Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/24

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Ughtred
16
Uhtred

secured Baliol's retreat (Chron. de Melsa, ii. 366; Chron. Edw. I and Edw. II, ii. 109, 120). In the same year he was made a knight-banneret. In 1338 Edward III, having no confidence in Baliol's military talents, required him to entrust the command of Perth, then threatened with a siege by Robert the Steward, to Ughtred. He took over the command on 4 Aug., on condition that he was given a garrison of 220 men in time of peace and eight hundred in time of war (Cal. Doc. rel. to Scotland, 1307–57, No. 1283). These conditions were not kept, and early in 1339 Ughtred petitioned the English government to be relieved of his charge. He was urged to remain until the arrival of reinforcements, but these were not despatched in time, and on 16 Aug. 1339 Ughtred was compelled to surrender. This led to aspersions on his courage, and he complained to parliament at Westminster. His explanations were held sufficient, and in April 1340 the grant of Bonkill was confirmed to him (Rot. Parl. ii. 449 a; Rymer, Fœdera, Record ed. ii. ii. 1094, 1119; Cal. Doc. rel. to Scotland, 1307–57, Nos. 1299, 1307, 1316, 1318, 1327).

In the following year Ughtred was attached to Robert of Artois's expedition against France. Siege was laid to St. Omer, and on 26 July 1340 the French attacked the Flemings and would have raised the siege had not Ughtred with his archers restored the fortunes of the day (Chron. de Melsa, iii. 46; Robert of Avesbury, p. 108). He was again summoned to serve against the French on 13 May 1347; on 14 June 1352 he was appointed warden of the sea coast of Yorkshire, and on 16 April 1360 he again received protection on crossing the seas on the king's service. He is said to have received summonses to parliament from 30 April 1343 to 4 Dec. 1364, and is accordingly generally reckoned a peer (Burke; Courthope). But in 1360 he was styled simply ‘chivaler;’ none of his descendants were summoned to parliament, and it was probably he who represented Yorkshire in the House of Commons in 1344 and 1352 (Official Return, i. 140, 152). He died in 1365, being succeeded by his son Thomas, who was constable of Lochmaben Castle in 1376–7, served against the French in 1377 and 1379, and died in 1401; his will is printed in ‘Testamenta Eboracensia’ (Surtees Soc.), i. 241 sqq.

Anthony Ughtred (d. 1534), a later member of the family, took a prominent part in the French and Scots wars of Henry VIII. During 1513–14 he was marshal of Tournay after its capture from the French, and from 1523 to 1528 he was captain of Berwick. He was subsequently appointed governor of Jersey, and held that office till his death in 1534. His widow, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Seymour and sister of Protector Somerset, married Gregory, lord Cromwell, eldest son of Thomas Cromwell (Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, vols. i–x. passim).

[Rot. Parl. ii. 110, 449; Rymer's Fœdera, Record edit. vol. ii.; Cal. Patent Rolls, Edward II and Edward III; Cal. Documents relating to Scotland; Parl. Writs, 1316–25 passim; Chron. of Edward I and Edward II, ed. Stubbs; Chron. de Melsa and Robert of Avesbury (Rolls Ser.); Froissart's Chron. ed. Luce, vol. ii.; Cal. Inq. post mortem; Ridpath's Border History; Burke's Extinct Peerage.]

A. F. P.

UHTRED or UCHTRED (d. 1016), Earl of Northumbria, was son of Waltheof the elder, earl of Northumbria, who had been deprived of the government of Deira (Yorkshire), the southern part of the earldom. Uhtred helped Ealdhun or Aldhun, bishop of Durham, when in 995 he moved his see from Chester-le-Street, to prepare the site for his new church. He married the bishop's daughter Ecgfrida, and received with her six estates belonging to the bishopric, on condition that as long as he lived he should keep her in honourable wedlock. When in 1006 the Scots invaded Northumbria under their king, Malcolm II (d. 1034) [q. v.], and besieged Durham, Waltheof, who was old and unfit for war, shut himself up in Bamborough; but Uhtred, who was a valiant warrior, went to the relief of his father-in-law the bishop, defeated the Scots, and slew a great number of them. Ethelred II (968?–1016) [q. v.], on hearing of Uhtred's success, gave him his father's earldom, adding to it the government of Deira. Uhtred then sent back the bishop's daughter, restoring the estates of the church that he had received with her, and married Sigen, the daughter of a rich citizen, probably of York or Durham, named Styr Ulfson, receiving her on condition that he would slay her father's deadly enemy, Thurbrand. He did not fulfil this condition and seems to have parted with Sigen also; for as he was of great service to the king in war, Ethelred gave him his daughter Elgiva or Ælfgifu to wife. When Sweyn [q. v.], king of Denmark, sailed into the Humber in 1013, Uhtred promptly submitted to him; but when Canute [q. v.] asked his aid in 1015 he returned, it is said, a lofty refusal, declaring that so long as he lived he would keep faithful to Ethelred, his lord and father-in-law. He joined forces with the