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
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Family/Spouse: of England, Æthelred. Æthelred (son of of England, King Edgar I and of England, Ælfthryth) was born in 966 in England; died in 1016 in London, London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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
This page was last edited on 20 May 2017, at 22:01.
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 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]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: England; Prince of England
• FSID: K24W-VR4

Notes:

Edward the Exile
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edward the Exile, the Outlaw, the Confessor (1016 – late August 1057), also called Edward Ætheling, was the son of King Edmund Ironside and of Ealdgyth. He spent most of his life in exile following the defeat of his father by Canute the Great.

Exile
After the Danish conquest of England in 1016, Canute had Edward, said to be only a few months old, and his brother, Edmund, sent to the Swedish court of Olof Skötkonung (who was either Canute's half-brother or stepbrother), supposedly with instructions to have the children murdered. Instead, the two boys were secretly sent either to Kiev, where Olof's daughter Ingigerd was the Queen, or to Poland, where Canute's uncle Bolesław I Chrobry was duke. Later Edward made his way to Hungary, probably in the retinue of Ingigerd's son-in-law, András in 1046, whom he supported in his successful bid for the Hungarian throne.

Return
On hearing the news of his being alive, Edward the Confessor recalled him to England in 1056 and made him his heir. Edward offered the last chance of an undisputed succession within the Saxon royal house. News of Edward's existence came at a time when the old Anglo-Saxon monarchy, restored after a long period of Danish domination, was heading for catastrophe. The Confessor, personally devout but politically weak and without children, was unable to make an effective stand against the steady advance of the powerful and ambitious sons of Godwin, Earl of Wessex. From across the Channel William, Duke of Normandy, also had an eye on the succession. Edward the Exile appeared at just the right time. Approved by both king and by the Witan, the Council of the Realm, he offered a way out of the impasse, a counter both to the Godwinsons and to William, and one with a legitimacy that could not be readily challenged.

Edward, who had been in the custody of Henry III, the Holy Roman Emperor, finally came back to England at the end of August 1057. But he died within two days of his arrival. The exact cause of Edward's death remains unclear, but he had many powerful enemies, and there is a strong possibility that he was murdered, although by whom is not known with any certainty. It is known, though, that his access to the king was blocked soon after his arrival in England for some unexplained reason, at a time when the Godwinsons, in the person of Harold, were once again in the ascendant. This turn of events left the throne of England to be disputed by Earl Harold and Duke William, ultimately leading to the Norman Conquest of England. He was buried in Old St Paul's Cathedral.

Family
Edward's wife was named Agatha, whose origins are disputed. Their children were:

Edgar Ætheling (c. 1051 - c. 1126) - Elected King of England after the Battle of Hastings but submitted to William the Conqueror.
Saint Margaret of Scotland (c. 1045 - 16 November 1093) - Married King Malcolm III of Scotland.
Cristina (c. 1057 - c. 1093) - Abbess at Romsey Abbey.
Edward's grandchild Edith of Scotland, also called Matilda, married King Henry I of England, continuing the Anglo-Saxon line into the post-Conquest English monarchy.

Ancestors
Edward the Exile was a direct descendant of a line of Wessex kings dating back, at least on the pages of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, to the arrival of Cerdic of Wessex in 495AD, and from Alfred the Great in the English monarchs family tree. Of his more immediate ancestors, all four of Edward's male-line ancestors shown in the diagram below were Kings of England before Cnut the Great took the crown and sent Edward into exile.

Edward married Aetheling, Princess of England Agatha on 13 Jul 1040 in London, London, England. Agatha was born on 13 Jul 1024 in Esztergom, Komarom-Esztergom, Hungary; died on 13 Jul 1066 in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland, England; was buried after 13 Jul 1066. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: England; Princess of England
• Appointments / Titles: Scotland; Queen of Scotland
• Appointments / Titles: Queen of Wessex "The Exile"
• Appointments / Titles: Saint of Hungary
• Nickname: The Pearl of Scotland
• Nickname: The Pearl of Scotland
• FSID: L8M6-YW7
• Appointments / Titles: Between 7 Jan 1071 and 6 Jan 1072; Queen of Scotland

Notes:

Saint Margaret of Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saint Margaret of Scotland
StMargareth edinburgh castle2.jpg
Image of Saint Margaret in a window in St Margaret's Chapel, Edinburgh
Queen Consort of Scotland
Tenure 1070-93
Born c. 1045
Kingdom of Hungary
Died 16 November 1093
Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Kingdom of Scotland
Burial Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Kingdom of Scotland
Spouse King Malcolm III of Scotland
married 1070; widowed 1093
Issue
more... Edmund, Bishop of Dunkeld
Ethelred
King Edgar of Scotland
King Alexander I of Scotland
King David I of Scotland
Queen Matilda of England
Mary, Countess of Boulogne
House Wessex
Father Edward the Exile
Mother Agatha
Saint Margaret
Queen of Scots
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church and Anglican Communion
Canonized 1250 by Pope Innocent IV
Major shrine Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland
Feast
16 November,

10 June (pre-1970 General Roman Calendar)
Attributes reading
Patronage Scotland, Dunfermline, Fife, Shetland, The Queen's Ferry, and Anglo-Scottish relations
Saint Margaret of Scotland (c. 1045 – 16 November 1093), also known as Margaret of Wessex, was an English princess of the House of Wessex. Margaret was sometimes called "The Pearl of Scotland". Born in exile in the Kingdom of Hungary, she was the sister of Edgar Ætheling, the shortly reigned and uncrowned Anglo-Saxon King of England. Margaret and her family returned to the Kingdom of England in 1057, but fled to the Kingdom of Scotland following the Norman conquest of England in 1066. In 1070 Margaret married King Malcolm III of Scotland, becoming Queen of Scots. She was a very pious Roman Catholic, and among many charitable works she established a ferry across the Firth of Forth in Scotland for pilgrims travelling to St Andrews in Fife, which gave the towns of South Queensferry and North Queensferry their names. Margaret was the mother of three kings of Scotland, or four, if Edmund of Scotland, who ruled with his uncle, Donald III, is counted, and of a queen consort of England. According to the Vita S. Margaritae (Scotorum) Reginae (Life of St. Margaret, Queen (of the Scots)), attributed to Turgot of Durham, she died at Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1093, merely days after receiving the news of her husband's death in battle. In 1250 Pope Innocent IV canonized her, and her remains were reinterred in a shrine in Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, Scotland. Her relics were dispersed after the Scottish Reformation and subsequently lost. Mary, Queen of Scots at one time owned her head, which was subsequently preserved by Jesuits in the Scottish College, Douai, France, from where it was subsequently lost during the French Revolution.

Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Return to England
3 Journey to Scotland
4 Progeny
5 Piety
6 Death
7 Veneration
7.1 Canonization and feast day
7.2 Institutions bearing her name
8 Ancestry
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 Further reading
13 External links
Early life

Margaret from a medieval family tree.
Margaret was the daughter of the English prince Edward the Exile, and granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, king of England. After the Danish conquest of England in 1016, King Canute the Great had the infant Edward exiled to the continent. He was taken first to the court of the Swedish king, Olof Skötkonung, and then to Kiev. As an adult, he travelled to Hungary, where in 1046 he supported the successful bid of King Andrew I for the Hungarian crown. King Andrew I was then also known as "Andrew the Catholic" for his extreme aversion to pagans and great loyalty to the Roman Catholic Church. The provenance of Margaret's mother, Agatha, is legally disputed, but Margaret was born in Hungary c. 1045. Her brother Edgar the Ætheling and sister Cristina were also born in Hungary around this time. Margaret grew up in a very religious environment in the Hungarian court.

Return to England
Still a child, she came to England with the rest of her family when her father, Edward the Exile, was recalled in 1057 as a possible successor to her great-uncle, the childless St. King Edward the Confessor. Whether from natural or sinister causes, her father died immediately after landing, and Margaret continued to reside at the English court where her brother, Edgar Ætheling, was considered a possible successor to the English throne. When Edward the Confessor died in January 1066, Harold Godwinson was selected as king, possibly because Edgar was considered too young. After Harold's defeat at the Battle of Hastings later that year, Edgar was proclaimed King of England, but when the Normans advanced on London, the Witenagemot presented Edgar to William the Conqueror, who took him to Normandy before returning him to England in 1068, when Edgar, Margaret, Cristina, and their mother Agatha fled north to Northumbria, England.

Journey to Scotland
According to tradition, the widowed Agatha decided to leave Northumbria, England with her children and return to the continent. However, a storm drove their ship north to the Kingdom of Scotland in 1068, where they sought the protection of King Malcolm III. The locus where it is believed that they landed is known today as St Margaret's Hope, near the village of North Queensferry, Fife, Scotland. Margaret's arrival in Scotland, after the failed revolt of the Northumbrian earls, has been heavily romanticized, though Symeon of Durham implied that her first meeting of Malcolm III may not have been until 1070, after William the Conqueror's Harrying of the North.

King Malcolm III was a widower with two sons, Donald and Duncan. He would have been attracted to marrying one of the few remaining members of the Anglo-Saxon royal family. The marriage of Malcolm and Margaret occurred in 1070. Subsequently, Malcolm executed several invasions of Northumberland to support the claim of his new brother-in-law Edgar and to increase his own power. These, however, had little effect save the devastation of the County.

Progeny
Margaret and Malcolm had eight children, six sons and two daughters:

Edward (c. 1071 — 13 November 1093), killed along with his father Malcolm III in the Battle of Alnwick
Edmund of Scotland (c.1071 – post 1097)
Ethelred of Scotland, Abbot of Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross, Scotland
Edgar of Scotland (c.1074 — 11 January 1107), King of Scotland, regnat 1097-1107
Alexander I of Scotland (c.1078 — 23 April 1124), King of Scotland, regnat 1107-24
Edith of Scotland (c. 1080 – 1 May 1118), also named "Matilda", married King Henry I of England, Queen Consort of England
Mary of Scotland (1082-1116), married Eustace III of Boulogne
David I of Scotland (c.1083 – 24 May 1153), King of Scotland, regnat 1124-53
Piety

Malcolm greeting Margaret at her arrival in Scotland; detail of a mural by Victorian artist William Hole
Margaret's biographer Turgot of Durham, Bishop of St. Andrew's, credits her with having a civilizing influence on her husband Malcolm by reading him narratives from the Bible. She instigated religious reform, striving to conform the worship and practices of the Church in Scotland to those of Rome. This she did on the inspiration and with the guidance of Lanfranc, a future Archbishop of Canterbury. She also worked to conform the practices of the Scottish Church to those of the continental Church, which she experienced in her childhood. Due to these achievements, she was considered an exemplar of the "just ruler", and moreover influenced her husband and children, especially her youngest son, the future King David I of Scotland, to be just and holy rulers.

"The chroniclers all agree in depicting Queen Margaret as a strong, pure, noble character, who had very great influence over her husband, and through him over Scottish history, especially in its ecclesiastical aspects. Her religion, which was genuine and intense, was of the newest Roman style; and to her are attributed a number of reforms by which the Church [in] Scotland was considerably modified from the insular and primitive type which down to her time it had exhibited. Among those expressly mentioned are a change in the manner of observing Lent, which thenceforward began as elsewhere on Ash Wednesday and not as previously on the following Monday, and the abolition of the old practice of observing Saturday (Sabbath), not Sunday, as the day of rest from labour (see Skene's Celtic Scotland, book ii chap. 8)." The later editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica, however, as an example, the Eleventh Edition, remove Skene's opinion that Scottish Catholics formerly rested from work on Saturday, something for which there is no historical evidence. Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. ii, chap. 8, pp. 348–350, quotes from a contemporary document regarding Margaret's life, but his source says nothing at all of Saturday Sabbath observance, but rather says St. Margaret exhorted the Scots to cease their tendency "to neglect the due observance of the Lord's day."

She attended to charitable works, serving orphans and the poor every day before she ate and washing the feet of the poor in imitation of Christ. She rose at midnight every night to attend the liturgy. She successfully invited the Benedictine Order to establish a monastery in Dunfermline, Fife in 1072, and established ferries at Queensferry and North Berwick to assist pilgrims journeying from south of the Firth of Forth to St. Andrew's in Fife. She used a cave on the banks of the Tower Burn in Dunfermline as a place of devotion and prayer. St. Margaret's Cave, now covered beneath a municipal car park, is open to the public. Among other deeds, Margaret also instigated the restoration of Iona Abbey in Scotland. She is also known to have interceded for the release of fellow English exiles who had been forced into serfdom by the Norman conquest of England.

Margaret was as pious privately as she was publicly. She spent much of her time in prayer, devotional reading, and ecclesiastical embroidery. This apparently had considerable effect on the more uncouth Malcolm, who was illiterate: he so admired her piety that he had her books decorated in gold and silver. One of these, a pocket gospel book with portraits of the Evangelists, is in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England.

Malcolm was apparently largely ignorant of the long-term effects of Margaret's endeavours, not being especially religious himself. He was content for her to pursue her reforms as she desired, which was a testament to the strength of and affection in their marriage.

Death
Her husband Malcolm III, and their eldest son Edward, were killed in the Battle of Alnwick against the English on 13 November 1093. Her son Edgar was left with the task of informing his mother of their deaths. Margaret was not yet 50 years old, but a life of constant austerity and fasting had taken their toll. Already ill, Margaret died on 16 November 1093, three days after the deaths of her husband and eldest son. She was buried before the high altar in Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, Scotland. In 1250, the year of her canonization, her body and that of her husband were exhumed and placed in a new shrine in the Abbey. In 1560 Mary Queen of Scots had Margaret's head removed to Edinburgh Castle as a relic to assist her in childbirth. In 1597 Margaret's head ended up with the Jesuits at the Scottish College, Douai, France, but was lost during the French Revolution. King Philip of Spain had the other remains of Margaret and Malcolm III transferred to the Escorial palace in Madrid, Spain, but their present location has not been discovered.

Veneration

Site of the ruined Shrine of St. Margaret at Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland

St Margaret's Chapel in Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland

St Margaret's Church in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
Canonization and feast day
Pope Innocent IV canonized St. Margaret in 1250 in recognition of her personal holiness, fidelity to the Roman Catholic Church, work for ecclesiastical reform, and charity. On 19 June 1250, after her canonisation, her remains were transferred to a chapel in the eastern apse of Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, Scotland. In 1693 Pope Innocent XII moved her feast day to 10 June in recognition of the birthdate of the son of James VII of Scotland and II of England. In the revision of the General Roman Calendar in 1969, 16 November became free and the Church transferred her feast day to 16 November, the date of her death, on which it always had been observed in Scotland. However, some traditionalist Catholics continue to celebrate her feast day on 10 June.

She is also venerated as a saint in the Anglican Church.

Institutions bearing her name
Several churches throughout the world are dedicated in honour of St Margaret. One of the oldest is St Margaret's Chapel in Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland, which her son King David I founded. The Chapel was long thought to have been the oratory of Margaret herself, but is now thought to have been established in the 12th century. The oldest edifice in Edinburgh, it was restored in the 19th century and refurbished in the 1990s. Numerous other institutions are named for her as well.
Queen of Scotland

Born in exile in Hungary. Margaret and her family returned to England in 1057, but fled to the Kingdom of Scotland following the Norman conquest of England of 1066. Around 1070 Margaret married Malcolm III of Scotland, becoming his queen consort. She was a pious woman, and among many charitable works she established a ferry across the Firth of Forth for pilgrims traveling to Dunfermline Abbey. Margaret was the mother of three kings of Scotland (or four, if one includes Edmund of Scotland, who ruled Scotland with his uncle, Donald III) and of a queen consort of England. She died at Edinburgh Castle in 1093, just days after receiving the news of her husband's death in battle. In 1250 she was canonized by Pope Innocent IV, and her remains were reinterred in a shrine at Dunfermline Abbey. Her relics were dispersed after the Scottish Reformation and subsequently lost. Per Wikipedia.org

Margaret married of Scotland, Malcolm III in 1070 in Scotland. Malcolm (son of of Scotland, King of Alpa Duncan I and mac Siward, Sybilla Suthen) was born on 1 Apr 1031 in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland; died on 22 Nov 1093 in Alnwick, Northumberland, England; was buried after 22 Nov 1083 in Dunfermline Abbey, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Between 15 Oct and 10 Dec 1066, England; Disputed King of England

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Kingdom of Wessex (England); Princess of Wessex
• Occupation: Abbess of Romsey, Hampshire, England