Gospatric

Gospatric or Cospatric or Cospatrick (fl. 1067), earl of Northumberland, belonged to a family which had connections with the royal houses of both Wessex and Scotland. Before the Norman Conquest he accompanied Tostig Godwinson on a pilgrimage to Rome (1061); and at that time was a landholder in Cumberland. About 1067 he bought the earldom of Northumberland from William the Conqueror; but, repenting of his submission, fled with other Englishmen to the court of Scotland (1068). He joined the Danish army of invasion in the next year; but was afterwards able, from his possession of Bamburgh castle, to make terms with the conqueror, who left him undisturbed till 1072. The peace concluded in that year with Scotland left him at William’s mercy. He lost his earldom and took refuge in Scotland, where Malcolm Canmore seems to have provided for him.

See E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, vol. i. (Oxford, 1877)

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