Eadulf, Eadwulf, or occasionally Adulf, surnamed Evil-child, was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and Earl of Bamburgh in the late tenth century. Although Eadwulf is sometimes described as the Earl of Northumbria, he ruled only the northern portion of Northumbria from the River Tees to possibly as far north as the Firth of Forth. Eadwulf was one of the noblemen present at King Edgar's council at Chester which formally granted Lothian to the Scots.
Name and family
The details of Eadwulf's early life are not known except that his surname evil-child may indicate that he was a wild youth, with "evil-child" being equivalent to "bad boy" in modern English. Alternatively, as cild, when used as a cognomen, was an Old Englishtitle borne by some Anglo-Saxon nobles to denote a man of high rank, it may be the case that Eadwulf acquired the name simply because he was a nobleman of bad character or because he was considered unworthy to hold noble rank. His first name, Eadwulf, meaning rich wolf in Old English, may indicate that he was related to a previous ruler of Northumbria, Eadwulf II who died in 913. At least one 19th century work suggests that Eadwulf was probably the son of Osulf, the man whom Eadwulf later succeeded as ruler of Bamburgh. Others simply suggest that Eadwulf and Osulf were probably related.
Ruler of Bamburgh
De primo Saxonum adventu, an eleventh- or twelfth-century compilation from earlier sources, notes that after the death of Osulf, Northumbria was divided into two parts. This happened no later than 963 and quite possibly in that year. The English king Edgar granted Eadulf Evil-child the lands between the Myreford and the River Tees, while Oslac received the lands between the Humber Estuary and the Tees. According to the 13th-century historian John of Wallingford, King Edgar made this division during a council at York, in order to prevent the whole area becoming the inheritance of one man. At the ceremony Eadwulf was "girt with the sword" of his new earldom but he was not crowned. History makes little mention of Eadwulf in the remaining years of the 960s, except that his existence is perhaps attested in King Edgar's charters from 968 to 970. The presence of Eadwulf's name in these charters is somewhat suggestive of a scenario whereby Eadwulf worked to bring the northern reaches of Northumbria under some degree of control in the late 960s and early 970s. However, the identification of the "Eadulf dux" in the charters with Eadwulf Evil-child is considered questionable by some. Assuming that Myreford was the Saxon name for the Firth of Forth, Eadwulf's control over the northern part of Northumbria was not to last. In AD 972 Eadwulf's son was captured by Kenneth King of Scots during a raid. The following year, Eadwulf, Oslac and Bishop Ælfsige escorted Kenneth to King Edgar who was at Chester, and after Kenneth had reportedly done homage, Edgar rewarded Kenneth by granting him Lothian. Although no ancient sources mention what happened to Eadwulf's son, it has been speculated that Eadwulf ceded his possessions north of the Tweed in exchange for his safe return. The details of the later part of Eadwulf's life are not known. It may be that he fell from office in 975 during the violence which attended the succession crisis after the death of King Edgar. It has been suggested that both Eadwulf and Oslac backed the unsuccessful Æthelred the Unready rather than the successful Edward the Martyr as the successor to King Edgar and hence lost their positions. In any case, the Earldom of Bamburgh was held by Waltheof from either 975 or as late as 994. The lack of information in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle concerning Eadwulf's fate is in contrast to the provision of details about what happened to Oslac. This may indicate that the English kings had lost the power to depose or exile an earl in the far north. Instead, Eadwulf may have been deposed by powerful Northumbrian nobles or even assassinated.
