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OF MERCIA Ealhswith
Birth:          ABT  852 Mercia
Death:          5 Dec  902 England

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 Coenwulf of Mercia.[1]
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]

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

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)

Parents
MUCIL Aethelred (ABT  825 -  871)
OF MERCIA Eadburh (Eadburga) (ABT  825 - )

Siblings
____ Aethelwulf (ABT  845 - ABT  903)
OF MERCIA Ealhswith (ABT  852 - 5 Dec  902)

Marriage To ____ Alfred "the Great" ( 849 - 26 Oct 899) m. 868 Notes Parents ____ Aethelwulf (ABT 806 - 13 Jan 859) OF HAMPSHIRE Osburh (Osberga) (ABT 810 - AFT 876) Children by ____ Alfred "the Great" 849 - 26 Oct 899
____ Ethelfleda (ABT 869 - 12 Jun 918) ____ Edward I "the Elder" ( 875 - Jul 924) OF THE SAXONS (OF WESSEX) Alfthryth (Aelfthryth) (Elfleda) ( 877 - 7 Jun 929)
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