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Orm Gamalson
A chronology of the life of Orm
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Headlines are in brown.
Dates are in red.
Hyperlinks to other pages are in dark blue.
References and citations are in turquoise.
Context and local history are in purple.
Geographical context is in green.
1020?
Orm was the son of Gamel (and an unknown
mother). He was born in Northumbria in about 1035 (Cawley,
2006), or 1022
(Atkinson, 1891), but
according to Ashworth P. Burke in Family Records:
Spofforth, Orm Gamalson was born circa AD 965.
Orm’s birth likely occurred following the annexation of Northumbria into
England in AD 954 and shortly before the term Northumberland was coined in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1065.
Orm's name is
Scandinavian, which suggests that he was of Scandinavian descent, but by his
lifetime, he was very much a Christian, and a part of the Saxon world.
1040?
According to the chronicler, Simeon of Durham,
Orm, who was a thane of Yorkshire, married into the leading aristocratic clan
of the region. His wife Aethelthryth was the daughter of Ealdred, Earl of
Northumbria in the mid eleventh century. She was one of the five daughters of
Aldred of Bamburgh (b. before 1006 - d.1039). His
brother in law was Siward, Earl of Northumbria until
1055, famous for his exploits against Macbeth, the King of Scots.
They had one daughter, Ecgfrida or Ecghfrida, who
married Eilsi of Tees.
Orm also had an adult son whose mother
is unknown, Gamel, who was assassinated in 1064. This might suggest an earlier
birth date for Orm, on or before 1022.
Orm’s family prospered and Orm possessed
Chircheby (Kirkdale) and the adjacent country that
included many manors, as well as other extensive landholdings and manors during
the reign of Edward the Confessor (as recorded in Domesday,
1086).
The numerous estates owned by Orm
entitled him to the rank of Thane, which was awarded to the greater nobility,
who formed royal alliances and were tenants through personal service to the
king.
1055
Kirkdale Church is an Anglo-Saxon church
in Kirkdale, near Kirkbymoorside.
It is dedicated to St. Gregory, who was
pope from AD 590 to 604. A church has occupied this site since about 750 AD or
perhaps even earlier and continues in use to the present day.
Archaeologically, the site is an
Anglo-Saxon treasure, containing crosses, grave covers in the nave, and
sculptural fragments, which date to circa AD 750.
By the 11th century the original church
had fallen into ruin. Between 1055 and 1065, it was rebuilt by Orm, son of
Gamal, on the site of the earlier church.The
date of the church's reconstruction is known, as it occurred during the reign
of Tostig, Earl of Northumberland (1055-1065), as inscribed on the Anglo-Saxon
inscription now above the door of the church. Known as the Anglo-Saxon Sundial,
this High Middle Ages canonical horologe placed above Kirkdale's
church doors is flanked by two additional panels, containing a rare Anglo-Saxon
inscription in Old English. Discovered during a 1771 renovation, the sundial
memorializes Orm's rebuilding of the dilapidated church.
Orm Gamalson bought S. Gregorius minster
when it was all to-broken and to-fallen: he it let make new from the ground, to
Christ and S. Gregorius in Edward's days the King and Tostig's days the Earl.
This is day's Sun marker at every tide. And Haworth me wrought and Brand,
priests.
It was during Tostig's cruel earldom
that he had Gamel, son of Orm, assassinated in his chamber at York over
Christmas 1064, so it seems unlikely that Orm would have included Tostig's name
in the inscription following his son's death at the hands of this murderous
earl. It seems possible, therefore, that the church may have been rebuilt
between the years 1055 and late 1064.
1086
Following the Norman Conquest of
England, Orm's landholdings were confiscated and given to Norman noble, Hugh Fitz-Baldric.
As a result, Orm was among those who were dispossessed by the Normans and
driven northward to the region of Northumberland, where his name vanished from
the historical records of his time.
Sources have not been located that
reference any facts related to the death of Orm Gamalson. What is known, is
that he died at some date after the earliest potential period of reconstruction
of Kirkdale Church in 1055, and most likely after the Norman Conbquest.