View source for Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia

{{Short description|Earl of Mercia and Earl of East Anglia}}{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
[[File:Guthlac Roll - The benefactors.jpg|thumb|right|Roundel from the Guthlac Roll depicting various benefactors to St Guthlac's shrine, including King [[Æthelbald of Mercia]], Abbot Thurketel and Earl Ælfgar.]]
'''Ælfgar''' (died {{circa|1062}}) was the son of [[Leofric, Earl of Mercia]], by his famous wife Godgifu ([[Lady Godiva]]).<ref>Patrick W. Montague-Smith  ''Letters: Godiva's family tree'' [[The Times]], 25 January 1983</ref> He succeeded to his father's title and responsibilities on the latter's death in 1057. He gained the additional title of Earl of East Anglia, but also was exiled for a time. Through the first marriage of his daughter he became  father-in-law to Welsh king [[Gruffydd ap Llywelyn]], a few years after his death, his daughter became a widow and married [[Harold Godwinson]], the last king of Anglo-Saxon England.
==War and exile==
Ælfgar profited from the exile of [[Godwin, Earl of Wessex|Earl Godwin]] of Wessex and his sons in 1051. He was given the Earldom of [[East Anglia]], which had been that of [[Harold Godwinson|Harold]], son of Godwin. Earl Godwin and King [[Edward the Confessor|Edward]] were reconciled the following year, so Harold was restored to his earldom—but not for long. At [[Easter]] 1053 Godwin died, so Harold became Earl of Wessex, and the earldom of East Anglia returned to Ælfgar.<ref name=ODNB>Ann Williams, 'Ælfgar, earl of Mercia (d. 1060)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/178 , accessed 18 April 2008]</ref><ref>''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''.</ref>
Ælfgar seems to have learned from the tactics Godwin used to put pressure on King Edward. When Ælfgar was exiled in 1055, he raised a fleet of 18 ships in [[Ireland]] and then turned to [[Wales]], where King [[Gruffydd ap Llywelyn|Gruffydd]] agreed to join forces with him against King Edward. Two miles from [[Hereford]], on 24 October, they clashed with the army of the Earl of [[Herefordshire]], [[Ralph the Timid]]. The Earl and his men eventually took flight, and Gruffydd and Ælfgar pursued them, killing and wounding as they went, and enacting savage reprisals on Hereford. They despoiled and burnt the town, killing many of its citizens. King Edward ordered an army mustered and put Earl Harold in charge of it. This was more formidable opposition, and Ælfgar and Gruffydd fled to south Wales. However, the issue was resolved by diplomacy and Earl Ælfgar was reinstated.<ref>''The Chronicle of John of Worcester'' ed. and trans. R. R. Darlington, P. McGurk and J. Bray (Clarendon Press: Oxford 1995), pp.576-79; ''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''.</ref>
==Family==
Ælfgar is believed to have married Ælgifu, believed to be the sister of [[William Malet (companion of William the Conqueror)|William Malet]], Lord of Eye, as well as a possible relative of [[Ælgifu of Northampton]], [[Cnut the Great|King Canute]]'s first wife.<ref name=ODNB /> He is known to have had at least four children, although their birth dates are unknown. They are, in no particular order:
* [[Burgheard, son of Ælfgar|Burgheard]] (d. 1061), predeceased his father.<ref name=ODNB /><ref>{{citation |last=Baxter |first=Stephen |contribution=The death of Burgheard son of Ælfgar and its context |editor-last=Fouracre |editor-first=Paul |editor2-last=Ganz |editor2-first=David |title=Frankland. The Franks and the world of the Early Middle Ages. Essays in honour of Dame Jinty Nelson |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7190-7669-5 |pages=266–284 }}</ref>
* [[Edwin, Earl of Mercia|Edwin]] (d. 1071), later [[earl of Mercia]].
* [[Morcar]] (d. after 1087), later [[earl of Northumbria]].
* [[Ealdgyth (daughter of Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia)|Ealdgyth]], queen consort of [[Wales]] and later of England, wife of [[Gruffydd ap Llywelyn]] and [[Harold II]] – her first and second husbands, respectively.
Ælfgar's son Burgheard predeceased his father, expiring while returning from [[Rome]] early in 1061, and was buried at [[Reims]]. This led Ælfgar to give to Reims Abbey lands in [[Staffordshire]] and [[Shropshire]], which became the endowment for [[Lapley Priory]]. He was survived by three other children.<ref name=ODNB />
==Death==
Ælfgar is believed to have died around 1062, well before the [[Battle of Hastings]]. His daughter's children, of the defeated King Harold, are believed to have lived in exile.
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* {{PASE|18105|Ælfgar 46}}
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{{succession box |
title=[[Earl of Mercia]] |
before=[[Leofric, Earl of Mercia|Leofric]] |
after=[[Edwin, Earl of Mercia|Edwin]] |
years=1057–1062
}}
{{succession box|
before=[[Harold Godwinson]]|
title=[[Earl of East Anglia]]|
years=1053–1057|
after=[[Gyrth Godwinson]]
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Lady Godiva}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aelfgar}}
[[Category:1062 deaths]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon warriors]]
[[Category:Earls of Mercia]]
[[Category:Earls of East Anglia]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Place of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Lady Godiva]]
[[Category:11th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:English exiles]]