Eadulf, Eadwulf, or occasionally Adulf, surnamed Evil-child (Old English: Yvelcild or Ewelthild), (fl. AD 973) was Earl of Bamburgh in the late tenth century. Although Eadwulf is sometimes described as the Earl of Northumbria, he ruled only the northern portion of Northumbria from the River Tees to possibly as far north as the Firth of Forth.
Biography
The details of Eadwulf's early life are not known except that his surname evil-child may indicate that he was a wild youth with evil-child being equivalent to "bad boy" in modern English. Additionally, given his name, he may have been related to a previous ruler of Northumbria, Eadwulf II who died in 913. At least one 19th century work suggests that Eadwulf was probably the son of Osulf, the man whom Eadwulf later succeeded as ruler of Bamburgh.
De primo Saxonum adventu, an elventh- or twelfth-century compilation from earlier sources, notes that after the death of Osulf (no later than 963), Northumbria was divided into two parts. The English king Edgar granted Eadulf Evil-child the lands between the Myreford (arguably the Firth of Forth) and the River Tees, while Oslac received the lands between the Humber Estuary and the Tees. According to John of Wallingford, King Edgar made this division during a council at York, in order to prevent the whole area becoming the inheritance of one man. At the ceremony Eadwulf was "girt with the sword" of his new earldom but he was not crowned.
Assuming that Myreford was the Saxon name for the Firth of Forth (which some dispute, suggesting it might be the River Tweed), Eadwulf's control over the northern part of Northumbria was not to last. In AD 972 Eadwulf's son was captured by Kenneth King of Scots during a raid. The following year, Eadwulf, Oslac and Bishop Ælfsige escorted Kenneth to King Edgar who was at Chester, and after Kenneth had reportedly done homage, Edgar rewarded Kenneth by granting him Lothian. Although no ancient sources mention what happened to Eadwulf's son, it has been speculated that Eadwulf ceded his possessions north of the Tweed in exchange for his safe return.
The details of the later part of Eadwulf's life are not known. It may be that he fell from office as late as 975 in the violence which attended the succession crisis after the death of King Edgar. It has been suggested that both Eadwulf and Oslac backed the unsuccessful Æthelred the Unready rather than the successful Edward the Martyr as the successor to King Edgar and hence lost their positions. In any case the Earldom of Bamburgh was held by Waltheof from 975 onwards.