Ealdgyth (wife of Edmund Ironside)
Ealdgyth | |
---|---|
Queen consort of England | |
Tenure | 23 April 1016 – 30 November 1016 |
Born | c. 992 |
Died | After 1016 |
Spouse(s) | Sigeferth Edmund, King of England |
Issue | Edward the Exile Edmund Ætheling |
Ealdgyth (circa 992 – after 1016), modern English Edith may have been the name of the wife of Sigeferth son of Earngrim, thegn of the Seven Burghs, and later of King Edmund Ironside. She was probably the mother of Edmund's sons Edward the Exile and Edmund Ætheling.
The
In the late summer of 1015, at some time between 15 August and 8 September, Edmund Ironside raised a revolt against his father King Æthelred. Either then, or perhaps even earlier, he removed Sigeferth's widow from Malmesbury, against his father's wishes, and married her. Sigeferth and Morcar's friends and allies supported Edmund after this.[2] While two charters issued by Edmund which mention his wife survive from about this time, neither of them contain her name in the surviving texts.[3]
It is generally, but not universally, supposed that Ealdgyth, if that was her name, was the mother of Edmund Ironside's sons.[4] These were Edmund, who died young in exile, and Edward the Exile, who returned to England late in the reign of his uncle King Edward the Confessor and died soon afterwards. Whether she went into exile with her children following Edmund's death in 1016 is unknown.
One reason advanced for supposing that John of Worcester may have been mistaken in naming this woman Ealdgyth is that Sigeferth's brother Morcar had also been married to a woman named Ealdgyth.
Notes
- ^ Stafford, Unification and Conquest, pp. 67–68; Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 145–146, Ms. E, s.a. 1015, & p. 146, note 3; Williams, Æthelred, pp. 132–134 & p. 132, note 6.
- ^ Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 146, Ms. E, s.a. 1015; Higham, Death of Anglo-Saxon England, p. 62; Williams, Æthelred, p. 134.
- ^ These are charters S 947 and S 948; Williams, Æthelred, p. 134 & note 13.
- ISBN 0-85115-928-1.
- ^ "Ealdgyth 1". Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England.
- ^ Williams, Æthelred, p. 132, note 6. Insley
References
- Higham, Nick (1997), The Death of Anglo-Saxon England, Stroud: Sutton, ISBN 0-7509-2469-1
- Insley, Charles (2000), "Politics, Conflict and Kinship in Early Eleventh-Century Mercia" (PDF), Midland History, XXV, archived from the original (PDF) on 16 March 2009, retrieved 28 November 2008
- ISBN 0-7131-6532-4
- ISBN 0-19-280139-2
- Swanton, Michael (1996), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, New York: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-92129-5
- Williams, Ann (2003), Æthelred the Unready: the ill-counselled king, London: Hambledon & London, ISBN 1-85285-382-4