Osulf was the son of Eadulf III

Eadulf III of Bernicia

Eadulf III or Eadwulf III was the earl of Bernicia from 1038 until his death. He was a son of Uhtred the Bold and succeeded his brother Ealdred. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he was betrayed by King Harthacnut and killed...

, Earl of Bamburgh (killed 1041), and grandson of Uchtred the Bold

Uchtred the Bold

Uchtred , called the Bold, was the ealdorman of all Northumbria from 1006 to 1016, when he was assassinated. He was the son of Waltheof I, ealdorman of Bamburgh, whose ancient family had ruled from the castle of Bamburgh on the Northumbrian coast.In 995, according to Symeon of Durham, when the...

, Earl of Northumbria

Earl of Northumbria

Earl of Northumbria was a title in the Anglo-Danish, late Anglo-Saxon, and early Anglo-Norman period in England. The earldom of Northumbria was the successor of the ealdormanry of Bamburgh, itself the successor of an independent Bernicia. Under the Norse kingdom of York, there were earls of...

 (killed 1016). Osulf’s family ruled as "High-Reeves" or ealdormen of Bamburgh from 954 until 1041, when Siward the Stout killed Eadulf and reunited Northumbria

Northumbria

Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...

 under one ruler.

In 1065, Morcar

Morcar of Northumbria

Morcar was the son of Ælfgār and brother of Ēadwine. He was himself the earl of Northumbria from 1065 to 1066, when he was replaced by William the Conqueror with Copsi....

 succeeded Tostig

Tostig Godwinson

Tostig Godwinson was an Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria and brother of King Harold Godwinson, the last crowned english King of England.-Early life:...

 as Earl of all Northumbria, and he appointed Osulf to rule the portion north of 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...

. However, because of Morcar’s resistance to the military adventures of William the Conqueror

William I of England

William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...

 in 1066, he was deposed and imprisoned. William then appointed Copsi

Copsi of Northumbria

Copsi [d.1067] was a Northumbrian magnate in late Anglo-Saxon England. He was a supporter of Tostig, and was exiled along with him in 1065. Copsi soon fled to Orkney . The next year , he joined Tostig at Sandwich, in Kent, with 17 ships...

 (sometimes Copsig), Tostig’s former deputy, as Morcar's replacement.

In February 1067, Copsi came north and forced Osulf to seek shelter in the hills. Osulf began to gather an army. Because Copsi was seen as an invader and a tax-gatherer for William, he was deeply unpopular amongst the Northumbrians north and south of the Tees, and Osulf had no trouble in gathering recruits. On March 12 he surprised Copsi and his men at a banquet at Newburn-upon-Tyne. Copsi fled to a nearby church, but this was set on fire, forcing Copsi out. Osulf then had Copsi's head cut off.

Osulf appears to have seized control of the earldom of Bamburgh, and was not threatened by any expeditions to remove him. However in the autumn of 1067, Osulf, who appears to have been carrying out his duties as earl, intercepted an outlaw and was run through by the man’s spear.

He was succeeded as earl by his cousin, Cospatric

Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria

Gospatric or Cospatric , , was Earl of Northumbria, or of Bernicia, and later lord of sizable estates around Dunbar...

, who purchased the earldom from King William.

Sources

• Aird, William M., "Osulf , earl of Bamburgh (d. 1067)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 , accessed 30 Dec 2008
• Kapelle, William E.
  William E. Kapelle
  William E. Kapelle is a medieval historian at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He received his B.A at the University of Kansas in 1965, and completed his M.A. there five years later...
  
  , The Norman Conquest of the North, University of North Carolina Press, 1979.
• Stenton, Sir Frank M.
  Frank Stenton
  Sir Frank Merry Stenton was a 20th century historian of Anglo-Saxon England, and president of the Royal Historical Society . He was the author of Anglo-Saxon England, a volume of the Oxford History of England, first published in 1943 and widely considered a classic history of the period...
  
   Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition. Oxford University Press
  Oxford University Press
  Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
  
  , 1971.