Timeline of Northumbria and Northumberland

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

600[]

• 604 Aethelfrith unites Bernicia and Deira to form Northumbria.
• 625 Paulinus is consecrated as Bishop of York.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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[]

• 829 Northumbria accepts Egbert of Wessex as overlord.
• 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.
• 954 Edinburgh is lost to Scottish king Indulf.
• 995 Monks from Lindisfarne establish Durham

1000[]

• 1018 Lothian is lost to the King of Scots Malcolm II.
• 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.

1100[]

• 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.
• 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.

1200[]

• 1216 King John orders destruction of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
• 1237 The Treaty of York defines the northern border of England and Northumberland county.
• 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[]

• 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
• 1377 Henry Percy becomes first Earl of Northumberland.
• 1388 Battle of Otterburn

1400[]

• 1402 Battle of Humbleton Hill
• 1403 Henry "Hotspur" Percy is killed at Shrewsbury in battle against Henry IV.
• 1464 Battle of Hedgeley Moor
• 1482 Berwick-upon-Tweed last re-captured by England.

1500[]

• 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.
• 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.
• 1745 Scant Northumberland support for Bonnie Prince Charlie in the second Jacobite rising.
• 1761 Troops in Hexham shoot 40 miners protesting against conscription.
• 1782 5th Regiment of Foot named the 5th (The Northumberland) Regiment of Foot.

1800[]

• 1800 Bewick publishes British Birds.
• 1829 Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials.
• 1838 Grace Darling rescues survivors from a shipwreck off the Farne Islands.
• 1853 Cholera epidemic kills 1,500 in Newcastle.

1900[]

• 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

Sources[]

• Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
• Waters, I. (1999). Northumberland: England's Border Country. Contemporary Review, 275(1605), 203–210.

External links[]

• Timeline of Northeast England