Dolfin of Staindrop

DOLFIN is described in literature as a 'turbulent baron'. He was a considerable landowner in the North holding manors in both, Northumbria and Scotland. He enjoyed the benefits of the renewed prominence of native Englishmen given in the reign of Henry I (fl. 1100-1135), which may ultimately have been due to the close connection between the English king and the Scottish king, David I. (fl. 1124-1153).

But how did this close connection come about?

The formal link between the royal house of Wessex and Scotland, and forays of Malcolm III, king of Scotland (fl. 1058-1093) in northern England were an obvious threat to William the Conquerer who counter-attacked with a full-scale invasion of southern Scotland in 1072. As a result, Malcolm had to pay homage to the English king, and to acknowledge him as his feudal overlord. William I. forced Malcolm to sign the Treaty of Abernethy through which, according to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, Malcolm became "William's man". The full details of the treaty are not known as no documents have survived, but it seems that due to one term of the treaty Malcolm's eldest son Duncan (c. 1060 - 1094) was given into the keeping of William the Conqueror as a hostage, who raised him in the Anglo-Norman court, where he became familiar with the culture, education, and institutions of his hosts, and was trained as a Norman knight.

In 1087, William the Conquerer died, and his eldest surviving son Robert Curthose succeeded him as Duke of Normandy. According to Florence of Worcester, Robert released Duncan from custody and had him officially knighted. But although Duncan was allowed to leave the Duchy of Normandy, he chose to join the court of William II of England, younger brother to Robert. His father, who by then had many sons, appears to have made no effort to obtain Duncan's return. Edward, the eldest paternal half-brother of Duncan, had been designated as heir in his absence. Duncan notably chose to stay with his adoptive culture, partly due to the influence of 15 years of Norman life and partly in pursuit of personal wealth and glory, though he may always have had in mind that one day he would become Scotland's king, like his father and grandfather.

In 1092, hostilities between Malcolm III and William II were ongoing, and William managed to capture Carlisle. Malcolm reacted by leading his last raid into Northumberland, who was finally ambushed by Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria, whose lands he had devastated, near Alnwick on 13 November 1093.

However not Duncan, but his paternal uncle, Donald, succeeded to the Scottish throne, who represented the interests of "a resentful native aristocracy", driving out the Anglo-Saxons and Normans who had come to the court of Malcolm and Margaret. Consequently he forced his minor nephews and nieces into exile. Their maternal uncle again arranged an escort into England, to the court of William Rufus, where already their half-brother, Duncan, lived for a few years, now. The event allowed Duncan to lay claim to the throne, attempting to depose his uncle. He had the support of William II, in exchange for an oath of fealty to his patron. By 1094, Duncan was leading a sizeable army, consisting of mercenary knights, and infantry. Many of these soldiers probably came from Northumbria, reflecting the familiar association of Duncan to his father-in-law, GOSPATRIC OF ALLERDALE, EARL OF NORTHUMBRIA, but in the end he should fail with his attempt.

When William Rufus was killed (1100), his brother Henry Beauclerc seized power (fl. 1100-1136) and married one of the Scottish princesses, Mathilda (d. 1118). The marriage made her brothers brother-in-law of the ruler of England.

Probably from that point onwards, also her brother, David, was therefore an important figure at the English court, who besides had become a full-fledged Normanised prince by the end of his stay in England. His elder brother, King Edgar, had visited William Rufus in May 1099 and bequeathed to David extensive territory to the south of the river Forth. In 1113, perhaps at Henry's instigation and with the support of his Anglo-Norman allies, David demanded and received, additional lands in Lothian along the Upper Tweed and Teviot. David did not receive the title of king, but of "prince of the Cumbrians", and his lands remained under his brother's final authority, king Alexander of Scotland. His earldom probably began also in 1113, when Henry I arranged David's marriage to Maud, 2nd Countess of Huntingdon, who was the heiress to the Huntingdon–Northampton lordship. David's time as Prince of the Cumbrians and Earl marks the beginning of his life as a great territorial lord. But his activities and whereabouts after 1114 are not always easy to trace as he spent much of his time outside his principalities, in England and in Normandy. Despite the death of his sister on 1 May 1118, David still possessed the favour of King Henry when his brother Alexander died in 1124, leaving Scotland without a king. But David exercised only little power in the 1120s, and in the words of Richard Oram, he was "king of Scots in little more than name". Thus he was, for example, at the court of Henry in 1126 and in early 1127, and returned to Henry's court in 1130, serving as a judge at Woodstock for the treason trial of Geoffrey de Clinton. It was also in this year that David's wife, Matilda of Huntingdon, died. Possibly as a result of this, and while David was still in southern England, Scotland proper rose up in arms against him.

It was also at about this time, 20. Mar 1131, when Dolfin fitzUctred received his lands and got granted Staindrop and Staindropshire, and when he was styled 'Lord of Raby' by the prior and convent of Durham. In this regard, he paid homage not only to the Bishop of Durham, but also to the kings of England and Scotland implying that he was no doubt a man of consequence, who also, like king David, perceived hisself and his kin as both, English and Scottish, though due to their family background.

The Manor of Staindrop was being replaced with Raby Castle on a later date.
NOTE: "Staindrop is a place of considerable antiquity being of great importance in the time of King Canute, who in veneration of St Cuthbert, gave his mansion-house in this town, with its appendages as an offering at the holy shrine. Symeon and others, who noticed this transaction, says the appendages consisted of Cnapton, Shotton, Raby, Walkerfield, Evenwood, Aycliff, Luttrington, Eldon, Ingleton, Thickley and Middleton. But as several of this place lie at a considerable distance Bishop Flambard looked upon the extensive territory which the convent of Durham held by the royal gift, with eyes of jealousy, and seized the dominion of Staindropshire, but on the approach of his dissolution, he restored it to the monastery, and it was shortly afterwards, in 1131, granted by the prior to Dolphin, a descendant of Uctred to be holden by him in capite, reserving the yearly rent of £4."

At some time between 1133-1141, Dolfin witnessed a charter of Geoffrey Rufus Bishop of Durham granting land in Wolviston to St. Cuthbert and the monks of Durham.

Besides he also witnessed the grant and confirmation made by the same bishop, 1144-1152 to Thorald of London and his heirs the whole of the land of Follingsby with its specified boundaries.
NOTE: Striking is though that different to the previous charter Dolfin is not called 'Dolfin son of Uhtred' anymore, which might indicate that his father had died in the meantime. Some sources are indeed stating that Uctred fitzMaldred shall have died in the 'Battle of Standard', 1138.

As such temporal