Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria
Waltheof (* 1050, † May 31, 1076 ) was Earl of Northumbria and the last Anglo-Saxon Earl. In addition, he was the only aristocrat who was executed in the time of King William the Conqueror. He was of great physical strength, but at the same characteristically weak and unreliable, and is described as pious and charitable.
To 1065 he received the title of Count, which he ruled Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire. After the Battle of Hastings ( 1066), he threw himself to the new king and was confirmed in his offices and in return his possession.
As the Danish King Sven Estridsson 1069 invaded the north of England, to Waltheof and Edgar Aetheling joined the attack on York. When the Danes in 1070 left the country again, Waltheof submitted again, and was then also used in his county again. A marriage with William's niece, Judith of Lens should secure the connection. 1072 he was appointed Earl of Northampton.
1075 to Waltheof joined the Revolt of the Earls against William, but soon lost the courage. He revealed himself only Lanfranc of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, and later also William, who was at this time in Normandy. Together with the king, he returned to England, where he was but then arrested and tried twice before the Royal Court. Waltheof was condemned to death and beheaded on St. Giles 's Hill on May 31, 1076 at Winchester.
The Anglo-Saxons regarded him as a martyr in the sequence, at whose grave in Crowland miracle should happen.
Family
Waltheof was a son of Siward, Earl of Northumbria and the Ælflaeda, a daughter of the Earl of Bernicia Ealdred and granddaughter of Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria. In 1070 he married Judith of Lens, daughter of Lambert of Boulogne, Count of Lens and Adelaide, a sister of William. The couple had three daughters, the eldest of whom, Maud, second husband, the Scottish King David I. married and thereby brought the county of Huntingdon to the Scottish royal house. One of Waltheofs grandsons was Waltheof, the chosen, but rejected by the King, Archbishop of York.