Osulf appears at least five times in witness lists for charters, some of which may be genuine, in the years 946, 949, and 950. In 946 and 949 he witnessed charters as "high reeve" In 949 he witnessed an Evesham grant as well as a grant by King Eadred to Canterbury Cathedral as dux. And in 950 an Osulf Bebbanburg is alleged to have witnessed as Eorl. He is the first man specifically designated "high-reeve" of Bamburgh. High-reeve is Old Englishheah-gerefa, which Alfred Smyth thought was influenced by the Scottish word mormaer, which possibly has the same meaning. Judging by the North People's Law, a high-reeve was not the same as an ealdorman, having only half an ealdorman's wergild. Osulf's origins are unclear. A genealogy in the text De Northumbria post Britannos, recording the ancestry of WaltheofEarl of Northampton, suggests that Osulf was the son of Eadulf of Bamburgh, the ′King of the Northern English′ who died in 913. Richard Fletcher and David Rollason thought he might be the Osulf Dux who had witnessed charters further south in the 930s, which if true would extend Osulf's floruit back to 934.
Though Eadulf and Ealdred appear to have ruled Northumbria, in the years running up to 954 the kingdom was controlled by the Scandinavians Amlaíb Cuarán and Eric Bloodaxe. According to Roger of Wendover's Flores historiarum, Osulf was responsible for a conspiracy with a certain Maccus that led to the betrayal and death of Eric Bloodaxe, King of Northumbria, "in a certain lonely place called Stainmore". Following this, Osulf is said to have taken control of all Northumbria. Although this part of the Flores historiarum was compiled centuries later and contains some obvious anachronisms, Roger of Wendover appears to have used certain earlier sources, no longer extant, which would add credibility to the story. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle names King Eadred as the new ruler of Northumbria following the expulsion of Erik:
Her Norðhymbre fordrifon Yric, 7 Eadred feng to Norðhymbra rice In this year the Northumbrians drove out Eric and Eadred succeeded to the kingdom".
This is why Richard Fletcher thinks Osulf was working at Eadred's instigation, and that a grateful Eadred promoted Osulf ruler of the entire Northumbrian sub-kingdom. However he got there, it was with Eadred's consent and overlordship, at least according to our sources. De primo Saxonum adventu summarises his status as follows:
Primus comitum post Eiricum, quem ultimum regem habuerunt Northymbrenses, Osulf provincias omnes Northanhymbrorum sub Edrido rege procuravit. First of the earls after Erik, the last king whom the Northumbrians had, Osulf administered under King Eadred all the provinces of the Northumbrians.
Similar sentiments were expressed in the related Historia Regum: "Here the kings of Northumbrians came to an end and henceforth the provinces was administered by earls". Eadred's takeover and Osulf's rule thus represent the beginning of permanent West Saxon control of the North. Historian Alex Woolf argued that this take-over was a personalunion of crowns rather like that between Scotland and England in 1603.
Death and legacy
Little else is known about Osulf's period in power. The Chronicle of the Kings of Alba says that in the time of Indulf, Edinburgh was abandoned to the Scots, though nothing is said about the involvement of Northumbrians or Osulf. The date of Osulf's death is not known. He was probably dead before 963, as that is the date Oslac appears for the first time as ealdorman in York. It is unclear whether Oslac was related to Osulf. According to the De primo Saxonum adventu, Northumbria was divided into two parts after Osulf's death. De Northumbria post Britannos says that Osulf had a son named Ealdred, father ofWaltheof of Bamburgh, father of Uhtred of Northumbria.
