Eadgar
EadgarIn 957, the Mercians and Northumbrians renounced their allegiance to king Eadwig, and chose his brother Eadgar as king ["Her Eadgar æþeling feng to Myrcna rice." ASC(B,C) s.a. 957 ("Here the ætheling Edgar succeeded to the kingdom of Mercia." ASC(Eng), 113); ASC(D) s.a. 955 (incorrectly); "Rex Anglorum Eadwius, quoniam in commisso regimine insipienter egit, a Mercensibus et Northhymbrensibus contemptus relinquitur, et suus germanus, clito Eadgarus, ab eis rex eligitur" John Worc., s.a. 957 (1: 137)]. When Eadwig died in 959, Eadgar succeeded to the entire kingdom at the age of sixteen ["Her forðferde Eadwig cing. & Eadgar his broðor feng to ríce. ægðer ge on Westseaxum. ge on Myrcum. ge on Norðhymbrum. & he wæs þa .xvi. wintre." ASC(B,C) s.a. 959 ("Here King Eadwig passed away, and Edgar, his brother, succeeded to the kingdom both in Wessex and in Mercia and in Northumbria, and he was then 16 years old." ASC(Eng), 113); ASC(E) s.a 959; ASC(A) s.a. 958; "Rex West-Saxonum Eadwius ... defunctus ...; cujus regnum suus germanus, rex Mercensium Eadgarus, ab omni Anglorum populo electus, anno ætatis suæ XVIº." John Worc., s.a. 959 (1: 138)]. He was succeeded in 975 by his son Eadweard [see below].
Date of birth: ca. 943.
Place of birth: Unknown.
["Magnifico regi Eadmundo
cum sua regina sancta Ælfgiva filium peperisset Eadgarum, ..."
John Worc., s.a. 943 (1: 133); "Eadgarus anno ætatis
suæ XVIº. successit." ibid. 1: 274; "Decessit
autem anno ætatis XXXIIº., regni vero XVIº." ibid.,
274-5]
Date of death: 8 July 975.
Place of
burial: Glastonbury.
["... rex Eadgarus, ...
anno ætatis suæ XXXIIº., regni autem illius in Mercia et
Northhymbria XIXº., ex quo vero per totam Angliam regnavit
XVIº., indictione tertia, VIII. idus Julii [8 Jul.], feria
quinta, ex hac vita transivit, filiumque suum Eadwardum et regni
et morum hæredem reliquit: corpus vero illius Glæstoniam
delatum, regio more est tumulatum." John Worc. s.a. 975
(1: 143); ASC s.a. 975: long poem in versions A, B, C, shorter
poem in versions D, E; "8. [July] Obitus Eadgari regis."
Lib. Vit. Hyde, 271]
Father: Eadmund I, d. 26 May 946, king of Wessex, 939-946.
Mother: St. Ælfgifu, d. 18 May ca. 944.
Spouses:
John of Worcester and William of
Malmesbury name all three wives ["Rex Anglorum pacificus
Eadgarus Ordgari ducis Domnaniæ filiam, Ælfthrytham nomine,
post mortem viri sui Æthelwoldi, gloriosi ducis Orientalium
Anglorum, in matrimonium accepit; ex qua duos filios, Eadmundum
et Æthelredum, suscepit. Habuit etiam prius ex Ægelfleda
Candida, cognomento Eneda, Ordmæri ducis filia, Eadwardum,
postea regem et martyrem; et de sancta Wlfthrytha, virginem Deo
devotissimam Eadgitham." John Worc. s.a. 964 (1: 140);
"Hic habuit ex Eneda, foemina generossima, sanctum
Eadwardum, et de sancta Wulfthrytha sanctam Eadgitham; ex regina
vero Ælfthrytha, Eadmundum et Ægelredum filios suscepit"
ibid., 1: 274; "... legitimam uxorem accepit Elfridam
filiam Orgari. De qua Edmundum ... et ... Egelredum, tulit. Nam
de Egelfleda, cognomento Candida, filia Ordmeri ducis
potentissimi, Edwardum genuit; et sanctum Edgitham de Wulfrida,
..." Wm. Malmes., Gesta Regum, c. 159 (1:
180)]. A letter written ca. 1120 by Nicholas, a monk at
Worcester, mentions Æthelflæd and Ælfthryth ["Hic in
principio regni sui filiam Ordmari ducis Orientalium Anglorum
conjugem legitimam accepit, nomine Æthelfledam, cognomine
Candidam, ex qua filium, sanctum videlicet Edwardum, procreavit.
... rex aliam accepit conjugem, Ælftritham nomine, filiam
Ordgari ducis Occidentalium Saxonum; ex qua filium Æthelredum
habuit." Mem. Dunstan, xxxvi, 423]. The Vita Sancti
Oswaldi, perhaps confused by the similar names Ordmær and
Ordgar, has mistakenly combined Æthelflæd and Ælfthryth into a
single person ["Athelwoldus vero satis digniter
principatum Orientalis regni acquisivit a rege, tenuitque magna
virtute; qui accipiens filiam Ormeri ducis Occidentalium
Anglorum, perduxit secum ad suum regnum, quæ vocitata erat
Ælfritha; quam post mortem ejus rex Eadgar præpotentissimus
accepit, ex qua duos habuit filios, quorum unus Eadwerd est
dictus, alter vero Æthelredus." Vita Sancti
Oswaldi, Hist. Ch. York, 1: 428-9; see Stubbs's notes in the
Introduction to Mem. Dunstan, xcix-ci].
(1) Æthelflæd, alias Candida or Eneda, daughter of ealdorman Ordmær.
(2) Wulfthryth, nun, bur.
Wilton.
["Jacet in eadem ecclesia mater
ejus Wlfrid, ..." Wm. Malmes., Gesta Pont., c.
87 (p. 190)] Roger of Wendover states that she was not a nun at
the time of her marriage [Rog. Wendover, s.a. 963 (1: 410)]
(3) 965, Ælfthryth, daughter of Ordgar, ealdorman, dux of Devon, widow of Æthelweald/Æthelwold,
ealdorman of East Anglia.
["Her on þissum geare Eadgar cyning genam Ælf[ðr]yðe
him to cwene, heo wæs Ordgares dohtor ealdormannes."
ASC(D)].
Children:
["Eadweard & Eadmund
& Æðelred æðelingas syndon Eadgares suna cyninges."
Dumville (1976), 43, quoting genealogical material apparently
composed in the reign of Edgar; see also above under spouses]
(by Æthelflæd)
Eadweard "the Martyr", d. 18
March 978×9, king of England, 975-978×9.
Eadweard became king as a boy on the death
of his father in 975 ["& feng his bearn syððan to
cynerice cild únweaxen, eorla ealdor þam wæs Eadweard nama."
ASC(A) ("and his son afterwards succeeded to the royal
kingdom, an ungrown child, leader of earls, whose name was
Edward." ASC(Eng), 120); ASC(D,E); John Worc., s.a. 975
(1: 145); Wm. Malmes., Gesta Regum, c. 161 (1: 181)].
After a short reign of about three years, Eadweard was killed at
Corfe gap. The day of the year was 18 March ["18.
[March] Passio sancti Eadweardi regis et martyris."
Lib. Vit. Hyde, 270]. Some sources date the murder in 978
[ASC(A,C) s.a. 978; John Worc., s.a. 978 (1: 145); Lib. Vit.
Hyde, 276], while others date it in 979 [ASC(D,E,F) s.a. 979; Wm.
Malmes., Gesta Regum, c. 164 (1: 185: Æthelred's
accession)]. King lists give Eadweard a reign of either three
years, which would support 978 for Eadweard's death if we assume
rounding up [Dumville (1986), 31], or ".iiii. gear butan
.xvi. wucan" (4 years minus 16 weeks [Lists S,T]) or 3
years, 8 months [List R], which would support 979 [Dumville
(1986), 29; cf. "Edgaro post xvi. annos regni successit
Edwardus filius tribus annis et dimidio." Wm. Malmes., Gesta
Pont., c. 256 (p. 408)]. Opinions have varied. Keynes has
argued for the death of Eadweard and accession of Æthelred in
978 and the coronation of Æthelred on 4 May 979 [Keynes (1980),
233, n. 7]. Dumville has recently argued for 979 as the date of
Eadweard's murder [Williams (2003), 164 (n. 76); Dumville (2007),
which I have not seen]. In later legend, the murder was blamed on
Eadweard's stepmother Ælfthryth, but there is no contemporary
evidence for this [e.g., "Rex Anglorum Eadwardus, jussu
novercæ suæ Ælfthrythæ reginæ, in loco qui Corvesgeate
dicitur, a suis injuste occiditur, et apud Werham non regio more
sepelitur" John Worc. s.a. 978 (1: 145); Wm. Malmes., Gesta
Regum, c. 162 (1: 183)].
(by Wulfthryth)
Eadgyth, b. ca. 961×2, d. 16
September 984, abbess of Wilton.
William of Malmesbury states that she was
in her twenty-third year at her death [Wm. Malmes., Gesta
Pont., c. 87 (p. 189)]. [For her date of death, see Searle
(1899), 347; DNB 6: 387; original source not certain]
(by Æelfthryth)
Eadmund, b. ca. 966, d. 971, bur.
Romsey.
["Her forðferde Eadmund
æðeling. & his lic lið æt Rumesige." ASC(A)
s.a. 971 (erased); "Clito Eadmundus, regis Eadgari
filius, obiit, et in monasterio Rumesige honorifice est sepultus."
John Worc. s.a. 971 (1: 142)]
Æthelred II "the Unready", b. ca. 968, d. 23 April 1016, king of England,
978×9-1013, 1014-6;
m. (1) Ælfgifu (?);
m. (2) 1002, Emma, d. 6×7 March 1052, daughter of Richard I of
Normandy.
(mother unknown)
Eadgifu, fl. 963×975, abbess of
Winchester.
Eadgifu is known only from a record of a
boundary adjustment at Winchester by king Eadgar ["Eadgyfe
abedesse þæs cinges dohter" Cart. Sax. 3: 416
(#1163); Thorpe (1865), 232].
Falsely attributed
daughter:
Ælfthryth (Ælfþryð, Elftrude) of Wessex, said to have d. 7
June 929. (in fact daughter of Ælfred "the
Great", king of Wessex)
m. Baldwin II,
d. 918, count/marquis of Flanders, 879-918.
Later Flemish sources generally err by
calling her a daughter of king Eadgar [e.g., Genealogia
comitum Flandriae Bertiniana, MGH SS 9: 305].
ASC = Charles Plummer, Two of the Saxon Chronicles parallel, based on the earlier edition by John Earle, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1892-9). ASC(A) indicates the "A" manuscript of the chronicle, and similarly for the other manuscripts.
ASC(Eng) = Michael Swanton, ed. & trans., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (London, 2000).
Cart. Sax. = Walter de Gray Birch, ed., Cartularium Saxonicum, 4 vols. (1885-99).
Dumville (1976) = David N. Dumville, "The Anglian collection of royal genealogies and regnal lists", Anglo-Saxon England 5 (1976): 23-50.
Freeman (1870-9) = Edward A. Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest of England (5 vols. + index vol., Oxford, 1870-9)
John Worc. = Benjamin Thorpe, ed., Florentii Wigorniensis monachi chronicon ex chronicis, 2 vols., (London, 1848-9). (The work formerly attributed to Florence of Worcester is now generally attributed to John of Worcester.)
Keynes (1980) = Simon Keynes, The Diplomas of King Æthelred 'the Unready' (Cambridge, 1980).
Lib. Vit. Hyde = Walter de Gray Birch, Liber Vitae: Register and Martyrology of New Minister and Hyde Abbey Winchester (London, 1892).
Mem. Dunstan = William Stubbs, ed., Memorials of Saint Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury (Rolls Series 63, London, 1874).
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Onom. Anglo-Sax. = William George Searle, Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum (Cambridge, 1897). Spellings of Anglo-Saxon names on this page have been standardized according to this source.
Rog. Wendover = Henry O. Coxe, ed., Rogeri de Wendover Chronica, sive Flores Historiarum, 2 vols. (London, 1841).
Searle (1899) = William George Searle, Anglo-Saxon Bishops, Kings and Nobles (Cambridge, 1899).
Thorpe (1865) = Benjamin Thorpe, ed., Diplomatarium Anglicum Ævi Saxonici (London, 1865).
Williams (2003) = Ann Williams, Æthelred the Unready - The Ill-Counselled King (London & New York, 2003).
Wm. Malmes., Gesta Regum = William Stubbs, ed., Willelmi Malmesbiriensis Monachi De gestis regum Anglorum. libri quinque; Historiæ Novellæ libri tres, 2 vols. (Rolls series 90, 1887-9).
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 20 June 2010.
Minor revision uploaded 27 June 2010 (added reference from Roger of Wendover, pointed out by Todd Farmerie).