View source for Ælfflæd (wife of Edward the Elder)

{{Short description|Second wife and consort of Edward the Elder}}
{{other people||Ælfflæd}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Ælfflæd
| succession   =
| reign        = c. 899 – c. 919
| consort      = yes
| house        =
| spouse       = [[Edward the Elder]]
| issue        = {{plainlist|
*[[Ælfweard of Wessex|Ælfweard]]
*[[Edwin, son of Edward the Elder|Edwin]]
*[[Eadgifu, Queen of the West Franks]]
*[[Eadhild|Eadhild, Duchess of the Franks]]
*{{nowrap|[[Eadgyth|Eadgyth, Queen of the East Franks]]}}
}}
| father       = Æthelhelm
| mother       =
}}
'''Ælfflæd''' ([[floruit|fl.]] early 10th century) was the second wife of the English king [[Edward the Elder]].
==Biography==
Ælfflæd was the daughter of an [[ealdorman]] Æthelhelm, probably ealdorman Æthelhelm of Wiltshire who died in 897. Although genealogist [[David H. Kelley]] and historian [[Pauline Stafford]] have identified him as [[Æthelhelm]], a son of Edward's uncle, King [[Æthelred of Wessex]],<ref>Stafford, pp. 324–325</ref><ref>Kelley, pp. 63–93</ref> this relationship is highly unlikely. Had Æthelhelm been the son of King [[Æthelred I, King of Wessex|Æthelred I]] then Ælfflæd and Edward would have been first cousins once removed, and would not have been allowed to marry, their marriage would have been forbidden as incestuous.<ref>Yorke, pp. 33–34; Foot, 2011, p. 37 n. 25</ref> Other marriages of the time between 2nd and 3rd cousins were deemed incestuous and not allowed, therefore, it is improbable that a marriage of this closeness would have been tolerated. This is demonstrated by the forced annulment of the marriage of King [[Eadwig]] and [[Ælfgifu, wife of Eadwig|Ælfgifu]], who were third cousins once removed. Other historians point out that in a grant from King [[Alfred the Great|Alfred]] to Ealdorman Æthelhelm there is no reference to kinship between them. If indeed Æthelhelm had been the son of Alfred's brother, then he would have been identified as the king's nephew in the charter.
Edward's first marriage to King [[Æthelstan]]'s mother [[Ecgwynn]] ended around 899, and certainly by 901, when Ælfflæd attested a charter of Edward as ''conjux regis'' (king's wife). This is the only surviving charter which she attested, and 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.<ref>Foot, 2011, pp. 11, 37 n. 26; Miller, 2011</ref> 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 Æthelstan to Cuthbert's tomb, probably in 934.<ref>Foot, 2011, pp. 121–123</ref>
Ælfflæd had two sons, [[Ælfweard of Wessex|Ælfweard]], who as the 12th-century ''[[Textus Roffensis]]'' suggests, may have become king of Wessex on his father's death in 924 but died himself within a month, and [[Edwin, son of Edward the Elder|Edwin]], who was drowned in 933. She also had five or six daughters, including [[Eadgifu of England|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]].<ref>Foot, 2011 pp. xv, 38, 41, 44</ref> In around 967 [[Hrotsvitha]], a nun of [[Gandersheim Abbey|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 Ecgwynn, although she did not imply that Edward had not married Ecgwynn.<ref>Foot, 2011, p. 30</ref>
[[Edmund I]], the future king who was a son of Edward's third wife, [[Eadgifu of Kent|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,<ref name=DNB>Miller, ''Edward the Elder''</ref> but it is accepted by other historians.<ref>Williams, ''Ælfflæd''; Sharp, p. 82; Foot, 2010, p. 243</ref> She adopted a religious life, but outside a regular monastic house as she retained possession of her estates, and was buried at [[Wilton Abbey]] with her daughters, Eadflæd and Æthelhild.<ref>Foot, 2000, p. 141 and n. 151</ref>
==Children==
Her children were:<ref>Foot, 2011 p. xv</ref>
*[[Ælfweard of Wessex|Ælfweard]] (perhaps briefly king of Wessex in 924)
*[[Edwin, son of Edward the Elder|Edwin]] (d. 933)
*[[Eadgifu of England|Eadgifu]], wife of [[Charles the Simple]], king of [[West Francia]]
*[[Eadhild]], wife of [[Hugh the Great]], duke of the Franks
*[[Eadgyth]], wife of [[Emperor Otto I]]
*Ælfgifu, wife of Louis, brother of Rudolf of Burgundy?
*Eadflæd, nun at Wilton
*Æthelhild, vowess (religious woman) at Wilton
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Sources==
*{{cite book|title=England and the Continent in the Tenth Century:Studies in Honour of Wilhelm Levison (1876-1947)|publisher=Brepols|year=2010|editor-first=David|editor-last=Rollason|editor2-first=Conrad|editor2-last=Leyser|editor3-first=Hannah|editor3-last=Williams|first=Sarah|last=Foot|chapter=Dynastic Strategies: The West Saxon Royal Family in Europe|isbn=9782503532080}}
*{{cite book| first=Sarah|last =Foot|authorlink=Sarah Foot  |title=Veiled Women I: The Disappearance of Nuns from Anglo-Saxon England |publisher=Ashgate |location =Aldershot, Hampshire |year=2000|isbn= 978-0-7546-0043-5}}
*{{cite book | last = Foot | first = Sarah | authorlink= Sarah Foot | title=Æthelstan: the first king of England|publisher=Yale University Press| year = 2011 |isbn= 978-0-300-12535-1}}
*{{cite book|first=David H. |last=Kelley|chapter=The House of Aethelred|title=Studies in Genealogy and Family History. Tribute to Charles Evans on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday|editor-first=L.L. |editor-last=Brook|publisher= Foundation for Medieval Genealogy|year= 1989|authorlink=David H. Kelley}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |first=Sean|last = Miller|authorlink=| publisher = Oxford University Press | encyclopedia= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | title= Edward [called Edward the Elder] (870s?–924), king of the Anglo-Saxons| year = 2004 | url =http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8514?docPos=1 | accessdate=28 April 2013 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/8514  }} {{ODNBsub}}
*{{cite book|first=Pauline|last=Stafford|title=Queen Emma & Queen Edith:Queenship and Women's Power in Eleventh-Century England|publisher=Blackwell|year=1997|isbn=0-631-16679-3|authorlink=Pauline Stafford}}
*{{cite encyclopedia|authorlink=Ann Williams (historian)|last=Williams|first= Ann|title=Ælfflæd queen d. after 920|year=1991|page=6|editor-first=Ann|editor-last= Williams|editor2-first= Alfred P. |editor2-last=Smyth|editor3-first= D. P.|editor3-last= Kirby |encyclopedia=A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain|publisher= Seaby|isbn=1-85264-047-2}}
*{{cite book|last=Yorke|first= Barbara|year=2001|chapter=Edward as Ætheling|editor1= N. J. Higham |editor2=& D. H. Hill |title= Edward the Elder 899-924|publisher= Routledge|isbn=0-415-21497-1|authorlink=Barbara Yorke}}
==External links==
* {{PASE|8970|Ælfflæd 10}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aelfflaed}}
[[Category:9th-century English women]]
[[Category:9th-century English people]]
[[Category:10th-century English women]]
[[Category:10th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:Wives of Edward the Elder]]