Maldred of Winlaton

was the father of UCTRED fitzMALDRED and grandfather of DOLFIN OF STAINDROP, who was hisself the great-grandfather of WILLIAM MEDECALFE DE DENT. Therefore he was one of the forefathers of Jane Metcalfe, grandmother of DAVID WALKER.

According to the Scots Peerage, majority of historians and other genealogists MALDRED OF WINLATON was a son of MALDRED OF ALLERDALE, regent of Strathclyde and ÆTHELREDA OF BAMBURGH, who were both of noble descent.
NOTE: See also 'The New England Historical & Genealogical Register', Vol. 106, p. 187; pedigree given on p.190.

He had at least one brother, GOSPATRIC OF ALLERDALE, EARL OF NORTHUMBRIA.

It is not known when Maldred was born exactly, but it is assumed that his grandfather, shortly before his death, arranged the marriage of Maldred's mother, still an infant.

Girls were married in the Middle Ages, mostly at the age of twelve to sixteen, but younger girls were also promised. This was not unusual, because marriages were made on a contractual basis at that time. In the process, the parents of the future partners dealt with the connections of their children when they were still in the childhood. For here well-calculated power-political interests and the gain in material possessions came to bear. Married was in the same social milieu. The equality principle excluded marriages between members of different classes and a non-standard marriage must be classified as extremely rare exceptions. If there was such a marriage between members of different classes, the principle applies that the partner from the higher from the time of the marriage also belonged to the lower class and thereby lost all privileges. The purpose of the marriage was in the generation of legitimate offspring. Family, social, economic and political interests were decisive for a marriage, affection and love played only a marginal role, if at all.

Maldred's maternal grandfather, UCTRED OF BAMBURGH, EARL OF NORTHUMBRIA, died 1016. For this reason it can be assumed that Maldred's mother was born around 1015 and should have come into puberty and thus into the childbearing age at around 1030. Provided that Maldred's father died in 1045, Maldred and his siblings must have been born within these fifteen years; when exactly, however, can not be determined.

Only very little is known about Maldred's life as such. He lived in a time of radical changes, which occurred in England and Scotland as a result of the Norman Invasion. The people of the North did not accept William the Conqueror as their new King and the opposing forces clashed at the Battle of Shaden's Hill in 1068, on the northern boundary of Washington, Tyne and Wear. William the Conqueror won. Those survivors, who were not able to flee were slaughtered, whole families of them. Widespread famine followed and corpses rotted where they fell, there was no-one left to bury them. The North of England became virtually uninhabited as people were either slaughtered, fled or died of famine. This state of affairs lasted for nine years.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    (Ruins of Hollenside Manor at Winlaton)

MALDRED did not seem to appear in any relevant historical documents of that time. For that reason it can be assumed that he was basically one of the companions of his brother, EARL GOSPATRIC OF NORTHUMBRIA fighting alongside with him and perhaps fled as Gospatric's kin into exile to Scotland 1072.

Because lands in the north, which later became Westmorland, Cumberland, Northumberland, and the County Palatine of Durham were not part of the Domesday survey made 1086, it cannot be said, which lands Maldred held exactly in these parts of the country, then. However he still appeared in the Domesday book as he seemed to have acquired Altor's manor at Wilton, worth 20 shillings, and was besides one of the Lords of Lazenby near Wilton in 1086. Both places were situated next to each other in Langbaurgh, Cleveland. Interesting is that Maldred's great-grandson, MALDRED DE MIDDLETON, Lord of Raby was married to a cousin of Robert IV de STUTEVILLE of Lazenby, which perhaps suggests that Maldred of Winlaton's offspring had still close ties to that area within the next century.

But according to forged charters attributed to Bishop William of St Calais, the Bishop of Durham gave 1086 the monks of Durham a portion of Kelton or New Katton in exchange with Maldred for the village of Winlaton (Wynlaktona)*, once an independant village in county Durham. That is the reason why he was later refered to 'of Winlaton'.
NOTE:  Now this charter is known to have been a forgery, but the information is not thought to have been false. Its point of interest is that this Meldred was an ancestor (through marriage) of the Nevilles, who were to hold the manor for nearly five hundred years as it was added to their estates in 1213.

MALDRED OF WINLATON had at least three known sons:
(1) Ulkil fitzMaldred (Ulfkil); 'Ulkil filius Maldred' was one of the witnesses to the same king's letter respecting the consecration of Robert, bishop of St. Andrews at York in 1128 (Haddon and Stubbs, Councils and ecclesiastical documents, v. 2, part I, p. 215). As 'Ulkil filius Meld' he witnessed Earl Gospatric's grant of Ederham (now Edrom) and Nesbit to the monks of St. Cuthbert, a. 1138 (Nat. MSS., I, 25), and again as 'Ulkillus filius Maldredi' he was a witness to the grant by Earl Cospatric to the Abbey of Kelso, a. 1147 (Kelso, 288).
(2) UCTRED fitzMALDRED
(3) Robert fitzMaldred, prior of Hexham between 1130-1141
NOTE: The History of John and Richard, priors of Hexham records the devastations of "Eadgarus filius nothus Cospatrici comitis et Robertus et Uctred filii Meldred, principales ac duces" in Northumbria, dated to the 1130s from the context.

Some geneologists are suggesting that MALDRED's wife shall had been a sister of MORCAR, but put her into relation with Morcar (died 1015), a thegn (minister) of Maldred's grandfather, King Æthelred the Unready. This relationship seems to be rather unlikely though as she would not have been of the same generation as Maldred, then.

But provided that MALDRED OF WINLATON was indeed married to a sister of MORCAR, then it could have well been to a sister of MORCAR, EARL OF NORTHUMBRIA (fl.1065-1066) as he was among the leaders of the uprising side by side with MALDRED's brother EARL GOSPATRIC OF NORTHUMBRIA facing the foreign invasion by William the Conqueror in 1068. As it can be assumed that MALDRED hisself was one of the companions of his brother fighting alsongside with him and the others there is indeed a possibility that he was married to a sister of MORCAR, then. But it cannot be verified as such though.

Provided that MALDRED OF WINLATON was indeed married to a sister of MORCAR, EARL OF NORTHUMBRIA, then she was a not specifically known daughter of ÆLFGAR, EARL OF MERCIA (died c. 1060), who was hisself a son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, by his well-known mother Godgifu (Lady Godiva).

ÆLFGAR, EARL OF MERCIA gained the additional title of Earl of East Anglia, but also was exiled for a time. Ælfgar is known to have had at least four children. Through the first marriage of his known daughter, Ealdgyth, he would become father-in-law of the Welsh king Gruffydd ap Llywelyn; a few years after his death, his daughter would become a widow and marry the English King Harold Godwinson.

Ælfgar profited from the exile of Earl Godwin of Wessex and his sons in 1051. He was given the Earldom of East Anglia, which had been that of Harold, son of Godwin. Earl Godwin and King Edward were reconciled the following year, so Harold was restored to his earldom—but not for long. At Easter 1053 Godwin died, so Harold became Earl of Wessex, and the earldom of East Anglia returned to Ælfgar.