Siward, Earl of Northumberland and Huntingdon

   Other names for Siward, were Siward Earl of Deira, Sigurd, Earl of Northumberland and Siward Digera, Earl of Northumberland.

  General Notes:

Weis' Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700, 8th Edition, 98A:23 - Called Sigurd, Earl of Northhumberland, married to Aelfled (Ælflæd), daughter of Aldred of Bernicia, and father of Watheof II, 130:25, 148:23.

Weis' Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700, 8th Edition, 170:20, calls him Siward, Danish Earl of Northumberland, father of the wife of Duncan I Mac Crinán.

Siward has two different people listed for him in Weis' Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700, 8th Edition, but in Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, Vol IX, p. 705, it reads "Watheof, the younger son of Siward," and gives the date of Watheof, of Northumberland death as the same date given to Watheof, married to Judith Lens, and son of Sigurd [Weis, 98A:23], as the same date. Right below this, also on p. 705, one is referred to Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, Vol. VI, p. 605, and it it refers to Waltheof, son of Siward, Earl of Northumberland by Ælfled, daughter of Aldred of Bernicia. ^141,160

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
Siward was likely "a Dane," may have come to England with HarthaCnut, and was made an Earl in or before 1041. His married had given him some claim the Earldom of Northumberland. Around 1042, his wife's uncle, Ædulf was murdered. He was then in possession of the entire Northumberland, from Humber to Tweed.

Siward was a supporter of Edward "the Confessor" against Earl Godwin and his sons. As he had for Harthacnut, he is recorded attesting to many charter of Edward the Confessor. In 1054, he led a force of English and Danes against the Scottish usurper, Macbeth, which made Malcolm, regis Cumbrorum filium, his murdered father's successor to the Scottish throne.

Siward married, first, Elfleda, daughter of Aldred, Earl of Northumberland. His second was named Godiva, who was a widow. Siward died in 1055, and was buried at the neighboring abbey of Galmanho, which he founded.


~Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, Vol. IX, (Northumberland), p. 702-703

• Ancedotal. ⁸⁸⁴
On hearing about the death of his son, Osbern, Siward was at first unconsolable until he was told of the nature of Osbern's death in battled. He was told that Osbern behaved with such gallantry, and that he died from a wound in the breast. Swiard's grief turned to the joy of a warrier as he exclaimed, "Would to God, that I had as many sons as I have hairs, that I might lose them thus!"

When Siward was facing his own death, he ordered that he be clothed in a suit of complete armor, sitting erect , with a spear in his hand because he said, "In this posture, the only one worthy of a warrior, I will meet the tyrant; if I cannot conquer, I shall at least face my enemy."

~Russel's The History of Modern Europe , p. 126

Siward, married Ælfflaed of Bernicia, daughter of Ædred of Bernicia Lord of Bamburgh and Unknown.¹⁴¹ (Ælfflaed of Bernicia died in 1038.)