Wulfsige and Ninth-Century Northumbrian Chronology

Abstract

THE VIKING INVASIONS of the ninth century wrought havoc with, among other things, the record-keeping of the Anglo-Saxon church. In the archbishopric of York, the Northumbrian annals, which had scrupulously recorded the chief events in the lives of the archbishops of York, ceased with the year 802.1 This paper will attempt to reconstruct the chronology of these archbishops, and particularly to argue that the reign of Archbishop Wulfsige was a remarkably short one. The accepted chronology provides a convenient point of departure. 2