4. Edgar’s Rebellion

In the autumn of 1069 a great fleet belonging to the King of Denmark sailed past Spurn Point and into the river Humber.  The Danish troops on board were heading into Yorkshire to join up with the forces of Edgar Atheling.  Edgar was the sole surviving descendant of the Anglo-Saxon kings so on parchment at least had a good claim to the English throne.  He was however young, around 17 years of age, and lacked influential connections.

Earlier that same year Edgar had lead a group of Northumbrian rebels in attacking York but they had been forced to flee.  In September he tried again with the support of the Danes and this time managed to overrun the castle, kill the soldiers stationed there, and seize the city.  William I though was not fazed and resolutely marched north, sending a message to Winchester castle that this was definitely an occasion that called for his crown and could they please send it on.

Not for nothing was William known as the conqueror and by December he had retaken York.  On Christmas Day he stood defiantly among the ruins of its Minster wearing his crown in a symbolic tableau that must have made any other potential rebels think twice.  Imagine a crisp, clear day, a light sprinkling of snow on the ground, William striking a regal pose while the low winter sun glints off his armour and golden accessory. 

To emphasise the point that he was now firmly in charge, William dispatched bands of soldiers across Yorkshire and Northumbria.  In what became known as the ‘harrying of the North’, these troops swept the countryside destroying all they found.  In the early months of 1070, common folk had to watch helpless as soldiers ransacked their homes and torched their barns.  Since it was winter they lost not only the food from the previous year’s harvest but also the seeds that had been saved to plant next year’s crop.  Despite playing little or no part in the rebellion many were left homeless and facing starvation. 

The result of all this destruction can be still be seen over 10 years later in the Domesday Book.  The value of the estate at North Ferriby fell from 100 shillings in 1066 to 60 shillings twenty years later and only one of its seven Berewicks, Hessle, is listed as populated and not waste.  In Yorkshire as a whole 33% of land is listed as waste or uncultivated and 80% of all the waste land recorded in Domesday is located in the county.

Photo: Looking west up the River Humber towards the River Ouse and York

3. The Estate of Myton

There are 13,400 places recorded in the Domesday Book.  One of them is a hamlet called Myton which included the land where Hull would later stand.  Myton was a small Berewick, or an outlying estate, of the manor of North Ferriby.  The Anglo-Norman baron Ralph de Mortimer is listed as the owner of both.

The idea to conduct a survey of England had come to William I during his Christmas holidays in 1085.  According to chroniclers he took the decision after ‘much thought and very deep discussion with his council’.  William needed to know both how his own lands were being run and also what others had acquired during the conquest.  The survey was certainly an ambitious project given the poor state of roads and methods of communication that took days if not weeks. Like many grand plans, it probably seemed a brilliant idea when viewed through that rosy glow brought about from drinking too much wine on New Year’s Eve.

As King though William could order others to make sure his resolution was kept.  In January 1086 commissioners were dispatched all over England, excepting Northumberland and Cumbria.  They asked royal officials and tenants-in-chief, such as Ralph de Mortimer, who owned precisely what.  These answers were then checked during special court sessions held in each Hundred.  Local witnesses were thoroughly questioned on topics including land ownership, the amount of woodland, and the numbers of labourers and animals.

Amazingly the survey process was completed in just eight months, doubtless helped by the special brand of motivation only an all powerful king can provide.  Sadly when the findings were written up many details were lost due to shortage of space as ultimately everything was condensed into just the one volume that later became known as the Domesday Book.  Produced on long lasting parchment and carefully written in red and black ink, it was the ideal souvenir to commemorate 20 years since the conquest.

North Ferriby is listed in the book as being home to 14 labourers, 3 ploughs and a church with a priest.  Given the editing of the survey results though, it is possible that it had a slightly larger population then this.  The 14 households listed may just have been those who provided labour service to Ralph de Mortimer.  Perhaps other families lived there who paid their rent in money so their contribution to the estate’s ‘worth’ would be included as part of its monetary value of 60 shillings.

Picture: Extract from the Domesday Book taken from Williams, Ann (ed.) Domesday Book: A Complete Translation.

2. Ralph de Mortimer

On 14 October 1066 on at the bottom of a hill near Hastings an army of soldiers gathered led by Duke William of Normandy.  Among those resolutely facing the troops of the English King Harold was Ralph de Mortimer.  After the Normans were victorious, Ralph expected a reward for his efforts and over the next few years William duely obliged granting him considerable amounts of land including that which would one day be Hull.

The area around the river Hull had belonged to an English woman named Eadgifu, or Edith.  Following the Battle of Hastings however, she and others like her simply had their land taken from them or were forced to become tenants subservient to their conquerers.  It didn’t matter if they were earls, country gentry, or one of the 15,000 smaller landowners.  8000 Normans came to settle in England and they enjoyed spoils of victory ranging from single properties to ownership of several estates.

Ralph de Mortimer had by 1086 acquired land in 12 counties all over England, although concentrated in Hampshire, Yorkshire and Herefordshire near the Welsh border.  As one of the King William’s tenants-in-chief he held this land in return for military service.  Ralph then had his own tenants including eighteen knights who owed military service to him.  Following his father’s death he also inherited land in Normandy.  All this made him an important Anglo-Norman baron, although not quite one of the topmost rank.

Like many of the Anglo-Norman nobility, Ralph’s life became more complicated after William I died in 1087.  William left the dukedom of Normandy to his eldest son, Robert Curthose, but left the crown of England to his second son, William Rufus.  Given that the brothers were far from friends, barons holding estates on both sides of the Channel faced an impossible situation; offend Duke Robert and lose their lands in Normandy or offend King William II and lose their lands in England.

In order to solve this problem, Ralph de Mortimer was one of a number who wanted Duke Robert to succeed to both thrones.  Looking to achieve this, in 1088 Ralph helped plot an invasion of England on Robert’s behalf but it ended in failure.  Ralph though was not beaten and quite the politician he was perfectly willing to alter his opinions.  Over the next few years he switched loyalties a number of times depending on which brother could best serve his own interests.  The last recorded mention of him is in 1104 when it was noted that he was siding with Henry I, the new King of England, against Duke Robert.

Picture: Section of the Domesday Book recording Ralph de Mortimer’s ownership of ‘Hull’.  
From: http://opendomesday.org/book/yorkshire/55/. Credit Professor J.J.N. Palmer and George Slater.

1. Before the Normans

Stand at the mouth of the river Hull and you can watch the water slowly flowing out into the vast expanse of the Humber estuary.  On the horizon it wends its way past Spurn Point and out into the North Sea.  The breadth of this view gives a sense of awe but can’t really be called picturesque.  One glance downwards brings into vision murky liquid lapping against a sticky brown mud that is calling for items to swallow up.  This is a functional, practical river not one on which to mess about in boats or enjoy a delightful picnic.

During the time of the Anglo-Saxons a thousand years ago this spot was even less appealing.  Back then the river Hull had two channels and where Hull’s city centre now stands was just a bleak, marshy, uninhabited island between the two.  It wasn’t until the 1200s that the river began to flow as a single stream and the land drained enough to settle on.  Before that any hamlets or farms could only be found further upriver where the land was slightly higher and drier.

The Anglo-Saxons kings established a system of counties, each of which was subdivided into hundreds. The future site of Hull was placed in Hessle Hundred, part of the East Riding of Yorkshire.  Hundreds were then further split up usually into hides or carucates.  The size of both of these was determined by farming.  One hide was the amount of land needed to support a family while a carucate was the amount of land that could be cultivated using a team of eight oxen.

All this organisation was not just for neatness but allowed kings to raise substantial amounts of cash via a land tax called the Geld.  In every county a Sheriff, or ‘Shire-Reeve’, collected money from each hundred with the amount depending on how many hides or carucates the hundred contained.  Originally this money was used for the specific threat of paying off invading Danes but it continued to be levied for various military uses afterwards including by the early Norman kings after 1066.

The counties left by the Anglo-Saxons existed largely unchanged for the next 900 years.  It was only in the local government reorganisation of 1974 that they were swept away.  New counties were needed for a 20th Century full of technology, equality, flares and shoulder pads.  Civil servants hunched over maps drawing precise new boundaries and placed Hull in the shiny new county of Humberside.  Humberside was the product of the best of modern technology, calculation and logic.  It lasted just 22 years.

Photo: The Deep aquarium at the mouth of the River Hull.