Ealhswith

Ealhswith
Died	5 December 902
Burial	New Minster, Winchester
Spouse	Alfred the Great ​ ​ (m. 868, died 899)​
Issue	Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians Edward the Elder Æthelgifu, Abbess of Shaftesbury Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders Æthelweard
Father	Æthelred Mucel
Mother	Eadburh

Ealhswith or Ealswitha was Queen Consort of England and wife to King Alfred the Great. She was among one of the most powerful noble women in early medieval England during the time of the Vikings as she did rule over all of England with Alfred. She was mother to King Edward the Elder who proceeded his father on the Anglo-Saxon throne. Her father was a Mercian nobleman, Æthelred 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 her lineage was one of the primary reasons for Alfred taking Ealhswith as his wife. Her legacy persists her after her death in the nunnery she founded and in the estates left to her by Alfred. Ealhswith is considered a saint with her feast day being on July 20^th.

Descent

A charter of 897 (S 1442) discusses the responsibilities of Ealhswith's brother Æthelwulf towards the monastery of Winchcombe, and Barbara Yorke argues that as this monastery was claimed as a possession by the family of Ceolwulf and Coenwulf, brothers who were both kings of Mercia, Ealhswith was probably a member of this family. Richard Abels goes further, stating that she was descended from King Coenwulf.

This decent from Mercian Kings was what drew Alfred to Ealhswith, making her an attractive candidate for marriage. During the time of King Alfred’s reign, he was given Wessex by his late father, King Æthelwulf, and the genealogies of both Aethelwulf, and Alfred’s mother, Osburh, were used to justify his rule over England. His marriage with Ealhswith was seen as an alliance and a merging of other kingdoms within England. Ealhswith’s genealogy and descent from ancient Mercian Kings was used to grant Alfred the right to rule over all of England on the Wessex throne; an authority that he started at the beginning of his rule and be followed by predecessors to the Wessex's throne.

Life

The Anglo-Saxon period of the Middle Ages ranged from about 450 to 1066, with Ealhswith rule falling toward the later Middle Ages. Contemporary sources tell us very little about about her life. The only primary sources that reveals her name is in King Alfred’s Will. Within this Will, she is the last beneficiary listed. Alfred grants her estates at Lambourn, Wantage, and Edington, along with one hundred pounds of gold. However, Alfred does not mention his three daughters by name or his youngest son, with Edward, his eldest son, being the only child named.

Asser was a Welsh monk who lived during the same time as Alfred, and he learned and taught at St. David’s in Wales. He was a scholar who would translate works of literature within St. David. The origins as to how Asser and Alfred met are unknown, but it is believed that they were at the same meeting after Alfred took control of the Welsh land. Asser would spend prolonged months with Alfred, translating works of literature for him and it was Alfred who approached Asser to write his biography, The Life of King Alfred. Within this biography, Asser writes about the genealogies of both Ealhswith and her mother, Eadburh. The Mercians kings Ealhswith hailed from were on Eadburh's side of the family. However, Asser only mentions Eadburh by name and does not call Ealhswith by her own name. Instead, he refers to her as “a noble Mercian Lady” and that she was a “chaste widow” after the death of Alfred. It is unknown why Asser omitted Ealhswith's name from the text, but chose to include her mother's.

In recent history, authors have cited Ealhswith by name more frequently and acknowledged her accomplishments. In Alex Traves, Genealogy and royal women in Asser’s Life of King Alfred: politics, prestige, and maternal kinship in early medieval England, he highlights her significance to Alfred and that she was an ideal bride for him in terms of the lineage tied to her. Her importance to Alfred was showcased by Traves, giving her credit for being one of the contributing factors to Alfred taking the throne. Traves and other modern authors give her recognition for her contributions to the English throne compared to Ealhswith's contemporaries.

She was married to Alfred in 868 at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. His elder brother Æthelred was then king, and Alfred was regarded as heir apparent. The Danes occupied the Mercian town of Nottingham in that year and her marriage to King Alfred was seen as political leverage. It is also alleged that Alfred's genealogy stretched back to that of Adam, giving him alleged biblical authority over the throne. Alfred became king on his brother's death in 871. Ealhswith is very obscure in contemporary sources. She did not witness any known charters during the reign of her husband, and while Asser details her parentage and the date of their marriage, he did not identify her by name in his "Life of King Alfred" calling her only "a noble Mercian Lady". 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 inadvertently poisoned her husband when trying to poison another.

After Alfred's death, in 901, Ealhswith did witness one charter during the reign of her son King Edward in which she is identified as "Ealhswið mater regis", Ealhswith mother of the king. Her name is subscribed immediately after King Edward, and before Edward's wife Ælfflæd.

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.

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".

Ealhswith's brother Æthelwulf was ealdorman of western and possibly central Mercia under his niece's husband, Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, in the 890s. He died in 901.

Children

Alfred and Ealhswith had five children who survived to adulthood.

• 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

• House of Wessex family tree

Sources

• Abels, Richard (1998). Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England. Harlow, UK: Longman. ISBN 0-582-04047-7.
• 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. 2. Cambridge University Press: 115–144. doi:10.1017/s0263675100000375. ISBN 0-521-20218-3. S2CID 162575949.
• 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; D. P. Kirby (eds.). A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain. Seaby. ISBN 1-85264-0472.
• Yorke, Barbara (2001). "Edward as Ætheling". In Higham, N. J.; Hill, D. H. (eds.). Edward the Elder 899–924. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. pp. 25–39. ISBN 978-0-415-21497-1.

External links

• Ealhswith 1 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
• St. Mary's Abbey