Waltheof Dunbar
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Waltheof Dunbar (abt. 1062 - 1138)

Waltheof "Waldeve, of Allerdale, 1st Baron of Allerdale" Dunbar
Born about in Allerdale below Derwent, Scotlandmap [uncertain]
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 76 in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotlandmap [uncertain]
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Profile last modified | Created 18 Mar 2011
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Scottish Clans
Waltheof Dunbar was a prominent member of a Scottish Clan.
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Contents

Biography

Waltheof Dunbar is a member of Clan Dunbar.

Legitimate son of Gospatric Dunbar. Abbot 1125-1138 at Crowland. Waltheof (Waldeve) of Dunbar was the first Lord of Allerdale.[1]

the birth and death dates are not a pure guess, they are imprecise over a couple years, just as they are for the parents and most of the 11th century aristocracy. However the generation and place in timeline has considerable citation support. Death location of Dunbar, East Lothian, (as of Mar 2017) doesn't seem the most probable, considering his position in Allerdale (Cockermouth). I judge East Lothian to be uncertain.

He was very generous in donating significant holdings to his sisters, Gunnilda. Ethelreda, and Matilda/Maud of Northumbria. His son Alan was also noted for generous gifts. Waltheof son of Gospatric, positioned the Dunbar Clan for stability and power in their region with the marriage of his daughter Gunnilda Dunbar to Uchtred of Galloway, who not only had his father's titled lands, but also was a grandson of King Henry (proposed but definitely not proven, because of illegitimacy).

Gunnilda's descendants were Roland; then Allan FitzRoland of Galloway who was a MC Advisor, married to niece of King William; earliest generations of the emerging nobility in northern families. See descendant notes below.

Conclusions about sons of Gospatrick

This is a case where Cawley Medlands source isn't acceptably developed. McGuigan is clear on the conclusions, and is intently focused on historic sources, for this region in this era'.

McGuigan, provides a clear interpretation of the political events and the significant stature of Gospatric's family, particularly in Allerdale. [2]

"The identity of Gospatric in the writ may be open to debate because no patronymic is given, but geography and chronology point overwhelmingly to Gospatric son of Maldred, who fathered Dolfin, Waltheof, and a younger Gospatric. The first, his eldest son, appears to have ruled in Carlisle when he was expelled by William Rufus in 1092. We also know that Allerdale, the territory specific to Gospatric’s Writ, was controlled by Gospatric's second son Waltheof in the early twelfth century."
Allerdale was a vast property, that took its name from the valley of the River Ellen. Because Waltheof would have been legitimate and the eldest, this is very persuasive that Gospatric would have been former holder of Allerdale, in addition to his other wider holdings and responsibilities.
"Gospatric’s Writ demonstrates that it was under Northumbrian dominion (Britons) in the mid eleventh century. That the region ‘was formerly Cumbrian’, is explained easily by the dominant ethnicity of the region’s population, or by a collective identity among Northumbrian Britons.....British simply survived in western Northumbria."

Cawley version is jumbled, and defaults to a 1275 memo that other historians see as less compelling. Medlands judgement concludes

"It seems more likely that Gospatrick was his father’s oldest legitimate son as his father’s title was transmitted to his descendants.”

But this comes after reciting several other findings “Simeon of Durham names "Dolfin, Walther and Cospatric" as the sons of Gospatrick[1407]. A memorandum dated to [1275] records that "Earl Cospatryk formerly earl of Dunbar in Scotland had a brother Dolfin earl of Northumbarland…both…bastards", that they had "a legitimate brother Waldeve and a legitimate sister Etheldreda…of one father and one mother"”Contradictory-Not persuasive that Gospatric was the older, nor that Waltheof was illegitimate.

multiple other sources indicate that Gospatric's son Waltheof [3]was legitimate and older than Gospatric II.

Family

Waltheof or Waldeve had a wife Sigrid[4] who out-lived him. She remarried Roger fitz Gilbert, brother of William de Lancaster I.[5]

Their children were:

son: Alan
daughter: Athelreda/Ethelreda m RANULF de Lindsay, m 2nd WILLIAM de Eseby
daughter: Gunnilda of Allerdale, m Uchtred of Galloway
illegitimate son: Gospatric

Dunbar Descendants

House of Dunbar descendants from Waltheof's daughter Gunnilda appear as possibly the most influential Dunbar contributions. Over the next 2 centuries they were antecedents of leaders, nobility and knights of Galloway, Balliol, Comyn, MacDougal, Neville. Percy. Zouche. Ferrers. Berkeley, Clavering; married into the families of MC Barons Lacy, Quincy and Bigod; and the family of the Kings of Scotland.

Waltheof's sister Ethelreda Dunbar was married to [[Dunkeld-Bold text47|King Duncan II]], and was the ancestor of Ranulf Moray, the Lords of the Isles, and the Clans which grew out of the Isles. Ethelreda's great great grandson William Forz, through her son William Earl of Moray, was a Magna Carta Surety. and his daughter, Aveline married the 2nd son of Henry III 'Plantagenet' King of England. In addition to Plantagenet the Scottish ancestry of Ethelreda and Duncan II, through marriages was combined with other Norman aristocratic families such as Moreville, Stuteville, Lucy, Fleming, and Multon.

House of Dunbar descendants were also quite prominent from Waltheof's sister Gunnilda either as ancestors of the successful ancient families of Curwen, Radcliffe, Fleming, Boteler, Harrington, or descendants of ancient Norman influenced, Lancaster of Kendal, Engaine, Normandie, Stuteville, and , all of which rose out of the same Allerdale, Kendal, Cumberland region. They were respected as regional aristocracy, MPs, knights, regional officials such as Sheriffs of Cumberland, and provided significant stability on the Western Marches.

Finally from descendants of Waltheof's bother Gospatric II, and the nephew, Gospatrick III, arose the Dunbar name through Earls of Dunbar, and prominent families of Stewart, Carrick, Bruce, Neville, and Earls of Angus.

Research Note

Allerdale, where he sent much of his life was probably in Scotland until 1092.

Sources

  1. John Burke, A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Henry Colburn, 1833), p. 577-580, digital images, https://books.google.com/books?id=-P4UAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA577. Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 4 September 2015).
  2. McGuigan, N. (2015). Neither Scotland nor England: Middle Britain, c.850-1150; 377p, University of St Andrews, McGuigan Thesis 2015
  3. Cokayne, G.E. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant, Vol.4. p503-506,(London, 1910). Cokayne Completer Peerage of England
  4. http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SCOTTISH%20NOBILITY.htm#PatrickDunbardied1232B
  5. Register of St Bees

See also:

  • Page 171: "Waldeof, first Lord of Allerdale, at the same time removed his abode of Pepards Castle or Papcastle, east from Derventio, of the bank of one river, to what became Cockermouth on the banks of two." (River Derwent was joined by Cocker River; this is a small distance east from Workington and Maryport on the coast.) See the N. McGuigan source comments indented above.




Comments: 6

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Father confirmed by ODNB. Mother UNKNOWN. William M. Aird, ‘Gospatric, earl of Northumbria (d. 1073x5)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 27 Sept 2017
posted by C. Mackinnon
I'm confident we have the right Waltheof linked up with father Dunbar-27, and Wessex-311. Yes there are a handful of cousins, nephews, Uncles with the same names in the period of 3-4 generations.

I now have located a significant number of sources that lead me to conclude that Waltheof Dunbar-113. Should be listed with parents of Gospatric Dunbar-27 and Wessex-311. He was 2nd son and older than Gospatric II.

McGuigan source from 2015 has an in depth focus on the exact region of Allerdale, that was to become the major holding of Waltheof. It was also clear that this region was the same region where his father Gospatric and Grandfather Maldred had held title and influence.

Note the section on descendants, with line of Waltheof's daughter, being perhaps the most prominent.

posted by Marty Ormond
I cleaned up the profile after the merge, the children still seem to be off. Need more research on the multiple Gospatrick. Is father correct here?
posted by Marty (Lenover) Acks
I am in agreement about merging into Dunbar-113. the Dunbar-113 profile has more reasonable firtha and death dates. marriage was to Sigrid (no parents yet)

Children Alan, Ethelreda, and Gunhild, are described as legitimate. Son Gospatric is listed as illegitimate in fmg.ac merged profile should pick up those 4. Waltheof the son of Gospatric Dunbar-27 is different from a waltheof in line of earl Uctred-gospatric, and different from the waltheof associated with Eadwulf

posted by Marty Ormond
Allerdale-8 and Dunbar-113 appear to represent the same person because: Same parents and siblings. Not everything matches well but clearly same person. Note discrepancies (or discard from information) Part of a set of 9 duplicate profiles over 3 generations that need to be be merged into mainline of WikiTree.
posted by Marty (Lenover) Acks
As I stated in my earlier public comments on parents, Athelreda Wessex-311 has been restored on her profile and Dunbar-27 as spouses.

Children including this profile for 2nd son Waltheof of Allerdale Dunbar-113, were impacted by August moves and I reversed some of the changes but Waltheof does not have a mother over the past month. We have a lot to learn, and it is essential for input and discussion before significant changes made in this family.

posted by Marty Ormond