Morcar (thegn)
Morcar (or Morkere) (Old English: Mōrcǣr) (died 1015) was a thane (minister) of King Æthelred the Unready. He was given lands in Derbyshire in 1009 including Weston-on-Trent, Crich and Smalley by King Æthelred, 1011 and 1012. He was also given the freedom from the three common burdens. He and his brother were murdered in 1015. Morcar's brother's wife was later married to King Edmund Ironside.
Biography
Morcar was the son of Earngrim according to John of Worcester and his brother was Sigeferth. He was mentioned in the will of Wulfric Spot, brother of Ælfhelm and son of Wulfrun. In 1004, when Wulfric died, he made Morcar a major beneficiary along with Burton Abbey and Ælfhelm.
It is reported that Morcar was married to Ealdgyth who was the daughter of Ælfthryth, the sister of Wulfric and Ælfhelm.
Morcar was a king's thegn (Latin minister) in 1009 when King Æthelred the Unready issued a charter, in which he gave lands to his minister Morcar. The charter shows that he would control the crossings of the River Trent at, Weston-on-Trent, Wilne and King's Mills in Leicestershire. Although not mentioned explicitly the land described at Weston on Trent included ownership of what is now the villages of Shardlow and Aston-on-Trent.
Morcar
Morcar (or Morkere) (Old English: Mōrcǣr) (died after 1087) was the son of Ælfgār (earl of Mercia) and brother of Ēadwine. He was himself the earl of Northumbria from 1065 to 1066, when he was replaced by William the Conqueror with Copsi.
Dispute with the Godwins
In October 1065 Northumbrian rebels chose Morcar as earl at York. He at once satisfied the people of the Bernician district by making over the government of the country beyond the Tyne to Oswulf, the eldest son of Eadwulf, the Bernician earl, whom Siward had slain in 1041. Marching southwards with the rebels, Morcar gathered into his forces the men of Nottingham, Derby, and Lincoln, members of the old Danish confederacy of towns, and met his brother Edwin, Earl of Mercia, who was at the head of a force of Mercians and Welshmen, at Northampton. There the brothers and their rebel army considered proposals for peace offered to them by Earl Harold Godwinson. Negotiations continued at Oxford, where, the Northumbrians insisting on the recognition of Morcar, Harold yielded on the 28th, and Morcar's election was legalised.
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