Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: G8Q4-3F9

Notes:

Offasdatter

Family/Spouse: of Mercia, King Ceolwulf. Ceolwulf (son of of Mercia, Cuthbeorht and of Essex, Elfred) was born in 778 in Kingdom of Mercia, England; died in 823 in Kingdom of Mercia, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Kingdom of Mercia, England; Queen
• FSID: G8Q4-ZK3

Family/Spouse: of Mercia, King Wigmind. Wigmind (son of of Mercia, Wiglaf and of Mercia, Queen Cynefrith) was born in 792 in Lincolnshire, England; died in 840 in Kingdom of Mercia, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: LH2D-YSM

Notes:

"Eadburh, from the royal stock of the king of the Mercians."
Daughter of Coenwulf, King of Mercia. Wife of Æthelred Mucel, ealdorman of the Gaini. Mother in Law of Alfred the Great.

Eadburh and Æthelred had at least two children:
- Ealdorman Æthelwulf (died 901)
- Ealhswith (died 5 December 902), in 868 she married Alfred the Great, by whom she had five children who survived to adulthood.

The name Eadburh means "Wealthy Fortress"

According to Asser, Alfred the Great's biographer, the mother of Alfred's wife was "Eadburh, from the royal stock of the king of the Mercians. I often saw her myself with my very own eyes for several years before her death. She was a notable woman, who remained for many years after the death of her husband a chaste widow, until her death". Asser must have admired Eadburh indeed for he identifies her by name, when he did not even identify her daughter, Ealhswith, Alfred's wife, by name any where in his work.

Eadburh's parentage is not known with certainty. The Foundation for Medieval Genealogy and the Henry Project (both respected genealogy research sites) both identify Eadburgh as a possible daughter of Coenwulf, King of Mercia from 796-821.

In "The Earliest English Kings" Kirby identifies Eadburh as the daughter of Coenwulf, King of Mercia. He attributes this information also to Asser (Alfred the Great's biographer) stating "Alfred's wife Ealhswith was descended from Coenwulf through her mother, Eadburh, though Asser does not specify how."

Others speculate that she was born to one of Coenwulf's children but no-one identifies which.

It is important to note that Asser also identifies another woman named "Eadburgh" who was the daughter of Offa, King of Mercia (757-796). Offa's daughter was the wife of King Beorhtric of Wessex (reign 786 to 802). It is certain that this Eadburh was NOT the same as Ealhswith's mother. For Eadburh,
Ealhswith's mother, is described as "royal noble and chaste" and she also lived at Alfred's court before her death. Asser had nothing but contempt for Eadburh, Offa's daughter, stating she poisoned her husband King Beorhtric, ended up living in exile in Francia, was rejected by King Charlemagne, became abbess of a convent but was expelled from the convent for fornication and ended her days as a street beggar in Italy.

CARE NEEDS TO BE TAKEN NOT TO CONFUSE EADBURH THE DAUGHTER OF COENWULF WITH EADBURH THE DAUGHTER OF OFFA.

Eadburh married of Mercia, Earl Æthelred in 868 in Kingdom of Mercia, England. Æthelred (son of of Mercia, Earl Hugh and of Mercia, Hedwiga) was born in 825 in Lincolnshire, England; died in 895 in England; was buried in 895 in Lincolnshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: Gaini tribe of Mercia
• FSID: L83F-5Z6
• Religion: Catholic - Saint Elswith
• Appointments / Titles: Between 23 Apr 871 and 26 Oct 899, Kingdom of Wessex (England); Queen Consort of Wessex

Notes:

Ealhswith

Queen consort of Wessex

Reign 23 April 871 – 26 October 899
Died 902
Burial New Minster, Winchester
Spouse Alfred, King of Wessex
Issue
Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians
Edward, King of England
Æthelgifu
Æthelweard of Wessex
Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders
Father Æthelred Mucel
Mother Eadburh

Ealhswith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ealhswith or Ealswitha (died 5 December 902) was the wife of King Alfred the Great. Her father was a Mercian nobleman, Æthelred Mucel, Ealdorman of the Gaini, which is thought to be an old Mercian tribal group. Her mother was Eadburh, a member of the Mercian royal family, and according to the historian Cyril Hart she was a descendant of King Coenwulf of Mercia.[1]

Life
She was married to Alfred in 868. His elder brother Æthelred was then king, and Alfred was regarded as heir apparent.[2][3] The Danes occupied the Mercian town of Nottingham in that year, and the marriage was probably connected with an alliance between Wessex and Mercia.[4] Alfred became king on his brother's death in 871. Ealhswith is very obscure in contemporary sources. She did not witness any known charters, and Asser did not even mention her name in his life of King Alfred. In accordance with ninth century West Saxon custom, she was not given the title of queen. According to King Alfred, this was because of the infamous conduct of a former queen of Wessex called Eadburh, who had accidentally poisoned her husband.[5]

Alfred left his wife three important symbolic estates in his will, Edington in Wiltshire, the site of one important victory over the Vikings, Lambourn in Berkshire, which was near another, and Wantage, his birthplace. These were all part of his bookland, and they stayed in royal possession after her death.[3] It was probably after Alfred's death in 899 that Ealhswith founded the convent of St Mary's Abbey, Winchester, known as the Nunnaminster. She died on 5 December 902, and was buried in her son Edward's new Benedictine abbey, the New Minster, Winchester. She is commemorated in two early tenth century manuscripts as "the true and dear lady of the English".[3]

Ealhswith had a brother called Æthelwulf,[3] who was ealdorman of western and possibly central Mercia under his niece's husband, Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, in the 890s.[6] He died in 901.[7]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ealhswith.

Children
Alfred and Ealhswith had five children who survived to adulthood.[3]
Æthelflæd (d. 918), Lady of the Mercians, married Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians
Edward the Elder (d. 924), King of the Anglo-Saxons
Æthelgifu, made abbess of her foundation at Shaftesbury by her father
Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders (d. 929), married Baldwin II, Count of Flanders
Æthelweard (d. c.920)

References
1. Keynes & Lapidge, Asser, pp. 77; 240-41; Hart, Æthelstan, p. 116 n.
2. Keynes & Lapidge, Asser, p. 77
3. Costambeys, Ealhswith
4. Williams, Ealhswith
5. Keynes & Lapidge Asser, pp. 71-72, 235-236
6. Hart, Æthelstan, p. 116
7. PASE, Æthelwulf 21 (http://pase.ac.uk/jsp/pdb?dosp=PAGE_CHANGE&N=1)

Sources
Costambeys, Marios (2004). "Ealhswith (d. 902), consort of Alfred, king of the West Saxons". Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/39226. Retrieved
25 October 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
Hart, Cyril (1973). "Athelstan 'Half King' and his family". Anglo-Saxon England. Cambridge University
Press. 2: 115–144. ISBN 0 521 20218 3. doi:10.1017/s0263675100000375.
Keynes, Simon; Lapidge, Michael, eds. (1983). Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred & Other
Contemporary Sources. Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0-14-04440-94.
Williams, Ann (1991). "Ealhswith wife of King Alfred d. 902". In Ann Williams, Alfred P. Smyth and D.
P. Kirby eds. A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain. Seaby. ISBN 1 85264 0472.
External links
Ealhswith 1 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Ealhswith at Find a Grave
St. Mary's Abbey
Preceded by
Wulfthryth?
Consort of the King of Wessex
871–899
Succeeded by
Ecgwynn or Ælfflæd
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ealhswith&oldid=784388793"
Categories: 9th-century English people 10th-century English people 9th-century women
10th-century women Anglo-Saxon royal consorts English Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns
902 deaths Alfred the Great House of Wessex
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In accordance with ninth century West Saxon custom, she was not given the title of queen, and did not witness any known charters.

Buried:
Originally buried next to her husband and children at New Minster in 905, the whole family was moved to Hyde Abbey in 1110, where they were interred before the high altar.

Eathswith married of Wessex, King Alfred in 868 in Kingdom of Wessex (England). Alfred (son of of Wessex, King Æthelwulf and of Wessex, Queen Consort Osburh) was born in 849 in Wantage, Berkshire, England; died on 26 Oct 899 in Winchester Castle, Winchester, Hampshire, England; was buried in 1100 in Hyde Abbey (now lost), Winchester, Hampshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]