Muiredach (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

958–963) was an

ealdorman Ealdorman (, ) was a term in Anglo-Saxon England which originally applied to a man of high status, including some of royal birth, whose authority was independent of the king. It evolved in meaning and in the eighth century was sometimes applied ...

( la, dux) in

northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

in the reign of

Edgar the Peaceable Edgar ( ang, Ēadgār ; 8 July 975), known as the Peaceful or the Peaceable, was King of the English from 959 until his death in 975. The younger son of King Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, he came to the throne as a teenager following ...

. He is recorded in subscriptions to two royal charters. The first, Sawyer 679, is a grant by King Edgar to Oscytel,

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...

of 10

hide __NOTOC__ Hide or hides may refer to: Common uses * Hide (skin), the cured skin of an animal * Bird hide, a structure for observing birds and other wildlife without causing disturbance * Gamekeeper's hide or hunting hide or hunting blind, a stru ...

s at Hutton in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, where he is named ''Mirdach dux'', ninth on the ealdorman list between ''Leod dux'' and ''Ascured dux''. His other appearance is in a newly discovered charter (found again 1983) issued by King Edgar to one Æthelferth, granting 5 hides at

Ballidon Ballidon is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, on the edge of the Peak District National Park. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 79. The population at the 2011 Census remained les ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

, where he is named ''Myrdah dux'' and appears eighth (last) in the ealdorman list, above ''Gunner dux''.Brooks, Gelling and Johnson, "New Charter", p. 141 His name precedes ''Oslac dominus'' ("Lord Oslac"), who is probably

Oslac Óslác is a theophoric Anglo-Saxon given name, cognate to Old Norse ''Ásleikr''/''Áslákr'' (Latinised ''Ansleicus'', modern Scandinavian ''Aslak'') and to Old High German ''Ansleh'' (''Anslech'', ''Ansleccus''). It is composed of '' ós'' "god ...

, future

ealdorman of Northumbria Earl of Northumbria or Ealdorman of Northumbria was a title in the late Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Scandinavian and early Anglo-Norman period in England. The ealdordom was a successor of the Norse Kingdom of York. In the seventh century, the Anglo-Saxon ...

. The names ''Mirdach'' and ''Myrdah'' represented the

Goidelic The Goidelic or Gaelic languages ( ga, teangacha Gaelacha; gd, cànanan Goidhealach; gv, çhengaghyn Gaelgagh) form one of the two groups of Insular Celtic languages, the other being the Brittonic languages. Goidelic languages historically ...

name ''Muiredach'', and he is thus thought to be of Gaelic or Norse-Gaelic origin. He may have been one of the Norse-Gaelic settlers resident in north-western

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

during the period.Bolton, ''Empire'', p. 113

Notes

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Muiredach Anglo-Saxon ealdormen Medieval Gaels 10th-century English people