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)
Original text from http://1911encyclopedia.org