Thus, Duke William became William the Conqueror<\/a>, seized the kingdom, and imposed long-lasting Norman rule.<\/p>\n We all know the Conquest of 1066<\/a> saw the Normans seize England \u2013 but this is not entirely true. In fact, William only seized the polity ruled by Harold<\/a>: the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, whose royal heartlands lay in Wessex and London. But beyond the limits of Harold\u2019s rule lay the Kingdom of Cumbria. This realm was not conquered by William in 1066, and it mostly maintained its independence for another generation. Only in 1092 did William\u2019s son, William II \u2013 better known as William Rufus \u2013 annex the southern part of the kingdom to the English state, extending Norman rule in the north-west to Hadrian\u2019s Wall<\/a>.<\/p>\n The answer to this question, perhaps, lies in its lack of longevity. Only emerging in the ninth century AD, the kingdom\u2019s lands had originally been part of the mighty Kingdom of Northumbria<\/a>, which in its heyday stretched from the Mersey to the Humber estuary in the south, and from Ayrshire to the Firth of Forth in the north. Famously, the Northumbrian kingdom cradled Christianity at Lindisfarne, the community founded by Saint Aidan and Saint Oswald and celebrated by its own great historian, Bede.<\/p>\n In the 860s, Northumbria was fractured by Viking conquest, with the Norse invaders establishing a kingdom south of the Tees, the English rulers at Bamburgh Castle<\/a> taking the northeast from the Tyne to the Firth of Forth, and the Kingdom of Strathclyde \u2013 based around Glasgow \u2013 seizing the chance to expand southwards into the Lake District.<\/p>\n In the process, the Kingdom of Cumbria was forged west of the Pennines, breaching Hadrian\u2019s Wall and reaching from southern Scotland into what is now the modern county of Cumbria. By the time Rufus annexed the kingdom, it had only been in existence for around 200 years.<\/p>\n Another reason for its obscurity lies in the relative lack of documentary evidence, compared to other kingdoms. When it comes to studying the Anglo-Saxon state conquered by William I, historians have a phenomenal source: Domesday Book<\/a>. Compiled in 1086, the survey encompasses every settlement under the king\u2019s rule, reporting landholders and households, cultivation, industry and buildings. With this monumental record, historians can reconstruct the society of Anglo-Saxon England and the process of Norman regime-building: from the slaughter or ejection of the existing aristocracy and their replacement by William\u2019s friends, to the ravaging of Yorkshire now known as the \u2018Harrying of the North\u2019.<\/p>\n Yet, the Kingdom of Cumbria was not part of this story, so does not appear in Domesday Book. Nor can Cumbria boast the other written evidence abounding for Anglo-Saxon England \u2013 namely the charters recording grants of land and privileges.<\/p>\n In fact, the written evidence generated in Cumbria is limited to a solitary document: a writ issued in the mid- or late-11th century by a man named Gospatric, who was possibly the Earl of Northumbria. In the text, Gospatric addresses his officers \u201cand all men, free and dreng [a tenant by agricultural service], that dwell on all the lands that were Cumbrian\u201d, granting his peace to a man named Thorfynn mac Thore. Moreover, the writ only survives in a flawed, 13th-century copy and is written mostly in Old English, making it a rather enigmatic source.<\/p>\n The kingdom\u2019s archaeological record is also relatively sparse. Cumbria today is famous for its Neolithic Langdale axes, Bronze Age stone circles, brooding Roman fortifications, and late medieval remains of border conflict. But whereas these have all been widely studied, little energy has been dedicated to sites from the early Middle Ages.<\/p>\n Fortunately, the focus is now changing, and recent investigations reveal that Roman settlements \u2013 once thought to have been abandoned \u2013 were occupied during the Kingdom of Cumbria\u2019s existence. At the forts of Maryport and Papcastle, for instance, archaeologists have found evidence of large timber buildings, dating to the early Middle Ages and developed over multiple generations.<\/p>\n Similarly, at Stainton, just north of Carlisle, recent work has uncovered a small settlement consisting of five structures that dates to the period between the eighth and tenth centuries. This is one of few sites seemingly established for the first time in the early Middle Ages, suggesting that the Kingdom of Cumbria was built atop Roman foundations.<\/p>\n Combining history and archaeology with the evidence of language, place names and artefacts also offers a glimpse inside the Cumbrian kingdom. It looked, and sounded, very different to its Anglo-Saxon counterpart. Many of Cumbria\u2019s people were Brittonic speakers, meaning their language was the ancestor of modern Welsh and Cornish. Among them lived settlers from Viking colonies in Ireland and Scotland and the Viking kingdom of York. Viking influence is embedded in the Norse place names scattered across Cumbria \u2013 from Scafell to Skiddaw.<\/p>\n This blending of cultures is reflected in sculptures, too. Scandinavian-style \u2018hogback\u2019 tombstones preserved at Lowther, on the eastern border of the kingdom, and the Gosforth Cross on Cumbria\u2019s western coast, are among the most notable examples: the latter displaying carved scenes of the Norse myth Ragnarok alongside images of Christ\u2019s crucifixion.<\/p>\n The varied peoples were embraced by their kingdom\u2019s title: the word \u2018Cumbria\u2019 is derived from the Brittonic term \u2018Cymry\u2019, meaning \u2018inhabitants of the same region\u2019.<\/p>\n So \u2013 why was this distant, north-western kingdom suddenly so desirable to William Rufus, when his father had ignored it? The answer partly lies in the nature of the rivalries that were emerging in the late-11th century. Rufus had a contender for his throne in Edgar \u00c6theling<\/a>, heir to the House of Wessex, who was sheltering at the court of M\u00e1el Coluim III, King of Scots.<\/p>\n M\u00e1el Coluim held sway in Cumbria, having swept through the kingdom in 1069\u201370 and installed a client ruler, Dolfin. Then, in 1091, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle<\/em><\/a>, the Scottish king \u201ccame from Scotland into England and ravaged a great part of it\u201d. Rufus was able to force M\u00e1el Coluim into submission, but he needed a permanent solution. Thus, \u201c[he] went north to Carlisle\u2026 drove out Dolfin\u201d and established Norman rule.<\/p>\nFractured by conquest<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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A blending of cultures<\/strong><\/h3>\n
By the time Rufus annexed the Kingdom of Cumbria, it had only been in existence for around 200 years <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
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