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Ricsige of Northumbria

Ricsige of Northumbria (died 876) was King of Northumbria from 872 to 876, succeeding Ecgberht I and preceding Ecgberht II. Ricsige was installed as King Halfdan Whiteshirt of Jorvik's Anglo-Saxon puppet king following Ecgberht's deposition, but he later rebelled against Halfdan in conjunction with a Pictish invasion and was killed at the Battle of Magnis in Northumberland.

Biography[]

Ricsige was born in Durham, County Durham, England (then part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria). Possessed of a sly and calculating nature, Ricsige had luck enough to land himself into royalty. In 872 AD, upon the flight of King Ecgberht I of Northumbria and Archbishop Wulfhere of York to Mercia, King Halfdan Whiteshirt of Jorvik appointed Ricsige to serve as his Saxon puppet king in Northumbria. Ricsige lorded over York, a city rife with greed, but he was never truly comfortable as king due to his lack of power.

Ricsige 875

Ricsige in 875

In addition to serving as the puppet king of Northumbria, Ricsige was lord of Durham and a member of the York city council alongside Hjorr Halfsson, Audun the Vault, and Faravid. By 875, his realm faced the twin problems of invading Picts from north of Hadrian's Wall and a drastic money shortage (caused by the secretive Order of the Ancients' siphoning of funds away from the city's trade income to fund their activities). In December 875, he was rescued from the Order's assassination plot when the Viking warrior Eivor, a friend of Hjorr's, assassinated the Order members Abbess Ingeborg and dockmaster Grigorii the Needle, prevented Audun from poisoning Ricsige's wine at the Yuletide festival on 21 December 875 (although multiple other nobles were killed by Audun's poison), and assassinated Audun. Ricsige, who had initially behaved rudely and prejudicially towards Eivor, named him an honorary High Reeve of Jorvik in recognition of his services.

However, Eivor returned to Jorvik in early 876 AD while assisting Halfdan in his war with the Picts. While Ricsige openly favored a more aggressive strategy to defeat the Picts during winter, Halfdan refused to risk an attack in the winter, preventing Ricsige from acting. Faravid and Eivor later came to Ricsige's court, where Faravid claimed that Halfdan had ordered Ricsige to lead his army in a surprise attack on the Picts at their stronghold of Magnis. Ricsige stubbornly refused to act unless he received written orders from Halfdan, as he refused to risk his reputation being sullied by going against Halfdan's wishes. Eivor and Faravid later returned with forged written orders (forged by Hjorr) in a bid to convince Ricsige to change his mind. Ricsige reluctantly agreed to raise an army, but he privately warned Eivor to take caution and have care with the dangerous situation in Northumbria.

Death[]

Ricsige body

Ricsige's body

Secretly, Ricsige led his army to join the Picts at Magnis fortress, as he had conspired with them to restore him to the throne of all Northumbria and drive out his Danish overlords. He revealed his treachery by coming to the fortress walls when Halfdan and Eivor approached the fort to parley with the Pictish envoy Deorsa Caileanach; Ricsige shouted to his men, "Who now is the rightful king of Northumbria?", causing them to acclaim him king with their own shouts. Ricsige later tried to flee the fortress and into the snow, but Eivor chased him down and stabbed him in the back of the neck with his hidden blade. A dying Ricsige appealed to Eivor to take him back to York so that he could die at home, but Eivor said that he would do no more favors for Ricsige. Ricsige then expressed his fear that he was not headed to heaven, but a cold cave, and Eivor told him that he was headed for the frozen gate of Hel; Ricsige then died of his wounds as Halfdan approached to inspect the body of his treacherous puppet king.

Gallery[]

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