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901 August Herman Walje and his brother, Heinrich Charles Fredrick Walje, were engaged to marry the Zinn sister, Friedricke and Christine; when the sisters died of typhoid fever. After their deaths of typhoid, the Walje brothers married two other of the Zinn sisters. August married Katharina and Charles married Maria. Walje, August Herman Sr (I650)
 
902 August Herman Walje and his brother, Heinrich Charles Fredrick Walje, were engaged to marry the Zinn sister, Friedricke and Christine; when the sisters died of typhoid fever. After their deaths of typhoid, the Walje brothers married two other of the Zinn sisters. August married Katharina and Charles married Maria. Zinn, Maria (I9995)
 
903 August Herman Walje and his brother, Heinrich Charles Fredrick Walje, were engaged to marry the Zinn sister, Friedricke and Christine; when the sisters died of typhoid fever. After their deaths of typhoid, the Walje brothers married two other of the Zinn sisters. August married Katharina and Charles married Maria. Zinn, Katharina (I20909)
 
904 August Herman Walje and his brother, Heinrich Charles Fredrick Walje, were engaged to marry the Zinn sister, Friedricke and Christine; when the sisters died of typhoid fever. After their deaths of typhoid, the Walje brothers married two other of the Zinn sisters. August married Katharina and Charles married Maria. Zinn, Friederike (I20517)
 
905 August Herman Walje and his brother, Heinrich Charles Fredrick Walje, were engaged to marry the Zinn sister, Friedricke and Christine; when the sisters died of typhoid fever. After their deaths of typhoid, the Walje brothers married two other of the Zinn sisters. August married Katharina and Charles married Maria. Zinn, Christina (I13308)
 
906 August wife divored him and then remarried. The names of the children were changed. THOMA, August Henry (I13980)
 
907 Aurelia (c. 120 – July 31, 54 BC) was the mother of Roman dictator Julius Caesar.
Aurelia was a daughter of Rutilia and Lucius Aurelius Cotta or his brother, Marcus Aurelius Cotta. Her father was consul in 119 BC and her paternal grandfather of the same name was consul in 144 BC. The family of the Aurelii Cottae was prominent during the Roman Republican era. Her mother Rutilia, was a member of the gens Rutilia. They were of consular rank. Publius Rutilius Rufus was her maternal uncle.

Three of her brothers were consuls: Gaius Aurelius Cotta in 75 BC, Marcus Aurelius Cotta in 74 BC and Lucius Aurelius Cotta in 65 BC.

Aurelia married a praetor Gaius Julius Caesar. Her husband died 85 – 84 BC. Their children were:

. Julia Major (102 - ? BC), wife of Pinarius and grandmother of Lucius Pinarius;
. Julia Minor (101 – 51 BC), wife of Marcus Atius and grandmother of emperor Augustus;
. Gaius Julius Caesar (100 – 44 BC), the Dictator perpetuo

The historian Tacitus considered her an ideal Roman matron and thought highly of her, because she offered her children the best opportunities of education. Plutarch described her as a woman of discretion. Highly intelligent, independent and renowned for her beauty and common sense, Aurelia was held in high regard throughout Rome.

Aurelia and her family were very influential in her son’s upbringing and security. Her husband, the elder Gaius Caesar, was often away, so the task of raising their son fell mostly on Aurelia's shoulders. When the younger Caesar was about 18, he was ordered by the then dictator of Rome, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, to divorce his young wife Cornelia Cinna, daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna who had supported Sulla's archenemy Marius. Young Caesar firmly refused, and by so doing, put himself at great risk from Sulla. Aurelia became involved in the petition to save her son, defending him along with her brother Gaius Cotta.

After Cornelia's death in childbirth, Aurelia raised her young granddaughter Julia in her stead and presided as mistress over her son's households. Caesar subsequently married Pompeia Sulla, granddaughter of Sulla. In 62 BC, during the Bona Dea festival held at Caesar’s house, one of Cornelia's maid discovered that Publius Clodius had infiltrated the house while disguising as a woman, in order to start or continue an affair with her second daughter-in-law Pompeia. The two may have had certain improper relations before, but was subdued by Aurelia's close watch upon the women's residence. Clodius was later charged with the crime of sacrilege by Lucius Lentulus since his trespass caused the interruption of the sacrifice. Aurelia later appeared as a witness during the trial, along with Julia, testifying that she had ordered Clodius to leave. 		Aurelia Cotta (I34057)
 
908 Auswanderung 1885 nach USA Weisshaupl, Alois (I27840)
 
909 Aveline de Hesding was the daughter of Arnulph de Hesding, Seigneur of Hesdin and Emmelina (?).She married Alan fitz Flaald, son of Flaald, Seneschal de Dol en Bretagne.Children of Aveline de Hesding and Alan fitz Flaald1. Walter fitz Alan, 1st High Street.

This person is NOT Avelina, she is the first wife to Alan Flaald, check sources under Alan Flaald for more details. 		de Hesdin, Lady Avelina (I33435)
 
910 Away in 1709 in the Palatinate, sp. Opf. Germersheim,nSAMUEL CHRISTIAN THOMAE FIDOCLES (PBO)
1668-1719?

Date of laureation: 10 August 1702?
Place of laureation: Nuremberg (or Altdorf)?
Performed by/on behalf of: Magnus Daniel Omeis?

Born, apparently in 1668, at Reurieth where his father was pastor, Thomae studied at Altdorf. He became pastor at Hermannsfeld in 1694, then at Jüchsen and Neubrunn in 1700, but he absconded because of some failing in 1709, and in 1710 he was appointed pastor at Germersheim, the first Protestant preacher there for more than a century. He seems to have died in or after 1719. He was a friend of Joachim Negelein (q.v.).

The circumstances of his laureation are not known, but WETZEL seems to imply that it took place in the framework of the Pegnesischer Blumenorden to which he was admitted under Magnus Daniel Omeis on 10 August 1702, allegediy on the same occasion as Laurentius Wolfgang Woytt (g.v.) (though in fact the latter had been admitted in January 1701). He was a prolific hymn-writer.

Neue Beitrage zur Geschichte Deutschen Alterthums by Georg Brückner, 1883, Meiningen.

Samuel Christian Thomä (Thomas«), 1700——1709. Von Solz gebürtig, Sohn des Pfarrers Albert Thomä, 1691 fürstlicher Pageninspector zu Meininnen, den 19 [Month] 1694 ordinirt und den 3. Adventssonntag d. J. als Pfarrer zu Hermannsfeld investirt. Da nun nach dem Tode des Superintendent M. Numpel zu Salznngen allerhand Versetzungen in geistlichen Aemtern vorginnen, so kam Samuel Christian Thomä 1700 hierher, eingewiesen, entfernte sich aber 1709 (der Unzucht angeklagt) heimlich in die Pfalz, wo er später Qberpfarrer über das Amt Germersheim wurde. Er wird als ein auter Prediger gerühmt. Zugleich machte er sich damals als Dichter einen Namen, weshalb er 1704 zum kaiserlichen Dichter gekrönt wurde. Wie sein Freund, der Pfarrer Woytt zu Bibra, so gehörte auch er dem pegnesischen Blumenorden als Fidokles an. Er gab ein poetisches Werk über den Katechismus unter dem Titel: "Gott geheiligte Tafel-Musik" heraus.

New Contributions to the History of German Antiquity by Georg Brückner, 1883, Meiningen.

Samuel Christian Thoma (Thomas), 1700--1709. Born by Solz, son of the pastor Albert Thoma, 1691 princely page inspector to Meininnen, the 19 [Month] ordained in 1694 and the 3rd Advent Sunday 1694 invested as pastor in Hermannsfeld. Since after the death of the Superintendent M. Numpel to Salznngen all sorts of transfers in spiritual offices, so Samuel Christian Thomä came here in 1700, instructed, but removed 1709 (accused of fornication) secretly in the Palatinate, where he later Qberpfarrer on the Office Germersheim was. He is praised as an auth preacher. At the same time he made himself a name as a poet, which is why he was crowned imperial poet in 1704. Like his friend, the pastor Woytt zu Bibra, he also belonged to the Pegnesian order of flowers as Fidokles. He published a poetic work on the Catechism entitled "God Blessed Table Music".

The Following From: Neue Beitrage zur Geschichte Deutschen Alterthums by Georg Brückner, 1883, Meiningen.

Samuel Christian Thoma, 02 October. 1694—1700. Er wird von hier nach Jüchsen versetzt.
Samuel Christian Thoma, 02 October. 1694-1700. He was transferred from here [Hemannsfeld] to Jüchsen. 		THOMÆ, Samuel Christian (I3961)
 
911 Aymer (also Aymar, Adhemar, Ademar, or Adomar; c. 1160 – eni.com

Aymer d'Angoulême, comte d'Angoulême
French: Aymer, comte d'Angoulême
Also Known As: "Adhemar", "Taillefer"
Birthdate: August 23, 1160
Birthplace: Angoulême, Charente, Poitou-Charentes, France
Death: June 16, 1202 (41)
Limoges, Haute-Vienne, Limousin, France
Place of Burial: L'abbaye Notre-Dame de La Couronne, Charente, Poitou-Charentes, France
Immediate Family:

Son of Guillaume 'Taillefer' d'Angoulême, comte d'Angoulême and Marguerite de Turenne, comtesse d'Angoulême

Husband of Alice de Courtenay, comtesse d'Angoulême

Father of Isabella of Angoulême

Brother of Griset d'Angouleme; Foulques d'Angouleme; Almodis d'Angoulême; Wulgrin "Taillefer" d'Angoulême, III; Guiillaume Taillefer de Anguleme, V and 3 others
Half brother of Matabrune de Ventadour and Ademar V Boson, Vicomte de Limoges

Occupation: Count of Angouleme, Taillifer', which means "hewer of iron" or "the Swordmaker"

16 June 1202) was the last Count of Angoulême of the House of Taillefer. He was a middle child of Count William VI and Marguerite de Turenne.[1] Two of his elder brothers, Wulgrin III and William VII, became Counts of Angoulême in succession after the death of their father in 1179.

Aymer succeeded his brother in 1186, and soon after was at the court of Richard the Lionheart, then Duke of Aquitaine and thus Aymer's lord, to receive recognition of his accession.[a][3] By 1188, Aymer had married Alice of Courtenay, the daughter of Peter I of Courtenay and thus granddaughter of King Louis VI of France.[b] In that year, Alice gave birth to a daughter, Isabella of Angoulême, who married King John of England in 1200. The marriage alliance was sealed by two treaties, one public, the other private between Aymer and John. The count remained a steady ally of the kings of England against the rebellious House of Lusignan.[5]

Aymer had a claim to the County of La Marche, where in 1199 or 1200 he was exercising authority, perhaps on behalf of his son-in-law, and issued a charter to some monks of Aubignac.[6] In February 1202 when John was visiting Angoulême to negotiate a treaty with Sancho VII of Navarre, Aymer took him on a tour of the newly consecrated abbey church at La Couronne.[7] The role of Aymer's daughter in John's continued refusal to properly care for his brother Richard the Lionheart's widow, Berengaria of Navarre, may explain the Count of Angoulême's proximity to the negotiations between the two kingdoms.[8]

Aymer died in Limoges on 16 June 1202. His daughter and only child succeeded him as Countess of Angoulême. Her title, however, was largely empty since her husband denied her control of her inheritance as well as her marriage dowry and dower. John's appointed governor, Bartholomew de Le Puy (de Podio), ran most of the administrative affairs of Angoulême until John's death in 1216.[9][c] In 1217 Isabella returned and seized her inheritance from Bartholomew, who appealed unsuccessfully to the English king for help.

Aymer's widow, Alice, ruled the city of Angoulême until March 1203, when John summoned her to court and granted her a monthly pension of 50 livres d'Anjou in return for her dower rights. She thereafter retired from public life to her estate at La Ferté-Gaucher, where she was living as late as July 1215, when she issued a charter at Provins using the title Countess of Angoulême.[7]

Notes
Vincent stresses that "[i]n practice [the Counts of Angoulême] were semi-autonomous rulers, only loosely tied into the feudal hierarchy. . . [T]he homage rendered to the dukes of Aquitaine by the counts of Anoulême until 1127 did little to compromise their independence."[2]
An "Alaidis de Courtenai" appears alongside her husband in a charter of 1191, making an award to Saint-Amand-de-Boixe during the abbacy of Jocelin (1186–97) shows that he was a minor official as early as 14 June 1202, just before Aymer's death. 		de Taillefer, Aymar (I34378)
 
912 Aymon or Aimon I of Geneva, who died in 1128, is Count of Geneva [Note 1] from 1080 to 1128. He is the son of Gérold, Count of Geneva, and Thetberge or Thietburge, daughter of Rodolphe de Rheinfelden, Duke of Swabia and Thetberge. Biography Edit Reign Aymon is the first earl of the Geoldian dynasty to be the best known [2]. He is mentioned for the first time in an act of 1080 with his parentage, his father Count Gérold and his half-brother Conon, whom he succeeded [ReG 1]. This act is a donation to the parish church of Saint-Marcel, in Albanian, donated by his parents to Ainay Abbey twenty years ago [ReG 2]. This policy of support for the Church continues during his reign, including support for the foundation of a priory at Saint-Innocent, on the banks of Lake Bourget, in 1084 [ReG 3]. In 1090, an act of confirmation mentions Ita or Ida de Faucigny as wife of Count Aymon [ReG 4]. The county gives, towards 1091, the valley of Chamonix, "all the extent of country between the torrent of the Diosaz, the Mont Blanc and the Col de Balme, consisting of arable land, forests, pastures and hunts" [3 ], to the Benedictine monks of the abbey of Saint-Michel-de-la-Cluse, located in Piedmont [4], [ReG 5], [2]. His mother, Thietburge, had for first husband the lord Louis I of Faucigny, Aymon has for half-brothers the lord Guillaume Ier as well as Guy, bishop of Geneva (1083-1119) [ReG 5], [5], [6] ], [7]. This is why we find his last two as witnesses of the founding act of the abbey [ReG 5]. Conflict with the bishop of Geneva The county power at this time rivals the ecclesiastics that are found in particular in the appointments [2], thus opposing the Gregorian reform that is taking place [2], [8] ]. The count benefits that the episcopal seat is in the hands of his half-brother Guy de Faucigny to monopolize part of the rights of the diocese of Geneva as a lawyer [8], even according to Pierre Duparc by abusing his power for "s to appropriate, even more directly, church property, episcopal revenues, churches or tithes "[9], [8]. Aymon continues by imposing its power on the city by the construction of a castle in the upper town, thus dominating the Bourg-de-Four and the eastern gate of the city. [8], [10], [11]. The castle will also be mentioned for the first time in the Seyssel agreement [11]. Faced with the assertion of the comtal power, the new bishop of Geneva, Humbert de Grammont, strongly opposes [2], [9], [12]. The prelate calls for the return of all the property that the count has taken to the Church [9], [12]. He ends up excommunicating the count [2], [9], [12]. The conflict between the two powerful is settled during an agreement or treaty signed at Seyssel in 1124, probably mid-December [2], [12], [ReG 6]. Indeed, Count Aymon goes to meet the bishop who comes back from Vienna and it is at the level of this city [12]. This treaty provides for the abandonment of the temporal claims of the count on the city of Geneva for the benefit of the bishop [2], [ReG 6]. The count retains only the castle of Bourg-de-Four [2]. In return, he obtains certain rights and property of the bishop in the county [2]. The conflict, however, is not over and the successors of Aymon will still be in conflict with the episcopal power of Geneva, which will not end until 1219 [12]. End of Reign and Succession Modify This section is empty, insufficiently detailed or incomplete. Your help is welcome ! Family Edit Son of Count Gerold and Thetberge of Rheinfelden. This last was widow in first marriage of the lord Louis I of Faucigny. He therefore has Guillaume Ier or Vuillielme as brothers, and Guy de Faucigny, bishop of Geneva, [ReG 5], [6], [7], [13]. He is also mentioned as a nephew of Conon I, bishop of Maurienne [ReG 7]. Aymon Wife (v.1090 [ReG 4] or 1095) It (t) a or Ida [ReG 8], for some of Faucigny, probably daughter of Louis I, lord of Faucigny [14] and his wife Thetberge de Rheinfelden [15], making her his half-sister, for others, notably Frédéric Charles Jean Gingins de la Sarraz, she would belong to the de Glâne [16], [17]. Pierre Duparc notes, in his work on the county of Geneva, that "The origin of his wife Ita remains unknown; it does not seem in particular that it comes from the family of Faucigny, nor that of Glâne ", because of the absence of probative sources for one or the other hypothesis [18]. Aymon and Ita have three children: Gérold (v. 1090 [ReG 4] 95? - 1154?) Lecerina / Laure (1096 - 1140), who marries Guillaume-Hugues II, lord of Montélimar (alias Guillaume-Hugues de Royans, lord de Monteil, from the family of Adhémar) Amédée I (1098 - 1178), future count of Geneva, Aymon I (I27042)
 
913 Azalaïs of Montferrat (also Adelasia or Alasia) (1150–1232) was marchioness consort of Saluzzo, and regent for her grandson, Manfred III from 1212 to 1218.
Azalaïs was one of at least three daughters of William V of Montferrat and his wife Judith of Babenberg. Her brothers included William of Montferrat, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon, Conrad I of Jerusalem, and Boniface of Montferrat.

She married Marquis Manfred II of Saluzzo before 1182, in which year she received lands in Saluzzo, Racconigi, Villa, Centallo and Quaranta, in case her marriage (like that of her sister Agnes) should need to be annulled for reasons of sterility.

Like her brother Boniface, Azalaïs was a patron of troubadours. She is mentioned in Peire Vidal's song, Estat ai gran sazo:
Dieus sal l'onrat marques
E sa bella seror...
(God save the honoured marquis
And his beautiful sister)
and is the dedicatee of his Bon' aventura don Dieus als Pizas.

Around 1192, she had built the church of San Lorenzo, which she granted to the canons of San Lorenzo in Oulx; her eldest son, Boniface, named after her brother, is mentioned for the first time in the donation. However, Boniface died in 1212, and with the death of her husband in February 1215, Azalaïs became regent of Saluzzo for her grandson, Manfred III.

In 1216, she made a treaty with Thomas I of Savoy for a marriage between his son Amadeus and her granddaughter Agnes. However, the marriage never took place, possibly on grounds of consanguinity, since Azalaïs was a first cousin of Thomas's father. Amadeus married Anne of Burgundy, and Agnes became Abbess of the Cistercian convent of Santa Maria della Stella in Rifreddo. Azalaïs also made political and ecclesiastical agreements with Alba and with the Bishop of Asti.

When young Manfred reached his majority in 1218, Azalaïs returned to church patronage. In 1224, she endowed the convent of Rifreddo with the income of the church of San Ilario. In 1227, she made further grants to the canons of Oulx. She died in 1232, and was buried in the Cistercian abbey of Santa Maria di Staffarda.

Manfred and Azalaïs had at least five children:
. Agnes m. Comita III, giudice of Logudoro, in Sardinia.
. Boniface (the heir, who predeceased his father) m. Maria of Torres (daughter of Agnes's husband). They were the parents of Manfred II's successor Manfred III of Saluzzo
. Margaret m. Geoffrey de Salvaing.
. (daughter, given name unknown) m. Marquis William II of Ceva.
. Thomas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azalaïs_of_Montferrat 		de Aleramici, Alice (I35533)
 
914 Ædgina is believed to have been the wife of Ealdred, son of Uchtred and Earl of Bernicia. Together they five daughters, three of whom are recorded as having borne the same name:
- Ealdgyth who married Ligulf of Lumley (murdered in 1080)
- Aelfflaed, believed to have died young.
- Aelfflaed, believed to have died young.
- Aelfflaed, second wife of Siward, Earl of Northumbria; and mother of Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria.
- Ethelthritha, married Orm of Yorkshire, son of Gamel.

Ædgina's husband Ealdred was murdered in 1038 by Carl, son of Thurbrand the Hold, in revenge for Ealdred killing his father. Ealdred was succeeded in Bernicia by his 1/2 brother, Eadwulf. It is not known where Ædgina and her unmarried daughters went after Ealdred's death.

Ædgina's parentage is not known, nor her birth date or date of death. 		of Bernica, Edgina (I34802)
 
915 Ælfgar (died c. 1060) was the son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, by his famous mother Godgifu (Lady Godiva). He succeeded to his father's title and responsibilities on the latter's death in 1057. He gained the additional title of Earl of East Anglia, but also was exiled for a time.

Ælfgar married Aelfgify, sister of William Malet, Lord of Eye.
They had 4 children:
- Burgheard, died returning from Rome 1060, buried at Reims
- Edwin, Earl of Mercia
- Morcar, Earl of Northumbria
- Ealdgyth, married (1st) Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, King of Wales (2nd) Harold Godwinson, King of England.
--------------------------------------------------------------
from www.geni.com

Ælfgar
Also Known As: "Algar III Earl of Mercia", "Aelfgar", "Alfagar of Mercia"
Birthdate: circa 1002 (57)
Birthplace: Mercia, England
Death: between 1059 and 1063 (53-65)
Mercia, England
Place of Burial: Coventry, Warwickshire, England
Immediate Family:
Son of Leofric III, earl of Mercia and Lady Godiva
Husband of Ælfgifu
Father of Ealdgyth; Eadwyne, Duke of Mercia; Morcar, Earl of Northumbria and Burgheard
Occupation: Earl of East Anglia and Mercia, Earl of Mercia, King of Mercia

Aelfgar, Earl (d 1062), was the son of Leofric of Mercia and his wife Godgifu, the 'Lady Godiva' of legend. Bitter jealousy existed between the ancient Mercian house and the new and successful family of Godwine. When, in 1051, Godwine and his sons gathered their forces against the king and his foreign favourites, Aelfgar and Leofric were among the party which stood by Eadward at Gloucester, and on the outlawry of Harold his earldom of East Anglia was given to Aelfgar. The new earl ruled well, and the next year, on the restoration of Godwine's house, cheerfully surrendered the government to Harold. On the death of Godwine in 1053, the West Saxon earldom was given to Harold, and East Anglia was again committed to Aelfgar. In 1055, at the Witenagemont held in London, Aelfgar was accused of treason, and was outlawed 'for little or no fault at all,' according to all the Chronicle writers, save one. The Canterbury writer, however, who was a strong partisan of Harold, says that Aelfgar owned his guilt, though he did so unawares. He fled to Ireland and engaged eighteen ships of the Northmen. He crossed to Wales and made alliance with Gruffydd of North Wales. With Gruffydd and a large host of Welshmen, Aelfgar and his Norse mercenaries invaded Herefordshire. Ralph, the king's nephew, the earl of the shire, met the invaders with an army composed both of Frenchmen and English. He foolishly compelled his English force to go to battle on horseback, contrary to their custom. He and his Frenchmen fled first, and the battle was lost. Aelfgar and his allies entered Hereford. They sacked and burnt the minster and the city, slaying some and taking many captive. To check this invasion the whole force of the kingdom was gathered under Earl Harold and Aelfgar and his allies were chased into South Wales. In 1055 Aelfgar made peace with Harold, was reconciled to the king and restored to his earldom. On the death of Leofric, in 1057, Aelfgar received his father's earldom of Mercia. The position of his new earldom as regards Wales and Ireland encouraged his restlessness, and the weakness and instability of King Eadward the Confessor made rebellion no serious matter. It was probably while the only force capable of maintaining order in the kingdom was removed by the pilgrimage of Harold, that Aelfgar was, in 1058, outlawed for the second time. His old allies were ready to help him. Gruffydd and a fleet of the Northmen, which seems to have been cruising about on the look-out for employment, enabled him to set his outlawry at defiance and to retain his earldom with the strong hand. IN one good deed Aelfgar and Harold acted together. On the surrender of the see of Worcester by Archbishop Aldred in 1062, both the earls joined in recommending Wulfstan for the bishopric. Soon afterwards, probably in the same year, Aelfgar died. His wife's name was Aelfigifu. He left two sons, Eadwine and Morkere, who played a conspicuous part in English history. A charter of the abbey of ST Remigius at Rheims records that Aelfgar gave Lapley to that house for the good of the soul of a son of his named Burchard, who was buried there. His daughter, Aldgyth, married her father's ally Gruffydd, and, after the deaths of Aelfgar and Gruffydd, married as her second husband Harold, her father's old enemy. [Dictionary of National Biography I:148-149]

Aelfgar, of age 1051, d. shortly after 1062, Earl of East Anglia 1053, Earl of Mercia 1057, banished 1058; m. Aelfgifu, by whom 3 known sons: Eadwine, Morkere, and Burchard, whose issue are unknown, and a daughter Aldgyth [as well as Edith or Aldgyth]. [Ancestral Roots, Line 176a-3]

______________________________

Earl of East Anglia 1053; Earl of Mercia 1057.

From Gen-Med Archives, June 19, 1999; author: Leo van de Pas:

"In 1055, he was forced to seek the protection of Gruffyd in Wales, in that year Gruffyd and Alfgar burned down St.Aethelbert's minster and all the town of Hereford. In 1058 Alfgar, without having given reason, was outlawed, and went to Ireland and Wales where he got himself a great band and then travelled to Hereford. After a violent battle Alfgar was reinstated and given back all that had earlier been taken from him."

Bet. 1051-1052 in East Anglia, Norfolk, England; When the Godwins were exiled from England in 1051 Ælfgar was given the Earldom of East Anglia, which had been that of Harold Godwinson. When Harold returned in 1052, the property was restored to him..

Apr 1053; Harold became Earl of Wessex after his fathers death April 1053, and the earldom of East Anglia returned to Ælfgar.

1058; Ælfgar was exiled by King Edward in 1055 but was reinstated later the same year. 		of Mercia, Ælfgar (I33447)
 
916 Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Queen consort of England
Tenure 939 - 944
Died 944
Burial Shaftesbury Abbey
Spouse Edmund I, King of England
Issue Eadwig, King of England
Edgar, King of England
Mother Wynflaed
Will of Wynflæd (British Library Cotton Charters viii. 38)[5]
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, also known as Saint Elgiva[1]
(died 944) was the first wife of Edmund I (r. 939–946), by
whom she bore two future kings, Eadwig (r. 955–959) and
Edgar (r. 959–975). Like her mother Wynflaed, she had a
close and special if unknown connection with the royal
nunnery of Shaftesbury (Dorset), founded by King Alfred,[2]
where she was buried and soon revered as a saint. According
to a pre-Conquest tradition from Winchester, her feast day is
18 May.[3][4]
Contents
1 Family background
2 Married life
3 Sainthood
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
6.1 Primary sources
6.2 Secondary sources
7 Further reading
Family background
Her mother appears to have been an associate of
Shaftesbury Abbey called Wynflaed (also
Wynnflæd). The vital clue comes from a charter of
King Edgar, in which he confirmed the grant of an
estate at Uppidelen (Piddletrenthide, Dorset) made
by his grandmother (ava) Wynflæd to
Shaftesbury.[6] She may well be the nun or vowess
(religiosa femina) of this name in a charter dated
942 and preserved in the abbey's chartulary. It
records that she received and retrieved from King
Edmund a handful of estates in Dorset, namely
Cheselbourne and Winterbourne Tomson, which somehow ended up in the possession of the community.[7]
Since no father or siblings are known, further speculation on Ælfgifu's background has largely depended on the
identity of her mother, whose relatively uncommon name has invited further guesswork. H. P. R. Finberg
suggests that she was the Wynflæd who drew up a will, supposedly sometime in the mid-10th century, after
Ælfgifu's death. This lady held many estates scattered across Wessex (in Somerset, Wiltshire, Berkshire,
Oxfordshire, and Hampshire) and was well connected with the nunneries at Wilton and Shaftesbury, both of
which were royal foundations. On that basis, a number of relatives have been proposed for Ælfgifu, including a
sister called Æthelflæd, a brother called Eadmær, and a grandmother called Brihtwyn.[8]
The remains of the Norman buildings which replaced the earlier ones at Shaftesbury
Abbey.
There is, however, no consensus among scholars about Finberg's suggestion. Simon Keynes and Gale R. Owen
object that there is no sign of royal relatives or connections in Wynflæd's will and Finberg's assumptions about
Ælfgifu's family therefore stand on shaky ground.[9] Andrew Wareham is less troubled about this and suggests
that different kinship strategies may account for it.[10] Much of the issue of identification also seems to hang on
the number of years by which Wynflæd can plausibly have outlived her daughter. In this light, it is significant
that on palaeographical grounds, David Dumville has rejected the conventional date of c. 950 for the will,
which he considers “speculative and too early” (and that one Wynflæd was still alive in 967).[11]
Married life
The sources do not record the date of Ælfgifu's marriage to Edmund. The eldest son Eadwig, who had barely
reached majority on his accession in 955, may have been born around 940, which gives us only a very rough
terminus ante quem for the betrothal. Although as the mother of two future kings, Ælfgifu proved to be an
important royal bed companion, there is no strictly contemporary evidence that she was ever consecrated as
queen. Likewise, her formal position at court appears to have been relatively insignificant, overshadowed as it
was by the queen mother Eadgifu of Kent. In the single extant document witnessed by her, a Kentish charter
datable between 942 and 944, she subscribes as the king's concubine (concubina regis), with a place assigned to
her between the bishops and ealdormen. By comparison, Eadgifu subscribes higher up in the witness list as
mater regis, after her sons Edmund and Eadred but before the archbishops and bishops.[12] It is only towards
the end of the 10th century that Æthelweard the Chronicler styles her queen (regina), but this may be a
retrospective honour at a time when her cult was well established at Shaftesbury.
Much of Ælfgifu's claim to
fame derives from her
association with
Shaftesbury. Her patronage
of the community is
suggested by a charter of
King Æthelred, dated 984,
according to which the
abbey exchanged with King
Edmund the large estate at
Tisbury (Wiltshire) for
Butticanlea (unidentified).
Ælfgifu received it from her
husband and intended to
bequeath it back to the
nunnery, but such had not
yet come to pass (her son
Eadwig demanded that
Butticanlea was returned to
the royal family first).[13]
Ælfgifu predeceased her
husband in 944.[14] In the early 12th century, William of Malmesbury wrote that she suffered from an illness
during the last few years of her life, but there may have been some confusion with details of Æthelgifu's life as
recorded in a forged foundation charter of the late 11th or 12th century (see below).[15] Her body was buried
and enshrined at the nunnery.[16]
Sainthood
Ælfgifu was venerated as a saint soon after her burial at Shaftesbury. Æthelweard reports that many miracles
had taken place at her tomb up to his day,[17] and these were apparently attracting some local attention.
Lantfred of Winchester, who wrote in the 970's and so can be called the earliest known witness of her cult, tells
of a young man from Collingbourne (possibly Collingbourne Kingston, Wiltshire), who in the hope of being
cured of blindness travelled to Shaftesbury and kept vigil. What led him there was the reputation of “the
venerable St Ælfgifu [...] at whose tomb many bodies of sick person receive medication through the
omnipotence of God”.[18] Despite the new prominence of Edward the Martyr as a saint interred at Shaftesbury,
her cult continued to flourish in later Anglo-Saxon England, as evidenced by her inclusion in a list of saints'
resting places, at least 8 pre-Conquest calendars and 3 or 4 litanies from Winchester.[19]
Ælfgifu is styled a saint (Sancte Ælfgife) in the D-text of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (mid-11th century) at the
point where it specifies Eadwig's and Edgar's royal parentage.[20] Her cult may have been fostered and used to
enhance the status of the royal lineage, more narrowly that of her descendants.[21] Lantfred attributes her
healing power both to her own merits and those of her son Edgar. It may have been due to her association that
in 979 the supposed body of her murdered grandson Edward the Martyr was exhumed and in a spectacular
ceremony, received at the nunnery of Shaftesbury, under the supervision of ealdorman Ælfhere.[22]
According to William of Malmesbury, Ælfgifu would secretly redeem those who were publicly condemned to
severe judgment, she gave expensive clothes to the poor, and she also had prophetic powers as well as powers
of healing. [23]
Ælfgifu's fame at Shaftesbury seems to have eclipsed that of its first abbess, King Alfred's daughter
Æthelgifu,[24] so much so perhaps that William of Malmesbury wrote contradictory reports on the abbey's early
history. In the Gesta regum, he correctly identifies the first abbess as Alfred's daughter, following Asser,
although he gives her the name of Ælfgifu (Elfgiva),[25] while in his Gesta pontificum, he credits Edmund's
wife Ælfgifu with the foundation.[26] Either William encountered conflicting information, or he meant to say
that Ælfgifu refounded the nunnery.[27] In any event, William would have had access to local traditions at
Shaftesbury, since he probably wrote a now lost metrical Life for the community, a fragment of which he
included in his Gesta pontificum:[28]
Latin text Translation
Nam nonnullis passa annis morborum
molestiam,
defecatam et excoctam Deo dedit animam.
Functas ergo uitae fato beatas exuuias
infinitis clemens signis illustrabat Deitas.
Inops uisus et auditus si adorant tumulum,
sanitati restituti probant sanctae meritum.
Rectum gressum refert domum qui accessit
loripes,
mente captus redit sanus, boni sensus locuples
For some years she suffered from illness,
And gave to God a soul that it had purged and purified
When she died, God brought lustre to her blessed
remains
In his clemency with countless miracles.
If a blind man or a deaf worship at her tomb,
They are restored to health and prove the saint's merits.
He who went there lame comes home firm of step,
The madman returns sane, rich in good sense.[29]
See also
Ælfgifu of Exeter
Notes
References
Primary sources
Anglo-Saxon charters
S 514 (AD 942 x 946), King Edmund grants land. Archive: Canterbury.
S 850 (AD 984), King Æthelred grants estates to Shaftesbury. Archive: Shaftesbury.
S 744 (AD 966). Archive: Shaftesbury.
S 485 (AD 942). Archive: Shaftesbury.
S 1539, ed. and tr. Dorothy Whitelock, Anglo-Saxon Wills. Cambridge Studies in English Legal
History. Cambridge, 1930. pp. 10–5 (with commentary, pp. 109–14).
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS D), ed. D. Dumville and S. Keynes, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. A
Collaborative Edition. Vol. 6. Cambridge, 1983.
Æthelweard, Chronicon, ed. and tr. Alistair Campbell, The Chronicle of Æthelweard. London, 1961.
Lantfred of Winchester, Translatio et Miracula S. Swithuni, ed. and tr. M. Lapidge, The Cult of St
Swithun. Winchester Studies 4. The Anglo-Saxon Minsters of Winchester 2. Oxford, 2003. 252-333.
On the resting places of English saints, ed. F. Liebermann, Die Heiligen Englands. Angelsächsisch und
lateinisch. Hanover, 1889. II no. 36 (pp. 17–8).
William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, ed. and tr. M. Winterbottom and R.M. Thomson,
William of Malmesbury. Gesta Pontificum Anglorum The History of the English Bishops. OMT. 2 vols
(vol 1: text and translation, vol. 2: commentary). Oxford: OUP, 2007.
William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum, ed. and tr. R.A.B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson and M.
Winterbottom, William of Malmesbury. Gesta Regum Anglorum. The History of the English Kings. OMT.
2 vols: vol 1. Oxford, 1998.
1. http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3090
2. Asser, Vita Ælfredi ch. 98.
3. Lantfred, Translatio et Miracula S. Swithuni: pp. 328-9
n. 299 (Lapidge's commentary).
4. Elgiva May 18 (http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/sai
ntse.htm). Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of
Rome.
5. Charter S 1539 (http://www.esawyer.org.uk/charter/153
9.html) at the Electronic Sawyer
6. S 744 (AD 966). Edgar's paternal grandmother was
Eadgifu of Kent.
7. S 485 (AD 942); Yorke, Nunneries and the Anglo-
Saxon royal houses. pp. 82-3. See further Kelly,
Charters of Shaftesbury Abbey. pp. 53-9.
8. S 1539; Finberg, The Early Charters of Wessex. p. 44.
Whitelock, Anglo-Saxon wills, p. 109, identifies the
testatrix with the religiosa femina of S 485 (AD 942),
but she is silent about Edgar's grandmothe.r Brihtwyn
has been tentatively identified as the wife of Alfred,
bishop of Sherborne, but this has been disputed. See
Whitelock, Anglo-Saxon Wills; Owen, “Wynflæd's
wardrobe.” p. 197, note 2.
9. Keynes, “Alfred the Great and Shaftesbury Abbe.y”
pp. 43-5; Owen, “Wynflæd's wardrobe.” p. 197 note 1;
Yorke, Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses. p.
100 note 136.
10. Wareham, “Transformation of kinship.” pp. 382-3.
11. Dumville, “English square minuscule.” p. 146 note 75.
The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England also links
Wynflæd with the noble matrona of that name, who
appears in as late as 967 receiving royal grants of land
in Hampshire. S 754 (AD 967);W ynnflæd 3 (http://pas
e.ac.uk/jsp/DisplayPerson.jsp?personKey=12720,)
PASE.
12. S 514 (AD 942 x 946).
13. S 850 (AD 984).
14. Æthelweard, Chronicon, book IV, chapter 6, which
assigns her death to the year thatA mlaíb Cuarán and
Ragnall were expelled from York.
15. S 357; Gesta pontificum Anglorum vol II, pp. 130-1
(Thomson's commentary); Yorke, Nunneries and the
Anglo-Saxon royal houses, p. 76.
16. See Lantfred and Æthelweard below.
17. Æthelweard, Chronicon, book IV, chapter 6.
18. Lantfred, Translatio et Miracula S. Swithuni, ch. 36.
19. Thacker.,“Dynastic monasteries.” p. 259;O n the
resting places of English saints, ed. Liebermann, II no.
36.
20. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (D) s.a. 955.
21. Yorke, Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses. p.
83.
22. Yorke, Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses. p.
115.
23. Studies in the Early History of Shaftesbury Abbe.y
Dorset County Council, 1999
24. Yorke, Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses, p.
77.
25. William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum, ch. 122.
26. William of Malmesbury, Gesta pontificum, book 2, ch.
86.
27. William of Malmesbury, Gesta pontificum. Vol. II. p.
131. The latter suggestion was made by Patrick
Wormald in correspondence with Thomson.
28. William of Malmesbury, Gesta pontificum. Vol. II. p.
131.
29. William of Malmesbury, Gesta pontificum, book 2, ch.
86.
Secondary sources
Ælfgifu 3 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England. Retrieved 2009-3-27.
Dumville, David. “English Square Minuscule Script: the mid-century phases” Anglo-Saxon England; 23
(1994): 133-64.
Finberg, H. P. R. The Early Charters of Wessex. Leicester, 1964.
Owen, Gale R. “Wynflæd's wardrobe.” Anglo-Saxon England 8 (1979): 195–222.
Thacker, Alan. “Dynastic Monasteries and Family Cults. Edward the Elder's sainted kindred.” In Edward
the Elder, 899-924, ed. N. J. Higham and David Hill. London: Routledge, 2001. 248-63.
Wareham, Andrew. "Transformation of Kinship and the Family in late Anglo-Saxon England." Early
Medieval Europe; 10 (2001). 375-99.
Yorke, Barbara. Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon Royal Houses. London, Continuum, 2003.
Further reading
Foot, Sarah. Veiled Women. 2 vols: vol. 2 (Female Religious Communities in England, 871-1066).
Aldershot, 2000.
Jackson, R. H. “The Tisbury landholdings granted to Shaftesbury monastery by the Saxon kings.” The
Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 79 (1984): 164-77.
Kelly, S. E. Charters of Shaftesbury Abbey. (Anglo-Saxon Charters; 5.) London, 1996.
Keynes, Simon. “Alfred the Great and Shaftesbury Abbey.” In Studies in the Early History of
Shaftesbury Abbey, ed. Laurence Keen. Dorchester: Dorset County Council, 1999. 17-72.
Murphy, E. “The Nunnery that Alfred Built at Shaftesbury.” Hatcher Review; 4 (1994): 40-53.
Preceded by
Eadgifu of Kent
as Queen of the Anglo-Saxons
Queen Consort of England
939–944
Succeeded by
Æthelflæd of Damerham

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Categories: English royal consorts 940s deaths 10th-century English people 10th-century women
Anglo-Saxon royal consorts West Saxon saints Roman Catholic royal saints House of Wessex
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trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. 		of Shaftesbury, Ælfgifu (I26241)
 
917 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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trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. 		of York, Queen Consort Ælfgifu (I25459)
 
918 Ælfthryth
Queen consort of England
Tenure 964/965 – 8 July 975
Coronation 11 May 973
Born c. 945
Died 17 November 1000 or 1001
Spouse Æthelwald, Ealdorman of East Anglia
Edgar, King of England
Issue by Edgar:
Edmund of England
Æthelred, King of England
Father Ordgar, Ealdorman of Devon
Ælfthryth, wife of Edgar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ælfthryth (c. 945 – 1000 or 1001, also Alfrida, Elfrida or Elfthryth) was an English queen, the second or third wife of King Edgar of England. Ælfthryth was the first king's wife known to have been crowned and anointed as Queen of the Kingdom of England. Mother of King Æthelred the Unready, she was a powerful political figure. She was possibly linked to the murder of her stepson King Edward the Martyr and appeared as a stereotypical bad queen and evil stepmother in many medieval histories.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

References
Gransden, Antonia (1992). Legends, Traditions and History in Medieval England. London, UK: The Hambledon Press.
ISBN 1 85285 016 7.
Higham, Nick, The Death of Anglo-Saxon England .Stroud: Sutton, 1997.I SBN 0-7509-2469-1
Miller, Sean, "Edgar" in Michael Lapidge (ed.),T he Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England O. xford:
Blackwell, 1999. ISBN 0-631-22492-0
Lavelle, Ryan, Aethelred II: King of the English. Stroud: The History Press, 2008.I SBN 978-0-7524-4678-3
Stafford, Pauline, "Ælfthryth" in Michael Lapidge (ed.)T, he Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England O. xford:
Blackwell, 1999. ISBN 0-631-22492-0
Stafford, Pauline, Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in thee Tnth and Eleventh
Centuries. London: Edward Arnold, 1989.I SBN 0-7131-6532-4
William of Malmesbury. Joseph Stevenson, ed. Malmesbury's History of the Kings. The Church Historians of England,
volume 3, part 1. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
External links
Ælfthryth 8 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Preceded by
Ælfgifu, wife of Eadwig
Queen Consort of England
965–975
Succeeded by
Ælfgifu of York
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ælfthryth,_wife_of_Edgar&oldid=782074266"
Categories: English royal consorts 1000 deaths 10th-century births 10th-century English people
10th-century women Anglo-Saxon royal consorts Anglo-Saxon nuns House of Wessex
1. Stafford, Unification, pp. 52–53.
2. PASE; Stafford, Unification, pp. 52–53.
3. Malmesbury, pp. 139–140 (Book 2, § 139.
4. Cyril Hart, Edward the Martyr, Oxford Online DNB, 2004 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8515/?back=,8463)
5. Higham, pp. 6–7; Stafford, Unification, pp. 52–53.
6. Higham, pp. 6–7; Miller, "Edgar"; Stafford, "Ælfthryth".
7. Miller, "Edgar"; Stafford, "Ælfthryth".
8. Honeycutt, Lois (2003). Matilda of Scotland: a Study in Medieval Queenship. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. pp. 36–
37.
9. Rabin, Andrew. "Female Advocacy and Royal Protection in Tenth-Century England: The Legal Career of Queen
Ælfthryth." Speculum 84 (2009): 261-288.
10. Higham, pp. 7–14; Stafford, Unification, pp. 57–59.
11. *Davies, Anthony (1989). "Witches in Anglo-Saxon England: Five Case Histories"S. uperstition and Popular Medicine
in Anglo-Saxon England (ed: D.G. Scragg). Manchester: Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies: 48.
12. Higham, pp. 7–14; Stafford, "Ælfthryth"; Stafford, Unification, pp. 57–59, Lavelle, pp. 86–90
13. Stafford, "Ælfthryth"
14. Gransden, Legends, p. 58
This page was last edited on 24 May 2017, at 20:06.
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. 		of England, Ælfthryth (I26242)
 
919 Ælfthryth of Wessex, also known as Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders, and Elftrudis (Elftrude, Elfrida).
She was the youngest daughter of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith, born is Wessex about 877.

Between 893 and 899, Ælfthryth married Baldwin II Count of Flanders (also known as the 2nd Margrave of Flanders)
Together they hey had the following children:
Arnulf I of Flanders (c. 890–964/65); married Adela of Vermandois
Adalulf, Count of Boulogne (c. 890 – 933)
Ealswid
Ermentrud

Ælfthryth died 7 June 929, likely in Bruges, West Flanders (now Belgium)
------------------------------------
“Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial & Medieval Families,” Douglas Richardson (2013):
“BAUDOUIN II the Bald, Count/Marquis of Flanders, 879-918, Count of Artois and Lay-abbot of Saint-Vaast, 892-899, Lay-abbot of Saint-Bertin, 900, Count of Boulogne, 898? -918, Count of Ternois, about 892-918, 2nd and eldest surviving son and heir, born about 863-865. He married in 884 ÆLFTHRYTH (or ELSTRUDE) OF WESSEX, daughter of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, by Ealswith, daughter of Æthelred Mucil, earldorman of the Gaini. She was born about 870. They had two sons, Arnulf (I) [Count/Marquis of Flanders] and Adalolf (or Adolf), and two daughters, Ealhswid and Ermentrude. In 918 his wife, Ælfthryth (or Elstrude), "daughter of the King of the English," gave Liefasham [Levisham], Kent to the Abbey of Mont-Blandin in Gand. BAUDOUIN II, Count/Marquis of Flanders, died in 918, probably 10 Sept. His widow, Ælfthryth (or Elstrude), died 7 June 929. He and his wife were buried in the abbey of Saint-Pierre, Gand.
Histoire des Comtes de Flandre (1698): 12-15. Panckoucke Abrégé Chronologique de l'Histoire de Flandre (1762): 8-12. Galopin Historiae Flandricae (1781): 6-7. Kervyn de Volkaersbeke Les Églises de Gand 2 (1838): 218-220. Chartes & Docs. de l’Abbaye de Saint Pierre an Mont Blandin à Gand (1868): 40-42 (Elstrude, Countess of Flanders, styled "kinswoman" [consanguinea] by Edgar, King of England in charter dated 964). Wauters Table Chronologique des Chartes et Diplômes Imprimés 1 (1866): 320, 331. Études d'Histoire de Moyen Age dédiées à Gabrielle Monad (1896): 155-162. Compte-Rendu des Séances de la Commission Royale d'Histoire 5th Ser. 9 (1898): 142-180 (sub Comtes de Flandre). Bled Regestes des Évêques de Thérouanne, 500-1553 1 (1904): 62. Brandenburg Die Nachkommen Karls des Großen (1935) V 20. Strecker Die Lateinischen Dichter des Deutschen Mittelalters (Monumenta Germaniæ Historica: Die Ottonenzeit 5(1)) (1937): 297-300. Schwennicke Europäische Stammtafeln 2 (1984): 5 (sub Flanders). Winter Descs. of Charlemagne (800-1400) (1987): V.47, VI.45-VI.49.” 		of Flanders, Princess Ælfthryth (I33913)
 
920 Æthelbald was the second son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex and his first wife Osberga, born about 834 in Wessex.

His oldest brother Æthelstan is believed to have died shortly after defeating the Vikings in 850. Æthelwulf and Æthelbald defeated them again at the Battle of Aclea in 851. In 855 Æthelwulf appointed Æthelbald acting King of Wessex and his next younger brother Æthelberht acting King of Kent, while he went on pilgrimage to Rome.

Æthelwulf returned from Rome in late 856 with a 12 year old bride, Judith of France. Not only was Judith younger than Æthelbald but she had been anointed Queen, where as Osberga, Æthelbald's mother had not.

In rebellion against his father Æthelbald refused to return control of Wessex to Æthelwulf. In the end they split Wessex.

After Æthelwulf's death in 858, Æthelbald immediately married his father's young widow. Æthelbald became full King of all of Wessex and Æthelberht full King of Kent.

Æthelbald reigned on his own, with Judith by his side, for about 2 1/2 years and died in July of 860. Æthelberht who was already King of Kent succeeded his brother to become King of Wessex as well and united the two into one kingdom. Judith and Æthelbald had no children and Judith returned to France to eventually marry Baldwin, Margrave of Flanders. 		of Wessex, Æthelbald (I33930)
 
921 Æthelred

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

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

Æthelred the Unready
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

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

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

The story of Æthelred's notorious nickname, Old English
Unræd, goes a long way toward explaining how his
reputation has declined through history. It is usually
translated into present-day English as "The Unready" (less
often, though less confusingly, as "The Redeless").[4] The
Anglo-Saxon noun unræd means "evil counsel", "bad plan",
or "folly".[2] It most often describes decisions and deeds, and once refers to the nature of Satan's deceit. The
element ræd in unræd is the element in Æthelred's name which means "counsel". Thus Æþelræd Unræd is a
pun meaning "Noble counsel, No counsel". The nickname has alternatively been taken adjectivally as "illadvised",
"ill-prepared", "indecisive", thus "Æthelred the ill-advised".
Because the nickname was first recorded in the 1180s, more than 150 years after Æthelred's death, it is doubtful
that it carries any implications for how the king was seen by his contemporaries or near contemporaries.[5]
Early life
Sir Frank Stenton remarked that "much that has brought condemnation
of historians on King Æthelred may well be due in the last resort to the
circumstances under which he became king."[6] Æthelred's father, King
Edgar, had died suddenly in July 975, leaving two young sons behind.
The elder, Edward (later Edward the Martyr), was probably
illegitimate,[7] and was "still a youth on the verge of manhood" in
975.[8] The younger son was Æthelred, whose mother, Ælfthryth, Edgar
had married in 964. Ælfthryth was the daughter of Ordgar, ealdorman of
Devon, and widow of Æthelwold, Ealdorman of East Anglia. At the
time of his father's death, Æthelred could have been no more than 10
years old. As the elder of Edgar's sons, Edward – reportedly a young
man given to frequent violent outbursts – probably would have naturally
succeeded to the throne of England despite his young age, had not he
"offended many important persons by his intolerable violence of speech
and behaviour."[8] In any case, a number of English nobles took to
opposing Edward's succession and to defending Æthelred's claim to the throne; Æthelred was, after all, the son
of Edgar's last, living wife, and no rumour of illegitimacy is known to have plagued Æthelred's birth, as it
might have his elder brother's.[9] Both boys, Æthelred certainly, were too young to have played any significant
part in the political manoeuvring which followed Edgar's death. It was the brothers' supporters, and not the
brothers themselves, who were responsible for the turmoil which accompanied the choice of a successor to the
throne. Æthelred's cause was led by his mother and included Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia and Bishop
Æthelwold of Winchester,[10] while Edward's claim was supported by Dunstan, the Archbishop of Canterbury
and Oswald, the Archbishop of York[11] among other noblemen, notably Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia,
and Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex. In the end, Edward's supporters proved the more powerful and persuasive,
and he was crowned king at Kingston upon Thames before the year was out.
Edward reigned for only three years before he was murdered by members of his brother's household.[12]
Though little is known about Edward's short reign, it is known that it was marked by political turmoil. Edgar
had made extensive grants of land to monasteries which pursued the new monastic ideals of ecclesiastical
reform, but these disrupted aristocratic families' traditional patronage. The end of his firm rule saw a reversal of
this policy, with aristocrats recovering their lost properties or seizing new ones. This was opposed by Dunstan,
but according to Cyril Hart, "The presence of supporters of church reform on both sides indicates that the
conflict between them depended as much on issues of land ownership and local power as on ecclesiastical
legitimacy. Adherents of both Edward and Æthelred can be seen appropriating, or recovering, monastic
lands."[7] Nevertheless, favour for Edward must have been strong among the monastic communities. When
Edward was killed at Æthelred's estate at Corfe Castle in Dorset in March 978, the job of recording the event,
as well as reactions to it, fell to monastic writers. Stenton offers a summary of the earliest account of Edward's
murder, which comes from a work praising the life of St Oswald: "On the surface his [Edward's] relations with
Æthelred his half-brother and Ælfthryth his stepmother were friendly, and he was visiting them informally
when he was killed. [Æthelred's] retainers came out to meet him with ostentatious signs of respect, and then,
before he had dismounted, surrounded him, seized his hands, and stabbed him. ... So far as can be seen the
murder was planned and carried out by Æthelred's household men in order that their young master might
become king. There is nothing to support the allegation, which first appears in writing more than a century
later, that Queen Ælfthryth had plotted her stepson's death. No one was punished for a part in the crime, and
Æthelred, who was crowned a month after the murder, began to reign in an atmosphere of suspicion which
destroyed the prestige of the crown. It was never fully restored in his lifetime."[13] Nevertheless, at first, the
outlook of the new king's officers and counsellors seems in no way to have been bleak. According to one
chronicler, the coronation of Æthelred took place with much rejoicing by the councillors of the English
people.[14] Simon Keynes notes that "Byrhtferth of Ramsey states similarly that when Æthelred was
consecrated king, by Archbishop Dunstan and Archbishop Oswald, 'there was great joy at his consecration’,
and describes the king in this connection as 'a young man in respect of years, elegant in his manners, with an
attractive face and handsome appearance'."[14] Æthelred could not have been older than 13 years of age in this
year.
During these early years, Æthelred was developing a close relationship to Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester,
one who had supported his unsuccessful claim to the throne. When Æthelwold died, on 1 August 984, Æthelred
deeply lamented the loss, and he wrote later in a charter from 993 that the event had deprived the country of
one "whose industry and pastoral care administered not only to my interest but also to that of all inhabitants of
the country."[14]
Conflict with the Danes
England had experienced a period of peace after the reconquest of the Danelaw in the mid-10th century by
King Edgar, Æthelred's father. However, beginning in 980, when Æthelred could not have been more than 14
years old, small companies of Danish adventurers carried out a series of coastline raids against England.
Hampshire, Thanet and Cheshire were attacked in 980, Devon and Cornwall in 981, and Dorset in 982. A
period of six years then passed before, in 988, another coastal attack is recorded as having taken place to the
south-west, though here a famous battle was fought between the invaders and the thegns of Devon. Stenton
notes that, though this series of isolated raids had no lasting effect on England itself, "their chief historical
importance is that they brought England for the first time into diplomatic contact with Normandy."[15] During
this period, the Normans, who remembered their origins as a Scandinavian people, were well-disposed to their
Danish cousins who, occasionally returning from a raid on England, sought port in Normandy. This led to grave
tension between the English and Norman courts, and word of their enmity eventually reached Pope John XV.
The pope was disposed to dissolve their hostility towards each other, and took steps to engineer a peace
between England and Normandy, which was ratified in Rouen in 991.
Battle of Maldon
Silver penny of Aethelred II
However, in August of that same year, a sizeable Danish fleet began a sustained campaign in the south-east of
England. It arrived off Folkestone, in Kent, and made its way around the south-east coast and up the River
Blackwater, coming eventually to its estuary and occupying Northey Island.[14] About 2 kilometres (1 mile)
west of Northey lies the coastal town of Maldon, where Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex, was stationed with a
company of thegns. The battle that followed between English and Danes is immortalised by the Old English
poem The Battle of Maldon, which describes the doomed but heroic attempt of Byrhtnoth to defend the coast of
Essex against overwhelming odds. Stenton summarises the events of the poem: "For access to the mainland
they (the Danes) depended on a causeway, flooded at high tide, which led from Northey to the flats along the
southern margin of the estuary. Before they (the Danes) had left their camp on the island[,] Byrhtnoth, with his
retainers and a force of local militia, had taken possession of the landward end of the causeway. Refusing a
demand for tribute, shouted across the water while the tide was high, Byrhtnoth drew up his men along the
bank, and waited for the ebb. As the water fell the raiders began to stream out along the causeway. But three of
Byrthnoth's retainers held it against them, and at last they asked to be allowed to cross unhindered and fight on
equal terms on the mainland. With what even those who admired him most called 'over-courage', Byrhtnoth
agreed to this; the pirates rushed through the falling tide, and battle was joined. Its issue was decided by
Byrhtnoth's fall. Many even of his own men immediately took to flight and the English ranks were broken.
What gives enduring interest to the battle is the superb courage with which a group of Byrhtnoth's thegns,
knowing that the fight was lost, deliberately gave themselves to death in order that they might avenge their
lord."[16] This was the first of a series of crushing defeats felt by the English: beaten first by Danish raiders, and
later by organised Danish armies.
England begins tributes
In 991, Æthelred was around 24 years old. In the aftermath of Maldon,
it was decided that the English should grant the tribute to the Danes that
they desired, and so a gafol of £10,000 was paid them for their peace.
Yet it was presumably the Danish fleet that had beaten Byrhtnoth at
Maldon that continued to ravage the English coast from 991 to 993. In
994, the Danish fleet, which had swollen in ranks since 991, turned up
the Thames estuary and headed toward London. The battle fought there
was inconclusive. It was about this time that Æthelred met with the
leaders of the fleet, foremost among them Olaf Tryggvason, and
arranged an uneasy accord. A treaty was signed between Æthelred and
Olaf that provided for seemingly civilised arrangements between the
then-settled Danish companies and the English government, such as
regulation settlement disputes and trade. But the treaty also stipulated
that the ravaging and slaughter of the previous year would be forgotten,
and ended abruptly by stating that £22,000 of gold and silver had been
paid to the raiders as the price of peace.[17] In 994, Olaf Tryggvason,
already a baptised Christian, was confirmed as Christian in a ceremony at Andover; King Æthelred stood as his
sponsor. After receiving gifts, Olaf promised "that he would never come back to England in hostility."[14] Olaf
then left England for Norway and never returned, though "other component parts of the Viking force appear to
have decided to stay in England, for it is apparent from the treaty that some had chosen to enter into King
Æthelred's service as mercenaries, based presumably on the Isle of Wight."[14]
Renewed Danish raids
In 997, Danish raids began again. According to Keynes, "there is no suggestion that this was a new fleet or
army, and presumably the mercenary force created in 994 from the residue of the raiding army of 991 had
turned on those whom it had been hired to protect."[14] It harried Cornwall, Devon, western Somerset and south
Wales in 997, Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex in 998. In 999, it raided Kent, and, in 1000, it left England for
Normandy, perhaps because the English had refused in this latest wave of attacks to acquiesce to the Danish
demands for gafol or tribute, which would come to be known as Danegeld, 'Dane-payment'. This sudden relief
from attack Æthelred used to gather his thoughts, resources, and armies: the fleet's departure in 1000 "allowed
Æthelred to carry out a devastation of Strathclyde, the motive for which is part of the lost history of the
north."[18]
In 1001, a Danish fleet – perhaps the same fleet from 1000 – returned and ravaged west Sussex. During its
movements, the fleet regularly returned to its base in the Isle of Wight. There was later an attempted attack in
the south of Devon, though the English mounted a successful defence at Exeter. Nevertheless, Æthelred must
have felt at a loss, and, in the Spring of 1002, the English bought a truce for £24,000. Æthelred's frequent
payments of immense Danegelds are often held up as exemplary of the incompetency of his government and
his own short-sightedness. However, Keynes points out that such payments had been practice for at least a
century, and had been adopted by Alfred the Great, Charles the Bald and many others. Indeed, in some cases it
"may have seemed the best available way of protecting the people against loss of life, shelter, livestock and
crops. Though undeniably burdensome, it constituted a measure for which the king could rely on widespread
support."[14]
St. Brice's Day massacr e of 1002
Æthelred ordered the massacre of all Danish men in England to take place on 13 November 1002, St Brice's
Day. No order of this kind could be carried out in more than a third of England, where the Danes were too
strong, but Gunhilde, sister of Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark, was said to have been among the victims. It
is likely that a wish to avenge her was a principal motive for Sweyn's invasion of western England the
following year.[19] By 1004 Sweyn was in East Anglia, where he sacked Norwich. In this year, a nobleman of
East Anglia, Ulfcytel Snillingr met Sweyn in force, and made an impression on the until-then rampant Danish
expedition. Though Ulfcytel was eventually defeated, outside Thetford, he caused the Danes heavy losses and
was nearly able to destroy their ships. The Danish army left England for Denmark in 1005, perhaps because of
their injuries sustained in East Anglia, perhaps from the very severe famine which afflicted the continent and
the British Isles in that year.[14]
An expedition the following year was bought off in early 1007 by tribute money of £36,000, and for the next
two years England was free from attack. In 1008, the government created a new fleet of warships, organised on
a national scale, but this was weakened when one of its commanders took to piracy, and the king and his
council decided not to risk it in a general action. In Stenton's view: "The history of England in the next
generation was really determined between 1009 and 1012...the ignominious collapse of the English defence
caused a loss of morale which was irreparable." The Danish army of 1009, led by Thorkell the Tall and his
brother Hemming, was the most formidable force to invade England since Æthelred became king. It harried
England until it was bought off by £48,000 in April 1012.[20]
Invasion of 1013
Sweyn then launched an invasion in 1013 intending to crown himself king of England, during which he proved
himself to be a general greater than any other Viking leader of his generation. By the end of 1013 English
resistance had collapsed and Sweyn had conquered the country, forcing Æthelred into exile in Normandy. But
the situation changed suddenly when Sweyn died on 3 February 1014. The crews of the Danish ships in the
Trent that had supported Sweyn immediately swore their allegiance to Sweyn's son Cnut the Great, but leading
English noblemen sent a deputation to Æthelred to negotiate his restoration to the throne. He was required to
declare his loyalty to them, to bring in reforms regarding everything that they disliked and to forgive all that
had been said and done against him in his previous reign. The terms of this agreement are of great
constitutional interest in early English History as they are the first recorded pact between a King and his
subjects and are also widely regarded as showing that many English noblemen had submitted to Sweyn simply
because of their distrust of Æthelred.[21] According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:
they [the counsellors] said that no lord was dearer to them than their natural (gecynde) lord, if he would
govern them more justly than he did before. Then the king sent his son Edward hither with his
messengers and bade them greet all his people and said that he would be a gracious (hold) lord to them,
A charter of Æthelred's in 1003 to
his follower, Æthelred.
and reform all the things which they hated; and all the things which had been said and done against him
should be forgiven on condition that they all unanimously turned to him (to him gecyrdon) without
treachery. And complete friendship was then established with oath and pledge (mid worde and mid
wædde) on both sides, and they pronounced every Danish king an exile from England forever.[22]
Æthelred then launched an expedition against Cnut and his allies, the men of the Kingdom of Lindsey. Cnut's
army had not completed its preparations and, in April 1014, he decided to withdraw from England without a
fight leaving his Lindsey allies to suffer Æthelred's revenge. In August 1015, he returned to find a complex and
volatile situation unfolding in England. Æthelred's son, Edmund Ironside, had revolted against his father and
established himself in the Danelaw, which was angry at Cnut and Æthelred for the ravaging of Lindsey and was
prepared to support Edmund in any uprising against both of them.
Death and burial
Over the next few months Cnut conquered most of England, while Edmund rejoined Æthelred to defend
London when Æthelred died on 23 April 1016. The subsequent war between Edmund and Cnut ended in a
decisive victory for Cnut at the Battle of Ashingdon on 18 October 1016. Edmund's reputation as a warrior was
such that Cnut nevertheless agreed to divide England, Edmund taking Wessex and Cnut the whole of the
country beyond the Thames. However, Edmund died on 30 November and Cnut became king of the whole
country.[23]
Æthelred was buried in Old St Paul's Cathedral, London. The tomb and his monument were destroyed along
with the cathedral in the Great Fire of London in 1666.[24] A modern monument in the crypt lists his among the
important graves lost.
Legislation
Æthelred's government produced extensive legislation, which he
"ruthlessly enforced."[25] Records of at least six legal codes survive from
his reign, covering a range of topics.[26] Notably, one of the members of his
council (known as the Witan) was Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York, a wellknown
homilist. The three latest codes from Æthelred's reign seemed to
have been drafted by Wulfstan.[27] These codes are extensively concerned
with ecclesiastical affairs. They also exhibit the characteristics of
Wulfstan's highly rhetorical style. Wulfstan went on to draft codes for King
Cnut, and recycled there many of the laws which were used in Æthelred's
codes.[28]
Despite the failure of his government in the face of the Danish threat,
Æthelred's reign was not without some important institutional achievements. The quality of the coinage, a good
indicator of the prevailing economic conditions, significantly improved during his reign due to his numerous
coinage reform laws.[29]
Legacy
Later perspectives of Æthelred have been less than flattering. Numerous legends and anecdotes have sprung up
to explain his shortcomings, often elaborating abusively on his character and failures. One such anecdote is
given by William of Malmesbury (lived c. 1080–c. 1143), who reports that Æthelred had defecated in the
baptismal font as a child, which led St. Dunstan to prophesy that the English monarchy would be overthrown
during his reign. This story is, however, a fabrication, and a similar story is told of the Byzantine Emperor
Constantine Copronymus, another mediaeval monarch who was unpopular among certain of his subjects.
Efforts to rehabilitate Æthelred's reputation have gained momentum since about 1980. Chief among the
rehabilitators has been Simon Keynes, who has often argued that our poor impression of Æthelred is almost
entirely based upon after-the-fact accounts of, and later accretions to, the narrative of events during Æthelred's
long and complex reign. Chief among the culprits is in fact one of the most important sources for the history of
the period, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which, as it reports events with a retrospect of 15 years, cannot help but
interpret events with the eventual English defeat a foregone conclusion. Yet, as virtually no strictly
contemporary narrative account of the events of Æthelred's reign exists, historians are forced to rely on what
evidence there is. Keynes and others thus draw attention to some of the inevitable snares of investigating the
history of a man whom later popular opinion has utterly damned. Recent cautious assessments of Æthelred's
reign have more often uncovered reasons to doubt, rather than uphold, Æthelred's later infamy. Though the
failures of his government will always put Æthelred's reign in the shadow of the reigns of kings Edgar,
Aethelstan, and Alfred, historians' current impression of Æthelred's personal character is certainly not as
unflattering as it once was: "Æthelred's misfortune as a ruler was owed not so much to any supposed defects of
his imagined character, as to a combination of circumstances which anyone would have found difficult to
control."[30]
Origin of the jury
Æthelred has been credited with the formation of a local investigative body made up of twelve thegns who
were charged with publishing the names of any notorious or wicked men in their respective districts. Because
the members of these bodies were under solemn oath to act in accordance with the law and their own good
consciences, they have been seen by some legal historians as the prototype for the English Grand Jury.[31]
Æthelred makes provision for such a body in a law code he enacted at Wantage in 997, which states:
þæt man habbe gemot on ælcum wæpentace; & gan ut þa yldestan XII þegnas & se gerefa mid, &
swerian on þam haligdome, þe heom man on hand sylle, þæt hig nellan nænne sacleasan man
forsecgean ne nænne sacne forhelan. & niman þonne þa tihtbysian men, þe mid þam gerefan
habbað, & heora ælc sylle VI healfmarc wedd, healf landrican & healf wæpentake.[32]
that there shall be an assembly in every wapentake,[33] and in that assembly shall go forth the
twelve eldest thegns and the reeve along with them, and let them swear on holy relics, which shall
be placed in their hands, that they will never knowingly accuse an innocent man nor conceal a
guilty man. And thereafter let them seize those notorious [lit. "charge-laden"] men, who have
business with the reeve, and let each of them give a security of 6 half-marks, half of which shall go
to the lord of that district, and half to the wapentake.
But the wording here suggests that Æthelred was perhaps revamping or re-confirming a custom which had
already existed. He may actually have been expanding an established English custom for use among the Danish
citizens in the North (the Danelaw). Previously, King Edgar had legislated along similar lines in his
Whitbordesstan code:
ic wille, þæt ælc mon sy under borge ge binnan burgum ge buton burgum. & gewitnes sy geset to
ælcere byrig & to ælcum hundrode. To ælcere byrig XXXVI syn gecorone to gewitnesse; to smalum
burgum & to ælcum hundrode XII, buton ge ma willan. & ælc mon mid heora gewitnysse bigcge &
sylle ælc þara ceapa, þe he bigcge oððe sylle aþer oððe burge oððe on wæpengetace. & heora ælc,
þonne hine man ærest to gewitnysse gecysð, sylle þæne að, þæt he næfre, ne for feo ne for lufe ne
for ege, ne ætsace nanes þara þinga, þe he to gewitnysse wæs, & nan oðer þingc on gewitnysse ne
cyðe buton þæt an, þæt he geseah oððe gehyrde. & swa geæþdera manna syn on ælcum ceape
twegen oððe þry to gewitnysse.[34]
It is my wish that each person be in surety, both within settled areas and without. And 'witnessing'
shall be established in each city and each hundred. To each city let there be 36 chosen for
witnessing; to small towns and to each hundred let there be 12, unless they desire more. And
everybody shall purchase and sell their goods in the presence a witness, whether he is buying or
selling something, whether in a city or a wapentake. And each of them, when they first choose to
become a witness, shall give an oath that he will never, neither for wealth nor love nor fear, deny
any of those things which he will be a witness to, and will not, in his capacity as a witness, make
known any thing except that which he saw and heard. And let there be either two or three of these
sworn witnesses at every sale of goods.
The 'legend' of an Anglo-Saxon origin to the jury was first challenged seriously by Heinrich Brunner in 1872,
who claimed that evidence of the jury was only seen for the first time during the reign of Henry II, some 200
years after the end of the Anglo-Saxon period, and that the practice had originated with the Franks, who in turn
had influenced the Normans, who thence introduced it to England.[35] Since Brunner's thesis, the origin of the
English jury has been much disputed. Throughout the 20th century, legal historians disagreed about whether the
practice was English in origin, or was introduced, directly or indirectly, from either Scandinavia or Francia.[31]
Recently, the legal historians Patrick Wormald and Michael Macnair have reasserted arguments in favour of
finding in practices current during the Anglo-Saxon period traces of the Angevin practice of conducting
inquests using bodies of sworn, private witnesses. Wormald has gone as far as to present evidence suggesting
that the English practice outlined in Æthelred's Wantage code is at least as old as, if not older than, 975, and
ultimately traces it back to a Carolingian model (something Brinner had done).[36] However, no scholarly
consensus has yet been reached.
Appearance and character
"[A] youth of graceful manners, handsome countenance and fine person..."[37] as well as "[A] tall, handsome
man, elegant in manners, beautiful in countenance and interesting in his deportment."[38]
Marriages and issue
Æthelred married first Ælfgifu, daughter of Thored, earl of Northumbria, in about 985.[14] Their known
children are:
Æthelstan Ætheling (died 1014)
Ecgberht Ætheling (died c. 1005)[39]
Edmund Ironside (died 1016)
Eadred Ætheling (died before 1013)
Eadwig Ætheling (executed by Cnut 1017)
Edgar Ætheling (died c. 1008)[39]
Eadgyth or Edith (married Eadric Streona)
Ælfgifu (married Uchtred the Bold, ealdorman of Northumbria)
Wulfhilda (married Ulfcytel Snillingr)
Abbess of Wherwell Abbey
In 1002 Æthelred married Emma of Normandy, sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy. Their children were:
Edward the Confessor (died 1066)
Ælfred Ætheling (died 1036–7)
Goda of England (married 1. Drogo of Mantes and 2. Eustace II, Count of Boulogne)
All of Æthelred's sons were named after predecessors of Æthelred on the throne.[40]
Ancestry
Ancestors of Æthelred the Unready
16. Alfred the Great
8. Edward the Elder
17. Ealhswith
4. Edmund I of England
18. Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent
9. Edgiva of Kent
2. Edgar the Peaceful
5. Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
1. Æthelred the Unready
6. Ordgar
3. Ælfthryth, Queen of England
See also
House of Wessex family tree
Burial places of British royalty
Cultural depictions of Æthelred the Unready
Notes
1. Different spellings of this king’s name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or
"Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the originaOl ld English form Æþelræd.
2. Bosworth-Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, with Supplement. p.1124
3. Schröder, Deutsche Namenkunde.
4. "Ethelred the Redeless" e.g. in Thomas HodgkinT, he History of England from the Earliest Times to the Norman
Conquest, Volume 1 (1808), p. 373 (https://books.google.ch/books?id=wUkNAAAAIAAJ&pg=AP373). While rede
"counsel" survived into modern English, the negativeu nrede appears to fall out of use by the 15th century; c.fR ichard
the Redeless, a 15th-century poem in reference toR ichard II of England.
5. Keynes, "The Declining Reputation of King Æthelred the Unready", pp. 240–1. For this king's forebear of the same
name, see Æthelred of Wessex.
6. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 374.
7. Hart, Cyril (2007). "Edward the Martyr" (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8515). Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
8. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 372.
9. Miller, "Edward the Martyr."
10. Higham, The Death of Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 7–8; Stafford, Unification and Conquest, p. 58.
11. Phillips, "St Edward the Martyr."
12. Keynes, The Diplomas of King Æthelred 'the Unready' 978-1016, p. 166.
13. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 373.
14. Keynes, "Æthelred II (c. 966x8–1016)."
15. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 375.
References
16. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 376–77.
17. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 377–78.
18. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 379.
19. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 380.
20. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 381–4.
21. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 384–6.
22. Williams, Æthelred, p. 123
23. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 386–393.
24. The Burial of King Æthelred the Unready at St. Paul's, Simon Keynes, The English and Their Legacy, 900-1200: Essays
in Honour of Ann Williams, ed. David Roffe, (Boydell Press, 2012), 129.
25. Wormald, "Æthelred the Lawmaker", p. 49.
26. Liebermann, ed., Die Gesetze der Angelsaschen, pp. 216–70.
27. Wormald, "Wulfstan (d. 1023)."
28. Wormald, The Making of English Law, pp. 356–60.
29. "Ethelred II". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009.
30. Keynes, "A Tale of Two Kings", p. 217.
31. Turner, "The Origins of the Medieval English Jury"p, assim.
32. "III Æthelred" 3.1–3.2, in Liebermann, ed.,D ie Gesetze, pp. 228–32.
33. Note that this terms specifies the north and north-eastern territories in England which were at the time glaerly governed
according to Danish custom; no mention is made of the law's application to thheu ndreds, the southern and English
equivalent of the Danish wapentake.
34. "IV Edgar" 3–6.2, in Liebermann, ed.,D ie Gesetze, pp. 206–14.
35. Turner, "The Origins of the Medieval English Jury", pp. 1–2; Wormald, The Making of English Law, pp. 4–26,
especially pp. 7–8 and 17–18.
36. Wormald, "Neighbors, Courts, and Kings", pp. 598–99, et passim.
37. The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester
38. The Gunnlaugr Saga of Gunnlaugr the Scald
39. M. K. Lawson, Edmund II, Oxford Online DNB, 2004 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8502)
40. Frank Barlow, Edward the Confessor, Yale University Press: London, 1997, p. 28 and family tree in endpap.er
Bosworth, J., & Toller, T. N., eds., An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1882–98); with Supplement (1908–21) .
Gilbride, M.B. "A Hollow Crown review". Medieval Mysteries.com "Reviews of Outstanding Historical Novels set in
the Medieval Period". Retrieved 9 May 2012.
Godsell, Andrew "Ethelred the Unready" in "History For All" magazine September 2000, republished in "Legends of
British History" (2008)
Hart, Cyril, "Edward the Martyr", in C. Matthew, B. Harrison, & L. Goldman (eds.),O xford Dictionary of National
Biography (2007), http://www.oxforddnb.com [accessed 9 November 2008].
Higham, Nick, The Death of Anglo-Saxon England (1997), ISBN 0-7509-2469-1.
Keynes, Simon, "The Declining Reputation of King Æthelred the Unready", in David Hill (ed.E),t helred the Unready:
Papers from the Millenary Conference, British Archaeological Reports, British Series 59 (1978), pp. 227–53.
Keynes, Simon, "A Tale of Two Kings: Alfred the Great and Æthelred the Unready"T, ransactions of the Royal
Historical Society, Fifth Series 36 (1986), pp. 195–217.
Keynes, Simon, "Æthelred II (c. 966x8–1016)", in C. Matthew, B. Harrison, & L. Goldman (eds.),O xford Dictionary of
National Biography (2004), http://www.oxforddnb.com [accessed 12 June 2008].
Liebermann, Felix, ed., Die Gesetze der Angelsaschen, vol. 1 (1903).
Miller,Sean, "Edward the Martyr", in M. Lapidge, J. Bla,i rS. Keynes, & D. Scragg (eds.),T he Blackwell Encyclopædia
of Anglo-Saxon England (1999), p. 163. ISBN 0-631-22492-0.
Phillips, G. E., Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Edward the Martyr". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert
Appleton Company.
Schröder, Edward, Deutsche Namenkunde: Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Kunde deutsche Personen- und Ortsnam e(n1944).
Stafford, Pauline, Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in thee Tnth and Eleventh
Centuries (1989), ISBN 0-7131-6532-4.
Skinner, Patricia, ed, Challenging the Boundaries of Medieval History: The Legacy of iTmothy Reuter (2009), ISBN
978-2-503-52359-0.
Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England. The Oxford History of England.2 (3rd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
ISBN 0192801392.
Turner, Ralph V. (1968). "The Origins of the Medieval English Jury: Frankish, English, or Scandinavian?"T. he Journal
of British Studies. 7 (2): 1–10. JSTOR 175292. doi:10.1086/385549.
Wikisource has the text of
the 1911 Encyclopædia
Britannica article Æthelred
II..
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Æthelred.
Further reading
Cubitt, Catherine (2012). "The politics of remorse: penance and
royal piety in the reign of Æthelred the Unready". Historical
Research. 85 (228): 179–192. doi:10.1111/j.1468-
2281.2011.00571.x.
Hart, Cyril, ed. and tr. (2006). Chronicles of the Reign of
Æthelred the Unready: An Edition and Translation of the Old
English and Latin Annals. The Early Chronicles of England 1.
Keynes, Simon (1980). The Diplomas of King Æthelred ‘the
Unready’ 978–1016. New York: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0521227186.
Lavelle, Ryan (2008). Aethelred II: King of the English 978–1016 (New ed.). Stroud, Gloucestershire:
The History Press. ISBN 9780752446783.
External links
Æthelred 32 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Miller, Sean. "Æthelred the Unready". Anglo-Saxons.net. Retrieved 25 November 2007.
Documentary – The Making of England: Aethelred the Unready
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Edward the Martyr
King of the English
978–1013
Succeeded by
Sweyn Forkbeard
Preceded by
Sweyn Forkbeard
King of the English
1014–1016
Succeeded by
Edmund Ironside
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Æthelred_the_Unready&oldid=785907428"
Categories: Monarchs of England before 1066 Medieval child rulers 968 births 1016 deaths
11th-century English monarchs 10th-century English monarchs Christian monarchs House of Wessex
Burials at St Paul's Cathedral
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Williams, Ann, Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-Counselled King (2003), ISBN 1-85285-382-4.
Wormald, Patrick, The Making of English Law – King Alfred to the Twelfth Century, vol. 1: Legislation and its Limits
(1999).
Wormald, Patrick (1999). "Neighbors, Courts ,and Kings: Reflections on Michael Macnair's Vicini". Law and History
Review. 17 (3): 597–601. JSTOR 744383. doi:10.2307/744383.
Wormald, Patrick, "Wulfstan (d. 1023)", in C. Matthew, B. Harrison, & L. Goldman (eds.),O xford Dictionary of
National Biography (2004), http://www.oxforddnb.com [accessed 12 June 2008]. 		of England, Æthelred (I25458)
 
922 Æthelwulf

King of Wessex
Reign 839–858
Predecessor Egbert
Successor Æthelbald
Died 13 January 858
Burial Steyning then Old Minster, Winchester; remains may now be in Winchester Cathedral[1]
Spouse Osburh
Judith
Issue
Æthelstan, King of Kent
Æthelswith, Queen of Mercia
Æthelbald, King of Wessex
Æthelberht, King of Wessex
Æthelred, King of Wessex
Alfred, King of Wessex
House House of Wessex
Father Egbert

Æthelwulf
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Æthelwulf (Old English for "Noble Wolf";[2] died 13 January 858) was King of Wessex from 839 to 858.[a] In 825, his father, King Egbert, defeated King Beornwulf of Mercia, ending a long Mercian dominance over Anglo-Saxon England south of the Humber. Egbert sent Æthelwulf with an army to Kent, where he expelled the Mercian sub-king and was himself appointed sub-king. After 830, Egbert maintained good relations with Mercia, and this was continued by Æthelwulf when he became king in 839, the first son to succeed his father as West Saxon king since 641. The Vikings were not a major threat to Wessex during Æthelwulf's reign. In 843, he was defeated in a battle against the Vikings at Carhampton in Somerset, but he achieved a major victory at the Battle of Aclea in 851. In 853 he joined a successful Mercian expedition to Wales to restore the traditional Mercian hegemony, and in the same year his daughter Æthelswith married King Burgred of Mercia. In 855 Æthelwulf went on pilgrimage to Rome. In preparation he gave a "decimation", donating a tenth of his personal property to his subjects; he appointed his eldest surviving son Æthelbald to act as King of Wessex in his absence, and his next son Æthelberht to rule Kent and the south-east. Æthelwulf spent a year in Rome, and on his way back he married Judith, the daughter of the West Frankish King Charles the Bald.

When Æthelwulf returned to England, Æthelbald refused to surrender the West Saxon throne, and Æthelwulf agreed to divide the kingdom, taking the east and leaving the west in Æthelbald's hands. On Æthelwulf's death in 858 he left Wessex to Æthelbald and Kent to Æthelberht, but Æthelbald's death only two years later led to the reunification of the kingdom.

In the 20th century Æthelwulf's reputation among historians was poor: he was seen as excessively pious and impractical, and his pilgrimage was viewed as a desertion of his duties. Historians in the 21st century see him very differently, as a king who consolidated and extended the power of his dynasty, commanded respect on the continent, and dealt more effectively than most of his contemporaries with Viking attacks. He is regarded as one of the most successful West Saxon kings, who laid the foundations for the success of his son, Alfred the Great.

Background
At the beginning of the 9th century, England was almost completely under the control of the Anglo-Saxons, with Mercia and Wessex the most important southern kingdoms. Mercia was dominant until the 820s, and it exercised overlordship over East Anglia and Kent, but Wessex was able to maintain its independence from its more powerful neighbour. Offa, King of Mercia from 757 to 796, was the dominant figure of the second half of the 8th century. King Beorhtric of Wessex (786–802), married Offa's daughter in 789. Beorhtric and Offa drove Æthelwulf's father Egbert into exile, and he spent several years at the court of Charlemagne in Francia. Egbert was the son of Ealhmund, who had briefly been King of Kent in 784. Following Offa's death, King Coenwulf of Mercia (796–821) maintained Mercian dominance, but it is uncertain whether Beorhtric ever accepted political subordination, and when he died in 802 Egbert became king, perhaps with the support of Charlemagne.[5] For two hundred years three kindreds had fought for the West Saxon throne, and no son had followed his father as king. Egbert's best claim was that he was the great-great-grandson of Ingild, brother of King Ine (688–726), and in 802 it would have seemed very unlikely that he would establish a lasting dynasty.[6] Almost nothing is recorded of the first twenty years of Egbert's reign, apart from campaigns against the Cornish in the 810s.[7] The historian Richard Abels argues that the silence of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was probably intentional, concealing Egbert's purge of Beorhtric's magnates and suppression of rival royal lines.[8] Relations between Mercian kings and their Kentish subjects were distant. Kentish ealdormen did not attend the court of King Coenwulf, who quarrelled with Archbishop Wulfred of Canterbury (805–832) over the control of Kentish monasteries; Coenwulf's primary concern seems to have been to gain access to the wealth of Kent. His successors Ceolwulf I (821–23) and Beornwulf (823–26) restored relations with Archbishop Wulfred, and Beornwulf appointed a sub-king of Kent, Baldred.[9]

England had suffered Viking raids in the late 8th century, but no attacks are recorded between 794 and 835, when the Isle of Sheppey in Kent was ravaged.[10] In 836 Egbert was defeated by the Vikings at Carhampton in Somerset,[7] but in 838 he was victorious over an alliance of Cornishmen and Vikings at the Battle of Hingston Down, reducing Cornwall to the status of a client kingdom.[11]

Family
Æthelwulf was the son of Egbert, King of Wessex from 802 to 839. His mother's name is unknown, and he had no recorded siblings. He is known to have had two wives in succession, and so far as is known, Osburh, the senior of the two, was the mother of all his children. She was the daughter of Oslac, described by Asser, biographer of their son Alfred the Great, as "King Æthelwulf's famous butler",[b] a man who was descended from Jutes who had ruled the Isle of Wight.[13][14] Æthelwulf had six known children. His eldest son, Æthelstan, was old enough to be appointed King of Kent in 839, so he must have been born by the early 820s, and he died in the early 850s.[c] The second son, Æthelbald, is first recorded as a charter witness in 841, and if, like Alfred, he began to attest when he was around six, he would have been born around 835; he was King of Wessex from 858 to 860. Æthelwulf's third son, Æthelberht, was probably born around 839 and was king from 860 to 865. The only daughter, Æthelswith, married Burgred, King of Mercia, in 853.[16] The other two sons were much younger: Æthelred was born around 848 and was king from 865 to 871, and Alfred was born around 849 and was king from 871 to 899.[17] In 856 Æthelwulf married Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, King of West Francia and future Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife Ermentrude. Osburh had probably died, although it is possible that she had been repudiated.[d] There were no children from Æthelwulf's marriage to Judith, and after his death she married his eldest surviving son and successor, Æthelbald.[13]

Early life
Æthelwulf was first recorded in 825, when Egbert won the crucial Battle of Ellandun against King Beornwulf of Mercia, ending the long Mercian ascendancy over southern England. Egbert followed it up by sending Æthelwulf with Eahlstan, Bishop of Sherborne, and Wulfheard, Ealdorman of Hampshire, with a large army into Kent to expel sub-king Baldred.[e] Æthelwulf was descended from kings of Kent, and he was sub-king of Kent, and of Surrey, Sussex and Essex, which were then included in the sub-kingdom, until he inherited the throne of Wessex in 839.[22] His sub-kingship is recorded in charters, in some of which King Egbert acted with his son's permission,[13] such as a grant in 838 to Bishop Beornmod of Rochester, and Æthelwulf himself issued a charter as King of Kent in the same year.[23] Unlike their Mercian predecessors, who alienated the Kentish people by ruling from a distance, Æthelwulf and his father successfully cultivated local support by governing through Kentish ealdormen and promoting their interests.[24] In Abels' view, Egbert and Æthelwulf rewarded their friends and purged Mercian supporters.[25][f] Historians take differing views on the attitude of the new regime to the Kentish church. At Canterbury in 828 Egbert granted privileges to the bishopric of Rochester, and according to the historian of Anglo-Saxon England Simon Keynes, Egbert and Æthelwulf took steps to secure the support of Archbishop Wulfred.[27] However, the medievalist Nicholas Brooks argues that Wulfred's Mercian origin and connections proved a liability. Æthelwulf seized an estate in East Malling from the Canterbury church on the ground that it had only been granted by Baldred when he was in flight from the West Saxon forces; the issue of archiepiscopal coinage was suspended for several years; and the only estate Wulfred was granted after 825 he received from King Wiglaf of Mercia.[28]

In 829 Egbert conquered Mercia, only for Wiglaf to recover his kingdom a year later.[29] The scholar D. P. Kirby sees Wiglaf's restoration in 830 as a dramatic reversal for Egbert, which was probably followed by his loss of control of the London mint and the Mercian recovery of Essex and Berkshire,[30] and the historian Heather Edwards states that his "immense conquest could not be maintained".[7] However, in the view of Keynes: It is interesting ... that both Egbert and his son Æthelwulf appear to have respected the separate identity of Kent and its associated provinces, as if there appears to have been no plan at this stage to absorb the southeast into an enlarged kingdom stretching across the whole of southern England. Nor does it seem to have been the intention of Egbert and his successors to maintain supremacy of any kind over the kingdom of Mercia ... It is quite possible that Egbert had relinquished Mercia of his own volition; and there is no suggestion that any residual antagonism affected relations between the rulers of Wessex and Mercia thereafter.[31]

In 838 King Egbert held an assembly at Kingston in Surrey, where Æthelwulf may have been consecrated asking by the archbishop. Egbert restored the East Malling estate to Wulfred's successor as Archbishop of Canterbury, Ceolnoth, in return for a promise of "firm and unbroken friendship" for himself and Æthelwulf and their heirs, and the same condition is specified in a grant to the see of Winchester. Egbert thus ensured support for Æthelwulf, who became the first son to succeed his father as West Saxon king since 641.[32] At the same meeting Kentish monasteries chose Æthelwulf as their lord, and he undertook that, after his death, they would have freedom to elect their heads. Wulfred had devoted his archiepiscopate to fighting against secular power over Kentish monasteries, but Ceolnoth now surrendered effective control to Æthelwulf, whose offer of freedom from control after his death was unlikely to be honoured by his successors. Kentish ecclesiastics and laymen now looked for protection against Viking attacks to West Saxon rather than Mercian royal power. [33] Egbert's conquests brought him wealth far greater than his predecessors had enjoyed, and enabled him to purchase the support which secured the West Saxon throne for his descendants.[34] The stability brought by the dynastic succession of Egbert and Æthelwulf led to an expansion of commercial and agrarian resources, and to an expansion of royal income.[35] The wealth of the West Saxon kings was also increased by the agreement in 838–39 with Archbishop Ceolnoth for the previously independent West Saxon minsters to accept the king as their secular lord in return for his protection.[36] However, there was no certainty that the hegemony of Wessex would prove more permanent than that of Mercia.[37]

King of Wessex
When Æthelwulf succeeded to the throne of Wessex in 839, his experience as sub-king of Kent had given him valuable training in kingship, and he in turn made his own sons sub-kings.[38] According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, on his accession "he gave to his son Æthelstan the kingdom of the people of Kent, and the kingdom of the East Saxons [Essex] and of the people of Surrey and of the South Saxons [Sussex]". However, Æthelwulf did not give Æthelstan the same power as his father had given him, and although Æthelstan attested his father's charters[g] as king, he does not appear to have been given the power to issue his own charters. Æthelwulf exercised authority in the south-east and made regular visits there. He governed Wessex and Kent as separate spheres, and assemblies in each kingdom were only attended by the nobility of that country. The historian Janet Nelson says that "Æthelwulf ran a Carolingian-style family firm of plural realms, held together by his own authority as father-king, and by the consent of distinct élites." He maintained his father's policy of governing Kent through ealdormen appointed from the local nobility and advancing their interests, but gave less support to the church.[39] In 843 Æthelwulf granted ten hides at Little Chart to Æthelmod, the brother of the leading Kentish ealdorman Ealhere, and Æthelmod succeeded to the post on his brother's death in 853.[40] In 844 Æthelwulf granted land at Horton in Kent to Ealdorman Eadred, with permission to transfer parts of it to local landowners; in a culture of reciprocity, this created a network of mutual friendships and obligations between the beneficiaries and the king.[41] Archbishops of Canterbury were firmly in the West Saxon king's sphere. His ealdormen enjoyed a high status, and were sometimes placed higher than the king's sons in lists of witnesses to charters.[42] His reign is the first for which there is evidence of royal priests,[43] and Malmesbury Abbey regarded him as an important benefactor, who is said to have been the donor of a shrine for the relics of Saint Aldhelm.[44]

After 830, Egbert had followed a policy of maintaining good relations with Mercia, and this was continued by Æthelwulf when he became king. London was traditionally a Mercian town, but in the 830s it was under West Saxon control; soon after Æthelwulf's accession it reverted to Mercian control.[45] King Wiglaf of Mercia died in 839 and his successor, Berhtwulf, revived the Mercian mint in London; the two kingdoms appear to have struck a joint issue in the mid-840s, possibly indicating West Saxon help in reviving Mercian coinage, and showing the friendly relations between the two powers. Berkshire was still Mercian in 844, but by 849 it was part of Wessex, as Alfred was born in that year at the West Saxon royal estate in Wantage, then in Berkshire.[46][h] However, the local Mercian ealdorman, also called Æthelwulf, retained his position under the West Saxon kings.[48] Berhtwulf died in 852 and cooperation with Wessex continued under Burgred, his successor as King of Mercia, who married Æthelwulf's daughter Æthelswith in 853. In the same year Æthelwulf assisted Burgred in a successful attack on Wales to restore the traditional Mercian hegemony over the Welsh.[49] In 9th-century Mercia and Kent, royal charters were produced by religious houses, each with its own style, but in Wessex there was a single royal diplomatic tradition, probably by a single agency acting for the king. This may have originated in Egbert's reign, and it becomes clear in the 840s, when Æthelwulf had a Frankish secretary called Felix.[50] There were strong contacts between the West Saxon and Carolingian courts. The Annals of St Bertin took particular interest in Viking attacks on Britain, and in 852 Lupus, the Abbot of Ferrières and a protégé of Charles the Bald, wrote to Æthelwulf congratulating him on his victory over the Vikings and requesting a gift of lead to cover his church roof. Lupus also wrote to his "most beloved friend" Felix, asking him to manage the transport of the lead.[51] Unlike Canterbury and the south-east, Wessex did not see a sharp decline in the standard of Latin in charters in the mid-9th century, and this may have been partly due to Felix and his continental contacts.[52] Lupus thought that Felix had great influence over the King.[13] Charters were mainly issued from royal estates in counties which were the heartland of ancient Wessex, namely Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset, with a few in Kent.[53]

An ancient division between east and west Wessex continued to be important in the 9th century; the boundary
was Selwood Forest on the borders of Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire. The two bishoprics of Wessex were
Selborne in the west and Winchester in the east. Æthelwulf's family connections seem to have been west of
Selwood, but his patronage was concentrated further east, particularly on Winchester, where his father was
buried, and where he appointed Swithun to succeed Helmstan as bishop in 852–853. However, he made a grant
of land in Somerset to his leading ealdorman, Eanwulf, and on 26 December 846 he granted a large estate to
himself in South Hams in west Devon. He thus changed it from royal demesne, which he was obliged to pass
on to his successor as king, to bookland, which could be transferred as the owner pleased, so he could make
land grants to followers to improve security in a frontier zone.[54]
Viking threat
Viking raids increased in the early 840s on both sides of the English Channel, and in 843 Æthelwulf was
defeated by the companies of 35 Danish ships at Carhampton in Somerset. In 850 sub-king Æthelstan and
Ealdorman Ealhhere of Kent won a naval victory over a large Viking fleet off Sandwich in Kent, capturing nine
ships and driving off the rest. Æthelwulf granted Ealhhere a large estate in Kent, but Æthelstan is not heard of
Coin of King Æthelwulf:
"EĐELVVLF REX", moneyer Manna,
Canterbury[58]
again, and probably died soon afterwards. The following year the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records five different
attacks on southern England. A Danish fleet of 350 Viking ships took London and Canterbury, and when King
Berhtwulf of Mercia went to their relief he was defeated. The Vikings then moved on to Surrey, where they
were defeated by Æthelwulf and his son Æthelbald at the Battle of Aclea. According to the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle the West Saxon levies "there made the greatest slaughter of a heathen that we have heard tell of up to
the present day". The Chronicle frequently reported victories during Æthelwulf's reign won by levies led by
ealdormen, unlike the 870s when royal command was emphasised, reflecting a more consensual style of
leadership in the earlier period.[55]
In 850 a Danish army wintered on Thanet, and in 853 ealdormen Ealhhere of Kent and Huda of Surrey were
killed in a battle against the Vikings, also on Thanet. In 855 Danish Vikings stayed over the winter on Sheppey,
before carrying on their pillaging of eastern England.[56] However, during Æthelwulf's reign Viking attacks
were contained and did not present a major threat.[57]
Coinage
The silver penny was almost the only coin used in middle and later
Anglo-Saxon England. Æthelwulf's coinage came from a main mint in
Canterbury and a secondary one at Rochester; both had been used by
Egbert for his own coinage after he gained control of Kent. During
Æthelwulf's reign, there were four main phases of the coinage
distinguishable at both mints, though they are not exactly parallel and it
is uncertain when the transitions took place. The first issue at
Canterbury carried a design known as Saxoniorum, which had been
used by Egbert for one of his own issues. This was replaced by a
portrait design in about 843, which can be subdivided further; the
earliest coins have cruder designs than the later ones. At the Rochester
mint the sequence was reversed, with an initial portrait design replaced, also in about 843, by a non-portrait
design carrying a cross-and-wedges pattern on the obverse.[13][59]
In about 848 both mints switched to a common design known as Dor¯b¯/Cant – the characters "Dor¯b¯" on the
obverse of these coins indicate either Dorobernia (Canterbury) or Dorobrevia (Rochester), and "Cant",
referring to Kent, appeared on the reverse. It is possible that the Canterbury mint continued to produce portrait
coins at the same time. The Canterbury issue seems to have been ended in 850–851 by Viking raids, though it is
possible that Rochester was spared, and the issue may have continued there. The final issue, again at both
mints, was introduced in about 852; it has an inscribed cross on the reverse and a portrait on the obverse.
Æthelwulf's coinage became debased by the end of his reign, and though the problem became worse after his
death it is possible that the debasement prompted the changes in coin type from as early as 850.[60]
Æthelwulf's first Rochester coinage may have begun when he was still sub-king of Kent, under Egbert. A hoard
of coins deposited at the beginning of Æthelwulf's reign in about 840, found in the Middle Temple in London,
contained 22 coins from Rochester and two from Canterbury of the first issue of each mint. Some numismatists
argue that the high proportion of Rochester coins means that the issue must have commenced before Egbert's
death, but an alternative explanation is that whoever hoarded the coins simply happened to have access to more
Rochester coins. No coins were issued by Æthelwulf's sons during his reign.[61]
Ceolnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury throughout Æthelwulf's reign, also minted coins of his own at Canterbury:
there were three different portrait designs, thought to be contemporary with each of the first three of
Æthelwulf's Canterbury issues. These were followed by an inscribed cross design that was uniform with
Æthelwulf's final coinage. At Rochester, Bishop Beornmod produced only one issue, a cross-and-wedges
design which was contemporary with Æthelwulf's Saxoniorum issue.[62]
Charter S 316 dated 855, in which
Æthelwulf granted land at Ulaham in
Kent to his minister Ealdhere.[64]
In the view of the numismatists Philip Grierson and Mark Blackburn, the mints of Wessex, Mercia and East
Anglia were not greatly affected by changes in political control: "the remarkable continuity of moneyers which
can be seen at each of these mints suggests that the actual mint organisation was largely independent of the
royal administration and was founded in the stable trading communities of each city".[63]
Decimation Charters
The early 20th-century historian W. H. Stevenson observed that: "Few
things in our early history have led to so much discussion" as
Æthelwulf's Decimation Charters;[65] a hundred years later the charter
expert Susan Kelly described them as "one of the most controversial
groups of Anglo-Saxon diplomas".[66] Both Asser and the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle say that Æthelwulf gave a decimation,[i] in 855, shortly
before leaving on pilgrimage to Rome. According to the Chronicle
"King Æthelwulf conveyed by charter the tenth part of his land
throughout all his kingdom to the praise of God and to his own eternal
salvation". However, Asser states that "Æthelwulf, the esteemed king,
freed the tenth part of his whole kingdom from royal service and tribute,
and as an everlasting inheritance he made it over on the cross of Christ
to the triune God, for the redemption of his soul and those of his
predecessors."[68] According to Keynes, Asser's version may just be a "loose translation" of the Chronicle, and
his implication that Æthelwulf released a tenth of all land from secular burdens was probably not intended. All
land could be regarded as the king's land, so the Chronicle reference to "his land" does not necessarily refer to
royal property, and since the booking of land – conveying it by charter – was always regarded as a pious act,
Asser's statement that he made it over to God does not necessarily mean that the charters were in favour of the
church.[69]
The Decimation Charters are divided by Susan Kelly into four groups:
1. Two dated at Winchester on 5 November 844. In a charter in the Malmesbury archive, Æthelwulf refers
in the proem to the perilous state of his kingdom as the result of the assaults of pagans and barbarians.
For the sake of his soul and in return for masses for the king and ealdormen each Wednesday, "I have
decided to give in perpetual liberty some portion of hereditary lands to all those ranks previously in
possession, both to God's servants and handmaidens serving God and to laymen, always the tenth hide,
and where it is less, then the tenth part."[j]
2. Six dated at Wilton on Easter Day, 22 April 854. In the common text of these charters, Æthelwulf states
that "for the sake of his soul and the prosperity of the kingdom and [the salvation of] the people assigned
to him by God, he has acted upon the advice given to him by his bishops, comites, and all his nobles. He
has granted the tenth part of the lands throughout his kingdom, not only to the churches, but also to his
thegns. The land is granted in perpetual liberty, so that it will remain free of royal services and all secular
burdens. In return there will be liturgical commemoration of the king and of his bishops and
ealdormen."[k]
3. Five from Old Minster, Winchester, connected with the Wilton meeting but generally considered
spurious.[l]
4. One from Kent dated 855, the only one to have the same date as the decimation according to Chronicle
and Asser. The king grants to his thegn Dunn property in Rochester "on account of the decimation of
lands which by God's gift I have decided to do". Dunn left the land to his wife with reversion to
Rochester Cathedral.[m][72]
None of the charters are original, and Stevenson dismissed all of them as fraudulent apart from the Kentish one
of 855. Stevenson saw the decimation as a donation of royal demesne to churches and laymen, with those
grants which were made to laymen being on the understanding that there would be reversion to a religious
institution.[73] Up to the 1990s, his view on the authenticity of the charters was generally accepted by scholars,
with the exception of the historian H. P. R. Finberg, who argued in 1964 that most are based on authentic
diplomas. Finberg coined the terms the 'First Decimation' of 844, which he saw as the removal of public dues
on a tenth of all bookland, and the 'Second Decimation' of 854, the donation of a tenth of "the private domain of
the royal house" to the churches. He considered it unlikely that the First Decimation had been carried into
effect, probably due to the threat from the Vikings. Finberg's terminology has been adopted, but his defence of
the First Decimation generally rejected. In 1994 Keynes defended the Wilton charters in group 2, and his
arguments have been widely accepted.[74]
Historians have been divided on how to interpret the Second Decimation, and in 1994 Keynes described it as
"one of the most perplexing problems" in the study of 9th-century charters. He set out three alternatives:
1. It conveyed a tenth of the royal demesne – the lands of the crown as opposed to the personal property of
the sovereign – into the hands of churches, ecclesiastics and laymen. In Anglo-Saxon England property
was either folkland or bookland. The transmission of folkland was governed by the customary rights of
kinsmen, subject to the king's approval, whereas bookland was established by the grant of a royal charter,
and could be disposed of freely by the owner. Booking land thus converted it by charter from folkland to
bookland. The royal demesne was the crown's folkland, whereas the king's bookland was his own
personal property which he could leave by will as he chose. In the decimation Æthelwulf may have
conveyed royal folkland by charter to become bookland, in some cases to laymen who already leased the
land.[75]
2. It was the booking of a tenth of folkland to its owners, who would then be free to convey it to a
church.[76]
3. It was a reduction of one tenth in the secular burdens on lands already in the possession of
landowners.[76] The secular burdens would have included the provision of supplies for the king and his
officials, and payment of various taxes.[77]
Some scholars, for example Frank Stenton, author of the standard history of Anglo-Saxon England, along with
Keynes and Abels, see the Second Decimation as a donation of royal demesne. In Abels' view Æthelwulf
sought loyalty from the aristocracy and church during the king's forthcoming absence from Wessex, and
displayed a sense of dynastic insecurity also evident in his father's generosity towards the Kentish church in
838, and in an "avid attention" in this period to compiling and revising royal genealogies.[78] Keynes suggests
that "Æthelwulf's purpose was presumably to earn divine assistance in his struggles against the Vikings",[79]
and the mid-20th century historian Eric John observes that "a lifetime of medieval studies teaches one that an
early medieval king was never so political as when he was on his knees".[80] The view that the decimation was
a donation of the king's own personal estate is supported by the Anglo-Saxonist Alfred Smyth, who argues that
these were the only lands the king was entitled to alienate by book.[81][n] The historian Martin Ryan prefers the
view that Æthelwulf freed a tenth part of land owned by laymen from secular obligations, who could now
endow churches under their own patronage. Ryan sees it as part of a campaign of religious devotion.[84]
According to the historian David Pratt, it "is best interpreted as a strategic 'tax cut', designed to encourage
cooperation in defensive measures through a partial remission of royal dues".[85] Nelson states that the
decimation took place in two phases, in Wessex in 854 and Kent in 855, reflecting that they remained separate
kingdoms.[86]
Kelly argues that most charters were based on genuine originals, including the First Decimation of 844. She
says: "Commentators have been unkind [and] the 844 version has not been given the benefit of the doubt". In
her view Æthelwulf then gave a 10% tax reduction on bookland, and ten years later he took the more generous
step of "a widespread distribution of royal lands". Unlike Finberg, she believes that both decimations were
carried out, although the second one may not have been completed due to opposition from Æthelwulf's son
Æthelbald. She thinks that the grants of bookland to laymen in the Second Decimation were unconditional, not
with reversion to religious houses as Stevenson had argued.[87] However, Keynes is not convinced by Kelly's
arguments, and thinks that the First Decimation charters were 11th or early 12th century fabrications.[88]
Pilgrimage to Rome and later life
In the early 850s Æthelwulf went on pilgrimage to Rome. According to Abels: "Æthelwulf was at the height of
his power and prestige. It was a propitious time for the West Saxon king to claim a place of honour among the
kings and emperors of christendom."[89] His eldest surviving sons Æthelbald and Æthelberht were then adults,
while Æthelred and Alfred were still young children. In 853 Æthelwulf sent his younger sons to Rome, perhaps
accompanying envoys in connection with his own forthcoming visit. Alfred, and possibly Æthelred as well,
were invested with the "belt of consulship". Æthelred's part in the journey is only known from a contemporary
record in the liber vitae of San Salvatore, Brescia, as later records such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle were only
interested in recording the honour paid to Alfred.[13] Abels sees the embassy as paving the way for Æthelwulf's
pilgrimage, and the presence of Alfred, his youngest and therefore most expendable son, as a gesture of
goodwill to the papacy; confirmation by Pope Leo IV made Alfred his spiritual son, and thus created a spiritual
link between the two "fathers".[90][o] Kirby argues that the journey may indicate that Alfred was intended for
the church,[92] while Nelson on the contrary sees Æthelwulf's purpose as affirming his younger sons'
throneworthiness, thus protecting them against being tonsured by their elder brothers, which would have
rendered them ineligible for kingship.[93]
Æthelwulf set out for Rome in the spring of 855, accompanied by Alfred and a large retinue.[94] The King left
Wessex in the care of his oldest surviving son, Æthelbald, and the sub-kingdom of Kent to the rule of
Æthelberht, and thereby confirmed that they were to succeed to the two kingdoms.[25] On the way the party
stayed with Charles the Bald in Francia, where there were the usual banquets and exchange of gifts. Æthelwulf
stayed a year in Rome,[95] and his gifts to the Diocese of Rome included a gold crown weighing 4 pounds
(1.8 kg), two gold goblets, a sword bound with gold, four silver-gilt bowls, two silk tunics and two goldinterwoven
veils. He also gave gold to the clergy and leading men and silver to the people of Rome. According
to the historian Joanna Story, his gifts rivalled those of Carolingian donors and the Byzantine emperor and
"were clearly chosen to reflect the personal generosity and spiritual wealth of the West Saxon king; here was no
Germanic 'hillbilly' from the backwoods of the Christian world but, rather, a sophisticated, wealthy and utterly
contemporary monarch".[96] According to the 12th-century chronicler William of Malmesbury, he helped to
pay for the restoration of the Saxon quarter, which had recently been destroyed by fire, for English pilgrims.[97]
The pilgrimage puzzles historians and Kelly comments that "it is extraordinary that an early medieval king
could consider his position safe enough to abandon his kingdom in a time of extreme crisis". She suggests that
Æthelwulf may have been motivated by a personal religious impulse.[98] Ryan sees it as an attempt to placate
the divine wrath displayed by Viking attacks,[84] whereas Nelson thinks he aimed to enhance his prestige in
dealing with the demands of his adult sons.[99] In Kirby's view:
Æthelwulf's journey to Rome is of great interest for it did not signify abdication and a retreat from
the world as their journeys to Rome had for Cædwalla and Ine and other Anglo-Saxon kings. It
was more a display of the king's international standing and a demonstration of the prestige his
dynasty enjoyed in Frankish and papal circles.[100]
On his way back from Rome Æthelwulf again stayed with King Charles the Bald, and may have joined him on
a campaign against a Viking warband.[101] On 1 October 856 Æthelwulf married Charles's daughter, Judith,
aged 12 or 13, at Verberie. The marriage was considered extraordinary by contemporaries and by modern
historians. Carolingian princesses rarely married and were usually sent to nunneries, and it was almost
unknown for them to marry foreigners. Judith was crowned queen and anointed by Hincmar, Archbishop of
Rheims. Although empresses had been anointed before, this is the first definitely known anointing of a
Carolingian queen. In addition West Saxon custom, described by Asser as "perverse and detestable", was that
the wife of a king of Wessex could not be called queen or sit on the throne with her husband – she was just the
king's wife.[102]
King Æthelwulf's
ring
Æthelwulf returned to Wessex to face a revolt by Æthelbald, who attempted to prevent his father from
recovering his throne. Historians give varying explanations for both the rebellion and the marriage. In Nelson's
view, Æthelwulf's marriage to Judith added the West Saxon king to the family of kings and princely allies
which Charles was creating.[103] Charles was under attack both from Vikings and from a rising among his own
nobility, and Æthelwulf had great prestige due to his victories over the Vikings; some historians such as Kirby
and Pauline Stafford see the marriage as sealing an anti-Viking alliance. The marriage gave Æthelwulf a share
in Carolingian prestige, and Kirby describes the anointing of Judith as "a charismatic sanctification which
enhanced her status, blessed her womb and conferred additional throne-worthiness on her male offspring."
These marks of a special status implied that a son of hers would succeed to at least part of Æthelwulf's
kingdom, and explain Æthelbald's decision to rebel.[104] The historian Michael Enright denies that an anti-
Viking alliance between two such distant kingdoms could serve any useful purpose, and argues that the
marriage was Æthelwulf's response to news that his son was planning to rebel; his son by an anointed
Carolingian queen would be in a strong position to succeed as king of Wessex instead of the rebellious
Æthelbald.[105] Abels suggests that Æthelwulf sought Judith's hand because he needed her father's money and
support to overcome his son's rebellion,[106] but Kirby and Smyth argue that it is extremely unlikely that
Charles the Bald would have agreed to marry his daughter to a ruler who was known to be in serious political
difficulty.[107] Æthelbald may also have acted out of resentment at the loss of patrimony he suffered as a result
of the decimation.[98]
Æthelbald's rebellion was supported by Ealhstan, Bishop of Sherborne, and Eanwulf, ealdorman of Somerset,
even though they appear to have been two of the king's most trusted advisers.[108] According to Asser, the plot
was concerted "in the western part of Selwood", and western nobles may have backed Æthelbald because they
resented the patronage Æthelwulf gave to eastern Wessex.[109] Asser also stated that Æthelwulf agreed to give
up the western part of his kingdom in order to avoid a civil war. Some historians such as Keynes and Abels
think that his rule was then confined to the south-east,[110] while others such as Kirby think it is more likely
that it was Wessex itself which was divided, with Æthelbald keeping Wessex west of Selwood, Æthelwulf
holding the centre and east, and Æthelberht keeping the south-east.[111] Æthelwulf insisted that Judith should
sit beside him on the throne until the end of his life, and according to Asser this was "without any disagreement
or dissatisfaction on the part of his nobles".[112]
King Æthelwulf's ring
King Æthelwulf's ring was found in a cart rut in Laverstock in Wiltshire in about
August 1780 by one William Petty, who sold it to a silversmith in Salisbury. The
silversmith sold it to the Earl of Radnor, and the earl's son, William, donated it to the
British Museum in 1829. The ring, together with a similar ring of Æthelwulf's daughter
Æthelswith, is one of two key examples of nielloed 9th-century metalwork. They
appear to represent the emergence of a "court style" of West Saxon metalwork,
characterised by an unusual Christian iconography, such as a pair of peacocks at the
Fountain of Life on the Æthelwulf ring, associated with Christian immortality. The ring
is inscribed "Æthelwulf Rex", firmly associating it with the King, and the inscription
forms part of the design, so it cannot have been added later. Many of its features are
typical of 9th-century metalwork, such as the design of two birds, beaded and speckled borders, and a saltire
with arrow-like terminals on the back. It was probably manufactured in Wessex, but was typical of the
uniformity of animal ornament in England in the 9th century. In the view of Leslie Webster, an expert on
medieval art: "Its fine Trewhiddle style ornament would certainly fit a mid ninth-century date."[113] In Nelson's
view, "it was surely made to be a gift from this royal lord to a brawny follower: the sign of a successful ninthcentury
kingship".[13] The art historian David Wilson sees it as a survival of the pagan tradition of the generous
king as the "ring-giver".[114]
Æthelwulf's will
A page from King Alfred's will
Æthelwulf's will has not survived, but Alfred's has and it provides some
information about his father's intentions. The kingdom was to be
divided between the two oldest surviving sons, with Æthelbald getting
Wessex and Æthelberht Kent and the south-east. The survivor of
Æthelbald, Æthelred and Alfred was to inherit their father's bookland –
his personal property as opposed to the royal lands which went with the
kingship – and Abels and Yorke argue that this probably means that the
survivor was to inherit the throne of Wessex as well.[115] Other
historians disagree. Nelson states that the provision regarding the
personal property had nothing to do with the kingship,[13] and Kirby
comments: "Such an arrangement would have led to fratricidal strife.
With three older brothers, Alfred's chances of reaching adulthood
would, one feels, have been minimal."[116] Æthelwulf's moveable
wealth, such as gold and silver, was to be divided between "children,
nobles and the needs of the king's soul".[13] For the latter, he left one
tenth of his hereditary land to be set aside to feed the poor, and he
ordered that three hundred mancuses be sent to Rome each year, one
hundred to be spent on lighting the lamps in St Peter's at Easter, one
hundred for the lights of St Paul's, and one hundred for the pope.[117]
Death and succession
Æthelwulf died on 13 January 858. According to the Annals of St
Neots, he was buried at Steyning in Sussex, but his body was later
transferred to Winchester, probably by Alfred.[118] Æthelwulf was succeeded by Æthelbald in Wessex and
Æthelberht in Kent and the south-east. The prestige conferred by a Frankish marriage was so great that
Æthelbald then wedded his step-mother Judith, to Asser's retrospective horror; he described the marriage as a
"great disgrace", and "against God's prohibition and Christian dignity".[13] When Æthelbald died only two
years later, Æthelberht became King of Wessex as well as Kent, and Æthelwulf's intention of dividing his
kingdoms between his sons was thus set aside. In the view of Yorke and Abels this was because Æthelred and
Alfred were too young to rule, and Æthelberht agreed in return that his younger brothers would inherit the
whole kingdom on his death,[119] whereas Kirby and Nelson think that Æthelberht just became the trustee for
his younger brothers' share of the bookland.[120]
After Æthelbald's death Judith sold her possessions and returned to her father, but two years later she eloped
with Baldwin, Count of Flanders. In the 890s their son, also called Baldwin, married Æthelwulf's
granddaughter Ælfthryth.[13]
Historiography
Æthelwulf's reputation among historians was poor in the twentieth century. In 1935 the historian R. H. Hodgkin
attributed his pilgrimage to Rome to "the unpractical piety which had led him to desert his kingdom at a time of
great danger", and described his marriage to Judith as "the folly of a man senile before his time".[121] To
Stenton in the 1960s he was "a religious and unambitious man, for whom engagement in war and politics was
an unwelcome consequence of rank".[122] One dissenter was Finberg, who in 1964 described him as "a king
whose valour in war and princely munificence recalled the figures of the heroic age",[123] but in 1979 Enright
said: "More than anything else he appears to have been an impractical religious enthusiast."[124] Early medieval
writers, especially Asser, emphasise his religiosity and his preference for consensus, seen in the concessions
made to avert a civil war on his return from Rome.[p] In Story's view "his legacy has been clouded by
accusations of excessive piety which (to modern sensibilities at least) has seemed at odds with the demands of
early medieval kingship". In 839 an unnamed Anglo-Saxon king wrote to the Holy Roman Emperor Louis the
Pious asking for permission to travel through his territory on the way to Rome, and relating an English priest's
dream which foretold disaster unless Christians abandoned their sins. This is now believed to have been an
unrealised project of Egbert at the end of his life, but it was formerly attributed to Æthelwulf, and seen as
exhibiting what Story calls his reputation for "dramatic piety", and irresponsibility for planning to abandon his
kingdom at the beginning of his reign.[126]
In the twenty-first century he is seen very differently by historians. Æthelwulf is not listed in the index of Peter
Hunter Blair's An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England, first published in 1956, but in a new introduction to
the 2003 edition Keynes listed him among people "who have not always been accorded the attention they might
be thought to deserve ... for it was he, more than any other, who secured the political fortune of his people in
the ninth century, and who opened up channels of communication which led through Frankish realms and
across the Alps to Rome".[127] According to Story: "Æthelwulf acquired and cultivated a reputation both in
Francia and Rome which is unparalleled in the sources since the height of Offa's and Coenwulf's power at the
turn of the ninth century".[128]
Nelson describes him as "one of the great underrated among Anglo-Saxons", and complains that she was only
allowed 2,500 words for him in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, compared with 15,000 for
Edward II and 35,000 for Elizabeth I.[129] She says:
Æthelwulf's reign has been relatively under-appreciated in modern scholarship. Yet he laid the
foundations for Alfred's success. To the perennial problems of husbanding the kingdom's
resources, containing conflicts within the royal family, and managing relations with neighbouring
kingdoms, Æthelwulf found new as well as traditional answers. He consolidated old Wessex, and
extended his reach over what is now Devon and Cornwall. He ruled Kent, working with the grain
of its political community. He borrowed ideological props from Mercians and Franks alike, and
went to Rome, not to die there, like his predecessor Ine, ... but to return, as Charlemagne had, with
enhanced prestige. Æthelwulf coped more effectively with Scandinavian attacks than did most
contemporary rulers.[13]
Notes
a. Egbert's death and Æthelwulf's accession is dated by historians to 839. According to Susan Ke,l l"ythere may be grounds
for arguing that Æthelwulf's succession actually took place late in 838["3,] but Joanna Story argues that the West Saxon
regnal lists show the length of Egbert's reign as 37 years and 7 months, and as he acceded in 802 he is unlikely to have
died before July 839.[4]
b. Keynes and Lapidge comment: "The office of butler (pincerna) was a distinguished one, and its holders were likely to
have been important figures in the royal court and household["1.2]
c. Æthelstan was sub-king of Kent ten years before Alfred was born, and some late versions of thAen glo-Saxon Chronicle
make him the brother of Æthelwulf rather than his son. This has been accepted by some historians, but is now generally
rejected. It has also been suggested that Æthelstan was born of an unrecorded first marriage, but historians generally
assume that he was Osburh's son[.15]
d. Nelson states that it is uncertain whether Osburh died or had been repudiate[d1,3] but Abels argues that it is "extremely
unlikely" that she was repudiated, asH incmar of Rheims, who played a prominent role in Æthelwulf's and Judith's
marriage ceremony, was a strong advocate of the indissolubility of marriage[1.8]
e. The historians Janet Nelson and Ann Williams date Baldred's removal and the start of Æthelwulf's sub-kingship to
825,[19] but D. P. Kirby states that Baldred was probably not driven out until 826[2.0] Simon Keynes cites the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle as stating that Æthelwulf expelled Baldred in 825, and secured the submission of the people of Kent,
Surrey, Sussex and Essex; however, charter evidence suggests that Beornwulf was recognised as overlord of Kent until
he was killed in battle while attempting to put down a rebellion in East Anglia in 826. His successor as king of Mercia,
Ludeca, never seems to have been recognised in Kent. In a charter of 828 Egbert refers to his son Æthelwulf "whom we
have made king in Kent" as if the appointment was fairly new.[21]
f. Christ Church, Canterbury kept lists of patrons who had made donations to the church, and late 8th and early 9th century
patrons who had been supporters of Mercian power were expunged from the lists towards the end of the 9th cent.u[2ry6]
References
g. To attest a charter was to witness a grant of land by the king. The attesters were listed by t hsecribe at the end of the
charter, although usually only the most high-ranking witnesses were included.
h. The scholar James Booth suggests that the part of Berkshire where Alfred was born may have beene Wst Saxon territory
throughout the period.[47]
i. "Decimation" is used here in the sense of a donation of a tenth part. This usually means a payment to the ruler or church
(tithe),[67] but it is used here to mean a donation of a tenth part by the king. Historians do not agree what it was a tenth
of.
j. The charters are S 294, 294a and 294b. Kelly treats 294a and b, which are both fromM almesbury Abbey, as one
text.[70]
k. The six charters are S 302, 303, 304, 305, 307 and 308[7.1]
l. The five Old Minster charters are S 309-13. Kelly states that there are six charters, but she only lists five and she states
that there are fourteen in total, whereas there would be fifteen if there were six Old Minster charte[r6s6.]
m. The Kent charter is S 315.[66]
n. Smyth dismisses all the Decimation Charters as spurious[8,2] with what the scholar David Pratt describes as
"unwarranted scepticism".[83]
o. Abels is sceptical whether Æthelred accompanied Alfred to Rome as he is not mentioned in a letter from Leo to
Æthelwulf reporting Alfred's reception[,91] but Nelson argues that only a fragment of the letter survives in an 11thcentury
copy, and the scribe who selected excerpts from Leo's letters, like the editors of thAen glo-Saxon Chronicle, was
only interested in Alfred.[13]
p. The historian Richard North argues that the Old English poem "Deor" was written in about 856 as a satire on Æthelwulf
and a "mocking reflection" on Æthelbald's attitude towards him[1.25]
1. "Notes and Queries about the Mortuary Chests "(http://
churchmonumentssociety.org/Mortuary_Chests.html).
Winchester Cathedral. Church Monuments Society.
Retrieved 24 May 2015.
2. Halsall 2013, p. 288.
3. Kelly 2005, p. 178.
4. Story 2003, p. 222, n. 39.
5. Keynes 1995, pp. 22, 30–37; Williams 1991b; Kirby
2000, p. 152.
6. Abels 2002, p. 85.
7. Edwards 2004.
8. Abels 2002, pp. 86–87.
9. Keynes 1993, pp. 113–19; Brooks 1984, pp. 132–36.
10. Ryan 2013, p. 258; Stenton 1971, p. 241.
11. Stenton 1971, p. 235; Charles-Edwards 2013, p. 431.
12. Keynes & Lapidge 1983, pp. 229–30.
13. Nelson 2004a.
14. Nelson 2004b.
15. Hodgkin 1935, pp. 497, 721; Stenton 1971, p. 236, n.
1; Abels 1998, p. 50; Nelson 2004b.
16. Abels 1998, p. 50.
17. Miller 2004.
18. Abels 1998, p. 71, n. 69.
19. Nelson 2004a; Williams 1991a.
20. Kirby 2000, pp. 155–56.
21. Keynes 1993, pp. 120–21.
22. Williams 1991a; Stenton 1971, p. 231; Kirby 2000,
pp. 155–56.
23. Smyth 1995, p. 673, n. 63.
24. Keynes 1993, pp. 112–20.
25. Abels 2002, p. 88.
26. Fleming 1995, p. 75.
27. Keynes 1993, pp. 120–21; Keynes 1995, p. 40.
28. Brooks 1984, pp. 136–37.
29. Stenton 1971, pp. 232–33.
30. Kirby 2000, p. 157.
31. Keynes 1995, pp. 40–41.
32. Wormald 1982, p. 140; Keynes 1994, pp. 1112–13; S
281 Sawyer.
33. Nelson 2004a; Keynes 1993, p. 124; Brooks 1984,
pp. 197–201; Story 2003, p. 223; Blair 2005, p. 124.
34. Yorke 1990, pp. 148–49.
35. Pratt 2007, p. 17.
36. Kelly 2005, p. 89.
37. Abels 1998, p. 28.
38. Yorke 1990, pp. 168–69.
39. Keynes 1993, pp. 124–27; Nelson 2004a.
40. Brooks 1984, pp. 147–49.
41. Abels 1998, pp. 32–33; S 319 Sawyer.
42. Abels 1998, p. 271.
43. Pratt 2007, p. 64.
44. Kelly 2005, pp. 13, 102.
45. Keynes 1993, pp. 127–28.
46. Kirby 2000, pp. 160–61; Keynes 1998, p. 6; Booth
1998, p. 65.
47. Booth 1998, p. 66.
48. Abels 1998, p. 29.
49. Kirby 2000, p. 161.
50. Keynes 1994, pp. 1109–23; Nelson 2004a.
51. Nelson 2013, pp. 236–38; Stafford 1981, p. 137.
52. Ryan 2013, p. 252.
53. Abels 1998, p. 52.
54. Yorke 1995, pp. 23–24, 98–99; Nelson 2004a; Finberg
1964, p. 189.
55. Nelson 2004a; Story 2003, p. 227.
56. Stenton 1971, p. 243; Abels 1998, p. 88.
57. Ryan 2013, p. 258.
58. Grueber & Keary 1893, pp. 9, 17 no. 19, Plate III.4;
Early Medieval Coins Fitzwilliam Museum.
59. Grierson & Blackburn 2006, pp. 270, 287–91.
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Bald: Court and Kingdom. Oxford, UK: B A R. pp. 137–51.I SBN 0-86054-115-0.
Stenton, Frank M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England (3rd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University PressI. SBN 978-0-19-
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Stevenson, William Henry (1904). Asser's Life of King Alfred. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.O CLC 1354216.
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External links
Æthelwulf 1 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Egbert
King of Wessex
839–858
Succeeded by
Æthelbald
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Æthelwulf&oldid=784363977"
Categories: Burials at Winchester Cathedral West Saxon monarchs 858 deaths
9th-century English monarchs House of Wessex
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trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. 		of Wessex, King Æthelwulf (I26334)
 
923 At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld. Peterman, Deborah Dee (I11624)
 
924 At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld. Peterman, Craig Adair (I4416)
 
925 Babenberg of The East Franks, Thiadrich (I33832)
 
926 Baker, Capt. Lawrence, of Surry county was a justice of Surry from 1652 to his death 1681. He was also a member of the house of burgesses from 1666 to 1676. His will was dated March 18, 1681 and was proved Sept. 6, 1681, and by it he left his whole estate to his wife Elizabeth, and to his daughter Catherine, wife of Arthur Allen of Surry county. He was a kinsman of Lieut.-Col. Henry Baker, of Isle of Wight County. Baker, Captain Lawrence (I31996)
 
927 Baldwin I (probably 830s – 879), also known as Baldwin Iron Arm and Baudouin, was the first margrave of Flanders. Early sources identify Baldwin (Baudouin) as the son of Odacre (also spelled Audacer) ruler of Flanders. Odacre is believed to have died when his son was still very young, too young to rule. It is not known who ruled Flanders between Odacre's death and the time his son was appointed.

When Baldwin first appears in the records he was already a count, presumably in the area of Flanders, but this is not known. Count Baldwin rose to prominence when he eloped with Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, king of West Francia. Judith had previously been married to Æthelwulf and Æthelbald, kings of Wessex, but after the latter's death in 860, she returned to France.
Around the Christmas of 861, at the instigation of Baldwin and with her brother Louis's consent, Judith escaped the custody into which she had been placed in the city of Senlis, Oise after her return from England. She fled north with Count Baldwin. Charles had given no permission for a marriage and tried to capture Baldwin, sending letters to Rorik of Dorestad and Bishop Hungar, forbidding them to shelter the fugitive.
After Baldwin and Judith had evaded his attempts to capture them, Charles had his bishops excommunicate the couple. Judith and Baldwin responded by travelling to Rome to plead their case with Pope Nicholas I. Their plea was successful and Charles was forced to accept the situation. The marriage took place on 13 December 862 in Auxerre. By 870, Baldwin had acquired the lay-abbacy of Saint Peter's Abbey in Ghent and is assumed to have also acquired the counties of Flanders and Waasland, or parts thereof by this time.

Baldwin I and Judith had four children:
- Charles, who was named after his maternal grandfather but died at a young age
- Baldwin II (c. 866 – 918), who succeeded as margrave of Flanders
- Ralph (c. 869 – murdered 896), who became count of Cambrai around 888; he and his brother joined King Zwentibold of Lotharingia in 895, attacked Vermandois and captured Arras, Saint-Quentin and Peronne, and ended up captured and killed by Herbert I of Vermandois
- Guinidilda, who married Wilfred I the Hairy, Count of Barcelona

Baldwin developed himself as a very faithful and stout supporter of Charles and played an important role in the continuing wars against the Vikings. He is named in 877 as one of those willing to support the emperor's son, Louis the Stammerer. During his life, Baldwin expanded his territory into one of the major principalities of Western Francia. He died in 879 and was buried in the Abbey of St-Bertin, near Saint-Omer. 		of Flanders, Baldwin I (I33927)
 
928 At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld. Toney, Rodney Dean (I5202)
 
929 Baptised at St John Catholic Church in Clear Creek on 05 May 1878. Back, Maria Christine (I6615)
 
930 Baptised in parent's home, Luzerne. Buried in the International Cemetery,
Luzerne, Benton, IA per JF Thoma. 		Kouba, Donald Alvin (I18926)
 
931 At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld. Kuester, Patricia Louise (I2284)
 
932 At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld. Toney, Annette Faye (I730)
 
933 At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld. Toney, Laurie Ann (I15126)
 
934 At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld. Toney, Denise Louse (I7927)
 
935 Baptism
Godparents were Eliza Douglas and Mary Magee. Parents were reconfirmed as Bartholomew Gould and Polly Page. Birth date was given as Jan 2, 1794 		Gould, Page (I34661)
 
936 At least one living or private individual is linked to this note - Details withheld. Kuester, Lois Louise (I5618)
 
937 Baptism info per JF Thoma. Kuester, Martha Mary (I23142)
 
938 Baptism info per JF Thoma. Kuester, Willis Albert (I8546)
 
939 Baptism info per JF Thoma. Kuester, Ardath Ann (I11852)
 
940 Baptism Sponsors were Leonard Kempf and Amalia Fuchs Otten, Johanna Amalia (I20817)
 
941 Baptism translation:
In the year of our Lord 1799, 18th day of the month of September, 22nd day of Fructidor in the 7th year of the Republic fo France. Baptized is Nicolaus Maystreel legitimate son of Jacob Maystreel whose profession is junior wool weaver and Joanna born Blum, living together in the town of St Wendel. Born this day at the 7th hour in the morning. Godfather is Nicolaus Heil, citizen of this town. Godmother is Margaret Maystreel, born Schmitt, wife of Jacob Maystreel whos profession is senior wool weaver and who lives in this town.

from Margaret G. Woolf about the Smith Family (who travelled with the Meistrells and Heinens):
"The Smith family set sail from Havre, France, and landed in New Orleans. They traveled for six weeks on the road from their native city of Saint Wendel to Havre. The name of the vessel which carried them to this country was the 'George Huddlebut'. They were 42 days upon the ocean"

1850 Missouri Census - Cooper County, Nicholas is still alive.

Godparents: Nicolaus Heil and Margaret Schmitt Meistrell

National Historical Society, History of Howard and Cooper Counties (St Louis, 1883), dead before 1853 when Barbara moved to Cooper Co

immigrated on the George Huddlebutt from LeHavre to New Oreleans 		Meistrell, Nickolas (I19836)
 
942 Baptism witnesses were Augusta Peterman and Amanda Rosburg.
Balptised in the St. Paul's Lutheran Church. 		Rosburg, Ella Augusta Amanda 'Elsie" (I9660)
 
943 Baptism witnesses were Ellenora Rosburg and Maria Rieck.
Listed as being from Pipestone, Minnesota in WF Rosburg obituary.
mBaptised in the St. Paul's Lutheran Church. 		Rosburg, Lillian Ellenora Maria (I9084)
 
944 Baptismal certificate of William Burns Costello, Mary (I3112)
 
945 Baptismal certificate of William Burns Burns, William J (I15756)
 
946 Baptismal certificate of William Burns Burns, Thomas (I8559)
 
947 Baptismal name of Johann Löffelholz, Hans (I30552)
 
948 Baptismal sponsor was George Walther. Brueckner, Gustave Adolph (I7559)
 
949 Baptist Church Family: Lamm, Henry Silas "Tyke" Jr / Pfeiffer, Mildred Jean (F5433)
 
950 Baptized with the name of Robert Rognvaldsson, Earl Rollo (I25715)
 

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