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____ Aelflaed (Elfleda) (Ethelfleda)
Birth: ABT 878 Wessex
Death: ABT 919
Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86lffl%C3%A6d,_wife_of_Edward_the_Elder
Ælfflæd (fl. early 10th century) was the second wife of Edward the Elder, king of the
Anglo-Saxons from 899 to 924.
Ælfflæd was the daughter of an ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably ealdorman Æthelhelm
of Wiltshire who died in 897. Genealogist David H. Kelley and historian Pauline
Stafford have identified him as Æthelhelm, a son of Edward's uncle, King Ethelred I.
[1][2] Other historians have rejected the idea, arguing that it does not appear to have
been the practice for Æthelings (princes of the royal dynasty who were eligible to be
king) to become ealdormen, that in a grant from King Alfred to Ealdorman Æthelhelm
there is no reference to kinship between them, and that the hostile reception to King
Eadwig's marriage to Ælfgifu, his third cousin once removed, shows that a marriage
between Edward and his first cousin once removed would have been forbidden as
incestuous.[3]
Ælfflæd married King Edward around 899. She only attested one charter, dated 901,
where she was described as conjux regis. She never attested as queen. and although
she was previously thought to have been consecrated as queen when Edward was
crowned in 900, this is now thought unlikely.[4] In 1827 the tomb of St Cuthbert in
Durham Cathedral was opened, and among the objects found were a stole and maniple
which had inscriptions showing that they had been commissioned by Ælfflæd for
bishop Frithestan of Winchester. However, they had been donated by her step-son
king Æthelstan to Cuthbert's tomb, probably in 934.[5]
Ælfflæd had two sons, Ælfweard, who became king of Wessex on his father's death in
924 but died himself within a month, and Edwin, who was drowned in 933. She also
had five or six daughters, including Eadgifu, wife of Charles the Simple, king of West
Francia, Eadhild, who married Hugh the Great, duke of the Franks, and Eadgyth, wife
of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.[6] In around 967 Hrotsvitha, a nun of Gandersheim,
wrote a eulogy of the deeds of Otto I in which she contrasted the nobility of Eadgyth's
mother with the inferior descent of Æthelstan's mother.[7]
Edmund I, the future king who was a son of Edward's third wife, Eadgifu, was born in
920 or 921, so Ælfflæd's marriage must have ended in the late 910s. According to
William of Malmesbury, Edward put aside Ælfflæd in order to marry Eadgifu, a claim
which Sean Miller viewed sceptically,[8] but it is accepted by other historians.[9] She
is reported to have retired to Wilton Abbey, where she was joined by two of her
daughters, Eadflæd and Æthelhild, and all three were buried there.[10]
Children[edit]
Her children were:[11]
Sons[edit]
Ælfweard (briefly king of Wessex in 924)
Edwin (d. 933)
Daughters[edit]
Eadgifu, wife of Charles the Simple, king of West Francia
Eadhild, wife of Hugh the Great, duke of the Franks
Eadgyth, wife of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
Ælfgifu, wife of Louis, brother of Rudolf of Burgundy?
Eadflæd, nun at Wilton
Æthelhild, vowess at Wilton
Parents
____ Aethelhelm (ABT 859 - ABT 898)
____ Aethelgyth (ABT 860 - )
Siblings
____ Aelflaed (Elfleda) (Ethelfleda) (ABT 878 - ABT 919)
____ Aethelfrith (ABT 880 - )
Marriage To ____ Edward I "the Elder" ( 875 - Jul 924)
m.
Notes
Parents
____ Alfred "the Great" ( 849 - 26 Oct 899)
OF MERCIA Ealhswith (ABT 852 - 5 Dec 902)
Children by ____ Edward I "the Elder" 875 - Jul 924
____ Elgiva (Emiliane) (Emilienne) (ABT 895 - )
OF FRANCE Edgiva (Ogive) (Eadgifu) (ABT 904 - AFT 951)
____ Eadgyth (Editha) (ABT 914 - 21 Jan 947)
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