# Timeline of Northumbria and Northumberland

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

## 500

* 559 – Ida of Bernicia is the first known King of Bernicia; he reigned from 547 to 559.
* 588 – The first king of Deira was Ælla of Deira who ruled from 560 until his death in 588.

## 600

* 604 – Aethelfrith unites Bernicia and Deira to form Northumbria.
* 613 – Æthelfrith engaged in the Battle of Chester.
* 625 – Paulinus is consecrated as Bishop of York.
* 634 – Lindisfarne Priory founded by Irish monk Saint Aidan.
* 634/642 – Oswald of Northumbria "reunited the whole of Northumbria".
* 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.
* 674 – Hexham Abbey built.
* 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

* 827 – 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.
* 947/48 – Eric Bloodaxe King of Northumbria.
* 952/54 – Eric Bloodaxe King of Northumbria again.
* 954
** Edinburgh is lost to Scottish king Indulf.
** Eadred of Wessex permanently "absorbed Northumbria into the English Kingdom."
* 993 – Bamburgh Castle destroyed by the Vikings.
* 995 – Monks from Lindisfarne establish Durham

## 1000

* 1013 – Uhtred the Bold, ealdorman of all Northumbria submitted to Sweyn Forkbeard as did all of the Danes in the north.
* 1018 – Lothian is lost to the King of Scots Malcolm II.
* 1041 – Eadwulf, earl of Bamburgh was "betrayed" by king Harthacnut and killed by Siward.
* 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.
* 1091 – Cathedral Church of St Nicholas founded.
* 1095 – Prudhoe Castle built (approx date).
* 1096 – Alnwick Castle construction begins.

## 1100

* 1121 – Norham Castle construction begins.
* 1135 – Brinkburn Priory founded (approx date).
* 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.
* 1150 – Warkworth Castle built (approx date).
* 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.
* 1177 – The Castle, Newcastle built.

## 1200

* 1216 – King John orders destruction of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
* 1237 – The Treaty of York defines the northern border of England and Northumberland county.
* 1240 – Hulne Priory founded.
* 1250 – Haughton Castle built. (approx date).
* 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

* 1314 – The county was ravaged by Robert the Bruce.
* 1322 – Dunstanburgh Castle built.
* 1330 – Peel tower added to Featherstone Castle.
* 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
* 1370 – Belsay Castle built. (approx date).
* 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.
* 1450 – Dilston Castle built. (approx date)
* 1464 – Battle of Hedgeley Moor
* 1482 – Berwick-upon-Tweed last re-captured by England.

## 1500

* 1500 – Birth of Bishop Ridley who was martyred in 1555.
* 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.
* 1572 – The liberty of Hexham was annexed to Northumberland.
* 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.
* 1715 – Birth of Capability Brown in Kirkharle.
* 1745 – Scant Northumberland support for Bonnie Prince Charlie in the second Jacobite rising.
* 1761 – Troops in Hexham shoot 40 miners protesting against conscription.
* 1781 – Birth of George Stephenson in Wylam
* 1782 – 5th Regiment of Foot named the 5th (The Northumberland) Regiment of Foot.

## 1800

* 1800 – Bewick publishes British Birds.
* 1819 – Newcastle Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry raised.
* 1829
** Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials.
** Natural History Society of Northumbria founded.
* 1838 – Grace Darling rescues survivors from a shipwreck off the Farne Islands.
* 1844 – North British Railway operated from 1844 to 1922.
* 1853 – Cholera epidemic kills 1,500 in Newcastle.
* 1854 – North Eastern Railway incorporated.
* 1877 – Rutherford College of Technology founded.
* 1891 – Population: 506,442.

## 1900

* 1901 – Population: 603,498.
* 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.