Orm Gamalson
The powerful figure at the heart of
the aristocracy, who rebuilt Kirkdale and put our ancestral lands firmly onto
the national political stage
A
Scandinavian who assimilated Anglo-Saxon Christian culture
Orm Gamalson
is an Old Norse name which roughly translates as Dragon Oldson.
His name
appears on the sundial at Kirkdale Minster. Orm the
son of Gamal acquired St Gregory’s Minster when it was completely ruined and
collapsed, and he had it built anew from the ground to Christ and to St Gregory
in the days of King Edward and in the days of Earl Tostig.
His name
appears in the Domesday Book. In Chirchebi, Orm had five caracutes
of land there. There is land for two ploughs. High FitzBaldric
has two ploughs there’ and 10 villans with 3 ploughs.
There is a priest and a church, and 1 mill rendering 4s.
His name
appears in De Obsessione Dunelmi,
On the Siege of Durham which states that after the Norman Conquest, a thegn
of Yorkshire, called Orm, son of Gamel, married Aetheldryth,
one of five daughters of Earl Eadred, and they had a daughter called Ecgfrida, who by Aelsfsige of
Tees, had a son, Waltheof, two other sons and a daughter, Eda.
Symeon of
Durham’s Historia
Regum recorded that Gamal, the son of Orm, was killed by Earl Tosti in
York in 1063 or 1064.
A
landowning powerhouse
Orm and his
father Gamal were descendants of a family that gained power when the
Scandinavian King Cnut rewarded his followers for their help in the conquest of
England in 1014 to 1016.
His
forebears probably included Thurbrand the Hold, who
died in 1024. Thurbrand was a Northumbrian magnate
who killed Uhtred the Bold (the real Uhtred, not the fictional one of King
Alfred’s court), Earl of Northumbria during the war between Sweyn Forkbeard and
Cnut the Great against the English king Æthelred the Unready. Uhtred was Æthelred’s main Northumbrian supporter. The family were
likely players in multi generational Northumbrian
politics and feuds. They were known political figures in the north. This was a
family who had the wealth to rebuild the Kirkdale church on a significant
scale.
Orm Gamalson
was the holder of the complex estate of Kirkbymoorside, evidenced in the
Domesday Book. When his family came into possession of the estate, isn’t known
for sure. In 1066 he held land across the Vale of Pickering and beyond. He
might have held land not surveyed in the Domesday Book as far as the Tees.
It is
possible to discover a little bit about Orm from the slender documentation
which survives from the eleventh century. Both Orm and Gamel are Scandinavian
names. The sundial at Old Byland church was commissioned by Sumerled
the housecarl, another Scandinavian name, and the housecarls were the elite
troops who formed the backbone of Canute's armies.
Orm was a
prominent person in Northumbria in the middle years of the eleventh century.
Orm’s family had probably intermarried with the local aristocracy which had
originally held Kirkbymoorside.
Orm married
into the leading aristocratic clan of the region. His wife Aethelthryth was the
daughter of Ealdred, earl of Northumbria from 1016 to 1038. Among his
brothers-in-law was Siward, earl of Northumbria from about 1042 to 1055, famous
for his exploits against the king of Scots, Macbeth, and as the founder of St.
Olave's church in York.
Orm Gamalson
had married into the house of Bamburgh, the major northern noble family.
Orm was a
considerable landowner in Yorkshire before 1066, as recorded in the Domesday
Book. Among his landholdings in Ryedale was the big and valuable estate based
on Kirkbymoorside.
Estates
in Yorkshire held by Orm Gamalson before Hugh Fitz Badric, from the Domesday Book
records
A
political force
York was a centre for Tostig Godwinson (1029 to
1066)’s later career, a member of the major West Saxon house under which his
brother Harold Godwinson had gained his kingship. Tostig’s initial role in
Yorkshire, as Anglo Saxon Earl of Northumbria on the death of Earl Siward in
1055, was to strengthen the king’s influence in this unruly land.
Tostig was
the third son of the Anglo-Saxon nobleman Godwin, Earl of Wessex and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, the daughter of Danish chieftain Thorgil Sprakling. So he had
parental associations with both Godwins and
Scandinavians.
Tostig was
banished in 1065 for a variety of crimes, including the murder of Orm's son, Gamal
Ormson in 1063, probably part of the ongoing multigenerational feud. However he
returned with Harold Hardrada, King of Norway, in the following year. The
Norwegian army fought against Tostig's brother, Harold Godwinson, King of
England, at Stamford Bridge, and there both Tostig and his Norwegian ally were
killed. After the battle Harold Godwinson carried out his famous forced march
to Hastings, where he was killed in battle by the Norman army of William the
Conqueror.
Orm Gamalson
was clearly a substantial figure, and the place he chose to articulate his
power was Kirkdale.
Kirkdale
clearly had political significance in this historical episode.
Go Straight to Chapter 3 –
Scandinavian Kirkdale
or
If your interest is in Kirkdale then I suggest you visit the
following pages of the website.
· The community in Anglo Saxon Times
· The church in Anglo Saxon Times
· The Kirkdale
Anglo Saxon artefacts
· The community in Anglo Saxon Times
· The church in Anglo Saxon
Scandinavian Times