- 902
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, Ealhswith |
Kjønn |
Kvinne |
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5 Des 902 |
Person ID |
I14202 |
Geelmuyden_etc |
Sist endret |
25 Okt 2013 |
Familie |
Alfred den store |
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| 1. Edward d.e., f. Ca 874-877, Wantage, Wessex, England , d. 17 Jul 924, Farndon-on-Dee, Cheshire, England (Alder 47 år) |
| 2. OF WESSEX, Ælfthryth, f. 877, d. 7 Jun 929 (Alder 52 år) |
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Sist endret |
24 Okt 2013 |
Famile ID |
F13509 |
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- Ealhswith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search Ealhswith
Wife of Alfred the Great
Consort of the King of Wessex
Tenure 23 April 871 – 26 October 899
Spouse Alfred, King of Wessex
Issue
Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians
Edward, King of England
Æthelgifu
Æthelweard of Wessex
Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders
Father Æthelred Mucel
Mother Eadburh
Died 902
Burial New Minster, Winchester
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ealhswith.
Ealhswith or Ealswitha (died 5 December 902) was the wife of King Alfred the Great. Her father was a Mercian nobleman, Æthelred Mucil (or Mucel), Ealdorman of the Gaini, which is thought to be an old Mercian tribal group. Her mother was Eadburh, a member of the Mercian royal family, and according to the historian Cyril Hart she was a descendant of King Cenwulf of Mercia.[1]Contents [hide]
1 Life
2 Children
3 See also
4 References
5 Sources
6 External links
Life[edit]
She was married to Alfred in 868. His elder brother Æthelred was then king, and Alfred was regarded as heir apparent.[2][3] The Danes occupied the Mercian town of Nottingham in that year, and the marriage was probably connected with an alliance between Wessex and Mercia.[4] Alfred became king on his brother's death in 871.
Ealhswith is very obscure in contemporary sources. She did not witness any known charters, and Asser did not even mention her name in his life of King Alfred. In accordance with ninth century West Saxon custom, she was not given the title of queen. According to King Alfred, this was because of the infamous conduct of a former queen of Wessex called Eadburh, who had accidentally poisoned her husband.[5]
Alfred left his wife three important symbolic estates in his will, Edington in Wiltshire, the site of one important victory over the Vikings, Lambourn in Berkshire, which was near another, and Wantage, his birthplace. These were all part of his bookland, and they stayed in royal possession after her death.[3]
It was probably after Alfred's death in 899 that Ealhswith founded the convent of St Mary's Abbey, Winchester, known as the Nunnaminster. She died on 5 December 902, and was buried in her son Edward's new Benedictine abbey, the New Minster, Winchester. She is commemorated in two early tenth century manuscripts as "the true and dear lady of the English".[3]
Children[edit]
Alfred and Ealhswith had five children who survived to adulthood.[3]
Æthelflæd (d. 918), Lady of the Mercians, married Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians
Edward the Elder (d. 924), King of the Anglo-Saxons
Æthelgifu, made abbess of her foundation at Shaftesbury by her father
Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders (d. 929), married Baldwin II, Count of Flanders
Æthelweard (d. c.920)
See also[edit]
House of Wessex family tree
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Keynes & Lapidge, Asser, pp. 77; 240-41; Hart, Æthelstan, p. 116 n.
Jump up ^ Keynes & Lapidge, Asser, p. 77
^ Jump up to: a b c d Costambeys, Ealhswith
Jump up ^ Williams, Ealhswith
Jump up ^ Keynes & Lapidge Asser, pp. 71-72, 235-236
Sources[edit]
Costambeys, Marios (2004). "Ealhswith (d. 902), consort of Alfred, king of the West Saxons". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/39226. Retrieved 25 October 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
Hart, Cyril (1973). "Athelstan 'Half King' and his family". Anglo-Saxon England (Cambridge University Press) 2: 115–144. ISBN 0 521 20218 3.
Keynes, Simon; Lapidge, Michael, eds. (1983). Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred & Other Contemporary Sources. Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0-14-04440-94.
Williams, Ann (1991). "Ealhswith wife of King Alfred d. 902". In Ann Williams, Alfred P. Smyth and D. P. Kirby eds. A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain. Seaby. ISBN 1 85264 0472.
External links[edit]
Find-A-Grave profile for Queen Ealswitha
St. Mary's AbbeyPreceded by
Wulfthryth? Consort of the King of Wessex
871–899 Succeeded by
Ecgwynn or Ælfflæd
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