Timeline of Northumbria and Northumberland

This timeline summarises significant events in the history of Northumbria and Northumberland.

500

• 559 – Ida of Bernicia is the first known King of Bernicia; he reigned from 547 to 559.^[1]
• 588 – The first king of Deira was Ælla of Deira who ruled from 560 until his death in 588.^[1]

600

• 604 – Aethelfrith unites Bernicia and Deira to form Northumbria.
• 613 – Æthelfrith engaged in the Battle of Chester.^[1]
• 625 – Paulinus is consecrated as Bishop of York.
• 634 – Lindisfarne Priory founded by Irish monk Saint Aidan.^[2]
• 634/642 – Oswald of Northumbria "reunited the whole of Northumbria".^[1]
• 638 – Gododdin hillfort at Edinburgh is captured by Oswald of Northumbria (see Northumbrian Edinburgh).
• 664 – Synod of Whitby
• 664 – Plague in British Isles travels at least as far north as Lastingham.
• 674 – Hexham Abbey built.^[2]
• 685 – Loss to Picts at Battle of Dun Nechtain (Nechtansmere) limits northern expansion.
• 687 – Cuthbert, patron saint of Northumbria, dies at his Inner Farne Island hermitage.

700

• 709 – Acca is appointed as Bishop of Hexham.
• 715 – Eadfrith creates the Lindisfarne Gospels.
• 731 – Bede writes the Ecclesiastical History of the English People at Jarrow.^[1]
• 735 – Alcuin of York is born, later a major figure in the Carolingian Renaissance under Charlemagne.
• 793 – Vikings raid Lindisfarne.
• 794 – Vikings raid Jarrow.

800

• 827 – Northumbria accepts Egbert of Wessex as overlord.^[1]
• 865 – Northumbrians led by Aelle II defeat Ragnar Lodbrok's raiding Vikings.
• 866 – York and southern Northumbria are conquered and settled by the "Great Heathen Army."
• 867 – Aelle II and Osberht join forces only to be defeated at the Battle of York.

900

• 915 – Ealdred I of Bernicia and Constantine II of Scotland are defeated by Vikings in the first Battle of Corbridge.
• 927 – Earldom of Northumbria is created by Athelstan.
• 937 – Athelstan defeats Norse-Celtic force in the battle of Brunanburh.
• 947/48 – Eric Bloodaxe King of Northumbria.^[1]
• 952/54 – Eric Bloodaxe King of Northumbria again.^[1]
• 954
  • Edinburgh is lost to Scottish king Indulf.
  • Eadred of Wessex permanently "absorbed Northumbria into the English Kingdom."
• 993 – Bamburgh Castle destroyed by the Vikings.
• 995 – Monks from Lindisfarne establish Durham

1000

• 1013 – Uhtred the Bold, ealdorman of all Northumbria submitted to Sweyn Forkbeard as did all of the Danes in the north.
• 1018 – Lothian is lost to the King of Scots Malcolm II.^[1]
• 1041 – Eadwulf, earl of Bamburgh was "betrayed" by king Harthacnut and killed by Siward.
• 1065 – The term Northumberland is first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
• 1069 – William I ruthlessly suppresses Northumbrian opposition in the Harrying of the North.
• 1072 – William I crosses Northumbria into Scotland, supported by a large fleet, to challenge Malcolm III.
• 1080 – Normans fortify a town on the Tyne, thereafter known as Newcastle.
• 1089 – Northumberland county is created.
• 1091 – Cathedral Church of St Nicholas founded.^[2]
• 1095 – Prudhoe Castle built (approx date).^[2]
• 1096 – Alnwick Castle construction begins.^[2]

1100

• 1121 – Norham Castle construction begins.^[2]
• 1135 – Brinkburn Priory founded (approx date).^[2]
• 1137 – Newminster Abbey is founded near Morpeth.
• 1139 – Matilda grants Northumberland north of the Tees to David I of Scotland.
• 1143 – Castle is built at Northallerton.
• 1150 – Warkworth Castle built (approx date).^[2]
• 1157 – Henry II reclaims Northumberland from Scotland.
• 1160 – Castle is built at Norham.
• 1174 – While besieging Alnwick, William I of Scotland is captured and imprisoned in Newcastle.
• 1177 – The Castle, Newcastle built.^[2]

1200

• 1216 – King John orders destruction of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
• 1237 – The Treaty of York defines the northern border of England and Northumberland county.
• 1240 – Hulne Priory founded.^[2]
• 1250 – Haughton Castle built. (approx date).^[2]
• 1296 – English force sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed prior to defeating Scots in the Battle of Dunbar
• 1297 – Scots led by William Wallace burn Hexham, Corbridge and Ryton.

1300

• 1314 – The county was ravaged by Robert the Bruce. ^[2]
• 1322 – Dunstanburgh Castle built.^[2]
• 1330 – Peel tower added to Featherstone Castle.^[2]
• 1333 – Edward III, besieging Berwick-upon-Tweed, defeats Scots in the Battle of Halidon Hill.
• 1346 – Scottish force sacks Hexham prior to defeat at the Battle of Neville's Cross.
• 1349 – Black Plague
• 1370 – Belsay Castle built. (approx date).^[2]
• 1377 – Henry Percy becomes first Earl of Northumberland.
• 1388 – Battle of Otterburn.^[2]

1400

• 1402 – Battle of Humbleton Hill
• 1403 – Henry "Hotspur" Percy is killed at Shrewsbury in battle against Henry IV.
• 1450 – Dilston Castle built. (approx date)^[2]
• 1464 – Battle of Hedgeley Moor
• 1482 – Berwick-upon-Tweed last re-captured by England.

1500

• 1500 – Birth of Bishop Ridley who was martyred in 1555.^[2]
• 1513 – English defeat invading Scots at Battle of Flodden Field.
• 1549 – John Knox appointed parish minister in Berwick-upon-Tweed.
• 1551 – John Dudley becomes first Duke of Northumberland.
• 1569 – Earl of Northumberland rebels against Elizabeth I in the Rising of the North.
• 1572 – The liberty of Hexham was annexed to Northumberland.^[2]
• 1597 – Plague kills 340 in Newcastle.

1600

• 1603 – Union of crowns under James I
• 1606 – James I transports Border Reivers to Ireland in the Plantation of Ulster.
• 1640 – Scottish Covenanters defeat English force in the Battle of Newburn
• 1649 – 14 women are convicted and executed in Newcastle witch trials.

1700

• 1707 – Act of Union joins the Scottish government with that of England and Wales.
• 1715 – Birth of Capability Brown in Kirkharle.
• 1745 – Scant Northumberland support for Bonnie Prince Charlie in the second Jacobite rising.
• 1761 – Troops in Hexham shoot 40 miners protesting against conscription.
• 1781 – Birth of George Stephenson in Wylam
• 1782 – 5th Regiment of Foot named the 5th (The Northumberland) Regiment of Foot.

1800

• 1800 – Bewick publishes British Birds.
• 1819 – Newcastle Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry raised.
• 1829
  • Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials.
  • Natural History Society of Northumbria founded.
• 1838 – Grace Darling rescues survivors from a shipwreck off the Farne Islands.
• 1844 – North British Railway operated from 1844 to 1922.^[2]
• 1853 – Cholera epidemic kills 1,500 in Newcastle.
• 1854 – North Eastern Railway incorporated.^[2]
• 1877 – Rutherford College of Technology founded.
• 1891 – Population: 506,442.^[2]

1900

• 1901 – Population: 603,498.^[2]
• 1903 – Smallpox epidemic hits Newcastle.
• 1936 – Two hundred men march from Jarrow to London to protest about unemployment in the region.
• 1940 – Spitfires from RAF Acklington intercept Luftwaffe bombers off the Farne Islands.
• 1963 – University of Newcastle upon Tyne is established as separate institution.
• 1966 – Epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease strikes Northumberland farms.
• 1974 – The county of Tyne and Wear is created.

See also

• History of Northumberland