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.
*
Freeman, E. A. Norman Conquest and William Rufus vol. i.
