GOSPATRIC (fl. 1(367)  , earl of Northumberland, belonged to a family which had connexions with the royal houses both of Wessex and Scotland . Before the Conquest he accompanied Tostig on a pilgrimage to Rome (1061); and at that time was a landholder in Cumberland . About 1067 he bought the earldom of Northumberland from William the Conqueror; but, repenting of his submission, fled with other Englishmen to the court of Scotland (Io68) . He joined the Danish army of invasion in the next year; but was afterwards able, from his possession of Bamburgh castle, to make terms with the conqueror, who left him undisturbed till 1072 . The peace concluded in that year with Scotland left him at William's mercy . He lost his earldom and took refuge in Scotland, where Malcolm seems to have provided for him . See E . A . Freeman, Norman Conquest, vol. i . (Oxford, 1877), and the English Hist . Review, vol. xix . (London, 1904) .