Onlafbald and Scula (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: Skúli) were two early 10th-century

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

chieftains, notable for receiving lands through successful campaigning in what is now northern England. Onlafbald is also said to have been killed by the spirit of the 7th-century English saint

Cuthbert of Lindisfarne Cuthbert of Lindisfarne () ( – 20 March 687) was a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Hiberno-Scottish mission, Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monastery, monasteries of Melrose Abbey#Histo ...

, after he profaned the long-dead saint. The legacy of Scula is preserved in the place name of

School Aycliffe School Aycliffe is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Great Aycliffe, in the County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of Durham, England. It is a short distance west of Newton Aycliffe, and east of Heighington. Its ...

, a village in

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, which is derived from his name (

: ''Skúli''). Following the

Battle of Corbridge The Battle of Corbridge took place on the banks of the River Tyne near the village of Corbridge in Northumberland in the year 918. The battle was referenced in the ''Annals of Ulster'' and the '' Chronicle of the Kings of Alba''. The battle was ...

in about 918, the victorious Hiberno-Norse king

Ragnall Ragnall is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of 102, increasing to 146 at the 2011 census (with Fledborough), and falling to 88 for the 2021 census. It is located on ...

occupied lands between the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The ...

and the

River Tees The River Tees (), in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries ...

. Some of these lands had formerly been in the possession of an English noble named Ælfed, son of Brihtulf, who had received them from

Cutheard Cutheard of Lindisfarne (died 915) was Bishop of Lindisfarne from 899 to around 915, although the see was administered from Chester-le-Street.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 214 Cutheard was responsible for purchasing the v ...

Bishop of Lindisfarne The bishop of Durham is head of the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler was the most recent bishop of Durham until his retirement ...

after he had fled Viking devastations in the west, to resettle on the eastern coast. Ragnall divided these new acquisitions between two of his followers, Scula and Onlafbald. Scula received a massive tract of land which comprised the estates from

Castle Eden Castle Eden is a village in County Durham, England, south of Peterlee, Wingate, Hutton Henry, the A19 and Castle Eden Dene. The former Castle Eden Brewery was home to Castle Eden Ale. Etymology Castle Eden takes its name from the Eden Bur ...

Billingham Billingham is a List of towns in England, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in County Durham, England. The town is on the north side of the River Tees and is governed as part of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees unitary authority ...

; and Onlafbald received a similarly large tract, which included the rest from Eden to the

River Wear The River Wear (, ) in Northern England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers. The Wear wends in a steep valley t ...

. These lands lie on the coast, and it has been suggested that the two men were also granted the surrounding interior-lands as well. Onlafbald is said to have uttered profane blasphemies against the English saint

(d.687); after which the spirit of the

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

miraculously tortured the

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

chieftain until he acknowledged the power of the

Christian god In Christianity, God is the eternal, supreme being who created and preserves all things. Christians believe in a monotheistic conception of God, which is both transcendent (wholly independent of, and removed from, the material universe) an ...

and died on the spot. In some accounts he is said to have invoked the power of his own gods, namely

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

and

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onlafbald And Scula 10th-century Vikings History of County Durham Viking warriors

See also

Notes

References