Oslac EALDORMAN [8118] ¹⁹⁴⁵

   Another name for Oslac was Oslac OSWULFSSON.¹⁹⁴⁶

   FamilySearch ID: G1NF-2HG.

  General Notes:

LifeSketch
Oslac, Ealdorman of York (fl. 966\endash 975) is regarded as the first ealdorman (or earl) of York and its dependent territories. These included but may not have been limited to the southern half of Northumbria. His background is obscure because of poor source documentation. The latter has facilitated disagreement amongst historians regarding his family and ethnicity.

It is believed that he took over the position of ealdorman of York in 966, holding the position until his downfall in 975. He may have been the first ealdorman of southern\emdash as opposed to a united\emdash Northumbria, though an alternative tradition puts the division of Northumbria into two ealdormanries after his death. Little is known of his career as ealdorman, except for a legend that he escorted the Scottish king Kenneth II to the English royal court, and that he was expelled from England in 975. His life is unattested after this. He had one known son, but it is not clear if that son ever succeeded him.

Although his parentage is not certain, Oslac is believed to be one of the sons of Oswulf (Osulf) High-Reeve of Bamburgh who died about 963. After Oswulf's death King Edgar the Peaceable divided Northumbria into two parts: Eadulf Evil-child receiving the lands between the Firth of Forth and the River Tees and Oslac receiving the lands between the Humber Estuary and the Tees. This division was made in order to prevent the whole area becoming the inheritance of one man. This would seem to indicate that both Oslac and Eadulf were sons of Oswulf, for both stood to inherit Northumbria. Oswulf has also been identified as the father of Ealdred of Bamburgh and Waltheof of Bamburgh, therefore these would have been additional siblings of Oslac, probably 1/2 brothers.

Oslac frequently attested charters of King Edgar the Peaceable, indicating that Oslac enjoyed a position of trust at court.

De primo Saxonum adventu claims that Oslac, along with (his brother) Eadulf (Evil-Child) of Bamburgh and Ælfsige Bishop of Chester-le-Street, escorted King Kenneth II of Scotland to meet with King Edgar in Wessex:

"The two earls [Oslac and Eadwulf] along with Ælfsige, who was bishop of St Cuthbert, conducted Cinaed to king Edgar. And when he had done homage to him, king Edgar gave him Lothian; and with great honour sent him back to his own."

This would have occurred sometime between Ælfsige becoming bishop in 968 and the death of King Edgar in 975.

By 975 Oslac was described as "a grey-haired man, wise and skilled in speech" and was an effective ruler of much of northern England. Shortly after King Edgar's death Oslac was exiled from England. No reason is given for his banishment by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's, however, historians have speculated that Oslac may have been in the minority group that supported Queen Dowager Ælfthryth in her attempt to place her son Æthelred on the throne, opposing the succession of Edward the Martyr. And that upon King Edward's ascension, his powerful supporters expelled those that opposed them.

Oslac married.