The Battle of Hereford: Alfgar of Mercia

The Battle of Hereford: Alfgar of Mercia

Treasonable Earl, unruly son and vengeful protagonist? Or a wronged man fighting for his rights?

Earl Alfgar was the son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. Leofric was the Earl who is mentioned in the mythical tale of Lady Godiva, the woman who rode naked on a horse to force her husband to lower taxes. As mythical as that tale may have been, there was nothing mythical about the couple and their son. In the past, Leofric has been thought to have been the father of Hereward the Wake, but research from Peter Rex has proved substantially in my view, to be wrong. http://paulalofting-sonsofthewolf.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/investigation-into-true-lineage-of.html
Hereward as documents show, had very similar characteristics to Alfgar and had also suffered exile for misconduct, so one can see where the confusion may have arisen. However, I am pleased to say quite clearly that there is no connection between Alfgar and Hereward.

We first see Alfgar in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle in the year 1051when he was invested with the earldom of East Anglia when its previous earl, Harold Godwinson, had fled into exile with his brother Leofwine after the Dover incident. Alfgar had been sidelined for sometime whilst the two eldest Godwinson brothers and their Danish cousin Beorn had been given earldoms in Hereford and East Anglia and other areas in England. If as his later actions imply, he was  hot-headed, easily roused man, this must have irritated him immensley and perhaps the other Northern earls who were somewhat concerned about the Godwins' 'take-over' from the South.
When the Godwinsons were reconciled with  King Edward, they were restored to their former wealth and positions, therefore Alfgar was compelled to relinquish his earldom and Harold Godwinson was returned to his earldom. One can imagine that Alfgar did not feel gracious about having his office taken away after waiting for so long to recieve an earldom. The chronicles of the time do not bestow upon us great insight into the minds and emotions of the people they report on, however it should not be hard to conjure up images of the crest-fallen Alfgar, informed of his demotion, forming bitter and resentful thoughts within his mind.
But it was not to be too long before Alfgar was handed the Earldom of East Anglia back to him. Harold's father, the mighty Earl Godwin of Wessex, who had seen service with 6 kings throughout his life, finally met his demise after suffering a seizure, possibly a stroke at Easter time in 1053. This meant that Harold was able to step into his shoes thus creating a vacancy for Alfgar to be back in the seat of East Anglia.This meant that with Swegn and his father Godwin dead, the balance was tipping back against the Godwinsons, with Siward still in charge in Northumbria, Leofric in Mercia, the king's nephew, Ralph de Mantes was Earl of Hereford and now Alfgar of Mercia was to become earl again in East Anglia, leaving Harold the only Godwinson with an Earldom, albeit a large one. But the scales were soon to change when when during the Easter Witanemegot in 1055, Alfgar managed to get himself outlawed. According to the Abingdon (C) version of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, he was said to have been innocent of the crime and  the northern (D) chronicle states that he'd hardly committed any crime. The (E) version states that Alfgar was a traitor to his king and his people. Whatever his innocence or guilt, we cannot be sure of the real reasons, he fled to Ireland, gathered up an army of Irish and probably Norse mercenaries, brought them in ships to Gruffydd in Wales, knowing that Gruffydd would have his own beef with the English along the Welsh borders, and together they formed an alliance. Alfgar most likely assisted Gruffydd in killing the King of the Deheubarth, another Gruffydd, and subjugated the people under his own yoke. Then in late Autumn 1055, the alliance invaded the English lands around Hereford, slaughtering Earl Ralph's mounted cavalry and burned and ravaged the burgh of Hereford. He was eventually restored to his Earldom after coming to terms with the King. Gruffydd too escaped punishment for the time being and it is thought that he was given lands around Archenfield.


Alfgar's career after that was very turbulent. He married his daughter to Gruffydd which could not have pleased his father. Gruffydd had been the cause of Leofric's brother some years earlier. This alliance would not have pleased the Godwinsons or the people of Hereford who ahd suffered greatly in the last raid on their burgh. He was in trouble again around 1058 when he and Gruffydd, along with a force of Norsemen, threatened another invasion.

Eventually, Alfgar seems to have disappeared from the chronicles after 1062 and it could be assumed that he died around this time. Without him, Gruffydd's power seems to have weakened as we shall see in the next part where we discuss the life and achievement of Gruffydd ap Llewellyn, Alfgar's partner in crime.

An investigation into the true Lineage of Hereward "the Wake"

There has long been a tradition that Hereward, the English rebel who lead a stance against the Normans in the Fens around Ely in 1070, was the wayward son of Leofric of Mercia and Lady Godiva of the naked horse ride fame. But Peter Rex has done extensive research in his book Hereward, the Last Englishman, which disproves this theory and sends old ideas of his parentage into the archives of myth and legend.... Well it should do at any rate if Rex’s delving is anything to go by.  For me at least, his thoroughly analysed and researched thesis on Hereward’s true lineage produces a plausible and well argued conclusion  that Hereward was really the grandson of a wealthy Anglo-Danish magnate and dispels the other two main theories that had been followed for several centuries. 

That the idea that Leofric of Mercia had fathered this much loved outlaw of legendary fame had been preceded by another Leofric, is nothing new.  Domesday  had shown that this other Leofric, Lord of Bourne did not exist and so it would be quite reasonable to assume that writers of chronicles in seeking an easier explanation, deemed that Leofric of Mercia could possibly have been the one they were looking for.  If we look at the major source for his roots, the Gesta Herewardi is one of the first mentions of his parents being Edith of York and Leofric of Bourne, a supposed nephew of Ralph the Staller. This does not tie in with an account by Abbott John of Peterborough that states that Brand, Abbott of Peterborough was his uncle on his father’s side:

‘There died paternal uncle  of the said Hereward the Wake, to whom by the king’s choice there succeeded Turold’ –Rex (2005)

  Later writers later believed Herward to be the son of Earl Leofric of Mercia, whose son Alfgar was exiled more than once and by all accounts a difficult son who brought shame and embarrassment on his father. Contemporary records seem to omit Earl Leofric as having another rebellious son called Hereward and surely if Hereward had been born into such a notable family, there would have been some mention of it around the time of his existence, especially given the heroic activities he was later to have been purported to have been involved in.

Hereward was said to have been exiled to Flanders after his unruly behaviour and  the suggestion that he was a ringleader who encouraged the bad behaviour of others, had caused his father to request that he be exiled.   He was also said to have participated in military activity on the continent as a mercenary during this enforced exile. There is plenty of evidence to show that there was such kind of activity the like of which would have attracted mercenaries like Hereward between the years of 1060-70.  As the Gesta informs us that Hereward was exiled in 1054 at the age of 18, it would seem that the dates are out of sync with the military activity he is believed to have participated in. If the Gesta is to be believed and he was 18 at the time of his exile, he might well have been on the continent around the early 1060’s and returning home to England  some time after the conquest making him available to take part as a leader in the rebellion and siege of Ely 1069-70.

So why does this not make him son of Leofric of Bourne or Leofric of Mercia? Firstly, the Gesta  and  The History of Crowland Abbey both contain discountable errors. In Gesta Herward is described as being son of Leofric of Bourne, son of Earl Ralph, the Crowland version has him written down as  son  of Leofric, Lord of Bourne, nepos of Radin Earl of Hertford whose wife is Goda, sister of King Edward. I shall discount the mother as it is of no consequence here. In the first case of the Gesta account, Ralph is meant to be Ralph the Staller and there is not a shred of evidence to say he had a son called Leofric who was Lord of Bourne. In the latter account, Radin is a mistake for Ralph and Earl of Hertford is an error and is meant to be referring to Earl Ralph of Hereford, King Edward’s nephew who was son of Goda not her husband; she was King Edward’s sister. He certainly did not have a son called Ralph. He did have a son called Harold who would not have been old enough at the time to have fathered a man called Leofric, let alone be grandfather to Hereward.  Furthermore, there is no record of a Leofric of Bourne.  So where did the Bourne element come from? What is the source of this confusion? Well, perhaps that would be for another post at another time.

 As for Leofric of Mercia, we can also discount him, as we know his son was called Alfgar and Alfgar’s sons were Burghred, Edwin and Morcar. There was never a contemporary record of a Hereward there and Leofric did not hold any land that was called Bourne.

So who was his father then?

It seems that the answer may lay with Brand the abbot of Peterborough, who, as stated earlier, was said to have been Hereward’s uncle.  Peter Rex, in his research has uncovered the truth about Hereward’s lineage and it would appear that if the abbot was indeed his uncle then Hereward’s father must be one of Brand’s brothers, Asketil, Siward, Siric or Godric. Their father was a man called Toki of Lincoln whose own father was Auti the Moneyer of Lincoln. They were an established wealthy family of Danish descent which would make  Hereward an Anglo-Danish hero like Harold Godwinson, but nonetheless and Englishman all the same. Rex, by careful elimination has pinpointed the brother that would have been his father: Asketil Tokison.

I have tried to be brief but concise in my explanation of why I believe Peter Rex’s theory. I have not covered every aspect of research that needed to be done to arrive at this conclusion. If you would like to learn more Rex’s book will give a more in-depth insight into the story.

What do you think? Do you think that the Leofric of Mercia myth has been dispelled?