Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Carolingian
• FSID: KND9-P91

Notes:

Matilda of France - member of the Carolingian dynasty.

Daughter of King Louis IV of France (920/921–954), ruler of West Francia, and his wife, Gerberga of Saxony (d. about 984), sister of the East Frankish king Otto I. At the time of her birth, Carolingian rule had already weakened: King Louis attempted to stabilize his reign by marrying an East Frankish princess, while he fought with the reluctant dukes of Normandy and with the forces of his Robertian rival Hugh the Great.

When Matilda's brother, 13-year-old Lothair ascended the French throne in 954, Gerberga acted as regent.

In 964 Matilda was married to Conrad, the Welf ruler of the Kingdom of Burgundy, who strongly relied on the support of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Matilda's maternal uncle and husband of Conrad's sister Adelaide. As her dowry, the young queen brought her husband the city of Vienne, which her brother Lothair had ceded to her.

Matilda was outlived by her husband, she probably died after 981. She is buried in Vienne Cathedral

Mathilde married von Hochburgund, Conrad III in 955 in Germany. Conrad (son of von Hochburgund, King Rudolph II and von Schwaben, Bertha) was born in 925 in Franche-Comté, France; died on 19 Oct 993 in Wien, Wien, Wien, Austria; was buried on 19 Oct 993 in Wien, Wien, Wien, Austria. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. de Bourgogne, Berthe was born on 27 Mar 967 in Königreich, Stade, Niedersachsen, Germany; died on 16 Jan 1010 in Blois, Loir-et-Cher, Centre, France.

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Carolingian
• FSID: 9S9W-MPL
• Appointments / Titles: Between 936 and 954; King of West Francia

Notes:

Louis IV , called d'Outremer or Transmarinus (both meaning "from overseas"), reigned as king of West Francia from 936 to 954. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, he was the only son of king Charles the Simple and his second wife Eadgifu of Wessex, daughter of King Edward the Elder of Wessex.His reign is mostly known thanks to the Annals of Flodoard and the later Historiae of Richerus.

Louis was born in the heartlands of West Francia's Carolingian lands between Laon and Reims in 920 or 921. From his father's first marriage with Frederuna (d. 917) he had six half-sisters. He was the only male heir to the throne.

After the dethronement and capture of his faher, Charles the Simple, in 923, following his defeat at the Battle of Soissons, queen Eadgifu and her infant son took refuge in Wessex (for this he received the nickname of d'Outremer) at the court of her father King Edward, and after Edward's death, of her brother King Æthelstan. Young Louis was raised in the Anglo-Saxon court until his teens.

Louis became the heir to the western branch of the Carolingian dynasty after the death of his captive father in 929, and in 936, at the age of 15, was recalled from Wessex by the powerful Hugh the Great, Margrave of Neustria, to succeed the Robertian king Rudolph who had died.

Once he took the throne, Louis wanted to free himself from the tutelage of Hugh the Great, who, with his title of Duke of the Franks was the second most powerful man after the King.

In 945, following the death of William I Longsword, Duke of Normandy, Louis tried to conquer his lands, but was kidnapped by the men of Hugh the Great.

The Synod of Ingelheim in 948 allowed the excommunication of Hugh the Great and released Louis from his long tutelage. From 950 Louis gradually imposed his rule in the northeast of the kingdom, building many alliances (especially with the Counts of Vermandois) and under the protection of the Ottonian kingdom of East Francia.

Louis IV was crowned King by Artald, Archbishop of Rheims on Sunday, 19 June 936, probably at the Abbey of Notre-Dame and Saint-Jean in Laon, perhaps at the request of the King since it was a symbolic Carolingian town and he was probably born there.

In 939 Louis IV married Gerberga of Saxony, the widow of Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine. They were parents to eight children:
-Lothair of France (941–986)
-Matilda b. about 943; married Conrad of Burgundy
-Hildegarde b. about 944
-Carloman b. about 945
-Louis b. about 948
-Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine (953–993)
-Alberade b. before 953
-Henry b. about 953

Louis IV died on September 10, 954, after falling from a horse, some records report he died from tuberculosis.

Louis married von Sachsen, Queen of France Gerberga in 939 in France. Gerberga (daughter of of Sachsen, Heinrich I and von Ringelheim, Saint Mathilde) was born on 10 Jun 913 in Nordhausen, Vogtlandkreis, Sachsen, Germany; was christened on 4 Aug 914 in Markneukirchen, Vogtlandkreis, Sachsen, Germany; died on 5 May 984 in Reims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France; was buried on 22 May 984 in Reims Cathedral, Champagne-Ardenne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Ottonian
• FSID: LD9Y-VRR
• Religion: Abbess of Notre Dame

Notes:

"Gerberga of Saxony was a French queen who ruled as regent of France during the minority of her son Lothair in 954–959. She was a member of the Ottonian dynasty. Her first husband was Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine. Her second husband was Louis IV of France. Contemporary sources describe her as a highly educated, intelligent and forceful political player."

Family
Gerberga was born c.913. She was the oldest daughter of Henry the Fowler, King of Germany, and his second wife, Matilda. Her older brother was Otto I of Germany.

First marriage
In 929, Gerberga married her first husband, Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine.
They had four children:

1.) Alberade of Lorraine b. about 929. Married Renaud (originally as Ragenold), a Viking chieftain who became the Count of Roucy

2.) Henry, Duke of Lorraine b. about 932

3.) Gerberge of Lorraine b. about 935. Married Adalbert I of Vermandois.

4.) Wiltrude, b. about 937.

Jocundus, a Lotharingia chronicler writing in the 1070s, recorded that Gerberga was the driving force behind Gilbert's decision to support her younger brother Henry when he rebelled against her older brother Otto I c.936. Giselbert was defeated by Otto I in 939 at the Battle of Andernach and, while trying to escape, drowned in the Rhine.

Second marriage
When Gilbert died, Gerberga was about 26 years old. She married secondly Louis IV of France in 939. They were parents to eight children:

1.) Lothair of France (941-986)

2.) Matilda b. about 943; married Conrad of Burgundy

3.) Hildegarde b. about 944

4.) Carloman b. about 945

5.) Louis b. about 948

6.) Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine (953-993)

7.) Alberade b. before 953

8.) Henry b. about 953

Widowhood
As regent
Louis IV died on 10 September 954. At this time, his son and heir with Gerberga, Lothair of France, was only thirteen. Gerberga took action to ensure that Lothar could succeed his father. She reached an agreement with her brother-in-law Hugh the Great, who had been an adversary to Lothair's father. In exchange for supporting Lothair's rule Hugh was given rule over Aquitaine and much of Burgundy Gerberga did not seek the support of her brother, Emperor Otto I, because the interference of the East-Frankish emperor in West-Frankish affairs would have placed the West-Frankish kingdom in a weak position politically, and angered the West-Frankish nobles.

After the death of Hugh the Great in 956, Gerberga and her sister Hadwig (who was Hugh's widow) were the heads of the two most powerful dynasties in West Francia. Along with their brother, Bruno, who was both archbishop of Cologne and duke of Lotharingia, Gerberga and Hadwig ruled the kingdom, until Lothair came of age.

As abbess
In 959, after Lothair had come of age, Gerberga became abbess of the Benedictine monastery of Notre Dame in Soissons. Nevertheless, she remained politically active. In 961 she was involved in choosing the new archbishop of Reims, Odalric. In 965 she was present at the imperial court in Cologne, when her son Lothair married Emma of Italy, the step-daughter of her brother Emperor Otto I.

Death
There is some debate about when Gerberga died. She is last documented in May 968. Since necrology records indicate that she died on 5 May, her date of death is often given as 968 or 969. The death date of 5 May 968 is not possible since Gerberga was still alive on 17 May 968 so her death date could only be in 969 or later some maintain that Gerberga did not die until 984. She is buried in the Abbey of Saint-Remi in Reims, Champagne.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Nickname: The Simple
• Nickname: The Simple
• FSID: LCDM-9D5

Notes:

Charles III, also called Charles the Simple and Charles the Straightforward, was the son of Louis the Stammerer and his second wife Adelaide of Paris. Charles was born on 17 September 879, 5 months after the death of his father Louis in Compiegne on 10 April 879.
In 875 Charles mother Adelaide had displaced Louis first wife of 13 years. Charles the Bald had not approved of the first marriage, had it annulled by the Pope, and arranged the marriage of Adelaide and Louis. After Louis' death his first wife, in and attempt to protect the inheritance of her own children, accused Charles mother Adelaide of adultery, bringing Charles parentage into question. After a long and difficult process Charles was finally confirmed as the only legitimate heir of Louis, and heir to the throne. Charles was but and infant, however, and unable to ascend any throne. His older half brothers took joint control of the throne and kept it until their death. Ranulf II, the Duke of Aquitaine, became the guardian of young Charles, and may have tried to claim the throne for him, but in the end used the royal title himself.

In 893, 14 year old Charles was crowned King of West Francia at the Reims Cathedral by Aquitainian nobles who opposed the rule of Odo. He was not able to truly claim the throne until Odo's death and when he finally succeeded to his father's throne in 898 his mother assisted in crowning him.

Charles reign of 24 years was filled with battles to keep his throne.

Charles married twice. His first marriage was in May 907 to Frederuna, daughter of Dietrich, Count in the Hamaland. They had six daughters:
-Ermentrude
-Frederuna
-Adelaide
-Gisela, wife of Rollo
-Rotrude
-Hildegarde

Next in 919 Charles married Eadgifu of Wessex, daughter of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons. Together they had one son:
Louis IV of France (10 September 920–10 September 954), who eventually succeeded to the throne of West Francia in 936

Charles also had several other offspring:
-Arnulf
-Drogo
-Rorice († 976), Bishop of Laon
-Alpais, who married Erlebold, count of Lommegau

In 922 Charles III was deposed and, after being defeated at the Battle of Soissons in 923, he was taken prisoner by Count Herbert II of Vermandois. Imprissoned first at Château-Thierry, then in Péronne, Charles the Simple died there on 7 October 929 and was immediately buried in the local Monastery of Saint-Fursy. His son Louis was now the legitimate Carolingian heir. When Charles was captured in 923 Eadgifu took baby Louis to England to the protection of her half-brother, King Æthelstan of England. In 936 the nobility of France requested Louis return to France and succeed to the throne. 15 year old Louis did so with the support of Hugh the Great. Thus although deposed, Charles son Louis still ascended to his throne
-----------------
“Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial & Medieval Families,” Douglas Richardson (2013):
“LOUIS II the Stammerer, King of Neustria, 856, King of Aquitaine, 867, King of France, 877-879, son and heir by his father's 1st marriage, born 1 Nov. c.846. He married (1st) March 862 ANSGARDE, daughter of Count Harduin. They had two sons, Louis (III) [joint King of France] and Carloman [King of France], and three daughters, Hildegarde and Gisela (or Gisele) (wife of Robert, Count palatine of Troyes), and Ermentrude. She died after 2 Nov. 880, 881, or 882. He married (2nd) ADELAIDE, daughter of Count Adelard. They had one son, Charles (III) the Simple [King of France]. LOUIS II, King of France, died at Compiegne 10 April 879. His widow, AdelaIde, died 18 October, after 9 Nov. 901.
Birch Cat. Seals in the British Museum 5 (1898): 113 (seal of King Louis II dated A.D. 879 - Oval: a bust in profile to the right. Legend: ... GRATIA …). Halphen Recueil d’Annales Angevines et Vendômoises (1903): 55 (Annales de Vendôme sub A.D. 879: "Hludovicus moritur, rex Germanie."). Brandenburg Die Nachkommen Karls des Großen (1935) IV 34. Decker-Hauff (1955): 330 (identifies wife Adelheid as daughter of Welf, Graf im Argengau). Schwennicke Europäische Stammtafeln 2 (1984): 1 (sub Kings of the West Franks). Winter Descs. of Charlemagne (800-1400) (1987): IV.40, V.49-V.54. Settipani & von Kerrebrouck La Préhistoire des Capetians (1993).”

Charles married of Wessex, Eadgifu in 919. Eadgifu (daughter of of Wessex, King Edward and of Wiltshire, Ælfflæd) was born in 910 in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, England; died in 954 in Soissons, Aisne, Picardie, France; was buried in 955 in Cathedral of St. Maurice, Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: MT39-VLW
• Life Event: 951, Wilton (near Salisbury), Wiltshire, England; Nun

Notes:

Eadgifu of Wessex
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eadgifu of Wessex

Born 902
Died After 955
Spouse Charles III of France
Herbert III of Omois
Issue Louis IV
House Wessex
Father Edward the Elder
Mother Ælfflæd
Eadgifu or Edgifu (902 – after 955) also known as Edgiva or Ogive (Old English: Ēadgifu) was a daughter[1] of Edward the Elder, King of Wessex and England, and his second wife Ælfflæd. She was born in Wessex.

Contents
1 Marriage to the French King
2 Flight to England
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links
Marriage to the French King
Eadgifu was one of three West Saxon sisters married to Continental rulers: the others were Eadgyth, who married Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor and Eadhild, who married Hugh the Great. Eadgifu became the second wife of Charles, King of the West Franks,[1] whom she married in 919 after the death of his first wife, Frederonne. Eadgifu was mother to Louis IV of France.

Flight to England
In 922 Charles III was deposed and, after being defeated at the Battle of Soissons in 923, he was taken prisoner by Count Herbert II of Vermandois, an ally of the then current king. To protect her son's safety Eadgifu took him to England in 923 to the court of her half-brother, King Æthelstan of England.[2] Because of this, Louis IV of France became known as Louis d'Outremer of France. He stayed there until 936, when he was called back to France to be crowned King. Eadgifu accompanied him.

She retired to a convent in Laon.[3] In 951, Heribert the Old, Count of Omois, abducted and married her, to the great anger of her son.[4]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: King of East Francia, König des Ostfrankenreiches, King of Eastern Franconia, Duke of Saxony, Duc de Saxe, Herzog von Sachsen
• House: Ottonian
• Life Event: Henry the Fowler (German: Heinrich der Vogler or Heinrich der Finkler; Latin: Henricus Auceps) (aprox. 876 – 2 July 936) was the Duke of Saxony from 912[1] and the King of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non-Frankish king of East Francia, he established the Ottonian dynasty of kings and emperors, and he is generally considered to be the founder of the medieval German state, known until then as East Francia. An avid hunter, he obtained the epithet \"the Fowler\" because he was allegedly fixing his birding nets when messengers arrived to inform him that he was to be king. He was born into the Liudolfing line of Saxon dukes. His father Otto I of Saxony died in 912 and was succeeded by Henry. The new duke launched a rebellion against the king of East Francia, Conrad I of Germany, over the rights to lands in the Duchy of Thuringia. They reconciled in 915 and on his deathbed in 918, Conrad recommended Henry as the next king, considering the duke the only one who could hold the kingdom together in the face of internal revolts and external Magyar raids. Henry was elected and crowned king in 919. He went on to defeat the rebellious dukes of Bavaria and Swabia, consolidating his rule. Through successful warfare and a dynastic marriage, Henry acquired Lotharingia as a vassal in 925. Unlike his Carolingian predecessors, Henry did not seek to create a centralized monarchy, ruling through federated autonomous stem duchies instead. Henry built an extensive system of fortifications and mobile heavy cavalry across Germany to neutralize the Magyar threat and in 933 routed them at the Battle of Riade, ending Magyar attacks for the next 21 years and giving rise to a sense of German nationhood. Henry greatly expanded German hegemony in Europe with his defeat of the Slavs in 929 at the Battle of Lenzen along the Elbe river, by compelling the submission of Duke Wenceslaus I of Bohemia through an invasion of the Duchy of Bohemia the same year and by conquering Danish realms in Schleswig in 934. Henry\'s hegemonic status north of the Alps was acknowledged by the kings Rudolph of West Francia and Rudolph II of Upper Burgundy, who both accepted a place of subordination as allies in 935. Henry planned an expedition to Rome to be crowned emperor by the pope, but the design was thwarted by his death. Henry prevented a collapse of royal power, as had happened in West Francia, and left a much stronger kingdom to his successor Otto I He was buried at Quedlinburg Abbey, established by his wife Matilda in his honour. Born in Memleben, in what is now Saxony-Anhalt, Henry was the son of Otto the Illustrious, Duke of Saxony, and his wife Hedwiga, who was probably the daughter of Henry of Franconia. In 906 he married Hatheburg of Merseburg, daughter of the Saxon count Erwin. She had previously been a nun. The marriage was annulled in 909 because her vows as a nun were deemed by the church to remain valid. She had already given birth to Henry\'s son Thankmar. The annulment placed a question mark over Thankmar\'s legitimacy. Later that year he married Matilda, daughter of Dietrich of Ringelheim, Count in Westphalia. Matilda bore him three sons, one called Otto, and two daughters, Hedwig and Gerberga, and founded many religious institutions, including the Quedlinburg Abbey where Henry is buried. She was later canonized. As the first Saxon king of East Francia, Henry was the founder of the Ottonian dynasty. He and his descendants ruled East Francia, and later the Holy Roman Empire, from 919 until 1024. Henry had two wives and at least six children: With Hatheburg: - Thankmar (908–938)[2] – rebelled against his half-brother Otto and was killed in battle in 938 With Matilda: - Hedwig (910–965) – wife of West Francia\'s powerful Robertian duke Hugh the Great, mother of Hugh Capet, King of West Francia - Otto I (912–973) – Duke of Saxony, King of East Francia and Holy Roman Emperor. In 929 Henry married Otto to Eadgyth, daughter of Edward the Elder, King of Wessex - Gerberga (913–984) – wife of (1) Duke Gilbert of Lotharingia and (2) King Louis IV of France - Henry I (919–955) – Duke of Bavaria - Bruno (925–965) – Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia and regent of West Francia. Henry became Duke of Saxony after his father\'s death in 912. An able ruler, he continued to strengthen the position of his duchy within the weakening kingdom of East Francia, and was frequently in conflict with his neighbors to the South in the Duchy of Franconia. On 23 December 918 Conrad I, king of East Francia and Franconian duke, died. Although Henry had rebelled against Conrad I between 912 and 915 over the lands in Thuringia, Conrad recommended Henry as his successor. Kingship now changed from the Franks to the Saxons, who had suffered greatly during the conquests of Charlemagne and were proud of their identity. Henry, as Saxon, was the first non-Frank on the throne. Conrad\'s choice was conveyed by his brother, duke Eberhard III of Franconia at the Imperial Diet of Fritzlar in 919. The assembled Franconian and Saxon nobles elected Henry to be king with other regional dukes not participating in the election. Archbishop Heriger of Mainz offered to anoint Henry according to the usual ceremony, but he refused – the only king of his time not to undergo that rite – allegedly because he wished to be king not by the church\'s but by the people\'s acclaim. Henry, who was elected to kingship by only the Saxons and Franconians at Fritzlar, had to subdue the other dukes. Duke Burchard II of Swabia soon swore fealty to the new king, but when he died, Henry appointed a noble from Franconia to be the new duke. Duke Arnulf of Bavaria, lord over a realm of impressive extent, with de facto powers of a king and at times even named so in documents, proved a much harder nut to crack. He would not submit until Henry defeated him in two campaigns in 921. In Bavaria Duke Arnulf declared himself king in 919. Henry besieged Arnulf\'s residence at Ratisbon and forced the duke into submission. In 921 Arnulf renounced the crown and submitted to Henry while maintaining significant autonomy and the right to mint his own coins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Fowler
• Life Event: King Henry, of Saxon heritage, was the first non-Frank to occupy the throne of Francia (Franconia)
• FSID: 9C72-WGJ
• Appointments / Titles: Between 30 Nov 912 and 2 Jul 936; Duke of Saxony
• Appointments / Titles: Between 919 and 936; King of the East of France (König des Ostfrankenreiches)
• Life Event: May 919; Archbishop Heriger of Mainz was to anoint Henry king as had become customary, however, Henry refused, the only king of his time not to undergo that rite, allegedly because he wished to be king not by the church\'s but by the people\'s acclaim.
• Life Event: Between 24 May 919 and 2 Jul 936; Designated as king by his predecessor Conrad the Younger, Henry became king in 919 and ruler nearly 17 years, until his death, at which time his son Otto succeeded him.

Notes:

Considered the first King of Germany (the first Saxon king of East Francia) Henry was the founder of the Ottonian dynasty. He and his descendants ruled East Francia, and later the Holy Roman Empire, from 919 until 1024.

Henry the Fowler (German: Heinrich der Vogler or Heinrich der Finkler; Latin: Henricus Auceps) (876 – 2 July 936) was the Duke of Saxony from 912 and the King of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non-Frankish king of East Francia, he established the Ottonian dynasty of kings and emperors, and he is generally considered to be the founder of the medieval German state, known until then as East Francia. An avid hunter, he obtained the epithet "the Fowler" because he was allegedly fixing his birding nets when messengers arrived to inform him that he was to be king.

He was born into the Liudolfing line of Saxon dukes. His father Otto I of Saxony died in 912 and was succeeded by Henry. The new duke launched a rebellion against the king of East Francia, Conrad I of Germany, over the rights to lands in the Duchy of Thuringia. They reconciled in 915 and on his deathbed in 918, Conrad recommended Henry as the next king, considering the duke the only one who could hold the kingdom together in the face of internal revolts and external Magyar raids.

Henry was elected and crowned king in 919. He went on to defeat the rebellious dukes of Bavaria and Swabia, consolidating his rule. Through successful warfare and a dynastic marriage, Henry acquired Lotharingia as a vassal in 925. Unlike his Carolingian predecessors, Henry did not seek to create a centralized monarchy, ruling through federated autonomous stem duchies instead. Henry built an extensive system of fortifications and mobile heavy cavalry across Germany to neutralize the Magyar threat and in 933 routed them at the Battle of Riade, ending Magyar attacks for the next 21 years and giving rise to a sense of German nationhood. Henry greatly expanded German hegemony in Europe with his defeat of the Slavs in 929 at the Battle of Lenzen along the Elbe river, by compelling the submission of Duke Wenceslaus I of Bohemia through an invasion of the Duchy of Bohemia the same year and by conquering Danish realms in Schleswig in 934. Henry's hegemonic status north of the Alps was acknowledged by the kings Rudolph of West Francia and Rudolph II of Upper Burgundy, who both accepted a place of subordination as allies in 935. Henry planned an expedition to Rome to be crowned emperor by the pope, but the design was thwarted by his death. Henry prevented a collapse of royal power, as had happened in West Francia, and left a much stronger kingdom to his successor Otto I. He was buried at Quedlinburg Abbey, established by his wife Matilda in his honour.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Fowler
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_I._(Ostfrankenreich)

Heinrich Himmler believed he was Henry the Fowler reincarnated; On 2 July 1936 Himmler commemorated the 1000th anniversary of Henry's death with a ceremony at his crypt and in 1937 had Henry's remains interred in a new sarcophagus.

Succeeded his father, Otto I of Saxony, in 912 to become Duke of Saxony and reigned until his death at which time his son Otto succeeded him.

Heinrich married von Ringelheim, Saint Mathilde in 909 in Wallhausen, Bad Kreuznach, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. Mathilde (daughter of of The East Franks, Thiadrich and Reinhild) was born in 892 in Enger, Herford, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; died on 14 Mar 968 in Quedlinburg, Quedlinburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany; was buried on 15 Mar 968 in Stiftskirche Saint Servatius, Quedlinburg, Quedlinburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: 9CZV-2KJ
• Residence: 908, Herford, Herford, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
• Religion: 968; Saint Matilda

Notes:

Mathilde, daughter of Reinhild and the Saxon Count Dietrich (himself a descendant of the Saxon duke Widukind who fought against Charlemagne) was born in around 892, and was raised by her grandmother Mathilde in Herford Abbey. She had three sisters; Amalrada, Bia, and Fridarun, who married Charles III, king of West Francia; and a brother Beuve II, the Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne. Due to Fridarun’s marriage to count Wichmann the Elder, there was an alliance between the House of Billung and the Ottonian family, which expanded their possessions to the west. In 909, she married Henry, at the time Duke of Saxony and later East-Franconian king, after his first marriage to Hatheburg of Merseburg was cancelled. She gave birth to five mutual children: Otto (912-973), who was crowned the Holy Roman Emperor in 962; Henry (919/22-955), who was appointed Duke of Bavaria in 948; Bruno (925-965), who was elected Archbishop of Cologne in 953 and Duke of Lorraine in 954; Hedwig (d. 965/80), who married the West Frankish duke, Hugh the Great; and Gerberga (d. 968/69), who first married Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine and later the Carolingian King Louis IV of France.

In 929, Mathilde received her dowry, that Henry gave to her in the so-called Hausordnung. It consisted of goods in Quedlinburg, Pöhlde, Nordhausen, Grona (near Göttingen), and Duderstadt. During her time as queen, she took an interest in women’s monasteries and is said to have had an influence on her husbands reign by having a strong sense of justice.

After Henry’s death 936 in Memleben, he was buried in Quedlinburg, where Queen Mathilde founded a convent the same year.[8] She lived there during the following years and took care of the family’s memorialization. Thus Quedlinburg Abbey became the most important center of prayer and commemoration of the dead in the East-Franconian Empire.Like in other convents, daughters of noble families where raised in Quedlinburg, to later become Abesses in order to secure the families influence. One of them was her own granddaughter Matilda, daughter of Otto I and Adelheid of Burgundy, to whom she passed on the conducting of the convent in 966, after 30 years of leadership. The younger Mathilde therefore became the first abbess of the convent in Quedlinburg. With her other goods, Queen Mathilde founded further convents, one of them in 947 in Enger. Her last foundation was the convent of Nordhausen in 961.

Mathilde’s handling of her dowry, which she had received from King Henry I previous to his death, was subject to a dispute between her and Otto I during the years 936-946. Otto made a claim on his mother's possessions, which eventually led to her fleeing into exile. Otto's wife, Queen Eadgyth, is said to have brought about the reconciliation in which Mathilde left her goods and Otto was forgiven for his actions.

The exact circumstances of this feud are still controversial to this day, but in order to protect her goods, Mathilde acquired papal privileges for all monasteries in eastern Saxony in the period before her death in early 968. However, these efforts where ignored when Theophanu, the wife of Otto II, received Mathilde’s dowry after she died.

After a long illness, Queen Mathilde died on 14 March 968, in the convent of Quedlinburg. She was buried in Quedlinburg Abbey, next to her late husband. Throughout her life, Mathilde was dedicated to charity and her spiritual foundations- as expressed several times in her two hagiographies. A commemorative plaque dedicated to her can be found in the Walhalla memorial near Regensburg, Germany. Mathilde is the patron of the St. Mathilde church in Laatzen (Germany), the St. Mathilde church in Quedlinburg (Germany), the Melkite church in Aleppo (Syria) and the Mathilden-Hospital in Herford (Germany). Her feast day is 14 March.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_of_Ringelheim

Mar 14 AD; Catholic - Saint Matilda; Patron Saint of parents of large families & widows; Feast Day 14 March

Other Events and Attributes:

• Nickname: The Stammerer
• FSID: 94NX-NK2

Notes:

LOUIS II the Stammerer, King of Neustria, 856, King of Aquitaine, 867, King of France, 877-879, son and heir by his father's 1st marriage, born 1 Nov. c.846. He married (1st) March 862 ANSGARDE, daughter of Count Harduin. They had two sons, Louis (III) [joint King of France] and Carloman [King of France], and three daughters, Hildegarde and Gisela (or Gisele) (wife of Robert, Count palatine of Troyes), and Ermentrude. She died after 2 Nov. 880, 881, or 882. He married (2nd) ADELAIDE, daughter of Count Adelard. They had one son, Charles (III) the Simple [King of France]. LOUIS II, King of France, died at Compiegne 10 April 879. His widow, AdelaIde, died 18 October, after 9 Nov. 901.
Birch Cat. Seals in the British Museum 5 (1898): 113 (seal of King Louis II dated A.D. 879 - Oval: a bust in profile to the right. Legend: ... GRATIA …). Halphen Recueil d’Annales Angevines et Vendômoises (1903): 55 (Annales de Vendôme sub A.D. 879: "Hludovicus moritur, rex Germanie."). Brandenburg Die Nachkommen Karls des Großen (1935) IV 34. Decker-Hauff (1955): 330 (identifies wife Adelheid as daughter of Welf, Graf im Argengau). Schwennicke Europäische Stammtafeln 2 (1984): 1 (sub Kings of the West Franks). Winter Descs. of Charlemagne (800-1400) (1987): IV.40, V.49-V.54. Settipani & von Kerrebrouck La Préhistoire des Capetians (1993).”
- this comes from “Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial & Medieval Families,” Douglas Richardson (2013)
----------------

"Louis II, known as Louis the Stammerer, was the King of Aquitaine and later the King of West Francia. He was the eldest son of emperor Charles the Bald and Ermentrude of Orléans. Louis the Stammerer was physically weak and outlived his father by only two years."

"He succeeded his younger brother Charles the Child as the ruler of Aquitaine in 866 and his father in West Francia in 877, but he was *never* crowned Holy Roman Emperor."

"Louis was crowned king on 8 October 877 by Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, at Compiegne and was crowned a second time in August 878 by Pope John VIII at Troyes while the pope was attending a council there. The pope may have even offered him the imperial crown, but it was declined. Louis had relatively little impact on politics. He was described "a simple and sweet man, a lover of peace, justice, and religion". In 878, he gave the counties of Barcelona, Girona, and Besalú to Wilfred the Hairy. His final act was to march against the invading Vikings, but he fell ill and died on 9 April or 10 April 879, not long after beginning this final campaign. On his death, his realms were divided between his two sons, Carloman II and Louis III of France."

Louis married de Paris, Adélaïde in 862. Adélaïde was born in 850 in Paris, Île-de-France, France; died on 10 Nov 901 in Laon, Aisne, Picardie, France; was buried after 19 Nov 901 in Compiègne, Oise, Picardie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: L7LT-ZMJ

Notes:

“Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial & Medieval Families,” Douglas Richardson (2013):
“LOUIS II the Stammerer, King of Neustria, 856, King of Aquitaine, 867, King of France, 877-879, son and heir by his father's 1st marriage, born 1 Nov. c.846. He married (1st) March 862 ANSGARDE, daughter of Count Harduin. They had two sons, Louis (III) [joint King of France] and Carloman [King of France], and three daughters, Hildegarde and Gisela (or Gisele) (wife of Robert, Count palatine of Troyes), and Ermentrude. She died after 2 Nov. 880, 881, or 882. He married (2nd) ADELAIDE, daughter of Count Adelard. They had one son, Charles (III) the Simple [King of France]. LOUIS II, King of France, died at Compiegne 10 April 879. His widow, AdelaIde, died 18 October, after 9 Nov. 901.
Birch Cat. Seals in the British Museum 5 (1898): 113 (seal of King Louis II dated A.D. 879 - Oval: a bust in profile to the right. Legend: ... GRATIA …). Halphen Recueil d’Annales Angevines et Vendômoises (1903): 55 (Annales de Vendôme sub A.D. 879: "Hludovicus moritur, rex Germanie."). Brandenburg Die Nachkommen Karls des Großen (1935) IV 34. Decker-Hauff (1955): 330 (identifies wife Adelheid as daughter of Welf, Graf im Argengau). Schwennicke Europäische Stammtafeln 2 (1984): 1 (sub Kings of the West Franks). Winter Descs. of Charlemagne (800-1400) (1987): IV.40, V.49-V.54. Settipani & von Kerrebrouck La Préhistoire des Capetians (1993).”

-----------

Adélaïde of Paris, also known as Aélis, was the second wife of Louis the Stammerer, King of West Francia, and the mother of Charles the Simple. Adélaïde was born about 850/853 in Paris, the daughter of Adalard of Paris, the eighth Count of Paris and a Count palatine. She had one brother Wulfhard, and her uncle, Hilduin the Young, was the abbot of Saint-Denis.

In 862 Louis the Stammerer secretly married Ansgarde of Burgundy against the wishes of his father. Louis and Ansgarde had two children, Louis and Carloman.

However, Charles the Bald chose Adelaide to marry his son and heir, therefor, Charles prevailed upon Pope John VIII, to dissolve the union of Louis and Ansgarde. This accomplished, Charles married his son, Louis, to Adelaide in February 875.

The marriage was called into question because of the close blood-kinship of the pair. Louis eventually succeeded his father and on 7 September 878 the pope crowned Louis King of West Francia but refused to crown Adelaide.

Adelaide was pregnant when Louis the Stammerer died in Compiegne on 10 April 879. Adelaide gave birth 5 months later on 17 September 879, to Charles the Simple. Louis first wife Ansgarde and her sons accused Adelaide of adultery;
Adelaide in turn disputed the right of Ansgarde's sons to inherit. Eventually, Adelaide succeeded in winning the case, Charles was deemed the legitimate son of Louis.

In 898 when Charles eventually succeeded to his father's throne, his mother assisted in crowning him.
Adelaide died on 10 November 901 in Laon, and was buried in the Abbey of Saint-Corneille, Compiègne, Picardy.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: King of the Anglo-Saxons
• House: House of Wessex
• Nickname: The Elder
• FSID: LCDM-N61
• Appointments / Titles: Between 26 Oct 899 and 17 Jul 924; King of Anglo-Saxons

Notes:

Edward the Elder

King of the Anglo-Saxons
Reign 26 October 899 – 17 July 924
Coronation 8 June 900 Kingston upon Thames or Winchester
Predecessor Alfred the Great
Successor Æthelstan
Born c. 874
Died 17 July 924 Farndon, Cheshire, England
Burial New Minster, Winchester, later translated to Hyde Abbey

Spouse
Ecgwynn
Ælfflæd
Eadgifu
Issue
Æthelstan, King of England
Daughter, wife of Sitric Cáech
Eadgifu
Ælfweard, King of Wessex?
Eadgyth
Eadhild
Ælfgifu of Wessex
Eadflæd of Wessex
Eadhild of Wessex
Edwin of Wessex
Edmund, King of England
Eadred, King of England
Saint Eadburh of Winchester
House Wessex
Father Alfred, King of Wessex
Mother Ealhswith
Religion Catholicism (pre-reformation)

Edward the Elder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edward the Elder (Old English: Eadweard cyning; c. 874 – 17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-
Saxons from 899 until his death. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great.
He captured the eastern Midlands and East Anglia from the Danes in 917 and became ruler of Mercia
in 918 upon the death of Æthelflæd, his sister.
All but two of his charters give his title as "Anglorum Saxonum rex" ("king of the Anglo-Saxons"), a
title first used by his father, Alfred.[1] According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle the Kings of Scotland
and Strathclyde and the rulers of Northumbria "chose [Edward] as father and lord" in 920, a claim
dismissed by most modern historians.[2] Edward's cognomen "the Elder" was first used in Wulfstan's
Life of St Æthelwold (c. 996) to distinguish him from the later King Edward the Martyr.
Contents
1 Background
2 Childhood
3 Ætheling
4 Æthelwold's revolt
5 King of the Anglo-Saxons
6 Conquest of the southern Danelaw
7 Coinage
8 Church
9 Learning
10 Law and administration
11 Later life
12 Reputation
13 Marriages and children
14 Genealogy
15 Notes
16 Citations
17 Bibliography
18 Further reading
19 External links
Background
Mercia was the dominant kingdom in southern England in the eighth century and maintained its
position until it suffered a decisive defeat by Wessex at the Battle of Ellandun in 825. Thereafter the
two kingdoms became allies, which was to be an important factor in English resistance to the
Vikings.[3] In 865 the Danish Viking Great Heathen Army landed in East Anglia and used this as a
starting point for an invasion. The East Anglians were forced to buy peace and the following year the
Vikings invaded Northumbria, where they appointed a puppet king in 867. They then moved on
Mercia, where they spent the winter of 867–868. King Burgred of Mercia was joined by King Æthelred
of Wessex and his brother, the future King Alfred, for a combined attack on the Vikings, who refused
an engagement; in the end the Mercians bought peace with them. The following year, the Danes
conquered East Anglia, and in 874 they expelled King Burgred and Ceolwulf became the last King of
Mercia with their support. In 877 the Vikings partitioned Mercia, taking the eastern regions for
themselves and allowing Ceolwulf to keep the western ones. The situation was transformed the
following year when Alfred won a decisive victory over the Danes at the Battle of Edington. He was
thus able to prevent the Vikings from taking Wessex and western Mercia, although they still occupied
Northumbria, East Anglia and eastern Mercia.[4]
Childhood
Alfred the Great married his Mercian queen Ealhswith in 868. Her father was Æthelred Mucel,
Ealdorman of the Gaini, and her mother, Eadburh, was a member of the Mercian royal family. Alfred and Ealhswith had five children who survived
childhood. Their first child was Æthelflæd, who married Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians and ruled as Lady of the Mercians after his death. Edward was
next, and the second daughter, Æthelgifu, became abbess of Shaftesbury. The third daughter, Ælfthryth, married Baldwin, Count of Flanders, and the
youngest child, Æthelweard, was given a scholarly education, including learning Latin. This would usually suggest that he was intended for the church,
but it is unlikely in Æthelweard's case as he had sons. There were also an unknown number of children who died young. Neither part of Edward's name,
which means 'protector of wealth', had been used previously by the West Saxon royal house, and Barbara Yorke suggests that he may have been named
after his maternal grandmother Eadburh, reflecting the West Saxon policy of strengthening links with Mercia.[5]
Æthelflæd was probably born about a year after her parents' marriage, and Edward was brought up with his youngest sister, Ælfthryth. Yorke argues that
he was therefore probably nearer in age to Ælfthryth than Æthelflæd. However, he led troops in battle in 893, and he must have been of marriagable age
in that year as his oldest son Æthelstan was born about 894, so Edward was probably born in the mid-870s.[6] According to Asser in his Life of King
Alfred, Edward and Ælfthryth were educated at court by male and female tutors, and read ecclesiastical and secular works in English, such as the Psalms
See list
A page from the will of Alfred the
Great, which left the bulk of his estate
to Edward
Coin of Edward the Elder
and Old English poems. They were taught the courtly qualities of gentleness and humility, and Asser wrote that
they were obedient to their father and friendly to visitors. This is the only known case of an Anglo-Saxon prince
and princess receiving the same upbringing.[7]
Ætheling
As a son of a king, Edward was an ætheling, a prince of the royal house who was eligible for kingship. However,
even though he had the advantage of being the eldest son of the reigning king, his accession was not assured, as
he had cousins who had a strong claim to the throne. Æthelhelm and Æthelwold were sons of Æthelred, Alfred's
older brother and predecessor as king. More is known about Edward's childhood than about that of other Anglo-
Saxon princes, providing information about the training of a prince in a period of Carolingian influence, and
Yorke suggest that this may have been due to Alfred's efforts to portray his son as the most throneworthy
ætheling.[8]
Æthelhelm is only recorded in Alfred's will of the mid-880s, and probably died at some time in the next decade,
but Æthelwold is listed above Edward in the only charter where he appears, probably indicating a higher status.
Æthelwold may also have had an advantage because his mother Wulfthryth witnessed a charter as queen, whereas
Edward's mother Ealhswith never had a higher status than king's wife. However, Alfred was in a position to give
his own son considerable advantages. In his will, only left a handful of estates to his brother's sons, and the bulk
of his property to Edward, including all his booklands in Kent. In a Kentish charter of 898 Edward witnessed as
rex Saxonum, suggesting that Alfred may have followed the strategy adopted by his grandfather Egbert of
strengthening his son's claim to succeed to the West Saxon throne by declaring him King of Kent.[9] Alfred also
advanced men who could be depended on to support his plans for his succession, such as his brother-in-law, a
Mercian ealdorman called Æthelwulf, his son-in-law Æthelred, and a relative called Osferth, who may have been
Alfred's illegitimate son. Once Edward grew up Alfred was able to give him military commands and experience
of royal business. Edward frequently witnessed Alfred's charters, suggesting that he often accompanied his father
on royal peregrinations.[10]
In 893 Edward defeated the Vikings in the Battle of Farnham, although he was unable to follow up his victory as his troops period of service and expired
and he had to release them. The situation was saved by the arrival of troops from London led by his brother-in-law, Æthelred. The English defeated
renewed Viking attacks in 893 to 896, and in Richard Abels' view, the glory belonged to Æthelred and Edward.[11] Yorke argues that although Alfred
packed the witan with members whose interests lay in the continuation of Alfred's line, that may not have been sufficient to ensure Edward's accession, if
he had not displayed his fitness for kingship.[12] However, Janet Nelson suggests that there was conflict between Alfred and Edward in the 890s. She
points out that the contemporary Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, produced under court auspices in the 890s, does not mention Edward's military successes.
These are only known from the late tenth century chronicle of Æthelweard, such as his account of the Battle of Farnham, in which in Nelson's view
"Edward's military prowess, and popularity with a following of young warriors, are highlighted". Towards the end of his life Alfred invested his young
grandson Æthelstan in a ceremony which historians see as designation as eventual successor to the kingship. Nelson argues that while this may have been
proposed by Edward to support the accession of his own son, on the other hand it may have been intended by Alfred as part of a scheme to divide the
kingdom between his son and grandson. Æthelstan was sent to be brought up in Mercia Æthelflæd and Æthelred, but it is not known whether this was
Alfred's idea or Edward's. Alfred's wife Ealhswith is ignored in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in her husband's lifetime, but emerges from obscurity when
her son accedes. This may be because she supported her son against her husband.[13]
In about 893 Edward had married Ecgwynn, who bore him two children, the future King Æthelstan and a daughter who married Sitric, a Viking King of
York. An opponent of Æthelstan claimed that his mother was a concubine of low birth, but the earliest life of the nobly born Saint Dunstan suggests that
he was a relative of hers, and William of Malmesbury described her as an illustris femina. She may have died by 899, as around the time of Alfred's death
Edward took Ælfflæd as his second wife. She was the daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire.[14]
Æthelwold's revolt
Alfred died on 26 October 899 and Edward succeeded to the throne, but Æthelwold immediately disputed the
succession.[15] He seized the royal estates of Wimborne, symbolically important as the place where his father
was buried, and Christchurch. Edward marched with his army to the nearby Iron Age hillfort at Badbury
Rings. Æthelwold declared that he would live or die at Wimborne, but then left in the night and rode to
Northumbria, where the Danes accepted him as king.[16] Edward was crowned on 8 June 900 at Kingston upon
Thames or Winchester.[a]
In 901, Æthelwold came with a fleet to Essex, and the following year he persuaded the East Anglian Danes to
invade and harry English Mercia and northern Wessex. Edward retaliated by ravaging East Anglia, but when
he retreated the men of Kent disobeyed the order to retire, and were intercepted by the Danish army. The two sides met at the Battle of the Holme
(perhaps Holme in Huntingdonshire) on 13 December 902. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Danes "kept the place of slaughter", meaning
that they won the battle, but they suffered heavy losses, including Æthelwold and a King Eohric, possibly of the East Anglian Danes. Kentish losses
included Sigehelm, ealdorman of Kent and father of Edward's third wife, Eadgifu. Æthelwold's death ended the threat to Edward's throne.[18]
King of the Anglo-Saxons
In London in 886 Alfred had received the formal submission of "all the English people that were not under subjection to the Danes", and thereafter he
adopted the title "King of the Anglo-Saxons". This is seen by Simon Keynes as "the invention of a wholly new and distinctive polity", covering both
West Saxons and Mercians, which was inherited by Edward with the support of Mercians at the West Saxon court, of whom the most important was
Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury. In 903 Edward issued three charters at a meeting attended by the Mercian leaders and their daughter Ælfwynn.
The charters all contain a statement that Æthelred and Æthelflæd "then held rulership and power over the race of the Mercians, under the aforesaid
king".[19] This view of Edward's status is accepted by Martin Ryan, who states that Æthelred and Æthelflæd had "a considerable but ultimately
subordinate share of royal authority" in English Mercia.[20] Other historians disagree. Pauline Stafford describes Æthelflæd as "the last Mercian
queen",[21] while in Charles Insley's view Mercia kept its independence until Æthelflæd's death in 918.[22] Michael Davidson contrasts the 903 charters
with one of 901 in which the Mercian rulers were "by grace of God, holding, governing and defending the monarchy of the Mercians". Davidson
comments that "the evidence for Mercian subordination is decidedly mixed. Ultimately, the ideology of the 'Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons' may have
been less successful in achieving the absorption of Mercia and more something which I would see as a murky political coup."[23] The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle was compiled at the West Saxon court from the 890s, and the entries for the late ninth and early tenth centuries are seen by historians as
reflecting the West Saxon viewpoint; Davidson observes that "Alfred and Edward possessed skilled 'spin doctors'".[24] However, some versions of the
Chronicle incorporate part of a lost Mercian Register, which gives a Mercian perspective and details of Æthelfæd's campaign against the Vikings.[20]
The standard of Anglo-Saxon learning declined severely in the ninth century, particularly in Wessex, and Mercian scholars such as Plegmund played a
prominent part in the revival of learning initiated by Alfred. Mercians were prominent at the courts of Alfred and Edward, and the Mercian dialect and
scholarship commanded West Saxon respect.[25] The only large scale embroideries which were certainly made in Anglo-Saxon England date to Edward's
reign. They are a stole, a maniple and a possible girdle found in the tomb of St Cuthbert. They were donated by Æthelstan in 934, but inscriptions on the
embroideries show that they were commissioned by Edward's second wife, Ælflæd, as a gift to Frithestan, Bishop of Winchester. They probably did not
reach their intended destination because Æthelstan was on bad terms with Winchester.[26]
In the late ninth and early tenth centuries connection with the West Saxon royal house was seen as prestigious by continental rulers. In the mid-890s
Alfred had married his daughter Ælfthryth to Baldwin II of Flanders, and in 919 Edward married his daughter Eadgifu to Charles the Simple, King of
West Francia. In 925, after Edward's death, another daughter Eadgyth married Otto, the future King of Germany and (after Eadgyth's death) Holy Roman
Emperor.[27]
Conquest of the southern Danelaw
No battles are recorded between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danish Vikings for several years after the Battle of the Holme, but in 906 Edward agreed
peace with the East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes, suggesting that there had been conflict. According to one version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle he
made peace "of necessity", suggesting he was forced to buy them off.[15] He encouraged Englishmen to purchase land in Danish territory, and two
charters survive relating to estates in Bedfordshire and Derbyshire.[28] In 909, Edward sent an army to harass Northumbria. In the following year, the
Northumbrian Vikings retaliated by raiding Mercia, but on their way home they were met by a combined Mercian and West Saxon army at the Battle of
Tettenhall, where the Northumbrians suffered a disastrous defeat. From that point, they never ventured south of the River Humber, and Edward and his
Mercian allies were able to concentrate on conquering the southern Danelaw in East Anglia and the Five Boroughs of Viking east Mercia: Derby,
Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and Stamford.[15] In 911 Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, died, and Edward took control of the Mercian lands around
London and Oxford. Æthelred was succeeded as ruler by his widow Æthelflæd as Lady of the Mercians, and she had probably been acting as ruler for
several years as Æthelred seems to have been incapacitated in later life.[29]
Edward and Æthelflæd then began the construction of fortresses to guard against Viking attacks and protect territory captured from them. In November
911 he constructed a fort on the north bank of the River Lea at Hertford to guard against attack by the Danes of Bedford and Cambridge. In 912 he
marched with his army to Maldon in Essex, and ordered the building of an earth fortification, and this together with another fort south of the Lea at
Hertford protected London from attack, and encouraged many English living under Danish rule in Essex to submit to him instead. In 913 there was a
pause in his activities, although Æthelflæd continued her fortress building in Mercia. In 914 a Viking army sailed from Brittany and ravaged the Severn
estuary. It was defeated by a Mercian army, and Edward kept an army on the south side of the estuary which twice repelled attempts to invade Wessex. In
the autumn the Vikings moved on to Ireland. In November 914 Edward built two forts at Buckingham, and many Danes at Bedford and Northampton
submitted to him, while others left England with Earl Thurketil, reducing the number of Viking armies in the midlands. In 916 Edward built a fortress at
Maldon as another defence against the Danes of Colchester.[30]
The decisive year in the war was 917. In April Edward built a fort at Towcester as a defence against the Danes of Northampton, and another at an
unidentified place called Wigingamere. The Danes launched unsuccessful attacks on Towcester, Bedford and Wigingamere, while Æthelflæd captured
Derby, showing the value of the English defensive measures, which was aided by disunity and a lack of coordination among the Viking armies. The
Danes had built their own fortress at Tempsford, but at the end of the summer the English stormed it and killed the last Danish king of East Anglia. The
English then took Colchester, although they did not try to hold it. The Danes retaliated by sending a large army to lay siege to Maldon, but the garrison
held out until it was relieved and the retreating army was heavily defeated. Edward then returned to Towcester and reinforced its fort with a stone wall,
and the Danes of nearby Northampton submitted to him. The armies of Cambridge and East Anglia also submitted, and by the end of the year the only
Danish armies still holding out were those of four of the Five Boroughs, Leicester, Stamford, Nottingham, and Lincoln.[31]
In early 918, Æthelflæd secured the submission of Leicester without a fight, and the Danes of Northumbrian York offered her their allegiance, probably
for protection against Norse (Norwegian) Vikings who had invaded Northumbria from Ireland, but she died on 12 June before she could take up the
proposal. The same offer is not known to have been made to Edward, and the Norse Vikings took York in 919. Æthelflæd was succeeded by her daughter
Ælfwynn, but the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in December 918 she "was deprived of all authority in Mercia and taken into Wessex". Mercia then
came under Edward's direct rule. Stamford had surrendered to Edward before Æthelflæd's death, and Nottingham did the same shortly afterwards.
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 918, "all the people who had settled in Mercia, both Danish and English, submitted to him". This would
mean that he ruled all England south of the Humber, but it is not clear whether Lincoln was an exception, as coins of Viking York in the early 920s were
probably minted at Lincoln.[32] Some Danish jarls were allowed to keep their estates, although Edward probably also rewarded his supporters with land,
and some he kept in his own hands. Coin evidence suggests that his authority was stronger in the East Midlands than in East Anglia.[33]
Coinage
The principal currency was the silver penny, some of which had a stylised portrait of the king. Royal coins had "EADVVEARD REX" on the obverse
and the name of the moneyer of the reverse. The place of issue is not shown, but in Æthelstan's reign the location was shown, allowing the location of
many moneyers of Edward's reign to be established. There were mints in Bath, Canterbury, Chester, Chichester, Derby, Exeter, Hereford, London,
Oxford, Shaftesbury, Shrewsbury, Southampton, Stafford, Wallingford, Wareham, Winchester and probably other towns. No coins were struck in the
name of Æthelred or Æthelflæd, but from around 910 mints in English Mercia produced coins with an unusual decorative design on the reverse. This
ceased before 920, and probably represents Æthelflæd's way of distinguishing her coinage from that of her brother. There was also a minor issue of coins
in the name of Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury. There was a dramatic increase in the number of moneyers over Edward's reign, with less than 25 in
the south in the first ten years rising to 67 in the last ten years, around 5 in English Mercia rising to 23, plus 27 in the re-conquered Danelaw.[34]
Church
In 908, Plegmund conveyed the alms of the English king and people to the Pope, the first visit to Rome by an Archbishop of Canterbury for almost a
century, and the journey may have been to seek papal approval for a proposed re-organisation of the West Saxon sees.[35] When Edward came to the
throne Wessex had two dioceses, Winchester, held by Denewulf, and Sherborne, held by Asser.[36] In 908 Denewulf died and was replaced the following
year by Frithestan; soon afterwards Winchester was divided into two sees, with the creation of the diocese of Ramsbury covering Wiltshire and
Berkshire, while Winchester was left with Hampshire and Surrrey. Forged charters date the division to 909, but this may not be correct. Asser died in the
same year, and at some date between 909 and 918 Sherborne was divided into three sees, with Crediton covering Devon and Cornwall, and Wells
covering Somerset, while Sherborne was left with Dorset.[37] The effect of the changes were to strengthen the status of Canterbury compared with
Winchester and Sherborne, but the division may have been related to a change in the function of West Saxon bishops, to become agents of royal
government in shires rather than provinces, assisting in defence and taking part in shire courts.[38]
At the beginning of Edward's reign his mother, Ealhswith, founded the abbey of St Mary for nuns, known as the Nunnaminster, in Winchester.[39]
Edward's daughter Eadburh became a nun there, and she was venerated as a saint and the subject of a hagiography by Osbert of Clare in the twelfth
century.[40] In 901 Edward started building a major monastery for men, probably in accordance of his father's wishes. The monastery was next to
Winchester Cathedral, which became known as the Old Minster, while Edward's foundation was called the New Minster. It was much larger than the Old
Minster, and was probably intended as a royal mausoleum.[41] It acquired relics of the Breton Saint Judoc, which probably arrived in England from
Ponthieu in 901, and the body of one of Alfred's closest advisers, Grimbald, who died in the same year and who was soon venerated as a saint. Edward's
mother died in 902, and he buried her and Alfred there, moving his father's body from the Old Minster. Burials in the early 920s included Edward
himself, his brother Æthelweard, and his son Ælfweard. However, when Æthelstan became king in 924, he did not show any favour to his father's
foundation, probably because Winchester sided against him when the throne was disputed after Edward's death. The only later royal burial at the New
Minster was that of King Eadwig in 959.[42]
Edward's decision not to expand the Old Minster, but rather to overshadow it with a much larger building, suggests animosity towards Bishop Denewulf,
and this was compounded by forcing the Old Minster to cede both land for the new site, and an estate of 70 hides at Beddington to provide an income for
the New Minster. Edward was remembered by the New Minster as a benefactor, and at the Old Minster as rex avidus (greedy king).[43] Alan Thacker
comments:
Edward's method of endowing New Minster was of a piece with his ecclesiastical policy in general. Like his father he gave little to the church —
indeed, judging by the dearth of charters for much of his reign he seems to have given away little at all...More than any other, Edward's kingship
seems to epitomise the new hard-nosed monarchy of Wessex, determined to exploit all its resources, lay and ecclesiastical, for its own benefit.[44]
Patrick Wormald observes: "The thought occurs that neither Alfred nor Edward was greatly beloved at Winchester Cathedral; and one reason for
Edward's moving his father's body into the new family shrine next door was that he was surer of sincere prayers there."[45]
Learning
English scholarship almost collapsed during the ninth century, and Alfred was responsible for its revival during his last decade. It is uncertain how far his
programmes continued during his son's reign. English translations of works in Latin made during Alfred's reign continued to be copied, but few original
works are known. The Anglo-Saxon script known as Anglo-Saxon Square miniscule reached maturity in the 930s, and its earliest phases date to Edward's
reign. The main scholarly and scriptorial centres were the cathedral centres of Canterbury, Winchester and Worcester; monasteries did not make a
significant contribution until Æthelstan's reign.[46]
Law and administration
The only surviving original charter from Edward's reign is a grant by Æthelred and Æthelflæd in 901, and is not a charter of Edward himself.[47] In the
same year a meeting at Southampton was attended by his brother and sons, his household thegns and nearly all bishops, but no ealdormen. It was on this
occasion that the king acquired land from the Bishop of Winchester for the foundation of the New Minster, Winchester. No charters survive for the period
from 910 to the king's death in 924, much to the puzzlement and distress of historians. Charters were usually issued when the king made grants of land,
and it is possible that Edward followed a policy of retaining property which came into his hands in order to help finance his campaigns against the
Vikings.[48]
Clause 3 of the law code called I Edward provides that people convincingly charged with perjury shall not be allowed to clear themselves by oath, but
only by ordeal. This is the start of the continuous history in England of trial by ordeal; it is probably mentioned in the laws of King Ine (688 to 726), but
not in later codes such as those of Alfred.[49] The administrative and legal system in Edward's reign may have depended extensively on written records,
almost none of which survive.[50] Edward was one of the few Anglo-Saxon kings to issue laws about bookland (landed vested in a charter which could be
alienated by the holder, as opposed to folkland, which had to pass to heirs of the body). There was increasing confusion in the period as to what was
really bookland, and Edward urged prompt settlement in bookland/folkland disputes, and laid down that jurisdiction belonged to the king and his
offices.[51]
Later life
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, there was a general submission of rulers in Britain to Edward in 920:
Then [Edward] went from there into the Peak District to Bakewell and ordered a borough to be built in the neighbourhood and manned. And then
the king of the Scots and all the people of the Scots, and Rægnald and the sons of Eadwulf and all who live in Northumbria, both English and
Silver brooch imitating a coin
of Edward the Elder, c. 920,
found in Rome, Italy. British
Museum.
Danish, Norsemen and others, and also the king of the Strathclyde Welsh and all the Strathclyde Welsh, chose him
as father and lord.[52]
This passage was regarded as a straightforward report by most historians until the late twentieth century,[53] and Frank
Stenton observed that "each of the rulers named in this list had something definite to gain from an acknowledgement of
Edward's overlordship".[54] Since the 1980s the 'submission' has been viewed with increasing scepticism, particularly as
the passage in the Chronicle is the only evidence for it, unlike other submissions such as that of 927, for which there is
independent support from literary sources and coins.[55] Alfred Smyth points out that Edward was not in a position to
impose the same conditions on the Scots and the Northumbrians as he could on conquered Vikings, and argued that the
Chronicle presented a treaty between kings as a submission to Wessex.[56] Pauline Stafford observes that the rulers had
met at Bakewell on the border between Mercia and Northumbria, and that meetings on borders were generally
considered to avoid any implication of submission by either side.[57] Davidson points out that the wording "chosen as
father and lord" applied to conquered army groups and burhs, not relations with other kings. In his view:
The idea that this meeting represented a 'submission', while it must remain a possiblity, does however seem
unlikely. The textual context of the chronicler's passage makes his interpretation of the meeting suspect, and ultimately, Edward was in no position
to force the subordination of, or dictate terms to, his fellow kings in Britain.[58]
Edward continued Æthelflæd's policy of founding burhs in the north-west, with ones at Thelwall and Manchester in 919, and Cledematha (Rhuddlan) at
the mouth of the River Clwyd in North Wales in 921.[59]
No charters of Edward dated after 909 have survived, and nothing is known of his relations with the Mercians between 919 and the last year of his life,
when he put down a Mercian and Welsh revolt at Chester. Mercia and the eastern Danelaw were organised into shires at an unknown date in the tenth
century, ignoring traditional boundaries, and historians such as Sean Miller and David Griffiths suggest that Edward's imposition of direct control from
919 is a likely context for a change which ignored Mercian sensibilities. Resentment at the changes, at the imposition of rule by distant Wessex, and at
fiscal demands by Edward's reeves, may have provoked the revolt at Chester. He died at the royal estate of Farndon, twelve miles south of Chester, on 24
July 924, shortly after putting down the revolt, and was buried in the New Minster, Winchester.[60]
Reputation
Post-conquest chroniclers had a high opinion of Edward. John of Worcester described him as "the most invincible King Edward the Elder", who was
generally seen as "inferior to Alfred in book learning", but "equal to him in dignity and power, and superior to him in glory".[61]
Edward is also highly regarded by historians, and he is described by Keynes as "far more than the bellicose bit between Alfred and Æthelstan".[1]
According to Nick Higham: "Edward the Elder is perhaps the most neglected of English kings. He ruled an expanding realm for twenty-five years and
arguably did as much as any other individual to construct a single, south-centred, Anglo-Saxon kingdom, yet posthumously his achievements have been
all but forgotten." In 1999 a conference on his reign was held at the University of Manchester, and the papers given on this occasion were published as a
book in 2001. Prior to this conference, no monographs had been published on Edward's reign, whereas his father has been the subject of numerous
biographies and other studies. A principal reason for the neglect is that very few primary sources for his reign survive, whereas there are many for Alfred.
Edward has also suffered in historians' estimation by comparison with his highly regarded sister, Æthelflæd.[62]
In the view of F. T. Wainwright: "Without detracting from the achievements of Alfred, it is well to remember that it was Edward who reconquered the
Danish Midlands and gave England nearly a century of respite from serious Danish attacks."[63] Higham summarises Edward's legacy as follows:
Under Edward's leadership, the scale of alternative centres of power diminished markedly: the separate court of Mercia was dissolved; the Danish
leaders were in large part brought to heel or expelled; the Welsh princes were constrained from aggression of the borders and even the West Saxon
bishoprics divided. Late Anglo-Saxon England is often described as the most centralised polity in western Europe at the time, with its shires, its
shire-reeves and its systems of regional courts and royal taxation. If so — and the matter remains debatable — much of that centrality derives from
Edward's activities, and he has as good a claim as any other to be considered the architect of medieval England.[64]
Edward's cognomen the Elder was first used in Wulfstan's Life of St Æthelwold at the end of the tenth century, to distinguish him from King Edward the
Martyr.[15]
Marriages and children
Edward had about fourteen children from three marriages.[b]
He first married Ecgwynn around 893.[73] Their children were:
Æthelstan, King of England 924-939[15]
A daughter, perhaps called Edith, married Sihtric Cáech, Viking King of York in 926, who died in 927. Possibly Saint Edith of Polesworth[70]
In c. 900, Edward married Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire.[74] Their children were:
Ælfweard, died August 924, a month after his father; possibly King of Wessex for that month[75]
Edwin, drowned at sea 933[76]
Æthelhild, lay sister at Wilton Abbey[77]
Eadgifu (died in or after 951), married Charles the Simple, King of the West Franks, c. 918[78]
Eadflæd, nun at Wilton Abbey[77]
Eadhild, married Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks in 926[79]
Eadgyth (died 946), in 929/30 married Otto I, future King of the East Franks, and (after Eadgyth's death) Holy Roman Emperor[80]
Ælfgifu, married "a prince near the Alps", perhaps Louis, brother of King Rudolph II of Burgundy[81]
Edward married for a third time, about 919, Eadgifu, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent.[82] Their children were
Edmund, King of England 939-946[65]
Eadred, King of England 946-955[65]
Eadburh (died c. 952), Benedictine nun at Nunnaminster, Winchester, and saint[83]
Eadgifu, existence uncertain, possibly the same person as Ælfgifu[84]
Genealogy
Ancestors of Edward the Elder
16. Ealhmund of Kent
8. Egbert of Wessex
4. Æthelwulf of Wessex
2. Alfred the Great
10. Oslac
5. Osburga
1. Edward the Elder
6. Æthelred Mucel
3. Ealhswith
7. Eadburh
Notes
a. The twelfth-century chroniclerR alph of Diceto stated that the coronation took place at Kingston, and this is accepted bSyi mon Keynes, but Sarah Foot thinks that
Winchester is more likely.[17]
b. The order in which Edward's children are listed is based on the family tree in FootÆ's thelstan: the First King of England, which shows sons of each wife before
daughters. The daughters are listed in their birth order according to William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum.[65] The earliest primary sources do not
distinguish whether Sihtric's wife was Æthelstan's full or half sist,e rand a tradition recorded at Bury in the early twelfth century makes her a daughter of Edward's
second wife, Ælfflæd.[66] However, she is described as the daughter of Edward and Ecgwynn in William of Malmesbury's twelfth century Deeds of the English Kings,
and Michael Wood's argument that this is partly based on a lost early life of Æthelstan has been generally accepte[d6.6][67] Modern historians follow William of
Malmesbury's testimony in showing her as Æthelstan's full siste."r[68][65][15] William of Malmesbury did not know her name, but some late sources name her as Edith
or Eadgyth, an identification accepted by some historian[s1.5][68][69] She is also identified in late sources with saint Edith of Polesworth, a view accepted by Alan
Thacker, but dismissed as "dubious" by Sarah Foot, who does however think that it is like ltyhat she entered the cloister in widowhood[.70][71][72]
Citations
1. Keynes 2001, p. 57.
2. Davidson 2001, pp. 200-209.
3. Keynes and Lapidge 1983, pp. 11–12.
4. Stenton 1971, pp. 245–257.
5. Yorke 2001, pp. 25–28.
6. Yorke 2001, pp. 25–26; Miller 2004.
7. Yorke 2001, pp. 27–28.
8. Yorke 2001, p. 25.
9. Yorke 2001, pp. 29–32; Keynes and Lapidge
1983, p. 321, n. 66; Æthelhelm, PASE.
10. Yorke 2001, pp. 31–35.
11. Abels 1998, pp. 294–304.
12. Yorke 2001, p. 37.
13. Nelson 1996, pp. 53–54, 63–66.
14. Yorke 2001, pp. 33–34.
15. Miller 2004.
16. Stenton 1971, p. 321; Lavelle 2009, pp. 53, 61.
17. Keynes 2001, p. 48; Foot 2011, p. 74.
18. Stenton 1971, pp. 321–322; Hart 1992, p. 512–
515; Stafford 2004.
19. Keynes 2001, pp. 44–54.
20. Ryan 2013, p. 298.
21. Stafford 2001, p. 45.
22. Insley 2009, p. 330.
23. Davidson 2001, p. 205; Keynes 2001, p. 43.
24. Davidson 2001, pp. 203–204.
25. Gretsch 2001, p. 287.
26. Coatsworth 2001, pp. 292–296.
27. Sharp 2001, pp. 81–86.
28. Abrams 2001, p. 136.
29. Stenton 1971, p. 324, n. 1; Wainwright 1975,
pp. 308–309; Bailey 2001, p. 113.
30. Miller 2004; Stenton 1971, pp. 324–327.
31. Miller 2004; Stenton 1971, pp. 327–329.
32. Miller 2004; Stenton 1971, pp. 329–331.
33. Abrams 2001, pp. 138–139.
34. Lyon 2001, pp. 67–73, 77.
35. Brooks 1984, pp. 210, 213.
36. Rumble 2001, pp. 230–231.
37. Yorke 2004b; Brooks 1984, pp. 212–213.
38. Rumble 2001, p. 243.
39. Rumble 2001, p. 231.
40. Thacker 2001, pp. 259–260.
41. Rumble 2001, pp. 231–234.
42. Miller 2001, pp. xxv–xxix; Thacker 2001,
pp. 253–254.
43. Rumble 2001, pp. 234–237, 244; Thacker 2001,
p. 254.
44. Thacker 2001, p. 254.
45. Wormald 2001, pp. 274–275.
46. Lapidge 1993, pp. 12–16.
47. Lapidge 1993, p. 13.
48. Keynes 2001, pp. 50–51, 55–56.
49. Campbell 2001, p. 14.
50. Campbell 2001, p. 23.
51. Wormald 2001, pp. 264, 276.
52. Davidson 2001, pp. 200–201.
53. Davidson 2001, p. 201.
54. Stenton 1971, p. 334.
55. Davidson 2001, p. 206–207.
56. Smyth 1984, p. 199.
57. Stafford 1989, p. 33.
58. Davidson 2001, pp. 206, 209.
59. Griffiths 2001, p. 168.
60. Miller 2004; Griffiths 2001, pp. 167, 182–183.
61. Keynes 2001, pp. 40–41.
62. Higham 2001a, pp. 1–4.
63. Wainwright 1975, p. 77.
64. Higham 2001b, p. 311.
65. Foot 2011, p. xv.
66. Thacker 2001, p. 257.
67. Foot 2011, pp. 241–258.
68. Williams 1991, pp. xxix,123.
69. Foot 2011, pp. xv,48 (tentatively).
70. Thacker 2001, pp. 257–258.
71. Foot 2011, p. 48.
72. Foot 2010, p. 243.
73. Foot 2011, p. 11.
74. Yorke 2001, p. 33.
75. Foot 2011, p. 17.
76. Foot 2011, p. 21.
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Abrams, Lesley (2001). "Edward the Elder's Danelaw". In Higham, Nick; Hill, DavidE. dward the Elder 899–924. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. pp. 128–143.I SBN 0-
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Foot, Sarah (2011). Æthelstan: the First King of England. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12535-1.
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Lavelle, Ryan (2009). "The Politics of Rebellion: The Ætheling Æthelwold and the West Saxon Royal Succession, 899–902". In Skinne, rPatricia. Challenging the
Boundaries of Medieval History: The Legacy of iTmothy Reuter. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols. pp. 51–80.I SBN 978-2-503-52359-0.
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Rumble, Alexander R. (2001). "Edward and the Churches of Winchester and Wessex". In Higham, Nick; Hill, David.E dward the Elder 899–924. Abingdon, UK:
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Ryan, Martin J. (2013). "Conquest, Reform and the Making of England". In Higham, Niclhaos J.; Ryan, Martin J. The Anglo-Saxon World. New Haven, Connecticut:
Yale University Press. pp. 284–322.I SBN 978-0-300-12534-4.
Sharp, Sheila (2001). "The West Saxon Tradition of Dynastic Marriage, with Special Reference to the Family of Edward the Elder". In Higham, Nick; Hill, David.
Edward the Elder 899–924. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. pp. 79–88.I SBN 0-415-21497-1.
Smyth, Alfred P (1984). Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–100. London, UK: Edward Arnold. ISBN 0-7131-6305-4.
Stafford, Pauline (1989). Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in thee Tnth and Eleventh Centuries. London, UK: Edward Arnold.
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Europe. London, UK: Leicester University Press. pp. 35–49I.S BN 0-7185-0231-0.
Stafford, Pauline (2004). "Eadgifu (b. in or before 904, d. in or after 966), queen of the Anglo-Saxon.s "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University
Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52307. Retrieved 4 January 2017. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
Stafford, Pauline (2011). "Eadgyth (c.911–946), queen of the East Franks". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
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Stenton, Frank (1971). Anglo-Saxon England (3rd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University PressI. SBN 978-0-19-280139-5.
Thacker, Alan (2001). "Dynastic Monasteries and Family Cults". In Higham, Nick; Hill, Dvaid. Edward the Elder 899–924. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.I SBN 0-415-
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Williams, Ann (1982). "Princeps Merciorum Gentis: the Family, Career and Connections of Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia 956-983"A. nglo-Saxon England.
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Williams, Ann; Smyth, Alfred P.; Kirby, D. P. (1991). A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain: England, Scotland, and Wales. Routledge. ISBN 1-85264-047-2.
Wormald, Patrick (2001). "Kingship and Royal Property from Æthelwulf to Edward the Elder". In Higham, Nick; Hill, DaviEdd. ward the Elder 899–924. Abingdon,
UK: Routledge. pp. 264–279. ISBN 0-415-21497-1.
Yorke, Barbara (2001). "Edward as Ætheling". In Higham, Nick; Hill, DavidE. dward the Elder 899–924. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. pp. 25–39.I SBN 0-415-21497-1.
Yorke, Barbara (2004a). "Eadburh [St Eadburh, Eadburga] (921x4–951x3), Benedictine nun". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
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Further reading
Smyth, Alfred P. (1996-03-14). King Alfred the Great. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822989-6.
77. Foot 2011, p. 45.
78. Foot 2011, p. 46; Stafford 2011.
79. Foot 2011, p. 18.
80. Stafford 2011.
81. Foot 2011, p. 51.
82. Stafford 2004.
83. Yorke 2004a; Thacker 2001, pp. 259–260.
84. Foot 2011, pp. 50–51; Stafford 2004.
Wikisource has original
works written by or about:
Edward the Elder
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Elder.
External links
Edward 2 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
The Laws of King Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder Coinage Regulations
Edward the Elder at Find a Grave
Preceded by
Alfred the Great
King of the Anglo-
Saxons
899–924
Succeeded by
Æthelstan
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House of Wessex Monarchs of England before 1066
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Edward married of Wiltshire, Ælfflæd in 899. Ælfflæd was born in 880 in Devon, England; died in 920 in Winchester Castle, Winchester, Hampshire, England; was buried in 920 in Wilton Abbey, Wilton (near Salisbury), Wiltshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: LZF7-33W

Notes:

919 AD in Wilton Abbey, Wilton (near Salisbury), Wiltshire, England; Around 919-920, Edward set aside Aelflaed and she became a nun at Wilton where she was joined by two of her daughters. It was at this time Edward married Eadgifu, most likely to gain control of her landholdings since he already had plenty of heirs.

Ælfflæd was the second wife of the English king Edward the Elder.
Their children were:
Ælfweard (briefly king of Wessex in 924)
Edwin (d. 933)
Eadgifu, wife of Charles the Simple, king of West Francia
Eadhild, wife of Hugh the Great, duke of the Franks
Eadgyth, wife of Emperor Otto I
Ælfgifu, wife of Louis, brother of Rudolf of Burgundy?
Eadflæd, nun at Wilton
Æthelhild, vowess at Wilton

Edmund I, the future king who was a son of Edward's third wife, Eadgifu, was born in 920 or 921, so Ælfflæd's marriage must have ended in the late 910s. According to William of Malmesbury, Edward put aside Ælfflæd in order to marry Eadgifu, a claim which Sean Miller viewed sceptically, but it is accepted by other historians.She is reported to have retired to Wilton Abbey, where she was joined by two of her daughters, Eadflæd and Æthelhild, and all three were buried there.

Ælfflæd was probably the daughter of ealdorman Æthelhelm of Wiltshire who died in 897. Genealogist David H. Kelley and historian Pauline Stafford have identified him as Æthelhelm, a son of Edward's uncle, King Æthelred of Wessex. Other historians have rejected the idea, arguing that it does not appear to have been the practice for Æthelings (princes of the royal dynasty who were eligible to be king) to become ealdormen, that in a grant from King Alfred to Ealdorman Æthelhelm there is no reference to kinship between them, and that the hostile reception to King Eadwig's marriage to Ælfgifu, his third cousin once removed, shows that a marriage between Edward and his first cousin once removed would have been forbidden as incestuous.

Ælfflæd married King Edward around 899. She only attested one charter, dated 901, where she was described as conjux regis. She never attested as queen. and although she was previously thought to have been consecrated as queen when Edward was crowned in 900, this is now thought unlikely. In 1827 the tomb of St Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral was opened, and among the objects found were a stole and maniple which had inscriptions showing that they had been commissioned by Ælfflæd for bishop Frithestan of Winchester. However, they had been donated by her step-son king Æthelstan to Cuthbert's tomb, probably in 934.

Ælfflæd had two sons, Ælfweard, who may have become king of Wessex on his father's death in 924 but died himself within a month, and Edwin, who was drowned in 933. She also had five or six daughters, including Eadgifu, wife of Charles the Simple, king of West Francia, Eadhild, who married Hugh the Great, duke of the Franks, and Eadgyth, wife of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. In around 967 Hrotsvitha, a nun of Gandersheim, wrote a eulogy of the deeds of Otto I in which she contrasted the nobility of Eadgyth's mother with the inferior descent of Æthelstan's mother.

Edmund I, the future king who was a son of Edward's third wife, Eadgifu, was born in 920 or 921, so Ælfflæd's marriage must have ended in the late 910s. According to William of Malmesbury, Edward put aside Ælfflæd in order to marry Eadgifu, a claim which Sean Miller viewed sceptically, but it is accepted by other historians.She is reported to have retired to Wilton Abbey, where she was joined by two of her daughters, Eadflæd and Æthelhild, and all three were buried there.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Duke of Saxony
• House: Ottonian
• Nickname: The Illustrious One
• FSID: G98N-1MN
• Life Event: Between 902 and 912, Hersfeld Abbey Bad Hersfeld, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Hessen, Germany; Abbott

Notes:

Otto I, Duke of Saxony
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Otto I
Duke of Saxony
Otto I, Duke of Saxony.jpg
Otto I Dux, depiction in the Chronica Sancti Pantaleonis, Cologne (c. 1237
Born c. 830/40
Died 30 November 912
Wallhausen, Saxony
Buried Gandersheim Abbey
Noble family Ottonian dynasty
Spouse(s) Hathui of Babenberg
Issue
Henry the Fowler
Father Liudolf, Duke of Saxony
Mother Oda of Billung
Otto (c. 830/40 – 30 November 912), called the Illustrious (German: Otto der Erlauchte) by later authors, a member of the Ottonian dynasty, was Duke of Saxony from 880 to his death.

Contents
1 Family
2 Reign
3 Notes
4 Sources
Family
Otto was a younger son of the Saxon count Liudolf (d. 866), the progenitor of the dynasty, and his wife Oda (d. 913), daughter of the Saxon princeps Billung. Among his siblings were his elder brother Bruno, heir to their father's estates, and Liutgard, who in 876 became Queen of East Francia as consort of the Carolingian king Louis the Younger. The marriage expressed Liudolf's dominant position in the Saxon lands.

Around 873 Otto himself married Hathui (d. 903), probably daughter of the Frankish princeps militiae Henry of Franconia, a member of the noble House of Babenberg (Popponids). By her he had two sons, Thankmar and Liudolf, who predeceased him, but his third son Henry the Fowler succeeded him as duke of Saxony and was later elected king. Otto's daughter Oda married the Carolingian King Zwentibold of Lotharingia, son of Emperor Arnulf. His family is called the Liudolfinger after his father, upon the accession of his grandson Emperor Otto the Great it then was also called the Ottonian dynasty.

Reign
By a charter of King Louis the Younger to Gandersheim Abbey dated 26 January 877, the pago Suththuringa (region of South Thuringia) is described as in comitatu Ottonis (in Otto's county). He succeeded his brother Bruno after the latter's death in the Battle of Lüneburg Heath (Ebsdorf) on 2 February 880, fighting against the Viking invaders.[1]

Ruling over vast Saxon and Thuringian estates, Otto was mentioned as dux in later sources, while in a contemporary charter of 28 January 897, Otto is described as marchio and the pago Eichesfelden (Eichsfeld) is now found to be within his county (march). He was also the lay abbot of Hersfeld Abbey in 908 and fifty years later was described as magni ducis Oddonis (great duke Otto) by the chronicler Widukind of Corvey when describing the marriage of his sister Liutgard to King Louis.

Despite his dynastic relations, Otto only had loose connections to the Carolingian court and rarely left Saxony. He remained a regional East Frankish prince and his overlords, Louis the Younger and Emperor Arnulf, with both of whom he was on good terms, rarely interfered in Saxon autonomy. In his lands, Otto was prince in practice and he also established himself as a tributary ruler over the neighbouring Slavic tribes in the east, such as the Daleminzi.

According to Widukind of Corvey, the "Saxon and Franconian people" offered Otto the kingship of East Francia after the death of the last Carolingian monarch Louis the Child in 911. He did, however, not accept it on account of his advanced age, instead suggesting Duke Conrad of Franconia. The truthfulness of this report is considered doubtful.[2]

The next year, Otto died at the Pfalz of Wallhausen. He was buried in the church of Gandersheim Abbey.

Buried:
Gandersheim Abbey

Otto married von Babenberg, Hedwiga in 870 in Sachsen, Germany. Hedwiga (daughter of von Babenberg, Margrave Heinrich and of Fruili, Ingeltrude) was born on 10 Oct 853 in Babenberg Castle, Holzkirchen, Miesbach, Bayern, Germany; died on 24 Dec 903 in Aachen, Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; was buried after 24 Dec 903 in Stiftskirche Gandersheim, Bad Gandersheim, Northeim, Niedersachsen, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: L8TG-1DR

Notes:

Hedwiga (also known as Hathui; c.?850/55-24 December 903), a member of the Elder House of Babenberg (Popponids), was Duchess of Saxony from about 880 until her death, by her marriage with the Liudolfing duke Otto the Illustrious. She is the mother of King

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Count of Westfalen (Westphalia)
• FSID: LB2S-FHY

Notes:

Birth:
Babenberg

Thiadrich married Reinhild. was born about 870; died in 935. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: LLMW-5VV

Notes:

Reginlind is the sister of Bovo II (Bishop of Châlons) and Frederuna (wife of Charles III 'le Simple'). The parents of these siblings ARE NOT KNOWN.

http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/Reims.htm#ReginlindMTheoderich

Ludmilla Ragnhildis Gotfriedsdatter
Princess of Haithabu, Rustringen and Dorestad