The Real Last Kingdom | Bamburgh Castle

foreign if you've ever enjoyed the Netflix series The Last Kingdom you'll know all about utrid of bebenber but did you know that bebember is a real place and it still exists today we just call it bambra bambra Castle and did you know that utrid was real too or at least anutrid was real and his story is every bit as fascinating complex and action-packed as utrid of bebenberg's I'm Matt Lewis a medieval historian and today I'm on the rugged coast of Northumberland to see if I can uncover the real history behind the last Kingdom you can see how such a dramatic location could inspire a fictional series author Bernard Cornwell who wrote the books that the show is based on took inspiration from bambra and a real nobleman who ruled here in the early 11th century as we make our way up towards bambra Castle here through the dunes from the seaside it's not hard to understand why people have selected this spot as a fortification for millennia it's built on a volcanic outcrop of rock which means it's solid you can't undermine bambra Castle but it also has control and command of the sea all around the land to the other side if you hold bambra you hold this region in Anglo-Saxon times what was here was a wooden Burr a burr is a walled fortification a walled Town into which local communities could pour when they needed protection from things like Viking raids but looking at bambra Castle today on this rugged outcrop it's easy to understand why Kings of anglo-saxon northumbria chose it for their capital only a few scenes from the last Kingdom were actually filmed here the set for bevember in the series was built from scratch in Hungary but was very much based on what this place might have looked like in the early Saxon times [Music] foreign the first account of what's called a castle on this spot actually come in the mid 6th century when the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describes King Ida of northumbria who ruled this whole region building what it calls a castle on this spot Ida's grandson King Ethel frith of northumbria would Grant this land to his wife Queen bebber and it became Bieber's Burr which is the root of what we know today bambura foreign nothing remains of the Saxon fortification but we do have fines from the period including the intricate gold bambra beast and a rare pattern welded sword reinforcing the importance of this site for the rulers of northumbria as it is for utrid in the series such swords were a symbol of status for Saxon Warriors past from one generation to the next but in general the lack of material and written evidence from the Anglo-Saxon period makes it a challenge to study and understand Saxon rule in England fell during a time which is still referred to by some as the Dark Ages and it lasted well over half a millennium so let's start by untangling the stories of the real and fictional utrid starting with when they were around the fictional utrid of bebenber exists during the reign of King Alfred the Great and he fights to regain the lordship he believes he's been robbed of here at bambra [Music] this is a replica of the Throne of the ancient Kings of northumbria who were long gone by that point then bambra was within a realm known as the Dane law under Viking control and beyond the reach of the Kings of England the real Lords of northumbria then were the Vikings by the turn of the 11th century England looked very different to The Divided Patchwork of Kingdoms that existed during the reign of Alfred the Great but it was nevertheless a turbulent time and power continued to swing back and forth between Saxons Danes and even the Scots nowhere more so than here in northumbria the records that we have about utrid the Bold tell us that in 995 he was involved in clearing the space that allowed the rebuilding of the vast Durham cathedral in thanks he was allowed to marry the daughter of the bishop of Durham which made him well positioned and wealthy when he came back here to bebenber his father elderman walthyoff was still in control but when in 1006 Malcolm II the king of Scots raided over the border into Northumberland wolfyoff was just too old to react it was left to uttered the bowl to gather an army and fight off the Scots Invaders [Music] when he was successful just like in the series his King was grateful but that King wasn't Alfred the Great instead it was Ethel red the unready in gratitude Ethel red supplanted elderman Wolfie off with his son putrid's loyalties over the years that followed would be tested divided between his Saxon king and the Viking Invaders just as they are in the series but for now butchered the Bold was Lord of bebenber in 1013 Swain forkbeard king of Denmark invaded England in the face of overwhelming odds utrid was amongst those who submitted to the Danish King by Christmas Swain was in London being recognized as king of England as Ethel read the unready was driven into exile on the 2nd of February 1014 though after less than two months as king Swain died and Ethel red returned utrid smoothly transferred his Allegiance back to the old king for a while at least [Music] in 1016 after a decade as a alderman of bebenber utrid was away in Cheshire fighting with Edmund Ironside the famous warrior son of Ethel red the unready in his absence the Danish Canute invaded into Yorkshire utrid unsure what to do thought he couldn't get back here to bebember to bed in and try to defend himself and so he pledged his allegiance to Knute switching sides once again he made his way from Cheshire to Yorkshire to offer his pledge of allegiance to knut as the new king of England but as he came near knut's position he was ambushed and he and 40 of his men were killed by a man named thurbrand the hold this was reportedly done on the instruction of Canute himself perhaps he feared a powerful Saxon nobleman able to get back behind the walls of bebenber and defend it indefinitely someone he would have to root out later Knute would go on to be the Danish King of England utrid would never make it back to his bebember utreads murder gave rise to a blood Feud that lasted for Generations utridge's son eldrid Avenged his father by killing ferbrand the hold red was in turn murdered by thurbrand's son Carl authyoff II Earl of northumbria waited patiently until the 1070s to get revenge for his grandfather eldrid althiov ordered the killings of most of Carl's sons and grandsons uttered the bold's Legacy was long and bloody nothing remains today of the bebenber that uttered the Bold would recognize built-in wood with the Norman Conquest came the arrival of stone and the 11th century keep is the only remaining section of the original Castle over the centuries that followed more medieval walls would be added to bambra's already considerable defenses but the advancements in military technology also threatened bambra this would be the first castle in England to fall to an artillery bombardment it was pounded into the ground during a Siege in 1464 and never really recovered for centuries so although nothing remains today of the bebenber that utrid would have recognized bambra Castle remains one of the most iconic fortresses in Britain but there's still far more to discover about the real Saxon bebenber archaeologists have found an early medieval Cemetery site just 300 meters south of the castle containing over a hundred skeletons excavated between 1998 and 2007 they found many of the men women and children were buried with high status artifacts bamburgh Castle the ancient bebenber continues to throw up links to its Anglo-Saxon past from a forge located on the other side of the castle to an ancient Anglo-Saxon graveyard amidst these sand dunes known as the bowl hole archaeologists believe it was the site of the graves of the Royal House of northumbria would the real utrid of bebenber have known this graveyard could he have walked amongst the graves of former Kings of northumbria is there a chance that the real utrid of bebenber is buried somewhere amidst these Dunes welcome to the history Hit YouTube channel hope you enjoyed that video and if you'd like to see more videos where we attempt to try and bring history to life please don't forget to subscribe and hit that notification Bell cheers guys see you soon

Channel: History Hit

Views: 755,923

Keywords: history hit, history hit youtube, bamburgh castle, northumberland castles, bamburgh castle history, last kingdom, the last kingdom, uhtred of bebbanburg, uhtred son of uhtred, utred, northumbria, alfred the great, danelaw england, bamburgh northumberland, bebbanburg castle, bebbanburg the last kingdom, bebbanburg now, the real bebbanburg, the real uhtred of bebbanburg, the real uhtred the bold, anglo saxon history, anglo saxon england, history hits, matt lewis

Id: TppYr8Fp8DU

Length: 12min 9sec (729 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 14 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/ky-92]

Ive visited the castle the history there is remarkable, even had some pieces of artefacts from something like 1000bc. Lindisfarne is a 20 minute drive further up and is also a beautiful island that feels like its on the edge of the world. Truly stunning area to live

[u/xkanatachix]

I visited there this summer and did the Last Kingdom tour. It was very fun and informative. Seems like it might only be a summer thing, but Bamburgh is definitely worth a visit any time of year. York also has a lot of cool Viking things to do.

[u/marpelle]

Destiny is all

[u/Realistic_Degree_773]

That was a great little history lesson