Sihtric Cáech, king of York

Also known as Sigtryggr.

Sihtric seems to have been expelled from Ireland in 902, together with the other grandsons of Ívarr. He may have become the earl in Cambridgeshire who was later expelled, in 917. In that year, Sihtric appeared with a fleet off Ireland, and occupied Dublin. In 920, he succeeded his kinsman Ragnall as king in York. He died there in 927. (Hart ODNB)

Events

Date of Birth: unknown.

The Annals of Ulster (U927.2) state that Sihtric “died at an immature age.”

Date of Baptism: 30 January 926.

Place of Baptism: Tamworth.

The date and place are given by Hart (ODNB). Sihtric’s baptism was connected to his alliance with Æthelstan.

Date of Death: 927, before the end of June.

Place of Death: York.

The date and place are given by Hart (ODNB). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle [D] records the death s.a. 926. The Annals of Ulster (U927.2) record it under 927: “Sitriuc grandson of Ímar, king of the dark foreigners and the fair foreigners, died at an immature age.”

Relationships

Father: uncertain.

Sihtric is called a grandson or descendant of Ívarr (Uí Imair) in the Irish annals. This Ívarr is usually thought to be the Ívarr who was a Viking chieftain ruling in a colony on the Liffey in the mid 800s. Adam of Bremen, citing an English book, says that Sihtric was the son of Godfrey Hardcnutsson, a king of Northumbria from about 883 to 896. Hudson (Viking Pirates p. 20) states that the accounts are not necessarily contradictory, as Uí need not be interpreted strictly to mean “grandson”, but could be more loosely interpreted to mean “descendant”. The ancestor Ívarr is usually held to be Ivar the Boneless, although it is not certain that, in doing so, two individuals are not being combined. (Costambeys ODNB). Downham argues that Sihtric was likely a literal grandson of Ívarr.

Mother: unknown.

Spouse: a sister of Æthelstan. Married in 926.

The marriage is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle s.a. 925.

Grandfather: Ívarr

This relationship is given by Downham.

Children (mother unclear):

Óláf (about 926 - 981) married (1) Dúnlaith, daughter of Muirchertach; married (2) Gormflaith, daughter of Murchad mac Finn. Óláf was a king of Dublin and Northumbria.

Sigfrøðr (died 937).

Haraldr (died 940), king of Limerick.

Ásl (died 937).

Guðrøðr (died 951).

References

The Annals of Ulster (Pádraig Bambury, Stephen Beechinor, compilers) (CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, University College, Cork, 2000).

Baldwin, Stewart. Llywelyn ap Iorwerth ancestor table. (Hosted at Rootsweb.ancestry.com. Accessed 23 May 2014).

Costambeys, Marios. “Ívarr (d. 873)” in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Downham, Clare. Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014 (Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press, 2007).

Hart, Cyril. “Sihtric Cáech (d. 927)”, in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Hudson, Benjamin T. Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion, and Empire in the North Atlantic. (Oxford University Press, 2005).

Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel. (J. Earle, ed.; C. Plummer rev.) (Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1892-1899).