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Wessex and Mercia

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Leo van de Pas

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Aug 31, 2002, 9:05:58 PM8/31/02
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Aethelred I, King of England 866-871, older brother of Alfred the Great,
apparently had a legitimate son :

Aethelhelm, Ealdorman of Wiltshire,
born about 859
died circa 897/898
he married Aethelglyth of Mercia

they had a daughter
Elfleda/Aelfled, who was the first wife of Edward I, the Elder, King of England.

I have two questions, is the above correct? and does anyone know the parents of Aethelglyth of Mercia?

Many thanks
Leo van de Pas

Todd A. Farmerie

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Sep 1, 2002, 11:12:39 AM9/1/02
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OK, for starters, AEthelred I had two known sons, and one claimed
daughter. These are:

AEthelwold, named int he will of his uncle AElfred, he rebelled
after the death of that king, and was briefly named king by the
men of the north, but was killed in battle within months.

AEthelhelm, who is named in the will of his uncle AElfred.

Thyra, wife of Gorm the Old is said by one source to be daughter
of AEthelred, but I think this is highly unlikely.


Now there was a prominent man of the name AEthelhelm who were
living at the time of AElfred, an AEthelhelm, Ealdorman of
Wiltshire, who made a pilgimage to Rome in 887, led the English
army at a siege of some Vikings in 894, and he died in 897, the
year before AElfred (it is even possible that these are distinct,
only the last being specifically called Ealdorman of Wiltshire).
It is speculation that the son of AEthelred I was this
AEthelhelm. (It is perhaps noteworthy that Chronicler/Ealdorman
AEthelweard apparently great-grandson of AEthelhelm, son of
AEthelred, says of Ealdorman AEthelhelm that he was well
remembered, a type of comment that as far as I have found, he
otherwise reserves for royals, so perhaps he is complementing an
ancestor, and the two are the same.) Likewise, the father-in-law
of Eadweard was called Ethelmi comitus (Ealdorman AEthelhelm) by
William of Malmesbury, although one mannuscript of W of M calls
him instead Elfelmi comitus - Ealdorman AElfhelm, as does Roger
of Wendover. (I find no Ealdorman AElfhelm in royal charters.)
Again, that this Ealdorman AEthelhelm (if that was his name) was
the same as the Ealdorman of Wiltshire is speculation, along with
his identification as AEthelred's son of the same name.

As to AEthelgyth of Mercia, I have never seen this claim before,
and based on the available records of the time, I seriously doubt
that it is reliable. She does not appear in any of the
chroniclers that I have looked at (most of them writing about
this period), and it would be anachronistic for a charter to use
a regional appelation. Who knows, perhaps she appears in some
local cartulary of which I am unaware, but many of the charters
from this period are forgeries anyhow.

taf

Todd A. Farmerie

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Sep 1, 2002, 9:54:28 PM9/1/02
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Leo van de Pas wrote:


I have now figured out who AEthelgyth is. Ealdorman AEthelfrith,
in 903/4, asked the king to reissue a grant (the original having
been destroyed) made by Athulf to his daughter AEthelgyth. It is
clear that AEthelfrith was the representative of AEthelgyth, but
there are different possible reconstructions (of three published
ones, one makes her mother, one makes her wife, and one makes her
a more distant kinswoman). Only if she is mother, and if
AEthelhelm is father of AEthelfrith, is AEthelgyth the wife of
AEthelhelm. Likewise, Athulf (AEthelwulf), her father, has been
identified with King AEthelwulf, Ealdorman AEthelwulf of Mercia
(brother-in-law of AElfred the Great), or an otherwise
unidentified AEthelwulf distinct from these two. Only in the
middle case would she be "of Mercia". For the text of the
reissued charter, see:

http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=charter&id=367

taf

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