðr) (died 24 August 895) was the king of Northumbria from circa
Circa
Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...

 883 until his death.

The first known king of Viking York, Halfdan
Halfdan Ragnarsson
Halfdan Ragnarsson was a Viking chief and one of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok with Aslaug. It has been suggested that Halfdan is the same person as Ragnar's son Hvitserk....

, was expelled in 877. In c. 883, Symeon of Durham
Symeon of Durham
Symeon of Durham was an English chronicler and a monk of Durham Priory. When William of Saint-Calais returned from his Norman exile in 1091, Symeon was probably in his company...

's History of the Kings simply states, "Guthred, from a slave, was made king", but his History of the Church of Durham gives a longer account. Here he writes that after Halfdan was driven out:
During this time the [Viking] army, and such of the inhabitants as survived, being without a king, were insecure; whereupon the blessed Cuthbert himself appeared in a vision to abbot Eadred
Eadred Lulisc
Eadred Lulisc or Eadred of Carlisle is the abbot of Carlisle recorded by the Historia de Sancto Cuthberto. The Historia gives the abbot central place in the election of Guthred as king of Northumbria by the Viking army based in Yorkshire, and that subsequently Eadred purchased land from him, using...

 [of the monastery at Carlisle]...[and] addressed him in the following words:—"Go to the army of the Danes," he said, "and announce to them that you are come as my messenger; and ask where you can find a lad named Guthred, the son of Hardacnut, whom they sold to a widow. Having found him, and paid the widow the price of his liberty, let him be brought forward before the whole aforesaid army; and my will and pleasure is, that he be elected and appointed king at Oswiesdune, (that is, Oswin's hill), and let the bracelet be placed upon his right arm.


Æthelweard the historian, whose tenth-century Chronicon is a more reliable source for this period than the later works of Symeon, records that in 895:
Obiit et Guthfrid, rex Northhymbriorum, in natalitis sancti Bartholomæi apostoli; cuius mausoleatur Euoraca corpus in urbe in basilica summa.
There also died Guthfrith. king of the Northumbrians, on the feast of the apostle St Bartholomew [24 August]; his body is entombed in the city of York in the chief church.


It is not clear whether Guthfrith was a Christian, but his relations with the community of Saint Cuthbert, which was a major force in the former Bernicia
Bernicia
Bernicia was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England....

, and which had lain outside the influence of Halfdan, whose authority was limited to the former Deira—approximately Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

—were good. He granted much land between the River Tyne
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...

 and the River Wear
River Wear
The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...

 to the community. This had once belong to the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery, and formed the core the lands of the church of Durham. Other lands, at the mouth of the River Tees
River Tees
The River Tees is in Northern England. It rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines, and flows eastwards for 85 miles to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar.-Geography:...

, Guthred allowed Eadred to purchase for the church.

Symeon recounts that Guthred faced a large invasion by the Scots, which was defeated with the aid of Saint Cuthbert.

Guthred died on 24 August 895 (or perhaps 894) and was buried at York Minster
York Minster
York Minster is a Gothic cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by...

.

In contemporary literature

Guthred appears as a character in author Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell OBE is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films.-Biography:...

's The Saxon Stories
The Saxon Stories
The Saxon Tales is a continuing historical novel series written by the historical novelist Bernard Cornwell about 9th century Britain. The protagonist of the series is Uhtred Ragnarson, sometimes known as Uhtred Uhtredson. Uhtred is born in Northumbria, but captured and adopted by the Danes...

 series, figuring particularly in The Lords of the North
The Lords of the North
The Lords of the North is a novel based in 9th Century Anglo-Saxon kingdoms Wessex and Northumbria. The book starts where The Pale Horseman left off...

(published 2006).
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