Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: King
• Nickname: Ironsides
• FSID: LJKD-Q1Q
• Appointments / Titles: Apr 1016, Old St Paul's Cathedral, London, London, England; King of England

Notes:

Edmund

Reign 23 April – 30 November 1016
Predecessor Æthelred the Unready
Successor Cnut the Great
Died 30 November 1016
Oxford or London, England
Burial Glastonbury Abbey
Spouse Ealdgyth
Issue Edward the Exile
Edmund
House Wessex
Father Æthelred the Unready
Mother Ælfgifu of York
Religion Catholicism
Edmund Ironside
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edmund II (died 30 November 1016), usually known as
Edmund Ironside, was King of England from 23 April to 30
November 1016. He was the son of King Æthelred the
Unready and his first wife, Ælfgifu of York. Edmund's reign
was marred by a war he had inherited from his father, his
cognomen "Ironside" was given to him "because of his
valour" in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut the
Great.[1]
Edmund was not expected to be King of England; however,
by 1014 two elder brothers had died, making him the oldest
male heir. His father, Æthelred, was usurped by Sweyn
Forkbeard in that same year, but Sweyn died shortly
thereafter, paving the way for Æthelred and his family to
return to the throne, which they did but not without
opposition. In the process they forced Sweyn's son, Cnut,
back to Denmark, where he assembled an invasion force to
re-conquer England. It would not arrive for another year.
After regaining the throne, the royal family set about
strengthening its hold on the country with the assistance of
Eadric Streona (Edmund's brother-in-law). People who had
sided with the Danes in 1014 were punished, and some were
killed. In one case, two brothers, Morcar and Sigeferth, were
killed and their possessions, along with Sigferth's wife, were
taken by Edmund. Edmund unofficially became the Earl of
the East Midlands and took Ealdgyth for his wife.
Cnut returned to England in August 1015. Over the next few
months, Cnut pillaged most of England. Edmund joined
Æthelred to defend London, but he died on 23 April 1016,
making Edmund King. It was not until the summer of 1016
that any serious fighting was done: Edmund fought five
battles against the Danes, ending in his defeat on 18 October
at the Battle of Assandun, after which they agreed to divide
the kingdom, Edmund taking Wessex and Cnut the rest of the
country. Edmund died shortly afterwards on 30 November, leaving two sons, Edward and Edmund; however,
Cnut became the king of all England, and exiled remaining members of the royal family.
Contents
1 Early life
2 Warrior prince
3 King of England
4 Death
5 Reputation
6 Descendants
7 Ancestry
8 In culture
9 See also
10 Citations
11 Sources
12 External links
Early life
The exact date of Edmund's birth is unclear, but it could have been no later than 993 when he was a signatory to
charters along with his two elder brothers. He was the third of the six sons of King Æthelred the Unready and
his first wife, Ælfgifu, who was probably the daughter of Earl Thored of Northumbria. His elder brothers were
Æthelstan (died 1014) and Egbert (died c. 1005), and younger ones, Eadred, Eadwig and Edgar.[1] He had four
sisters, Eadgyth (or Edith), Ælfgifu, Wulfhilda, and the Abbess of Wherwell Abbey. His mother died around
1000,[2] after which his father remarried, this time to Emma of Normandy, who had two sons, Edward the
Confessor and Alfred and a daughter Goda.
Æthelstan and Edmund were close, and they probably felt threatened by Emma's ambitions for her sons.[3] The
Life of Edward the Confessor, written fifty years later, claimed that when Emma was pregnant with him, all
Englishmen promised that if the child was a boy they would accept him as king.[1] However that claim may just
be propaganda.
Warrior prince
When Sweyn Forkbeard seized the throne at the end of 1013 and Æthelred fled to Normandy, the brothers do
not appear to have followed him, but stayed in England. Æthelstan died in June 1014 and left Edmund a sword
which had belonged to king Offa of Mercia.[1] His will also reflected the close relationship between the
brothers and the nobility of the east midlands.[4]
Sweyn died in February 1014, and the Five Boroughs accepted his son Cnut, who married a kinswoman of
Sigeferth and Morcar, as king. However, Æthelred returned to England and launched a surprise attack which
defeated the Vikings and forced Cnut to flee England. In 1015 Sigeferth and Morcar came to an assembly in
Oxford, probably hoping for a royal pardon, but they were murdered by Eadric Streona. King Æthelred then
ordered that Sigeferth's widow, Ealdgyth, be seized and brought to Malmesbury Abbey, but Edmund seized and
married her in defiance of his father, probably to consolidate his power base in the east midlands.[5] He then
received the submission of the people of the Five Boroughs. At the same time, Cnut launched a new invasion of
England. In late 1015 Edmund raised an army, possibly assisted by his wife's and mother's links with the
midlands and the north, but the Mercians under Eadric Streona joined the West Saxons in submitting to Cnut. In
early 1016 the army assembled by Edmund dispersed when Æthelred did not appear to lead it, probably due to
illness. Edmund then raised a new army and in conjunction with Earl Uhtred of Northumbria ravaged Eadric
Streona's Mercian territories, but when Cnut occupied Northumbria Uhtred submitted to him, only to be killed
by Cnut. Edmund went to London.[1]
King of England
Æthelred died on 23 April 1016, and the citizens and councillors in London chose Edmund as king and
probably crowned him. He then mounted a last-ditch effort to revive the defence of England. While the Danes
laid siege to London, Edmund headed for Wessex, where the people submitted to him and he gathered an army.
He fought inconclusive battles against the Danes and their English supporters at Penselwood in Somerset and
Sherston in Wiltshire. He then raised the siege of London and defeated the Danes near Brentford. They renewed
the siege while Edmund went to Wessex to raise further troops, returning to again relieve London, defeat the
Danes at Otford, and pursue Cnut into Kent. Eadric Streona now went over to Edmund, but at the decisive
Battle of Assandun on 18 October, Eadric and his men fled and Cnut decisively defeated Edmund. There may
have been one further battle in the Forest of Dean, after which the two kings negotiated a peace dividing the
country between them. Edmund received Wessex while Cnut took Mercia and probably Northumbria.[1]
Death
On 30 November 1016, Edmund died. The location of his death is uncertain though it is generally accepted that
it occurred in London, rather than in Oxford where Henry of Huntingdon claimed it to be in his sordid version
of events, which included Edmund’s murder by suffering multiple stab wounds whilst on a privy, while tending
to a call of nature.[6] Geoffrey Gaimar states a similar occurrence with the weapon being a crossbow, but with a
number of other medieval chroniclers including the Encomium Emmae Reginae not mentioning murder, it is
thought Edmund’s cause of death may possibly have been caused by wounds received in battle or by some
disease, but it is certainly a possibility that he was murdered.
Edmund was buried near his grandfather Edgar at Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset, however the abbey was
destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, any remains of a monument or crypt
would have been plundered and the location of his remains is unclear.
Reputation
In the view of M. K. Lawson, the intensity of Edmund's struggle against the Danes in 1016 is only matched by
Alfred the Great's in 871, and contrasts with Æthelred's failure. Edmund's success in raising one army after
another suggests that there was little wrong with the organs of government under competent leadership. He was
"probably a highly determined, skilled and indeed inspiring leader of men". Cnut visited his tomb on the
anniversary of his death and laid a cloak decorated with peacocks on it to assist in his salvation, peacocks
symbolising resurrection.[1]
Descendants
Edmund had two children by Ealdgyth, Edward the Exile and Edmund. According to John of Worcester, Cnut
sent them to the king of Sweden where he probably hoped they would be murdered, but the Swedish king
instead forwarded them, together with his daughter, on to Kiev. It has more recently been alleged that the two
sons were sent to Poland and subsequently from there to Hungary.[7] The two boys eventually ended up in
Hungary where Edmund died but Edward prospered. Edward "the Exile" returned to England in 1057 only to
die within a few days of his arrival.[8] His son Edgar the Ætheling was briefly proclaimed king after the Battle
of Hastings in 1066, but later submitted to William the Conqueror. Edgar would live a long and eventful life;
fighting in rebellion against William the Conqueror from 1067-1075; fighting alongside the Conqueror's son
Robert of Normandy in campaigns in Sicily (1085-1087); and accompanying Robert on the First Crusade
(1099-1103). He eventually died in England in 1126.
In 1070 Edward the Exile's daughter, Margaret, became Queen consort to Malcolm III of Scotland. Through her
and her decedents, Edmund is the direct ancestor of every subsequent Scottish monarch, every English monarch
from Henry II onward, and every monarch of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom, down to the present.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Edmund Ironside
Edward the Elder
Edmund I
Eadgifu of Kent
Edgar the Peaceful
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Wynflaed
Æthelred the Unready
Ordgar
Ælfthryth
Edmund Ironside
Gunnar
Thored
Ælfgifu of York
In culture
Edmund Ironside is an Elizabethan play about him, which some critics believe to be a very early work by
William Shakespeare.
Edmund is played by John Horn in the 1970 television movie The Ceremony of Innocence.
Edmund is one of the main characters in Justin Hill's novel Shieldwall (2011), first in the Conquest
Trilogy.
See also
House of Wessex family tree
Citations
1. M. K. Lawson, Edmund II, Oxford Online DNB, 2004 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8502?docPos=1)
2. Simon Keynes, Æthelred the Unready, Oxford Online DNB, 2009 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8915/?back
=,8502)
3. Ryan Lavelle, Aethelred II: King of the English, The History Press, 2008, pp. 172-173
4. Lavelle, op. cit., p. 172
5. Lavelle, op. cit., pp. 169-172
6. Henry of Huntingdon 2002, p. 15.
7. MichaelAnne Guido and John P. Ravilious, "From Theophanu to St. Magraret of Scotland: A study of Agatha's
ancestry", Foundations, vol. 4(2012), pp. 81-121.
8. M. K. Lawson, Edward Ætheling, Oxford Online DNB, 200 4(http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37387/?back=,85
02)
Sources
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Clemoes, Peter. The Anglo-Saxons: Studies Presented to Bruce Dickins, 1959
Henry of Huntingdon History of the English People 1000 - 1154
External links
Edmund 24 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Æthelred the Unready
King of the English
1016
Succeeded by
Cnut the Great
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edmund_Ironside&oldid=781380892"
Categories: Monarchs of England before 1066 10th-century births 1016 deaths
Burials at Glastonbury Abbey 10th-century English people 11th-century English monarchs
Christian monarchs House of Wessex
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Edmund married of England, Queen Ældgyth between Jun and Aug 1015 in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England. Ældgyth was born in 986 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died in 1024 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Aetheling, Edward was born on 23 Sep 1016 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); was christened in 1016 in England; died on 19 Apr 1057 in London, London, England; was buried after 19 Apr 1067 in St Paul Cathedral, London, London, England.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: King
• Appointments / Titles: King of England
• Nickname: The Unready
• FSID: LT75-86P

Notes:

Æthelred

King of the English
Reign 18 March 978 – 1013 (first time)
Predecessor Edward the Martyr
Successor Sweyn Forkbeard
Reign 1014 – 23 April 1016 (second time)
Predecessor Sweyn Forkbeard
Successor Edmund Ironside
Born c. 966
Died 23 April 1016 (aged about 50) London, England
Burial Old St Paul's Cathedral, London, now lost

Spouse Ælfgifu of York
Emma of Normandy
Issue
Detail Æthelstan
Ecgberht
Edmund, King of England
Eadred
Eadwig

Æthelred the Unready
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Æthelred II, also dubbed the Unready (Old English:
Æþelræd (Old English pronunciation: [æðelræːd])),[1] (c. 966 –
23 April 1016) was King of the English (978–1013 and
1014–1016). He was the son of King Edgar the Peaceful and
Queen Ælfthryth and was around 12 years old when his halfbrother
Edward the Martyr was murdered on 18 March 978.
Although Æthelred was not personally suspected of
participation, the murder was committed at Corfe Castle by
his attendants, making it more difficult for the new king to
rally the nation against the military raids by Danes,
especially as the legend of St Edward the Martyr grew.
From 991 onwards, Æthelred paid tribute, or Danegeld, to
the Danish king. In 1002, Æthelred ordered what became
known as the St. Brice's Day massacre of Danish settlers. In
1013, King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark invaded England,
as a result of which Æthelred fled to Normandy in 1013 and was replaced by Sweyn. He would return as king, however, after Sweyn's death in 1014.

Æthelred's nickname, "the Unready" renders Old English unræd "bad counsel, folly", more accurately (but more rarely) rendered "the Rede-less".

Æthelred's first name, composed of the elements æðele
"noble", and ræd "counsel, advice",[2] is typical of the
compound names of those who belonged to the royal House
of Wessex, and it characteristically alliterates with the names
of his ancestors, like Æthelwulf ("noble-wolf"), Ælfred ("elfcounsel"),
Eadweard ("rich-protection"), and Eadgar ("richspear").[
3]

The story of Æthelred's notorious nickname, Old English
Unræd, goes a long way toward explaining how his
reputation has declined through history. It is usually
translated into present-day English as "The Unready" (less
often, though less confusingly, as "The Redeless").[4] The
Anglo-Saxon noun unræd means "evil counsel", "bad plan",
or "folly".[2] It most often describes decisions and deeds, and once refers to the nature of Satan's deceit. The
element ræd in unræd is the element in Æthelred's name which means "counsel". Thus Æþelræd Unræd is a
pun meaning "Noble counsel, No counsel". The nickname has alternatively been taken adjectivally as "illadvised",
"ill-prepared", "indecisive", thus "Æthelred the ill-advised".
Because the nickname was first recorded in the 1180s, more than 150 years after Æthelred's death, it is doubtful
that it carries any implications for how the king was seen by his contemporaries or near contemporaries.[5]
Early life
Sir Frank Stenton remarked that "much that has brought condemnation
of historians on King Æthelred may well be due in the last resort to the
circumstances under which he became king."[6] Æthelred's father, King
Edgar, had died suddenly in July 975, leaving two young sons behind.
The elder, Edward (later Edward the Martyr), was probably
illegitimate,[7] and was "still a youth on the verge of manhood" in
975.[8] The younger son was Æthelred, whose mother, Ælfthryth, Edgar
had married in 964. Ælfthryth was the daughter of Ordgar, ealdorman of
Devon, and widow of Æthelwold, Ealdorman of East Anglia. At the
time of his father's death, Æthelred could have been no more than 10
years old. As the elder of Edgar's sons, Edward – reportedly a young
man given to frequent violent outbursts – probably would have naturally
succeeded to the throne of England despite his young age, had not he
"offended many important persons by his intolerable violence of speech
and behaviour."[8] In any case, a number of English nobles took to
opposing Edward's succession and to defending Æthelred's claim to the throne; Æthelred was, after all, the son
of Edgar's last, living wife, and no rumour of illegitimacy is known to have plagued Æthelred's birth, as it
might have his elder brother's.[9] Both boys, Æthelred certainly, were too young to have played any significant
part in the political manoeuvring which followed Edgar's death. It was the brothers' supporters, and not the
brothers themselves, who were responsible for the turmoil which accompanied the choice of a successor to the
throne. Æthelred's cause was led by his mother and included Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia and Bishop
Æthelwold of Winchester,[10] while Edward's claim was supported by Dunstan, the Archbishop of Canterbury
and Oswald, the Archbishop of York[11] among other noblemen, notably Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia,
and Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex. In the end, Edward's supporters proved the more powerful and persuasive,
and he was crowned king at Kingston upon Thames before the year was out.
Edward reigned for only three years before he was murdered by members of his brother's household.[12]
Though little is known about Edward's short reign, it is known that it was marked by political turmoil. Edgar
had made extensive grants of land to monasteries which pursued the new monastic ideals of ecclesiastical
reform, but these disrupted aristocratic families' traditional patronage. The end of his firm rule saw a reversal of
this policy, with aristocrats recovering their lost properties or seizing new ones. This was opposed by Dunstan,
but according to Cyril Hart, "The presence of supporters of church reform on both sides indicates that the
conflict between them depended as much on issues of land ownership and local power as on ecclesiastical
legitimacy. Adherents of both Edward and Æthelred can be seen appropriating, or recovering, monastic
lands."[7] Nevertheless, favour for Edward must have been strong among the monastic communities. When
Edward was killed at Æthelred's estate at Corfe Castle in Dorset in March 978, the job of recording the event,
as well as reactions to it, fell to monastic writers. Stenton offers a summary of the earliest account of Edward's
murder, which comes from a work praising the life of St Oswald: "On the surface his [Edward's] relations with
Æthelred his half-brother and Ælfthryth his stepmother were friendly, and he was visiting them informally
when he was killed. [Æthelred's] retainers came out to meet him with ostentatious signs of respect, and then,
before he had dismounted, surrounded him, seized his hands, and stabbed him. ... So far as can be seen the
murder was planned and carried out by Æthelred's household men in order that their young master might
become king. There is nothing to support the allegation, which first appears in writing more than a century
later, that Queen Ælfthryth had plotted her stepson's death. No one was punished for a part in the crime, and
Æthelred, who was crowned a month after the murder, began to reign in an atmosphere of suspicion which
destroyed the prestige of the crown. It was never fully restored in his lifetime."[13] Nevertheless, at first, the
outlook of the new king's officers and counsellors seems in no way to have been bleak. According to one
chronicler, the coronation of Æthelred took place with much rejoicing by the councillors of the English
people.[14] Simon Keynes notes that "Byrhtferth of Ramsey states similarly that when Æthelred was
consecrated king, by Archbishop Dunstan and Archbishop Oswald, 'there was great joy at his consecration’,
and describes the king in this connection as 'a young man in respect of years, elegant in his manners, with an
attractive face and handsome appearance'."[14] Æthelred could not have been older than 13 years of age in this
year.
During these early years, Æthelred was developing a close relationship to Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester,
one who had supported his unsuccessful claim to the throne. When Æthelwold died, on 1 August 984, Æthelred
deeply lamented the loss, and he wrote later in a charter from 993 that the event had deprived the country of
one "whose industry and pastoral care administered not only to my interest but also to that of all inhabitants of
the country."[14]
Conflict with the Danes
England had experienced a period of peace after the reconquest of the Danelaw in the mid-10th century by
King Edgar, Æthelred's father. However, beginning in 980, when Æthelred could not have been more than 14
years old, small companies of Danish adventurers carried out a series of coastline raids against England.
Hampshire, Thanet and Cheshire were attacked in 980, Devon and Cornwall in 981, and Dorset in 982. A
period of six years then passed before, in 988, another coastal attack is recorded as having taken place to the
south-west, though here a famous battle was fought between the invaders and the thegns of Devon. Stenton
notes that, though this series of isolated raids had no lasting effect on England itself, "their chief historical
importance is that they brought England for the first time into diplomatic contact with Normandy."[15] During
this period, the Normans, who remembered their origins as a Scandinavian people, were well-disposed to their
Danish cousins who, occasionally returning from a raid on England, sought port in Normandy. This led to grave
tension between the English and Norman courts, and word of their enmity eventually reached Pope John XV.
The pope was disposed to dissolve their hostility towards each other, and took steps to engineer a peace
between England and Normandy, which was ratified in Rouen in 991.
Battle of Maldon
Silver penny of Aethelred II
However, in August of that same year, a sizeable Danish fleet began a sustained campaign in the south-east of
England. It arrived off Folkestone, in Kent, and made its way around the south-east coast and up the River
Blackwater, coming eventually to its estuary and occupying Northey Island.[14] About 2 kilometres (1 mile)
west of Northey lies the coastal town of Maldon, where Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex, was stationed with a
company of thegns. The battle that followed between English and Danes is immortalised by the Old English
poem The Battle of Maldon, which describes the doomed but heroic attempt of Byrhtnoth to defend the coast of
Essex against overwhelming odds. Stenton summarises the events of the poem: "For access to the mainland
they (the Danes) depended on a causeway, flooded at high tide, which led from Northey to the flats along the
southern margin of the estuary. Before they (the Danes) had left their camp on the island[,] Byrhtnoth, with his
retainers and a force of local militia, had taken possession of the landward end of the causeway. Refusing a
demand for tribute, shouted across the water while the tide was high, Byrhtnoth drew up his men along the
bank, and waited for the ebb. As the water fell the raiders began to stream out along the causeway. But three of
Byrthnoth's retainers held it against them, and at last they asked to be allowed to cross unhindered and fight on
equal terms on the mainland. With what even those who admired him most called 'over-courage', Byrhtnoth
agreed to this; the pirates rushed through the falling tide, and battle was joined. Its issue was decided by
Byrhtnoth's fall. Many even of his own men immediately took to flight and the English ranks were broken.
What gives enduring interest to the battle is the superb courage with which a group of Byrhtnoth's thegns,
knowing that the fight was lost, deliberately gave themselves to death in order that they might avenge their
lord."[16] This was the first of a series of crushing defeats felt by the English: beaten first by Danish raiders, and
later by organised Danish armies.
England begins tributes
In 991, Æthelred was around 24 years old. In the aftermath of Maldon,
it was decided that the English should grant the tribute to the Danes that
they desired, and so a gafol of £10,000 was paid them for their peace.
Yet it was presumably the Danish fleet that had beaten Byrhtnoth at
Maldon that continued to ravage the English coast from 991 to 993. In
994, the Danish fleet, which had swollen in ranks since 991, turned up
the Thames estuary and headed toward London. The battle fought there
was inconclusive. It was about this time that Æthelred met with the
leaders of the fleet, foremost among them Olaf Tryggvason, and
arranged an uneasy accord. A treaty was signed between Æthelred and
Olaf that provided for seemingly civilised arrangements between the
then-settled Danish companies and the English government, such as
regulation settlement disputes and trade. But the treaty also stipulated
that the ravaging and slaughter of the previous year would be forgotten,
and ended abruptly by stating that £22,000 of gold and silver had been
paid to the raiders as the price of peace.[17] In 994, Olaf Tryggvason,
already a baptised Christian, was confirmed as Christian in a ceremony at Andover; King Æthelred stood as his
sponsor. After receiving gifts, Olaf promised "that he would never come back to England in hostility."[14] Olaf
then left England for Norway and never returned, though "other component parts of the Viking force appear to
have decided to stay in England, for it is apparent from the treaty that some had chosen to enter into King
Æthelred's service as mercenaries, based presumably on the Isle of Wight."[14]
Renewed Danish raids
In 997, Danish raids began again. According to Keynes, "there is no suggestion that this was a new fleet or
army, and presumably the mercenary force created in 994 from the residue of the raiding army of 991 had
turned on those whom it had been hired to protect."[14] It harried Cornwall, Devon, western Somerset and south
Wales in 997, Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex in 998. In 999, it raided Kent, and, in 1000, it left England for
Normandy, perhaps because the English had refused in this latest wave of attacks to acquiesce to the Danish
demands for gafol or tribute, which would come to be known as Danegeld, 'Dane-payment'. This sudden relief
from attack Æthelred used to gather his thoughts, resources, and armies: the fleet's departure in 1000 "allowed
Æthelred to carry out a devastation of Strathclyde, the motive for which is part of the lost history of the
north."[18]
In 1001, a Danish fleet – perhaps the same fleet from 1000 – returned and ravaged west Sussex. During its
movements, the fleet regularly returned to its base in the Isle of Wight. There was later an attempted attack in
the south of Devon, though the English mounted a successful defence at Exeter. Nevertheless, Æthelred must
have felt at a loss, and, in the Spring of 1002, the English bought a truce for £24,000. Æthelred's frequent
payments of immense Danegelds are often held up as exemplary of the incompetency of his government and
his own short-sightedness. However, Keynes points out that such payments had been practice for at least a
century, and had been adopted by Alfred the Great, Charles the Bald and many others. Indeed, in some cases it
"may have seemed the best available way of protecting the people against loss of life, shelter, livestock and
crops. Though undeniably burdensome, it constituted a measure for which the king could rely on widespread
support."[14]
St. Brice's Day massacr e of 1002
Æthelred ordered the massacre of all Danish men in England to take place on 13 November 1002, St Brice's
Day. No order of this kind could be carried out in more than a third of England, where the Danes were too
strong, but Gunhilde, sister of Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark, was said to have been among the victims. It
is likely that a wish to avenge her was a principal motive for Sweyn's invasion of western England the
following year.[19] By 1004 Sweyn was in East Anglia, where he sacked Norwich. In this year, a nobleman of
East Anglia, Ulfcytel Snillingr met Sweyn in force, and made an impression on the until-then rampant Danish
expedition. Though Ulfcytel was eventually defeated, outside Thetford, he caused the Danes heavy losses and
was nearly able to destroy their ships. The Danish army left England for Denmark in 1005, perhaps because of
their injuries sustained in East Anglia, perhaps from the very severe famine which afflicted the continent and
the British Isles in that year.[14]
An expedition the following year was bought off in early 1007 by tribute money of £36,000, and for the next
two years England was free from attack. In 1008, the government created a new fleet of warships, organised on
a national scale, but this was weakened when one of its commanders took to piracy, and the king and his
council decided not to risk it in a general action. In Stenton's view: "The history of England in the next
generation was really determined between 1009 and 1012...the ignominious collapse of the English defence
caused a loss of morale which was irreparable." The Danish army of 1009, led by Thorkell the Tall and his
brother Hemming, was the most formidable force to invade England since Æthelred became king. It harried
England until it was bought off by £48,000 in April 1012.[20]
Invasion of 1013
Sweyn then launched an invasion in 1013 intending to crown himself king of England, during which he proved
himself to be a general greater than any other Viking leader of his generation. By the end of 1013 English
resistance had collapsed and Sweyn had conquered the country, forcing Æthelred into exile in Normandy. But
the situation changed suddenly when Sweyn died on 3 February 1014. The crews of the Danish ships in the
Trent that had supported Sweyn immediately swore their allegiance to Sweyn's son Cnut the Great, but leading
English noblemen sent a deputation to Æthelred to negotiate his restoration to the throne. He was required to
declare his loyalty to them, to bring in reforms regarding everything that they disliked and to forgive all that
had been said and done against him in his previous reign. The terms of this agreement are of great
constitutional interest in early English History as they are the first recorded pact between a King and his
subjects and are also widely regarded as showing that many English noblemen had submitted to Sweyn simply
because of their distrust of Æthelred.[21] According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:
they [the counsellors] said that no lord was dearer to them than their natural (gecynde) lord, if he would
govern them more justly than he did before. Then the king sent his son Edward hither with his
messengers and bade them greet all his people and said that he would be a gracious (hold) lord to them,
A charter of Æthelred's in 1003 to
his follower, Æthelred.
and reform all the things which they hated; and all the things which had been said and done against him
should be forgiven on condition that they all unanimously turned to him (to him gecyrdon) without
treachery. And complete friendship was then established with oath and pledge (mid worde and mid
wædde) on both sides, and they pronounced every Danish king an exile from England forever.[22]
Æthelred then launched an expedition against Cnut and his allies, the men of the Kingdom of Lindsey. Cnut's
army had not completed its preparations and, in April 1014, he decided to withdraw from England without a
fight leaving his Lindsey allies to suffer Æthelred's revenge. In August 1015, he returned to find a complex and
volatile situation unfolding in England. Æthelred's son, Edmund Ironside, had revolted against his father and
established himself in the Danelaw, which was angry at Cnut and Æthelred for the ravaging of Lindsey and was
prepared to support Edmund in any uprising against both of them.
Death and burial
Over the next few months Cnut conquered most of England, while Edmund rejoined Æthelred to defend
London when Æthelred died on 23 April 1016. The subsequent war between Edmund and Cnut ended in a
decisive victory for Cnut at the Battle of Ashingdon on 18 October 1016. Edmund's reputation as a warrior was
such that Cnut nevertheless agreed to divide England, Edmund taking Wessex and Cnut the whole of the
country beyond the Thames. However, Edmund died on 30 November and Cnut became king of the whole
country.[23]
Æthelred was buried in Old St Paul's Cathedral, London. The tomb and his monument were destroyed along
with the cathedral in the Great Fire of London in 1666.[24] A modern monument in the crypt lists his among the
important graves lost.
Legislation
Æthelred's government produced extensive legislation, which he
"ruthlessly enforced."[25] Records of at least six legal codes survive from
his reign, covering a range of topics.[26] Notably, one of the members of his
council (known as the Witan) was Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York, a wellknown
homilist. The three latest codes from Æthelred's reign seemed to
have been drafted by Wulfstan.[27] These codes are extensively concerned
with ecclesiastical affairs. They also exhibit the characteristics of
Wulfstan's highly rhetorical style. Wulfstan went on to draft codes for King
Cnut, and recycled there many of the laws which were used in Æthelred's
codes.[28]
Despite the failure of his government in the face of the Danish threat,
Æthelred's reign was not without some important institutional achievements. The quality of the coinage, a good
indicator of the prevailing economic conditions, significantly improved during his reign due to his numerous
coinage reform laws.[29]
Legacy
Later perspectives of Æthelred have been less than flattering. Numerous legends and anecdotes have sprung up
to explain his shortcomings, often elaborating abusively on his character and failures. One such anecdote is
given by William of Malmesbury (lived c. 1080–c. 1143), who reports that Æthelred had defecated in the
baptismal font as a child, which led St. Dunstan to prophesy that the English monarchy would be overthrown
during his reign. This story is, however, a fabrication, and a similar story is told of the Byzantine Emperor
Constantine Copronymus, another mediaeval monarch who was unpopular among certain of his subjects.
Efforts to rehabilitate Æthelred's reputation have gained momentum since about 1980. Chief among the
rehabilitators has been Simon Keynes, who has often argued that our poor impression of Æthelred is almost
entirely based upon after-the-fact accounts of, and later accretions to, the narrative of events during Æthelred's
long and complex reign. Chief among the culprits is in fact one of the most important sources for the history of
the period, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which, as it reports events with a retrospect of 15 years, cannot help but
interpret events with the eventual English defeat a foregone conclusion. Yet, as virtually no strictly
contemporary narrative account of the events of Æthelred's reign exists, historians are forced to rely on what
evidence there is. Keynes and others thus draw attention to some of the inevitable snares of investigating the
history of a man whom later popular opinion has utterly damned. Recent cautious assessments of Æthelred's
reign have more often uncovered reasons to doubt, rather than uphold, Æthelred's later infamy. Though the
failures of his government will always put Æthelred's reign in the shadow of the reigns of kings Edgar,
Aethelstan, and Alfred, historians' current impression of Æthelred's personal character is certainly not as
unflattering as it once was: "Æthelred's misfortune as a ruler was owed not so much to any supposed defects of
his imagined character, as to a combination of circumstances which anyone would have found difficult to
control."[30]
Origin of the jury
Æthelred has been credited with the formation of a local investigative body made up of twelve thegns who
were charged with publishing the names of any notorious or wicked men in their respective districts. Because
the members of these bodies were under solemn oath to act in accordance with the law and their own good
consciences, they have been seen by some legal historians as the prototype for the English Grand Jury.[31]
Æthelred makes provision for such a body in a law code he enacted at Wantage in 997, which states:
þæt man habbe gemot on ælcum wæpentace; & gan ut þa yldestan XII þegnas & se gerefa mid, &
swerian on þam haligdome, þe heom man on hand sylle, þæt hig nellan nænne sacleasan man
forsecgean ne nænne sacne forhelan. & niman þonne þa tihtbysian men, þe mid þam gerefan
habbað, & heora ælc sylle VI healfmarc wedd, healf landrican & healf wæpentake.[32]
that there shall be an assembly in every wapentake,[33] and in that assembly shall go forth the
twelve eldest thegns and the reeve along with them, and let them swear on holy relics, which shall
be placed in their hands, that they will never knowingly accuse an innocent man nor conceal a
guilty man. And thereafter let them seize those notorious [lit. "charge-laden"] men, who have
business with the reeve, and let each of them give a security of 6 half-marks, half of which shall go
to the lord of that district, and half to the wapentake.
But the wording here suggests that Æthelred was perhaps revamping or re-confirming a custom which had
already existed. He may actually have been expanding an established English custom for use among the Danish
citizens in the North (the Danelaw). Previously, King Edgar had legislated along similar lines in his
Whitbordesstan code:
ic wille, þæt ælc mon sy under borge ge binnan burgum ge buton burgum. & gewitnes sy geset to
ælcere byrig & to ælcum hundrode. To ælcere byrig XXXVI syn gecorone to gewitnesse; to smalum
burgum & to ælcum hundrode XII, buton ge ma willan. & ælc mon mid heora gewitnysse bigcge &
sylle ælc þara ceapa, þe he bigcge oððe sylle aþer oððe burge oððe on wæpengetace. & heora ælc,
þonne hine man ærest to gewitnysse gecysð, sylle þæne að, þæt he næfre, ne for feo ne for lufe ne
for ege, ne ætsace nanes þara þinga, þe he to gewitnysse wæs, & nan oðer þingc on gewitnysse ne
cyðe buton þæt an, þæt he geseah oððe gehyrde. & swa geæþdera manna syn on ælcum ceape
twegen oððe þry to gewitnysse.[34]
It is my wish that each person be in surety, both within settled areas and without. And 'witnessing'
shall be established in each city and each hundred. To each city let there be 36 chosen for
witnessing; to small towns and to each hundred let there be 12, unless they desire more. And
everybody shall purchase and sell their goods in the presence a witness, whether he is buying or
selling something, whether in a city or a wapentake. And each of them, when they first choose to
become a witness, shall give an oath that he will never, neither for wealth nor love nor fear, deny
any of those things which he will be a witness to, and will not, in his capacity as a witness, make
known any thing except that which he saw and heard. And let there be either two or three of these
sworn witnesses at every sale of goods.
The 'legend' of an Anglo-Saxon origin to the jury was first challenged seriously by Heinrich Brunner in 1872,
who claimed that evidence of the jury was only seen for the first time during the reign of Henry II, some 200
years after the end of the Anglo-Saxon period, and that the practice had originated with the Franks, who in turn
had influenced the Normans, who thence introduced it to England.[35] Since Brunner's thesis, the origin of the
English jury has been much disputed. Throughout the 20th century, legal historians disagreed about whether the
practice was English in origin, or was introduced, directly or indirectly, from either Scandinavia or Francia.[31]
Recently, the legal historians Patrick Wormald and Michael Macnair have reasserted arguments in favour of
finding in practices current during the Anglo-Saxon period traces of the Angevin practice of conducting
inquests using bodies of sworn, private witnesses. Wormald has gone as far as to present evidence suggesting
that the English practice outlined in Æthelred's Wantage code is at least as old as, if not older than, 975, and
ultimately traces it back to a Carolingian model (something Brinner had done).[36] However, no scholarly
consensus has yet been reached.
Appearance and character
"[A] youth of graceful manners, handsome countenance and fine person..."[37] as well as "[A] tall, handsome
man, elegant in manners, beautiful in countenance and interesting in his deportment."[38]
Marriages and issue
Æthelred married first Ælfgifu, daughter of Thored, earl of Northumbria, in about 985.[14] Their known
children are:
Æthelstan Ætheling (died 1014)
Ecgberht Ætheling (died c. 1005)[39]
Edmund Ironside (died 1016)
Eadred Ætheling (died before 1013)
Eadwig Ætheling (executed by Cnut 1017)
Edgar Ætheling (died c. 1008)[39]
Eadgyth or Edith (married Eadric Streona)
Ælfgifu (married Uchtred the Bold, ealdorman of Northumbria)
Wulfhilda (married Ulfcytel Snillingr)
Abbess of Wherwell Abbey
In 1002 Æthelred married Emma of Normandy, sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy. Their children were:
Edward the Confessor (died 1066)
Ælfred Ætheling (died 1036–7)
Goda of England (married 1. Drogo of Mantes and 2. Eustace II, Count of Boulogne)
All of Æthelred's sons were named after predecessors of Æthelred on the throne.[40]
Ancestry
Ancestors of Æthelred the Unready
16. Alfred the Great
8. Edward the Elder
17. Ealhswith
4. Edmund I of England
18. Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent
9. Edgiva of Kent
2. Edgar the Peaceful
5. Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
1. Æthelred the Unready
6. Ordgar
3. Ælfthryth, Queen of England
See also
House of Wessex family tree
Burial places of British royalty
Cultural depictions of Æthelred the Unready
Notes
1. Different spellings of this king’s name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or
"Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the originaOl ld English form Æþelræd.
2. Bosworth-Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, with Supplement. p.1124
3. Schröder, Deutsche Namenkunde.
4. "Ethelred the Redeless" e.g. in Thomas HodgkinT, he History of England from the Earliest Times to the Norman
Conquest, Volume 1 (1808), p. 373 (https://books.google.ch/books?id=wUkNAAAAIAAJ&pg=AP373). While rede
"counsel" survived into modern English, the negativeu nrede appears to fall out of use by the 15th century; c.fR ichard
the Redeless, a 15th-century poem in reference toR ichard II of England.
5. Keynes, "The Declining Reputation of King Æthelred the Unready", pp. 240–1. For this king's forebear of the same
name, see Æthelred of Wessex.
6. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 374.
7. Hart, Cyril (2007). "Edward the Martyr" (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8515). Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
8. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 372.
9. Miller, "Edward the Martyr."
10. Higham, The Death of Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 7–8; Stafford, Unification and Conquest, p. 58.
11. Phillips, "St Edward the Martyr."
12. Keynes, The Diplomas of King Æthelred 'the Unready' 978-1016, p. 166.
13. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 373.
14. Keynes, "Æthelred II (c. 966x8–1016)."
15. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 375.
References
16. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 376–77.
17. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 377–78.
18. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 379.
19. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 380.
20. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 381–4.
21. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 384–6.
22. Williams, Æthelred, p. 123
23. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 386–393.
24. The Burial of King Æthelred the Unready at St. Paul's, Simon Keynes, The English and Their Legacy, 900-1200: Essays
in Honour of Ann Williams, ed. David Roffe, (Boydell Press, 2012), 129.
25. Wormald, "Æthelred the Lawmaker", p. 49.
26. Liebermann, ed., Die Gesetze der Angelsaschen, pp. 216–70.
27. Wormald, "Wulfstan (d. 1023)."
28. Wormald, The Making of English Law, pp. 356–60.
29. "Ethelred II". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009.
30. Keynes, "A Tale of Two Kings", p. 217.
31. Turner, "The Origins of the Medieval English Jury"p, assim.
32. "III Æthelred" 3.1–3.2, in Liebermann, ed.,D ie Gesetze, pp. 228–32.
33. Note that this terms specifies the north and north-eastern territories in England which were at the time glaerly governed
according to Danish custom; no mention is made of the law's application to thheu ndreds, the southern and English
equivalent of the Danish wapentake.
34. "IV Edgar" 3–6.2, in Liebermann, ed.,D ie Gesetze, pp. 206–14.
35. Turner, "The Origins of the Medieval English Jury", pp. 1–2; Wormald, The Making of English Law, pp. 4–26,
especially pp. 7–8 and 17–18.
36. Wormald, "Neighbors, Courts, and Kings", pp. 598–99, et passim.
37. The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester
38. The Gunnlaugr Saga of Gunnlaugr the Scald
39. M. K. Lawson, Edmund II, Oxford Online DNB, 2004 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8502)
40. Frank Barlow, Edward the Confessor, Yale University Press: London, 1997, p. 28 and family tree in endpap.er
Bosworth, J., & Toller, T. N., eds., An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1882–98); with Supplement (1908–21) .
Gilbride, M.B. "A Hollow Crown review". Medieval Mysteries.com "Reviews of Outstanding Historical Novels set in
the Medieval Period". Retrieved 9 May 2012.
Godsell, Andrew "Ethelred the Unready" in "History For All" magazine September 2000, republished in "Legends of
British History" (2008)
Hart, Cyril, "Edward the Martyr", in C. Matthew, B. Harrison, & L. Goldman (eds.),O xford Dictionary of National
Biography (2007), http://www.oxforddnb.com [accessed 9 November 2008].
Higham, Nick, The Death of Anglo-Saxon England (1997), ISBN 0-7509-2469-1.
Keynes, Simon, "The Declining Reputation of King Æthelred the Unready", in David Hill (ed.E),t helred the Unready:
Papers from the Millenary Conference, British Archaeological Reports, British Series 59 (1978), pp. 227–53.
Keynes, Simon, "A Tale of Two Kings: Alfred the Great and Æthelred the Unready"T, ransactions of the Royal
Historical Society, Fifth Series 36 (1986), pp. 195–217.
Keynes, Simon, "Æthelred II (c. 966x8–1016)", in C. Matthew, B. Harrison, & L. Goldman (eds.),O xford Dictionary of
National Biography (2004), http://www.oxforddnb.com [accessed 12 June 2008].
Liebermann, Felix, ed., Die Gesetze der Angelsaschen, vol. 1 (1903).
Miller,Sean, "Edward the Martyr", in M. Lapidge, J. Bla,i rS. Keynes, & D. Scragg (eds.),T he Blackwell Encyclopædia
of Anglo-Saxon England (1999), p. 163. ISBN 0-631-22492-0.
Phillips, G. E., Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Edward the Martyr". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert
Appleton Company.
Schröder, Edward, Deutsche Namenkunde: Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Kunde deutsche Personen- und Ortsnam e(n1944).
Stafford, Pauline, Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in thee Tnth and Eleventh
Centuries (1989), ISBN 0-7131-6532-4.
Skinner, Patricia, ed, Challenging the Boundaries of Medieval History: The Legacy of iTmothy Reuter (2009), ISBN
978-2-503-52359-0.
Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England. The Oxford History of England.2 (3rd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
ISBN 0192801392.
Turner, Ralph V. (1968). "The Origins of the Medieval English Jury: Frankish, English, or Scandinavian?"T. he Journal
of British Studies. 7 (2): 1–10. JSTOR 175292. doi:10.1086/385549.
Wikisource has the text of
the 1911 Encyclopædia
Britannica article Æthelred
II..
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Æthelred.
Further reading
Cubitt, Catherine (2012). "The politics of remorse: penance and
royal piety in the reign of Æthelred the Unready". Historical
Research. 85 (228): 179–192. doi:10.1111/j.1468-
2281.2011.00571.x.
Hart, Cyril, ed. and tr. (2006). Chronicles of the Reign of
Æthelred the Unready: An Edition and Translation of the Old
English and Latin Annals. The Early Chronicles of England 1.
Keynes, Simon (1980). The Diplomas of King Æthelred ‘the
Unready’ 978–1016. New York: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0521227186.
Lavelle, Ryan (2008). Aethelred II: King of the English 978–1016 (New ed.). Stroud, Gloucestershire:
The History Press. ISBN 9780752446783.
External links
Æthelred 32 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Miller, Sean. "Æthelred the Unready". Anglo-Saxons.net. Retrieved 25 November 2007.
Documentary – The Making of England: Aethelred the Unready
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Edward the Martyr
King of the English
978–1013
Succeeded by
Sweyn Forkbeard
Preceded by
Sweyn Forkbeard
King of the English
1014–1016
Succeeded by
Edmund Ironside
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Æthelred_the_Unready&oldid=785907428"
Categories: Monarchs of England before 1066 Medieval child rulers 968 births 1016 deaths
11th-century English monarchs 10th-century English monarchs Christian monarchs House of Wessex
Burials at St Paul's Cathedral
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Williams, Ann, Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King (2003), ISBN 1-85285-382-4.
Wormald, Patrick, The Making of English Law – King Alfred to the Twelfth Century, vol. 1: Legislation and its Limits
(1999).
Wormald, Patrick (1999). "Neighbors, Courts ,and Kings: Reflections on Michael Macnair's Vicini". Law and History
Review. 17 (3): 597–601. JSTOR 744383. doi:10.2307/744383.
Wormald, Patrick, "Wulfstan (d. 1023)", in C. Matthew, B. Harrison, & L. Goldman (eds.),O xford Dictionary of
National Biography (2004), http://www.oxforddnb.com [accessed 12 June 2008].

Æthelred married of York, Queen Consort Ælfgifu. Ælfgifu (daughter of of York, Ealdorman Thored) was born in 968 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died in 1002 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Queen of England
• FSID: LJY6-1HD

Notes:

Ælfgifu of York
Queen consort of England
Tenure 980s–1002
Born fl. c. 970
Died c. 1002
Spouse Æthelred the Unready
Issue Æthelstan Ætheling
Ecgberht of England
Edmund Ironside
Eadred Ætheling
Eadwig Ætheling
Edgar of England
Edith, Lady of the Mercians
Ælfgifu, Lady of Northumbria
Wulfhilda, Lady of East Anglia
Father Thored, Earl of southern Northumbria
Ælfgifu of York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ælfgifu of York (fl. c. 970 – 1002) was the first wife of
Æthelred the Unready (r. 968–1016), by whom she bore
many offspring, including Edmund Ironside. It is most
probable that she was a daughter of Thored, Earl of southern
Northumbria.
Contents
1 Identity and background
1.1 Problem of fatherhood
2 Marriage and children
2.1 Sons
2.2 Daughters
3 Life and death
4 Notes
5 Sources
5.1 Primary sources
5.2 Secondary sources
6 External links
Identity and background
Her name and paternity do not surface in the sources until sometime after the Conquest. The first to offer any
information at all, Sulcard of Westminster (fl. 1080s), merely describes her as being “of very noble English
stock” (ex nobilioribus Anglis), without naming her,[1] while in the early 12th century, William of Malmesbury
has nothing to report. All primary evidence comes from two Anglo-Norman historians. John of Worcester, also
writing in the early 12th century, states that Æthelred's first wife was Ælfgifu, daughter of the nobleman
Æthelberht (comes Agelberhtus) and the mother of Edmund, Æthelstan, Eadwig and Eadgyth.[2] Writing in the
1150s, Ailred of Rievaulx identifies her as a daughter of earl (comes) Thored and the mother of Edmund,
though he supplies no name.[3] Ailred had been seneschal at the court of King David I of Scotland (r. 1124–53),
whose mother Margaret descended from King Æthelred and his first wife. Although his testimony is late, his
proximity to the royal family may have given him access to genuine information.[4]
Problem of fatherhood
These two accounts are irreconcilable at the point of ascribing two different fathers to Æthelred's first wife (in
both cases, Edmund's mother). One way out of it would be to assume the existence of two different wives
before the arrival of Queen Emma, Æthelred's Norman wife, although this interpretation presents difficulties of
its own, especially as the sources envisage a single woman.[5] Historians generally favour the view that John of
Worcester was in error about the father's name, as Æthelberht's very existence is under suspicion:[6] if Latin
comes is to be interpreted as a gloss on the office of ealdorman, only two doubtful references to one or two
duces (ealdormen) of this name can be put forward that would fit the description.[7] All in all, the combined
evidence suggests that Æthelred's first wife was Ælfgifu, the daughter of Earl Thored. This magnate is likely to
have been the Thored who was a son of Gunnar and earl of (southern) Northumbria.[8]
Marriage and children
Based largely on the careers of her sons, Ælfgifu's marriage has been dated approximately to the (mid-)980s.[8]
Considering Thored's authority as earl of York and apparently, the tenure of that office without royal
appointment, the union would have signified an important step for the West-Saxon royal family by which it
secured a foothold in the north.[9] Such a politically weighty union would help explain the close connections
maintained by Ælfgifu's eldest sons Edmund and Æthelstan with noble families based in the northern
Danelaw.[10]
The marriage produced six sons, all of whom were named after Æthelred's predecessors, and an unknown
number of daughters. The eldest sons Æthelstan, Ecgberht, Eadred and Edmund first attest charters in 993,
while the younger sons Eadwig and Edgar first make an appearance in them in 997 and 1001 respectively.[11]
Some of these sons seem to have spent part of their childhood in fosterage elsewhere, possibly with Æthelred's
mother Ælfthryth.[12]
Out of Ælfgifu's six sons, only Edmund Ironside outlived his father and became king. In 1016 he suffered
several defeats against Cnut and in October they agreed to share the kingdom, but Edmund died within six
weeks and Cnut became king of all England. Æthelred gave three of his daughters in marriage to ealdormen,
presumably in order to secure the loyalties of his nobles and so to consolidate a defence system against Viking
attacks.[13]
Sons
Æthelstan (born before 993, d. 1014)
Ecgberht (born before 993, d. 1005)
Edmund (II) Ironside (born before 993, d. 1016)
Eadred (d. 1012 x 1015)
Eadwig (born before 997, exiled and killed 1017)
Edgar (born before 1001, d. 1012 x 1015)
Daughters
Eadgyth (born before 993), married Eadric Streona, ealdorman of Mercia.[14]
Ælfgifu, married ealdorman Uhtred of Northumbria.[15]
(possibly) Wulfhild, who married Ulfcytel (Snillingr) (d. 1016), apparently ealdorman of East
Anglia.[16]
possibly an unnamed daughter who married the Æthelstan who was killed fighting the Danes at the
Battle of Ringmere in 1010. He is called Æthelred's aðum, meaning either son-in-law or brother-inlaw.[
16] Ann Williams, however, argues that the latter meaning is the appropriate one and refers to
Æthelstan as being Ælfgifu's brother.[8]
possibly unnamed daughter, who became abbess of Wherwell.[17]
Life and death
Unlike her mother-in-law, Ælfthryth, Ælfgifu was not anointed queen and never signed charters.[18] She did,
however, make at least some impression on the contemporary record. In a will issued between 975/980 and
987, the thegn Beorhtric and his wife bequeathed to their “lady” (hlæfdige) an armlet worth 30 gold mancuses
and a stallion, calling upon her authority to oversee the implementation of the arrangements set out by will.[19]
In a will of later date (AD 990 x 1001), in which she is addressed as “my lady” (mire hlæfdian), the
noblewoman Æthelgifu promised a bequest of 30 mancuses of gold.[20] Just as little is known of Ælfgifu's life,
so the precise date and circumstances of her death cannot be recovered.[21] In any event, she appears to have
died by 1002, possibly in childbirth, when Æthelred took to wife Emma, daughter of Count Richard of Rouen,
who received or adopted her predecessor's Anglo-Saxon name, Ælfgifu.
Notes
Sources
Primary sources
Ailred of Rievaulx, De genealogia regum Anglorum ("On the Genealogy of the English Kings"), ed. R.
Twysden, De genealogia regum Anglorum. Rerum Anglicarum scriptores 10. London, 1652. 1.347–70.
Patrologia Latina 195 (711–38) edition available from Documenta Catholica; tr. M. L. Dutton and J. P.
Freeland, Aelred of Rievaulx, The Historical Works. Kalamazoo, 2005.
Anglo-Saxon charters
S 1511 (possibly AD 980 x 987)
S 1497 (c. AD 990 x 1001)
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ed. D. Dumville and S. Keynes, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: a collaborative
edition. 8 vols. Cambridge, 1983
Tr. Michael J. Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. 2nd ed. London, 2000.
John of Worcester, Chronicon ex Chronicis, ed. Benjamin Thorpe, Florentii Wigorniensis monachi
chronicon ex chronicis. 2 vols. London, 1848–49
Tr. J. Stevenson, Church Historians of England. 8 vols.: vol. 2.1. London, 1855; pp. 171–372.
Sulcard of Westminster, Prologus de construccione Westmonasterii, ed. B. W. Scholz, “Sulcard of
Westminster. Prologus de construccione Westmonasterii.” Traditio; 20 (1964); pp. 59–91.
William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum, ed. and tr. R. A. B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson and M.
Winterbottom, William of Malmesbury. Gesta Regum Anglorum: The History of the English Kings.
(Oxford Medieval Texts.) 2 vols.; vol 1. Oxford, 1998.
Secondary sources
Fryde, E. et al. Handbook of British Chronology. 3d ed. Cambridge, 1996.
1. Sulcard of Winchester, Prologus de construccione
Westmonasterii, ed. Scholz, pp. 74, 89; Williams,
Æthelred the Unready, p. 169, note 30.
2. John of Worcester, Chronicon ex Chronicis (West-
Saxon regnal list at the end of Chronicle).
3. '[...] cum jam de filia Torethi nobilissimi comitis filium
suscepisset Edmundum.'--Ailred of Rievaulx,
Genealogia regum Anglorum.
4. Keynes, “Æthelred.”
5. This possibility is raised, for instance, by Stafford,
Queen Emma, p. 66 and 66 note 3. It is also
considered, but subsequently rejected by Williams,
Æthelred the Unready, p. 25.
6. Williams, Æthelred the Unready, p. 25; Keynes,
“Æthelred”; Handbook of British Chronology, p. 27.
7. His name is only attested for an ealdorman d(ux) on the
witness lists for two spurious royal charters relating to
grants in Tavistock and Exeter. S 838 (AD 981) (http://
www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+83
8) and S 954 (AD 1019) (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/
hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+954). The latter
subscription may be an error forÆ thelweard; see
Williams, Æthelred the Unready. p. 169 note 29.
8. Williams, Æthelred the Unready, p. 24.
8. Williams, Æthelred the Unready, p. 24.
9. Williams, Æthelred the Unready, p. 24-5.
10. Keynes, “Æthelred”; Williams, Æthelred the Unready,
p. 25.
11. S 876 (AD 993), S 891 (AD 997), S 899 (AD 1001).
12. Keynes, “Æthelred”
13. Stafford, The Reign of Æthelred II.34-5.
14. John of Worcester, Chronicon, AD 1009.
15. De Obsessione Dunelmi § 2; Handbook of British
Chronology, p. 27.
16. Handbook of British Chronology, p. 27.
17. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS E) 1048; Handbook of
British Chronology, p. 27.
18. Ryan Lavelle, Aethelred II: King of the English, The
History Press, 2008, p. 56
19. S 1511 (975 or 980 x 987).
20. S 1497 (c. AD 990x 1001).
21. It has been suggested that she died in giving birth.
Trow, Cnut: Emperor of the North, p. 54.
Keynes, Simon. “Æthelred II (c.966x8–1016).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford
University Press, 200.4 Accessed 1 Sept 2007.
Stafford, Pauline. "The Reign of Æthelred II. A Study in the Limitations on Royal Policy and Action." In
Ethelred the Unready. Papers from the Millenary Conference, ed. D. Hill. BAR British series 59. Oxford,
1978. 15-46.
Stafford, Pauline. Queen Emma and Queen Edith: Queenship and Women’s Power in Eleventh-Century
England. Oxford, 1997.
Trow, M.J. Cnut: Emperor of the North. Sutton, 2005.
Williams, Ann. Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King. London, 2003.
External links
Ælfgifu 17 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Preceded by
Ælfthryth
Queen Consort of England
980s–1002
Succeeded by
Emma of
Normandy
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ælfgifu_of_York&oldid=764712817"
Categories: English royal consorts 10th-century English people 11th-century English people
10th-century women 11th-century women Anglo-Saxon royal consorts House of Wessex
This page was last edited on 10 February 2017, at 14:37.
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trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: King of England
• Nickname: The Peaceable
• FSID: 9QDN-T2K

Notes:

Edgar
A contemporary portrayal of King Edgar in the New
Minster Charter.
King of the English
Reign 1 October 959 – 8 July 975
Predecessor Eadwig
Successor Edward
Born 943/944
Died 8 July 975 (aged 31/32)
Winchester, Hampshire
Burial Glastonbury Abbey
Spouse Æthelflæd[1]
Wulfthryth[1]
Ælfthryth
Issue Edward, King of England
Eadgyth[1]
Edmund[2]
Æthelred, King of England
House Wessex
Father Edmund, King of England
Mother Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Religion Roman Catholic
Edgar the Peaceful
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edgar I (Old English: Ēadgār; c. 943—8 July 975), known as Edgar the Peaceful or the Peaceable,
was King of England from 959 to 975. He was the younger son of King Edmund I and his Queen,
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury.
Contents
1 Accession
2 Government
3 Benedictine reform
4 Dead Man's Plack
5 Coronation at Bath
6 Death
7 Appearance
8 Ancestry
9 See also
10 Notes
11 Further reading
12 External links
Accession
Edgar was the son of Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury. Upon the death of King Edmund in 946,
Edgar's uncle, Eadred, ruled until 955. Eadred was succeeded by his nephew, Eadwig, the son of
Edmund and Edgar's older brother.
Eadwig was not a popular king, and his reign was marked by conflict with nobles and the Church,
primarily St Dunstan and Archbishop Oda. In 957, the thanes of Mercia and Northumbria changed
their allegiance to Edgar.[3] A conclave of nobles declared Edgar as king of the territory north of the
Thames.[4] Edgar became King of England upon Eadwig's death in October 959, aged just 16
Government
One of Edgar's first actions was to recall Dunstan from exile and have him made Bishop of Worcester
(and subsequently Bishop of London and later, Archbishop of Canterbury). Dunstan remained Edgar's
advisor throughout his reign. While Edgar may not have been a particularly peaceable man, his reign
was peaceful. The Kingdom of England was well established, and Edgar consolidated the political
unity achieved by his predecessors. By the end of his reign, England was sufficiently unified in that it
was unlikely to regress back to a state of division among rival kingships, as it had to an extent under
the reign of Eadred. Blackstone mentions that King Edgar standardised measure throughout the
realm.[5] According to George Molyneaux, Edgar's reign, "far more than the reigns of either Alfred or
Æthelstan, was probably the most pivotal phase in the development of the institutional structures that
were fundamental to royal rule in the eleventh-century kingdom".[6]
Benedictine reform
The Monastic Reform Movement that introduced the Benedictine Rule to England's monastic communities peaked during the era of Dunstan, Æthelwold,
and Oswald (historians continue to debate the extent and significance of this movement).[7]
Dead Man's Plack
In 963, Edgar allegedly killed Earl Æthelwald, his rival in love, near present-day Longparish, Hampshire.[8] The event was commemorated by the Dead
Man's Plack, erected in 1825.[8] In 1875, Edward Augustus Freeman debunked the story as a "tissue of romance" in his book, Historic Essays;[9]
however, his arguments were rebutted by naturalist William Henry Hudson in his 1920 book Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn.[4]
Coronation at Bath
Edgar was crowned at Bath and along with his wife Ælfthryth was anointed, setting a precedent for a coronation of a queen in England itself.[10] Edgar's
coronation did not happen until 973, in an imperial ceremony planned not as the initiation, but as the culmination of his reign (a move that must have
taken a great deal of preliminary diplomacy). This service, devised by Dunstan himself and celebrated with a poem in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, forms
the basis of the present-day British coronation ceremony.
The symbolic coronation was an important step; other kings of Britain came and gave their allegiance to Edgar shortly afterwards at Chester. Six kings in
Britain, including the King of Scots and the King of Strathclyde, pledged their faith that they would be the king's liege-men on sea and land. Later
chroniclers made the kings into eight, all plying the oars of Edgar's state barge on the River Dee.[11] Such embellishments may not be factual, and what
A coin of Edgar, struck in
Winchcombe (c. 973-75).
actually happened is unclear.[12]
Death
Edgar died on 8 July 975 at Winchester, Hampshire. He left behind Edward, who was probably his illegitimate son
by Æthelflæd (not to be confused with the Lady of the Mercians), and Æthelred, the younger, the child of his wife
Ælfthryth. He was succeeded by Edward. Edgar also had a possibly illegitimate daughter by Wulfthryth, who later
became abbess of Wilton. She was joined there by her daughter, Edith of Wilton, who lived there as a nun until her
death. Both women were later regarded as saints.[13][14]
Some see Edgar's death as the beginning of the end of Anglo-Saxon England, followed as it was by three successful
11th century conquests — two Danish and one Norman.
Appearance
"[H]e was extremely small both in stature and bulk..."[15]
Ancestry
Ancestors of Edgar the Peaceful
16. Æthelwulf of Wessex
8. Alfred the Great
17. Osburga
4. Edward the Elder
18. Æthelred Mucel
9. Ealhswith
19. Eadburh
2. Edmund I of England
10. Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent
5. Eadgifu of Kent
1. Edgar
3. Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
7. Wynflaed
See also
House of Wessex family tree
Notes
1. Pauline Stafford, Queen Emma & Queen Edith, Blackwell 2001, pp. 324-325
2. Stafford, op. cit., p. 91
3. "Edgar the Peaceful (c943 - 975) - King of England", BBC, January 13, 200 (5http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/%C3%A2%C3%AF%C2%BF%C2%BD%C
3%AF%C2%BF%C2BDplain/A2982387)
4. Hudson, William Henry (1920). Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19691/19691-h/19691-h.htm).
5. Blackstone, "Of the King's Prerogative" Bk. 1, Ch. 7 (http://www.lonang.com/exlibris/blackstone/bla-107.htm)
6. Molyneaux, George (2015). The Formation of the English Kingdom in the eTnth Century. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 193I. SBN 978-0-19-871791-1.
7. Lehmberg, Stanford (2013). A History of the Peoples of the British Isles: Form Prehistoric Times to 1688. Routledge. p. 29. ISBN 1134415281.
8. "Deadman's Plack Monument - Longparish - Hampshire - England ("http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-139701-deadman-s-plack-monument-longparhis).
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
9. Freeman, Edward Augustus (1875).H istoric Essays (https://archive.org/details/historicalessays00free.) MacMillan & Co. pp. 10–25.
10. Honeycutt, Lois (2003). Matilda of Scotland: a Study in Medieval Queenship. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. p. 35.
11. Huscroft, R (2013). The Norman Conquest: A New Introduction. Routledge. p. 21. ISBN 1317866274.
12. Scragg, D. G. (2008), Edgar, King of the English, 959-975: New Interpertations, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, p. 121,I SBN 1843833999, "Precisely what happened at
Chester has been irretrievably obscured by the embellishments of twelfth-century historia"ns
Wikisource has original
works written by or about:
Edgar of England
13. Yorke, Barbara (2004). "Wulfthryth (St Wulfthryth) (d. c.1000), abbess of Wilton" (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/49423/?back=,8463,49423,8482,49423,848
2). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49423 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F49423) . Retrieved
17 November 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership (https://global.oup.com/oxforddnb/info/freeodnb/libraries/) required)
14. Williams, Ann (2004). "Edgar (called Edgar Pacificus) (943/4–975) "(http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8463?docPos=1.) Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8463 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F8463). Retrieved 16 May 2012.(subscription or UK public
library membership (https://global.oup.com/oxforddnb/info/freeodnb/libraries/) required)
15. From the Gesta Regum Anglorum of William of Malmesbury (c.1080–1143)
Further reading
Scragg, Donald (ed.). Edgar, King of the English, 959–975: New Interpretations. Publications of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies.
Manchester: Boydell Press, 2008. ISBN 1-84383-399-9. Contents (external link).
Keynes, Simon. "England, c. 900–1016." In The New Cambridge Medieval History III. c.900–c.1024, ed. Timothy Reuter. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1999. 456-84.
Sobecki, Sebastian. "Edgar's Archipelago." In The Sea and Englishness in the Middle Ages: Maritime Narratives, Identity and Culture, ed.
Sobecki. Cambridge: Brewer, 2011. 1-30.
External links
Edgar 11 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Medieval Sourcebook: Anglo-Saxon Dooms: laws of King Edgar, a fragment
Edgar the Peaceful at Find a Grave
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Eadwig
King of the English
959–975
Succeeded by
Edward the
Martyr
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edgar_the_Peaceful&oldid=784565550"
Categories: Monarchs of England before 1066 940s births 975 deaths Burials at Glastonbury Abbey Roman Catholic royal saints
10th-century English monarchs Christian monarchs House of Wessex Mercian monarchs
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Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Edgar married of England, Ælfthryth in 964 in Kingdom of Wessex (England). Ælfthryth (daughter of of Devon, Ordgar) was born in 947 in Devon, England; died on 17 Nov 1000 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Queen
• Nickname: Æfrida
• FSID: M1Y1-FXK
• Alternate Death: 17 Nov 1001

Notes:

Ælfthryth
Queen consort of England
Tenure 964/965 – 8 July 975
Coronation 11 May 973
Born c. 945
Died 17 November 1000 or 1001
Spouse Æthelwald, Ealdorman of East Anglia
Edgar, King of England
Issue by Edgar:
Edmund of England
Æthelred, King of England
Father Ordgar, Ealdorman of Devon
Ælfthryth, wife of Edgar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ælfthryth (c. 945 – 1000 or 1001, also Alfrida, Elfrida or Elfthryth) was an English queen, the second or third wife of King Edgar of England. Ælfthryth was the first king's wife known to have been crowned and anointed as Queen of the Kingdom of England. Mother of King Æthelred the Unready, she was a powerful political figure. She was possibly linked to the murder of her stepson King Edward the Martyr and appeared as a stereotypical bad queen and evil stepmother in many medieval histories.

Early life
Ælfthryth was the daughter of Ealdorman Ordgar. Her mother was a member of the royal family of Wessex.The family's power lay in the west of Wessex. Ordgar was buried in Exeter and his son Ordwulf founded, or refounded, Tavistock Abbey.[1]

Ælfthryth was first married to Æthelwald, son of Æthelstan Half-King as recorded by Byrhtferth of Ramsey in his Life of Saint Oswald of Worcester.[2] Later accounts, such as that preserved by William of Malmesbury, add vivid detail of unknown reliability.

According to William, the beauty of Ordgar's daughter Ælfthryth was reported to King Edgar. Edgar, looking for a Queen, sent Æthewald to see Ælfthryth, ordering him "to offer her marriage [to Edgar] if her beauty were really equal to report." When she turned out to be just as beautiful as was said, Æthelwald married her himself and reported back to Edgar that she was quite unsuitable. Edgar was eventually told of this, and decided to repay Æthelwald's betrayal in like manner. He said that he would visit the poor woman, which alarmed Æthelwald. He asked Ælfthryth to make herself as unattractive as possible for the king's visit, but she did the opposite. Edgar, quite besotted with her, killed Æthelwald during a hunt.[3]

The historical record does not record the year of Æthelwald's death, let alone its manner. No children of Æthelwald and Ælfthryth are known.

Edgar's queen
Edgar had two children before he married Ælfthryth, both of uncertain legitimacy. Edward was probably the son of Æthelflæd, and Eadgifu, later known as Saint Edith of Wilton, was the daughter of Wulfthryth.[4] Sound political reasons encouraged the match between Edgar, whose power base was centred in Mercia, and Edward the Martyr is offered a cup of mead by Ælfthryth, wife of Edgar, unaware that her attendant is about to murder him.

Ælfthryth, whose family were powerful in Wessex. In addition to this, and her link with the family of Æthelstan Half-King, Ælfthryth also appears to have been connected to the family of Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia.[5] Edgar married Ælfthryth in either 964 or 965. In 966 Ælfthryth gave birth to a son who was named Edmund. In King Edgar's charter (S 745) regranting privileges to New Minster, Winchester that same year, the infant Edmund is called "clito legitimus" (legitimate ætheling), and appears before Edward in the list of witnesses. Edmund died young, circa 970, but in 968 Ælfthryth had given birth to a second son who was called Æthelred.[6]

King Edgar organised a second coronation on 11 May 973 at Bath, perhaps to bolster his claim to be ruler of all of Britain. Here Ælfthryth was also crowned and anointed, granting her a status higher than any recent queen.[7] The only model of a queen's coronation was that of Judith of Flanders, but this had taken place outside England. In the new rite, the emphasis lay on her role as protector of religion and the nunneries in the realm. She took a close interest in the well-being of several abbeys, and as overseer of Barking Abbey she deposed and later reinstated the abbess.[8]

Ælfthryth played a large role as forespeca, or advocate, in at least seven legal cases. As such, she formed a key part of the Anglo-Saxon legal system as a mediator between the individual and the crown, which was increasingly viewing its role in the courts as a symbol of its authority as protector of its subjects. Ælfthryth's actions as forespeca were largely for the benefit of female litigants, and her role as a mediator shows the possibilities for women to have legal and political power in late Anglo-Saxon England.[9]

Queen dowager
Edgar died in 975 leaving two young sons, Edward and Æthelred. Edward was almost an adult, and his successful claim for the throne was supported by many key figures including Archbishops Dunstan and Oswald and the brother of Ælfthryth's first husband, Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia. Supporting the unsuccessful claim of Æthelred were his mother, the Queen dowager, Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester, and Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia.[10]

On 18 March 978, while visiting Ælfthryth at Corfe Castle, King Edward was killed by servants of the Queen, leaving the way clear for
Æthelred to be installed as king. Edward was soon considered a martyr, and later medieval accounts blamed Ælfthryth for his murder. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, King Edward was murdered at Corfe Castle in 978. As the king developed into a cult figure, a body of literature grew up around his murder, at first implying and then accusing his step-mother, Queen Aelfthryth, of being responsible. The 12th century monastic chronicle the Liber Eliensis went so far as to accuse her of being a witch, claiming that she had murdered not only the king, but also Abbot Brihtnoth of Ely.[11]

Due to Æthelred's youth, Ælfthryth served as regent for her son until his coming of age in 984. By then her earlier allies Æthelwold and Ælfhere had died, and Æthelred rebelled against his old advisers, preferring a group of younger nobility. She disappears from the list of charter witnesses from around 983 to 993, when she reappears in a lower position. She remained an important figure, being responsible for the care of Æthelred's children by his first wife, Ælfgifu. Æthelred's eldest son, Æthelstan Ætheling, prayed for the soul of the grandmother "who brought me up" in his will in 1014.[12]

Although her reputation was damaged by the murder of her stepson, Ælfthryth was a religious woman, taking an especial interest in monastic reform when Queen. In about 986 she founded Wherwell Abbey as a Benedictine nunnery, and late in life she retired there.[13] Antonia Gransden comments: "In their patronage of the monks both Cnut and Edward the Confessor were supported by their queens, Emma and Edith, who were worthy successors of Edgar's queen, Ælfthryth, as patronesses of the religious."[14] She died at Wherwell on 17 November 999, 1000 or 1001.[13]

References
Gransden, Antonia (1992). Legends, Traditions and History in Medieval England. London, UK: The Hambledon Press.
ISBN 1 85285 016 7.
Higham, Nick, The Death of Anglo-Saxon England .Stroud: Sutton, 1997.I SBN 0-7509-2469-1
Miller, Sean, "Edgar" in Michael Lapidge (ed.),T he Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England O. xford:
Blackwell, 1999. ISBN 0-631-22492-0
Lavelle, Ryan, Aethelred II: King of the English. Stroud: The History Press, 2008.I SBN 978-0-7524-4678-3
Stafford, Pauline, "Ælfthryth" in Michael Lapidge (ed.)T, he Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England O. xford:
Blackwell, 1999. ISBN 0-631-22492-0
Stafford, Pauline, Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in thee Tnth and Eleventh
Centuries. London: Edward Arnold, 1989.I SBN 0-7131-6532-4
William of Malmesbury. Joseph Stevenson, ed. Malmesbury's History of the Kings. The Church Historians of England,
volume 3, part 1. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
External links
Ælfthryth 8 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Preceded by
Ælfgifu, wife of Eadwig
Queen Consort of England
965–975
Succeeded by
Ælfgifu of York
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ælfthryth,_wife_of_Edgar&oldid=782074266"
Categories: English royal consorts 1000 deaths 10th-century births 10th-century English people
10th-century women Anglo-Saxon royal consorts Anglo-Saxon nuns House of Wessex
1. Stafford, Unification, pp. 52–53.
2. PASE; Stafford, Unification, pp. 52–53.
3. Malmesbury, pp. 139–140 (Book 2, § 139.
4. Cyril Hart, Edward the Martyr, Oxford Online DNB, 2004 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8515/?back=,8463)
5. Higham, pp. 6–7; Stafford, Unification, pp. 52–53.
6. Higham, pp. 6–7; Miller, "Edgar"; Stafford, "Ælfthryth".
7. Miller, "Edgar"; Stafford, "Ælfthryth".
8. Honeycutt, Lois (2003). Matilda of Scotland: a Study in Medieval Queenship. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. pp. 36–
37.
9. Rabin, Andrew. "Female Advocacy and Royal Protection in Tenth-Century England: The Legal Career of Queen
Ælfthryth." Speculum 84 (2009): 261-288.
10. Higham, pp. 7–14; Stafford, Unification, pp. 57–59.
11. *Davies, Anthony (1989). "Witches in Anglo-Saxon England: Five Case Histories"S. uperstition and Popular Medicine
in Anglo-Saxon England (ed: D.G. Scragg). Manchester: Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies: 48.
12. Higham, pp. 7–14; Stafford, "Ælfthryth"; Stafford, Unification, pp. 57–59, Lavelle, pp. 86–90
13. Stafford, "Ælfthryth"
14. Gransden, Legends, p. 58
This page was last edited on 24 May 2017, at 20:06.
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apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered
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Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Ealdorman of York

Notes:

Thored
Ealdorman of York
Reign c. 964/974x979–992x994
Predecessor Oslac (?)
Successor Ælfhelm
Born unknown
unknown
Died 992x994 (?)
Burial unknown
Issue Ælfgifu (died 1002)
Æthelstan (died 1010)
Father Gunnar (probable)/
Oslac (potential)
Mother unknown
Thored
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thored (Old English: Ðoreð or Þoreð; fl. 979–992) was a
10th-century ealdorman of York, ruler of the southern half of
the old Kingdom of Northumbria on behalf of the king of
England. He was the son of either Gunnar or Oslac, northern
ealdormen. If he was the former, he may have attained
adulthood by the 960s, when a man of his name raided
Westmorland. Other potential appearances in the records are
likewise uncertain until 979, the point from which Thored's
period as ealdorman can be accurately dated.
Although historians differ in their opinions about his
relationship, if any, to Kings Edgar the Peaceable and
Edward the Martyr, it is generally thought that he enjoyed a
good relationship with King Æthelred II. His daughter
Ælfgifu married Æthelred. Thored was ealdorman in
Northumbria for much of his reign, disappearing from the
sources in 992 after being appointed by Æthelred to lead an
expedition against the Vikings.
Contents
1 Origins
2 Ealdorman
3 Death
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
Origins
Thored appears to have been of at least partially Scandinavian origin, suggested by the title applied to him in
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 992. Here, the ealdorman of Hampshire is called by the English title
"ealdorman", while Thored himself is styled by the Scandinavian word eorl (i.e. Earl).[1]
Two accounts of Thored's origins have been offered by modern historians. The first is that he was a son of
Oslac, ealdorman of York from 966 until his exile in 975.[2] This argument is partly based on the assertion by
the Historia Eliensis, that Oslac had a son named Thorth (i.e. "Thored").[3] The other suggestion, favoured by
most historians, is that he was the son of a man named Gunnar.[4] This Gunnar is known to have held land in
the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire.[5]
If the latter suggestion is correct, then Thored's first appearance in history is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
recension D (EF)'s entry for 966, which recorded the accession of Oslac to the ealdormanry of southern
Northumbria:
The area shaded under "Jorvik"
(York), probably corresponds very
roughly with Thored's territory of
southern Northumbria; it should be
noted that the Danelaw as a territory
is a modern construct, though
Yorkshire was in the area where Dena
lagu ("Scandinavian law") was
practised
O: Draped bust of
Æthelred II left.
+ÆĐELRED REX
ANGLOR
R: Long cross.
+EADǷOLD MO CÆNT
'LonCross' penny of Æthelred II , moneyer Eadwold,
Canterbury, c. 997-1003. The cross made cutting the
coin into half-pennies or farthings (quarter-pennies)
easier. (Note spelling Eadƿold in inscription, using
Anglo-Saxon letter wynn in place of modern w.)
In this year, Thored, Gunnar's son, harried Westmoringa
land, and, in this same year, Oslac succeeded to the office
of ealdorman.[6]
The Anglo-Saxon scholar Frank Stenton believed that this was an act of
regional faction-fighting, rather than, as had been suggested by others,
Thored carrying out the orders of King Edgar the Peaceable.[7] This
entry is, incidentally, the first mention of Westmoringa land, that is,
Westmorland.[7] Gunnar seems to have been ealdorman earlier in the
decade, for in one charter (surviving only in a later cartulary) dated to
963 and three Abingdon charters dated to 965, an ealdorman (dux)
called Gunnar is mentioned.[8]
Thored may be the Thored who appears for the first time in charter
attestations during the reign of King Edgar (959–75), his earliest
possible appearance being in 964, witnessing a grant of land in Kent by
King Edgar to St Peter's, Ghent. This is uncertain because the
authenticity of this particular charter is unclear.[9] A charter issued by
Edgar in 966, granting land in Oxfordshire to a woman named Ælfgifu,
has an illegible ealdorman witness signature beginning with Þ, which may be Thored.[10]
Ealdorman
Thored's governorship as ealdorman, based on charter
attestations, cannot be securely dated before 979.[11] He did
attest royal charters during the reign of Æthelred II, the first
in 979,[12] six in 983,[13] one in 984,[14] three in 985,[15] one
in 988,[16] appearing in such attestations for the last time in
989.[12] It is possible that such appearances represent more
than one Thored, though that is not a generally accepted
theory.[17] His definite predecessor, Oslac, was expelled
from England in 975.[18] The historian Richard Fletcher
thought that Oslac's downfall may have been the result of
opposing the succession of Edward the Martyr, enemy and
brother of Æthelred II.[19] What is known about Thored's
time as ealdorman is that he did not have a good relationship
with Oswald, Archbishop of York (971–92). In a
memorandum written by Oswald, a group of estates
belonging to the archdiocese of York was listed, and Oswald
noted that "I held them all until Thored came to power; then
was St Peter [to whom York was dedicated] robbed".[20] One of the estates allegedly lost was Newbald, an
estate given by King Edgar to a man named Gunnar, suggesting to historian Dorothy Whitelock that Thored
may just have been reclaiming land "wrongly alienated from his family".[21]
His relationship with King Edgar is unclear, particularly given the uncertainty of Thored's paternity, Oslac
being banished from England in 975, the year of Edgar's death.[2] Richard Fletcher, who thought Thored was
the son of Gunnar, argued that Thored's raid on Westmorland was caused by resentment derived from losing out
Modern imaginative depiction of the
ship of Óláfr Tryggvason, the "Long
Serpent" (Illustration by Halfan
Egedius)
on the ealdormanry to Oslac, and that Edgar thereafter confiscated various territories as punishment.[5] The
evidence for this is that Newbald, granted by Edgar to Gunnar circa 963, was bought by Archbishop Osketel
from the king sometime before 971, implying that the king had seized the land.[5]
Thored's relationship with the English monarchy under Æthelred II seems to have been good. Ælfgifu, the first
wife of King Æthelred II, was probably Thored's daughter.[22] Evidence for this is that in the 1150s Ailred of
Rievaulx in his De genealogia regum Anglorum wrote that the wife of Æthelred II was the daughter of an
ealdorman (comes) called Thored (Thorth).[23] Historian Pauline Stafford argued that this marriage was
evidence that Thored had been a local rather than royal appointment to the ealdormanry of York, and that
Æthelred II's marriage was an attempt to woo Thored.[24] Stafford was supported in this argument by Richard
Fletcher.[25]
Death
The date of Thored's death is uncertain, but his last historical
appearance came in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, recension C (D, E),
under the year 992, which reported the death of Archbishop Oswald and
an expedition against a marauding Scandinavian fleet:
In this year the holy Archbishop Oswald left this life and
attained the heavenly life, and Ealdorman Æthelwine [of
East Anglia] died in the same year. Then the king and all
his counsellors decreed that all the ships that were any use
should be assembled at London. And the king then
entrusted the expedition to the leadership of Ealdorman
Ælfric (of Hampshire), Earl Thored and Bishop Ælfstan
[.of London or of Rochester.] and Bishop Æscwig [of
Dorchester], and they were to try if they could entrap the
Danish army anywhere at sea. Then Ealdorman Ælfric sent
someone to warn the enemy, and then in the night before
the day on which they were to have joined battle, he
absconded by night from the army, to his own disgrace, and
then the enemy escaped, except that the crew of one ship
was slain. And then the Danish army encountered the ships
from East Anglia and from London, and they made a great
slaughter there and captured the ship, all armed and
equipped, on which the ealdorman was.[26]
Scandinavians led by Óláfr Tryggvason had been raiding England's coast since the previous year, when they
killed Ealdorman Brihtnoth of Essex at the Battle of Maldon.[27]
Historians think that Thored was either killed fighting these Scandinavians, or else survived, but became
disgraced through defeat or treachery.[28] Fletcher speculated that Thored was removed from office and
replaced by the Mercian Ælfhelm as a result of his failure against the Scandinavians.[29] Another historian,
William Kapelle, believed Thored was removed because of his Scandinavian descent, an argument based on the
Worcester Chronicle's claim, added to the text borrowed from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, that Fræna, Godwine
and Frythegyst fled a battle against the Danes in the following year because "they were Danish on their father's
side".[30]
A man named Æthelstan who died at the Battle of Ringmere in 1010, "the king's aþum", was probably Thored's
son.[31] The term aþum means either "son-in-law" or "brother-in-law", so this Æthelstan could also have been
Thored's grandson by an unknown intermediary.[32] Thored's immediate successor was Ælfhelm, who appears
witnessing charters as ealdorman from 994.[33]
Notes
1. Whitelock, "Dealings of the Kings", p. 79; entry
quoted below
2. ASC MS D (http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/d/d-L.html), E (htt
p://asc.jebbo.co.uk/e/e-L.html), retrieved 2009-03-26,
s.a. 966, 975; Oslac 7 (http://pase.ac.uk/jsp/DisplayPer
son.jsp?personKey=7707), Prosopography of Anglo-
Saxon England (PASE), retrieved 2009-03-26;
Williams, Smyth and Kirby, Biographical Dictionary,
s.v. "Oslac ealdorman 963–75", p. 194, s.v. "Thored
ealdorman 979–92", p. 223
3. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, pp. 70–1; Whitelock, "Dealings of
the Kings", pp. 77–8
4. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 71; Stenton, "Pre-Conquest
Westmorland", p. 218; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 211
5. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 71
6. ASC MS D (http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/d/d-L.html),
retrieved 2009-03-26, s.a. 966; Stenton, "Pre-Conquest
Westmorland", p. 218; Whitelock,E nglish Historical
Documents, vol. i, p. 227
7. Stenton, "Pre-Conquest Westmorland", p. 218
8. Whitelock, "Dealings of the Kings", p. 78
9. Sawyer 728 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+728), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved
2009-03-26
10. Sawyer 738 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+738), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved
2009-03-26; Keynes, Atlas of Attestations, Table LVI
(2 of 3)
11. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 70
12. Sawyer 834 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+834), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved
2009-03-26
13. Sawyer 848 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+848); Sawyer 846 (http://www.anglo-sa
xons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+846;) Sawyer 844
(http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=
S+844); Sawyer 851 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwa
et/?do=seek&query=S+851); Sawyer 843 (http://www.
anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+843;)
Sawyer 845 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+845), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved
2009-03-26
14. Sawyer 855 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+855), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved
2009-03-26
15. Sawyer 856 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+856); Sawyer 858 (http://www.anglo-sa
xons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+858;) Sawyer 860
(http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=
S+860), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved 2009-03-26
16. Sawyer 872 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
16. Sawyer 872 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+872), Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved
2009-03-26
17. Thored 4 (http://pase.ac.uk/jsp/DisplayPerson.jsp?pers
onKey=7822), Thored 5 (http://pase.ac.uk/jsp/Display
Person.jsp?personKey=12627), Thored 6 (http://pase.a
c.uk/jsp/DisplayPerson.jsp?personKey=1845) and
Thored 7 (http://pase.ac.uk/jsp/DisplayPerson.jsp?pers
onKey=15414), PASE, retrieved 2009-03-26; compare
Keynes, Atlas of Attestations, Tables LVI and LXII
18. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 44; see also William, Smyth &
Kirby, Biographical Dictionary, s.v. "Oslac, ealdorman
963–75", p. 194; Whitelock, Historical Documents,
vol. i, p. 229
19. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 45
20. Whitelock, "Dealings of the Kings", p. 79
21. Whitelock, "Dealings of the Kings", p. 79. n. 6
22. Williams, Smyth and Kirby, Biographical Dictionary,
s.v. "Thored ealdorman 979–92", p. 223
23. Keynes, "Æthelred II"; Whitelock, "Dealings of the
Kings", p. 80
24. Stafford, Unification and Conquest, pp. 57–8
25. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 72
26. Whitelock (ed.), English Historical Documents, vol. i,
p. 234; ASC MS C (http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/c/c-L.html),
D (http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/d/d-L.html), E (http://asc.jebb
o.co.uk/e/e-L.html), retrieved 2009-03-26, s.a. 992
27. Whitelock (ed.), English Historical Documents, vol. i,
p. 234; ASC MS A (http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/a/a-L.html),
which gives Óláfr's name as the leader; alsoM S C (htt
p://asc.jebbo.co.uk/c/c-L.html), D (http://asc.jebbo.co.u
k/d/d-L.html), E (http://asc.jebbo.co.uk/e/e-L.html),
retrieved 2009-03-26, s.a. 991
28. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, p. 72; Kapelle, Norman Conquest,
pp. 14–5; Stafford, Unification and Conquest, p. 60;
Whitelock, "Dealings of the Kings", p. 80
29. Fletcher, Bloodfeud, pp. 72–3
30. Darlington and McGurk, Chronicle of John of
Worcester, vol. ii, pp. 442, 443; Kapelle,N orman
Conquest, p. 15
31. Suggested in Williams, Smyth and Kirby, Biographical
Dictionary, s.v. "Thored ealdorman 979–92", p. 223
32. Whitelock (ed.), English Historical Documents, vol. i,
p. 243, n. 4
33. Sawyer 880 (http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=s
eek&query=S+880); Sawyer 881 (http://www.anglo-sa
xons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+881,) Anglo-
Saxons.net, retrieved 2009-03-22; Keynes, Atlas of
Attestations, Table LXII (1 of 2)
References
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: An edition with TEI P4 markup, expressed in XML and translated to XHTML1.1 using
XSL, Tony Jebson, 2007, retrieved 2009-03-26
Fletcher, Richard (2003), Bloodfeud: Murder and Revenge in Anglo-Saxon England, London: Penguin Books, ISBN 0-
14-028692-6
Kapelle, William E. (1979), The Norman Conquest of the North: The Region and Its rTansformation, 1000–1135,
London: Croom Helm Ltd, ISBN 0-7099-0040-6
Keynes, Simon (2002), An Atlas of Attestations in Anglo-Saxon Charters, c. 670–106,6 ASNC Guides, Texts, and
Studies, 5, Cambridge: Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Studies, University of CambridgIeS,B N 0-
9532697-6-0, ISSN 1475-8520
Miller, Sean, New Regesta Regum Anglorum, Anglo-Saxons.net, retrieved 2009-03-26
Stafford, Pauline (1989), Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in thee Tnth and Eleventh
Centuries, London: Edward Arnold, ISBN 0-7131-6532-4
Stenton, Frank (1970), "Preconquest Westmorland", in Stenton, Dorothy Mary, Preparatory to 'Anglo-Saxon England':
Being the Collected Papers of Frank Merry Stento,n Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 214–23,I SBN 0-19-822314-5,
reprinted from Royal Commission on Historical Monuments: Westmorland, 1936, pp. xlviii–lv
Whitelock, Dorothy (1959), "The Dealings of the Kings of England with Northumbria", in Clemoes, Pet,e Trhe Anglo-
Saxons: Studies in some Aspects of their History and Cultuer presented to Bruce Dickins, London: Bowes & Bowes,
pp. 707–88
Whitelock, Dorothy, ed. (1979), English Historical Documents. [Vol.1], c.500–1042, London: Eyre and Spottiswoode,
ISBN 0-19-520101-9
Williams, Ann; Smyth, Alfred P.; Kirby, D. P. (1991), A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain: England,
Scotland and Wales, c.500–c.1050, London: Seaby, ISBN 1-85264-047-2
Woolf, Alex (2007), From Pictland to Alba, 789–1070, The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-1234-5
External links
Thored 7 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England; see also Thored 4, Thored 5, Thored 6
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Oslac (?)
Ealdorman of York
x 979–992 x 994
Succeeded by
Ælfhelm
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thored&oldid=783502675"
Categories: 990s deaths Earls and ealdormen of York
This page was last edited on 2 June 2017, at 18:44.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Nickname: The Magnificent
• FSID: LCTX-4Q3
• Appointments / Titles: Between 27 Oct 939 and 26 May 946; King of England

Notes:

Edmund

King of the English
Tenure 27 October 939 – 26 May 946
Coronation c. 29 November 939 probably at Kingston upon Thames[1]
Predecessor Æthelstan
Successor Eadred
Born 921 Wessex, England
Died 26 May 946 (aged 24–25) Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire, England
Burial Glastonbury Abbey
Spouse Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Æthelflæd of Damerham
Issue Eadwig, King of England
Edgar, King of England
House Wessex
Father Edward, King of Wessex
Mother Eadgifu of Kent
Religion Roman Catholic
Edmund I
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edmund I (Old English: Ēadmund, pronounced [æːɑdmund]; 921 – 26 May
946), called the Elder, the Deed-doer, the Just, or the Magnificent, was King
of the English from 939 until his death. He was a son of Edward the Elder
and half-brother of Æthelstan. Æthelstan died on 27 October 939, and
Edmund succeeded him as king.
Contents
1 Early life and Military threats
2 Louis IV of France
3 Death and succession
4 Ancestry
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links
Early life and Military threats
Edmund came to the throne as the son of Edward the Elder,[2] and therefore
the grandson of Alfred the Great, great-grandson of Æthelwulf of Wessex
and great-great grandson of Egbert of Wessex, who was the first of the house
of Wessex to start dominating the Anglo Saxon realms. However, being born
when his father was already a middle aged man, Edward lost his father when
he was a toddler, in 924, which saw his 30 year old half brother Athelstan
come to the throne. Edmund would grow up in the reign of Athelstan, even
participating in the Battle of Brunanburgh in his adolescence in 937
Athelstan died in the year 939, which saw young Edmund come to the
throne. Shortly after his proclamation as king, he had to face several military
threats. King Olaf III Guthfrithson conquered Northumbria and invaded the
Midlands; when Olaf died in 942, Edmund reconquered the Midlands.[2] In
943, Edmund became the god-father of King Olaf of York. In 944, Edmund
was successful in reconquering Northumbria.[3] In the same year, his ally
Olaf of York lost his throne and left for Dublin in Ireland. Olaf became the
king of Dublin as Amlaíb Cuarán and continued to be allied to his godfather.
In 945, Edmund conquered Strathclyde but ceded the territory to
King Malcolm I of Scotland in exchange for a treaty of mutual military
support.[3] Edmund thus established a policy of safe borders and peaceful
relationships with Scotland. During his reign, the revival of monasteries in
England began.
Louis IV of France
One of Edmund's last political movements of which there is some knowledge is his role in the restoration of Louis IV of
France to the throne. Louis, son of Charles the Simple and Edmund's half-sister Eadgifu, had resided at the West-Saxon court
for some time until 936, when he returned to be crowned King of France. In the summer of 945, he was captured by the
Norsemen of Rouen and subsequently released to Duke Hugh the Great, who held him in custody. The chronicler Richerus
claims that Eadgifu wrote letters both to Edmund and to Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor in which she requested support for her
son. Edmund responded to her plea by sending angry threats to Hugh.[4] Flodoard's Annales, one of Richerus' sources, report:
Silver penny of Edmund I
Coin of King Edmund
Edmund, king of the English, sent messengers to Duke Hugh about the
restoration of King Louis, and the duke accordingly made a public
agreement with his nephews and other leading men of his kingdom. [...]
Hugh, duke of the Franks, allying himself with Hugh the Black, son of
Richard, and the other leading men of the kingdom, restored to the
kingdom King Louis.[5][6]
Death and succession
On 26 May 946, Edmund was murdered by Leofa, an exiled thief, while attending St
Augustine's Day mass in Pucklechurch (South Gloucestershire).[7] John of Worcester
and William of Malmesbury add some lively detail by suggesting that Edmund had
been feasting with his nobles, when he spotted Leofa in the crowd. He attacked
the intruder in person, but in the event, Leofa killed him. Leofa was killed on the
spot by those present.[8] A recent article re-examines Edmund's death and
dismisses the later chronicle accounts as fiction. It suggests the king was the
victim of a political assassination.[9]
Edmund's sister Eadgyth, the wife of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, died earlier
the same year, as Flodoard's Annales for 946 report.[10]
Edmund was succeeded as king by his brother Eadred, king from 946 until 955.
Edmund's sons later ruled England as:
Eadwig, King of England from 955 until 957, king of only Wessex and Kent from 957 until his death on 1 October 959.
Edgar the Peaceful, king of Mercia and Northumbria from 957 until his brother's death in 959, then king of England
from 959 until 975.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Edmund I of England
16. Egbert of Wessex
8. Æthelwulf of Wessex
17. Redburga
4. Alfred the Great
18. Oslac
9. Osburga
2. Edward the Elder
10. Æthelred Mucil
5. Ealhswith
11. Eadburh
1. Edmund I of England
6. Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent
3. Eadgifu of Kent
Diagram based on the information found on Wikipedia
See also
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Burial places of British royalty
Edmund the Just, fictional king of Narnia
Notes
1. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England, p. 514
2. Edmund I (king of England)," Edmund-I" (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/179333/ )Encyclopædia Britannica
3. David Nash Ford, Edmund the Magnificent, King of the English (AD 921-946, )Early British Kingdoms (http://www.earlybritishkingdom
s.com/adversaries/bios/edmundmag.html.)
4. Richerus, Historiae, Book 2, chapters 49–50. See MGH online (http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/bsb00000607/images/index.html?id=000006
07&fip=62.251.15.35&no=20&seite=139.)
5. Dorothy Whitelock (tr.), English Historical Documents c. 500–1042. 2nd ed. London, 1979. p. 345.
6. Edmundus, Anglorum rex, legatos ad Hugonem principem pro restitutione Ludowici regis dirigit: et idem princeps proinde conventus
publicos eumnepotibus suis aliisque regni primatibus agit. [...] Hugo, dux Francorum, ascito secum Hugo Nneigro, filio Richardi,
ceterisque regni primatibus Ludowicum regem, [...] in regnum restituit. (FlodoardA,n nales 946.)
Wikisource has original
works written by or about:
Edmund I of England
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Edmund I
of England.
7. "Here King Edmund died on St Augustines’ Day [26 May]. It was widely known how he edned his days, that Liofa stabbed him at
Pucklechurch. And Æthelflæd of Damerham, daughter of Ealdorman Ælfg,a wr as then his queen." Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS D, tr.
Michael Swanton.
8. John of Worcester, Chronicon AD 946; William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum, book 2, chapter 144. The description of the circumstances
remained a popular feature in medieval chronicles, such aHs igden's Polychronicon: "But William, libro ij° de Regibus, seyth (says) that
this kyng kepyng a feste at Pulkirchirche, in the feste of seynte Austyn, and seyng a thefe, Leof by name, sytte [th]er amonge hys gestes,
whom he hade made blynde afore for his trespasses –(q uem rex prios propter scelera eliminavera,t whom the King previously due to his
crimes did excile) – , arysede (arrested) from the table, and takenge that man by the heire of the hedde, caste him unto the grownde.
Whiche kynge was sleyn – (sed nebulonis arcano evisceratus est) – with a lyttle knyfe the [th]e man hade in his honde [hand]; and also he
hurte mony men soore with the same knyfe; neverthelesse he was kytte (cut) at the laste into smalle partes by men longyng to the kynge."
Polychronicon, 1527. See Google Books (https://books.google.com/books?id=2lQJAAAAQAAJ&q=HIGDEN)
9. K. Halloran, A Murder at Pucklechurch: The Death of King Edmund, 26 May 946. Midland Histo, rVyolume 40, Issue 1 (Spring 2015),
pp. 120-129.
10. Edmundus rex Transmarinus defungitur, uxor quoque regis Othonis, soror ipsius Edmundi, decessit. "Edmund, king across the sea, died,
and the wife of King Otto, sister of the same Edmund, died also." (.t rDorothy Whitelock, English Historical Documents c. 500–1042. 2nd
ed. London, 1979. p. 345).
References
Flodoard, Annales, ed. Philippe Lauer, Les Annales de Flodoard. Collection des textes pour servir à l'étude et à
l'enseignement de l'histoire 39. Paris: Picard, 1905.
External links
Edmund 14 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Æthelstan
King of the
English
939–946
Succeeded by
Eadred
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edmund_I&oldid=786351603"
Categories: 921 births 946 deaths Anglo-Saxon monarchs Burials at Glastonbury Abbey
10th-century murdered monarchs 10th-century English monarchs English murder victims Christian monarchs
House of Wessex Monarchs of England before 1066
This page was last edited on 18 June 2017, at 22:34.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Edmund married of Shaftesbury, Ælfgifu. Ælfgifu was born in 925 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died in 944 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); was buried in 944 in Kingdom of Wessex (England). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Fairies Gift
• Appointments / Titles: Queen
• Appointments / Titles: Saint Algifu
• Appointments / Titles: Between 939 and 944

Notes:

Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Queen consort of England
Tenure 939 - 944
Died 944
Burial Shaftesbury Abbey
Spouse Edmund I, King of England
Issue Eadwig, King of England
Edgar, King of England
Mother Wynflaed
Will of Wynflæd (British Library Cotton Charters viii. 38)[5]
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, also known as Saint Elgiva[1]
(died 944) was the first wife of Edmund I (r. 939–946), by
whom she bore two future kings, Eadwig (r. 955–959) and
Edgar (r. 959–975). Like her mother Wynflaed, she had a
close and special if unknown connection with the royal
nunnery of Shaftesbury (Dorset), founded by King Alfred,[2]
where she was buried and soon revered as a saint. According
to a pre-Conquest tradition from Winchester, her feast day is
18 May.[3][4]
Contents
1 Family background
2 Married life
3 Sainthood
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
6.1 Primary sources
6.2 Secondary sources
7 Further reading
Family background
Her mother appears to have been an associate of
Shaftesbury Abbey called Wynflaed (also
Wynnflæd). The vital clue comes from a charter of
King Edgar, in which he confirmed the grant of an
estate at Uppidelen (Piddletrenthide, Dorset) made
by his grandmother (ava) Wynflæd to
Shaftesbury.[6] She may well be the nun or vowess
(religiosa femina) of this name in a charter dated
942 and preserved in the abbey's chartulary. It
records that she received and retrieved from King
Edmund a handful of estates in Dorset, namely
Cheselbourne and Winterbourne Tomson, which somehow ended up in the possession of the community.[7]
Since no father or siblings are known, further speculation on Ælfgifu's background has largely depended on the
identity of her mother, whose relatively uncommon name has invited further guesswork. H. P. R. Finberg
suggests that she was the Wynflæd who drew up a will, supposedly sometime in the mid-10th century, after
Ælfgifu's death. This lady held many estates scattered across Wessex (in Somerset, Wiltshire, Berkshire,
Oxfordshire, and Hampshire) and was well connected with the nunneries at Wilton and Shaftesbury, both of
which were royal foundations. On that basis, a number of relatives have been proposed for Ælfgifu, including a
sister called Æthelflæd, a brother called Eadmær, and a grandmother called Brihtwyn.[8]
The remains of the Norman buildings which replaced the earlier ones at Shaftesbury
Abbey.
There is, however, no consensus among scholars about Finberg's suggestion. Simon Keynes and Gale R. Owen
object that there is no sign of royal relatives or connections in Wynflæd's will and Finberg's assumptions about
Ælfgifu's family therefore stand on shaky ground.[9] Andrew Wareham is less troubled about this and suggests
that different kinship strategies may account for it.[10] Much of the issue of identification also seems to hang on
the number of years by which Wynflæd can plausibly have outlived her daughter. In this light, it is significant
that on palaeographical grounds, David Dumville has rejected the conventional date of c. 950 for the will,
which he considers “speculative and too early” (and that one Wynflæd was still alive in 967).[11]
Married life
The sources do not record the date of Ælfgifu's marriage to Edmund. The eldest son Eadwig, who had barely
reached majority on his accession in 955, may have been born around 940, which gives us only a very rough
terminus ante quem for the betrothal. Although as the mother of two future kings, Ælfgifu proved to be an
important royal bed companion, there is no strictly contemporary evidence that she was ever consecrated as
queen. Likewise, her formal position at court appears to have been relatively insignificant, overshadowed as it
was by the queen mother Eadgifu of Kent. In the single extant document witnessed by her, a Kentish charter
datable between 942 and 944, she subscribes as the king's concubine (concubina regis), with a place assigned to
her between the bishops and ealdormen. By comparison, Eadgifu subscribes higher up in the witness list as
mater regis, after her sons Edmund and Eadred but before the archbishops and bishops.[12] It is only towards
the end of the 10th century that Æthelweard the Chronicler styles her queen (regina), but this may be a
retrospective honour at a time when her cult was well established at Shaftesbury.
Much of Ælfgifu's claim to
fame derives from her
association with
Shaftesbury. Her patronage
of the community is
suggested by a charter of
King Æthelred, dated 984,
according to which the
abbey exchanged with King
Edmund the large estate at
Tisbury (Wiltshire) for
Butticanlea (unidentified).
Ælfgifu received it from her
husband and intended to
bequeath it back to the
nunnery, but such had not
yet come to pass (her son
Eadwig demanded that
Butticanlea was returned to
the royal family first).[13]
Ælfgifu predeceased her
husband in 944.[14] In the early 12th century, William of Malmesbury wrote that she suffered from an illness
during the last few years of her life, but there may have been some confusion with details of Æthelgifu's life as
recorded in a forged foundation charter of the late 11th or 12th century (see below).[15] Her body was buried
and enshrined at the nunnery.[16]
Sainthood
Ælfgifu was venerated as a saint soon after her burial at Shaftesbury. Æthelweard reports that many miracles
had taken place at her tomb up to his day,[17] and these were apparently attracting some local attention.
Lantfred of Winchester, who wrote in the 970's and so can be called the earliest known witness of her cult, tells
of a young man from Collingbourne (possibly Collingbourne Kingston, Wiltshire), who in the hope of being
cured of blindness travelled to Shaftesbury and kept vigil. What led him there was the reputation of “the
venerable St Ælfgifu [...] at whose tomb many bodies of sick person receive medication through the
omnipotence of God”.[18] Despite the new prominence of Edward the Martyr as a saint interred at Shaftesbury,
her cult continued to flourish in later Anglo-Saxon England, as evidenced by her inclusion in a list of saints'
resting places, at least 8 pre-Conquest calendars and 3 or 4 litanies from Winchester.[19]
Ælfgifu is styled a saint (Sancte Ælfgife) in the D-text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (mid-11th century) at the
point where it specifies Eadwig's and Edgar's royal parentage.[20] Her cult may have been fostered and used to
enhance the status of the royal lineage, more narrowly that of her descendants.[21] Lantfred attributes her
healing power both to her own merits and those of her son Edgar. It may have been due to her association that
in 979 the supposed body of her murdered grandson Edward the Martyr was exhumed and in a spectacular
ceremony, received at the nunnery of Shaftesbury, under the supervision of ealdorman Ælfhere.[22]
According to William of Malmesbury, Ælfgifu would secretly redeem those who were publicly condemned to
severe judgment, she gave expensive clothes to the poor, and she also had prophetic powers as well as powers
of healing. [23]
Ælfgifu's fame at Shaftesbury seems to have eclipsed that of its first abbess, King Alfred's daughter
Æthelgifu,[24] so much so perhaps that William of Malmesbury wrote contradictory reports on the abbey's early
history. In the Gesta regum, he correctly identifies the first abbess as Alfred's daughter, following Asser,
although he gives her the name of Ælfgifu (Elfgiva),[25] while in his Gesta pontificum, he credits Edmund's
wife Ælfgifu with the foundation.[26] Either William encountered conflicting information, or he meant to say
that Ælfgifu refounded the nunnery.[27] In any event, William would have had access to local traditions at
Shaftesbury, since he probably wrote a now lost metrical Life for the community, a fragment of which he
included in his Gesta pontificum:[28]
Latin text Translation
Nam nonnullis passa annis morborum
molestiam,
defecatam et excoctam Deo dedit animam.
Functas ergo uitae fato beatas exuuias
infinitis clemens signis illustrabat Deitas.
Inops uisus et auditus si adorant tumulum,
sanitati restituti probant sanctae meritum.
Rectum gressum refert domum qui accessit
loripes,
mente captus redit sanus, boni sensus locuples
For some years she suffered from illness,
And gave to God a soul that it had purged and purified
When she died, God brought lustre to her blessed
remains
In his clemency with countless miracles.
If a blind man or a deaf worship at her tomb,
They are restored to health and prove the saint's merits.
He who went there lame comes home firm of step,
The madman returns sane, rich in good sense.[29]
See also
Ælfgifu of Exeter
Notes
References
Primary sources
Anglo-Saxon charters
S 514 (AD 942 x 946), King Edmund grants land. Archive: Canterbury.
S 850 (AD 984), King Æthelred grants estates to Shaftesbury. Archive: Shaftesbury.
S 744 (AD 966). Archive: Shaftesbury.
S 485 (AD 942). Archive: Shaftesbury.
S 1539, ed. and tr. Dorothy Whitelock, Anglo-Saxon Wills. Cambridge Studies in English Legal
History. Cambridge, 1930. pp. 10–5 (with commentary, pp. 109–14).
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS D), ed. D. Dumville and S. Keynes, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. A
Collaborative Edition. Vol. 6. Cambridge, 1983.
Æthelweard, Chronicon, ed. and tr. Alistair Campbell, The Chronicle of Æthelweard. London, 1961.
Lantfred of Winchester, Translatio et Miracula S. Swithuni, ed. and tr. M. Lapidge, The Cult of St
Swithun. Winchester Studies 4. The Anglo-Saxon Minsters of Winchester 2. Oxford, 2003. 252-333.
On the resting places of English saints, ed. F. Liebermann, Die Heiligen Englands. Angelsächsisch und
lateinisch. Hanover, 1889. II no. 36 (pp. 17–8).
William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, ed. and tr. M. Winterbottom and R.M. Thomson,
William of Malmesbury. Gesta Pontificum Anglorum The History of the English Bishops. OMT. 2 vols
(vol 1: text and translation, vol. 2: commentary). Oxford: OUP, 2007.
William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum, ed. and tr. R.A.B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson and M.
Winterbottom, William of Malmesbury. Gesta Regum Anglorum. The History of the English Kings. OMT.
2 vols: vol 1. Oxford, 1998.
1. http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3090
2. Asser, Vita Ælfredi ch. 98.
3. Lantfred, Translatio et Miracula S. Swithuni: pp. 328-9
n. 299 (Lapidge's commentary).
4. Elgiva May 18 (http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/sai
ntse.htm). Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of
Rome.
5. Charter S 1539 (http://www.esawyer.org.uk/charter/153
9.html) at the Electronic Sawyer
6. S 744 (AD 966). Edgar's paternal grandmother was
Eadgifu of Kent.
7. S 485 (AD 942); Yorke, Nunneries and the Anglo-
Saxon royal houses. pp. 82-3. See further Kelly,
Charters of Shaftesbury Abbey. pp. 53-9.
8. S 1539; Finberg, The Early Charters of Wessex. p. 44.
Whitelock, Anglo-Saxon wills, p. 109, identifies the
testatrix with the religiosa femina of S 485 (AD 942),
but she is silent about Edgar's grandmothe.r Brihtwyn
has been tentatively identified as the wife of Alfred,
bishop of Sherborne, but this has been disputed. See
Whitelock, Anglo-Saxon Wills; Owen, “Wynflæd's
wardrobe.” p. 197, note 2.
9. Keynes, “Alfred the Great and Shaftesbury Abbe.y”
pp. 43-5; Owen, “Wynflæd's wardrobe.” p. 197 note 1;
Yorke, Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses. p.
100 note 136.
10. Wareham, “Transformation of kinship.” pp. 382-3.
11. Dumville, “English square minuscule.” p. 146 note 75.
The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England also links
Wynflæd with the noble matrona of that name, who
appears in as late as 967 receiving royal grants of land
in Hampshire. S 754 (AD 967);W ynnflæd 3 (http://pas
e.ac.uk/jsp/DisplayPerson.jsp?personKey=12720,)
PASE.
12. S 514 (AD 942 x 946).
13. S 850 (AD 984).
14. Æthelweard, Chronicon, book IV, chapter 6, which
assigns her death to the year thatA mlaíb Cuarán and
Ragnall were expelled from York.
15. S 357; Gesta pontificum Anglorum vol II, pp. 130-1
(Thomson's commentary); Yorke, Nunneries and the
Anglo-Saxon royal houses, p. 76.
16. See Lantfred and Æthelweard below.
17. Æthelweard, Chronicon, book IV, chapter 6.
18. Lantfred, Translatio et Miracula S. Swithuni, ch. 36.
19. Thacker.,“Dynastic monasteries.” p. 259;O n the
resting places of English saints, ed. Liebermann, II no.
36.
20. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (D) s.a. 955.
21. Yorke, Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses. p.
83.
22. Yorke, Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses. p.
115.
23. Studies in the Early History of Shaftesbury Abbe.y
Dorset County Council, 1999
24. Yorke, Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses, p.
77.
25. William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum, ch. 122.
26. William of Malmesbury, Gesta pontificum, book 2, ch.
86.
27. William of Malmesbury, Gesta pontificum. Vol. II. p.
131. The latter suggestion was made by Patrick
Wormald in correspondence with Thomson.
28. William of Malmesbury, Gesta pontificum. Vol. II. p.
131.
29. William of Malmesbury, Gesta pontificum, book 2, ch.
86.
Secondary sources
Ælfgifu 3 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England. Retrieved 2009-3-27.
Dumville, David. “English Square Minuscule Script: the mid-century phases” Anglo-Saxon England; 23
(1994): 133-64.
Finberg, H. P. R. The Early Charters of Wessex. Leicester, 1964.
Owen, Gale R. “Wynflæd's wardrobe.” Anglo-Saxon England 8 (1979): 195–222.
Thacker, Alan. “Dynastic Monasteries and Family Cults. Edward the Elder's sainted kindred.” In Edward
the Elder, 899-924, ed. N. J. Higham and David Hill. London: Routledge, 2001. 248-63.
Wareham, Andrew. "Transformation of Kinship and the Family in late Anglo-Saxon England." Early
Medieval Europe; 10 (2001). 375-99.
Yorke, Barbara. Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon Royal Houses. London, Continuum, 2003.
Further reading
Foot, Sarah. Veiled Women. 2 vols: vol. 2 (Female Religious Communities in England, 871-1066).
Aldershot, 2000.
Jackson, R. H. “The Tisbury landholdings granted to Shaftesbury monastery by the Saxon kings.” The
Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 79 (1984): 164-77.
Kelly, S. E. Charters of Shaftesbury Abbey. (Anglo-Saxon Charters; 5.) London, 1996.
Keynes, Simon. “Alfred the Great and Shaftesbury Abbey.” In Studies in the Early History of
Shaftesbury Abbey, ed. Laurence Keen. Dorchester: Dorset County Council, 1999. 17-72.
Murphy, E. “The Nunnery that Alfred Built at Shaftesbury.” Hatcher Review; 4 (1994): 40-53.
Preceded by
Eadgifu of Kent
as Queen of the Anglo-Saxons
Queen Consort of England
939–944
Succeeded by
Æthelflæd of Damerham

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Categories: English royal consorts 940s deaths 10th-century English people 10th-century women
Anglo-Saxon royal consorts West Saxon saints Roman Catholic royal saints House of Wessex
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Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: 964; Ealdorman of Devon

Notes:

Ordgar, Ealdorman of Devon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ordgar (died 971) was Ealdorman of Devon in England. He was a great West Country landowner and apparently a close advisor[1] of his son-in-law Edgar the Peaceful, king of England. His daughter Ælfthryth was King Edgar's third wife and was mother of King Æthelred the Unready (c.968-1016). Ordgar was created an Ealdorman by King Edgar in 964. He founded Tavistock Abbey in 961.[2]

Historical sources
Little is known about Ordgar other than what survives in three historical sources: His name appears as a witness on charters of King Edgar between 962 and 970.[1] Digressions in William of Malmesbury's Gesta pontificum Anglorum[3] More substantial references in Geoffrey Gaimar's L'Estoire des Engles regarding the love affairs and marriages of his daughter Ælfthryth.[4]

Gaimar's account
According to Gaimar, Ordgar was the son of an ealdorman, and owned land in every parish from Exeter in Devon to Frome in Somerset. He married an unknown lady of royal birth, by whom he had a daughter Ælfthryth. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography draws a conclusion that Ordgar was "clearly a figure of some importance" to have secured such a match.[1] King Edgar determined on marrying Ælfthryth and to this end he sent Æthelwald, Ealdorman of East Anglia as his agent to woo her. On arrival Æthelwald found her in company with her father Ordgar, whom she completely controlled by her personality, playing at chess, which they had learned from the Danes.[5] Æthelwald instead took Ælfthryth for his own wife and married her in about 956.[5]

Æthelwald died in 962, and Dunstan suspected that he was murdered by his wife Ælfthryth who thereafter, according to Dunstan, seduced King Edgar and murdered his son Prince Edward the Martyr in order to pave the way for the crowning of her son Æthelred as king. It is however certain that, under whatever actual circumstances, Ælfthryth became King Edgar's third wife in 964 and in the same year her father Ordgar was created Ealdorman. The ODNB supposes that Ordgar from the time of his daughter's royal marriage until 970 was one of Edgar's closest advisors, by virtue of his being named as witness on almost all charters issued by King Edgar during the period.[1]

Tavistock Abbey
Tavistock Abbey was founded in 961 by Ordgar and completed by his son Ordwulf[6] in 981, when the charter of confirmation was granted by King Ethelred the Unready. It was endowed with lands in Devon, Dorset and Cornwall, and became one of the richest abbeys in the west of England.

Death and burial
Ordgar died in 971. According to William of Malmesbury, he was buried with his son at Tavistock, but according to Florence of Worcester, he was buried at Exeter.[5]

References
1. Lewis, C.P. "Ordgar (d. 971), magnate" (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/20813?docPos=1.) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
2. Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) oVl. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, part 2 (notes), chapter 5. Thorn refers to Ordga, rEaldorman of Devon as "Earl of Devon"
3. Thomson, R. M.; Winterbottom, M. (2007). William of Malmesbury: Gesta Pontificum Anglorum: Volume II: General Introduction and Commentary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 151.I SBN 978-0-19-922661-0.
4. Short, Ian. "Gaimar, Geffrei (fl. 1136–1137), Anglo-Norman poet and historian" (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10281). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
5. Bateson 1895.
6. Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) oVl. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, part 2 (notes), chapter 5. Thorn refers to Ordga, rEaldorman of Devon as "Earl of Devon" Attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bateson, Mary (1895). "Ordgar". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 42. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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Categories: 971 deaths 10th-century English people English landowners History of Devon
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