Morcar of Northumbria

Morcar (or Morkere) (d.1071) was the son of Ælfgar, earl of Mercia, brother of Edwin, earl of Mercia. He was himself the earl of Northumbria from 1065 to 1066, when he was replaced by William the Conqueror with Robert Comine.

In 1065, the Northumbrians revolted against their Earl Tostig, who was replaced by Morcar and declared an outlaw. Tostig invaded Northumbria (for the third time) from Norway with King Harald III Hardrada in 1066. Morcar and Edwin resisted and inflicted heavy losses on the invaders; however, they were defeated at the Battle of Fulford.

In September, when Morcar became aware that Duke William II of Normandy intended to invade England to claim the throne from King Harold II, Morcar swore fealty William. Hardrada and Tostig invaded York, two miles north of Gate Fulford. To suppress the Norwegian invasion of England, Harold forced marched an army (around 240 miles by foot) north from London to York. He arrived on September 25.

Surprised, unarmoured, and unprepared, Hardrada's forces were overpowered by the English army. In the Battle of Stamford Bridge, the exiled earl of Northumbria and the Viking king were killed. On September 28, William landed his army at Pevensey in Sussex. Harold immediately responded and marched weary and weakened soldiers another 240 miles south from York to meet William's invasion on October 14. With a technologically superior and a well-rested force, William routed the English army at the Battle of Hastings in which Harold was killed.

After trying to secure the crown for a member of their own house, the heir nominated by Edward the Confessor, they submitted to William, but lost their earldoms. They attempted to raise the North in 1068, and failed ignominiously.

Though they were pardoned, Edwin perished in attempting to raise a Welsh rebellion and, in 1071, Morcar joined the desperate rebellion led by Hereward the Wake against William the Conqueror at the Isle of Ely. The rebellion failed. While Hereward escaped with followers into the wild fenland, Morcar was captured and imprisoned, where he died.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Freeman, E. A. Norman Conquest and William Rufus vol. i.

Preceded by: Tostig

Earl of Northumbria 1065–1066

Succeeded by: Copsi