Osburh OsburhAll that is known of Osburh appears in the work of Asser (and sources depending on him), who assigns an ancestry that is clearly mythical ["Mater [Ælfredi] quoque eiusdem Osburh nominabatur, religiosa nimium femina, nobilis ingenio, nobilis et genere; quae erat filia Oslac, famosi pincernae Æthelwulfi regis." Asser, c. 2 (p. 4)]. See the page of Oslac for further details.
Date of birth: Unknown.
Place of birth: Unknown.
Date of death: Unknown.
Place of
death: Unknown.
Some controversy has been
generated over a famous passage in Asser, in which Ælfred's
mother tells him and his brothers that she will give a book to
the first to learn, whereupon Ælfred promptly learns it and wins
the book [Asser, c. 23 (p. 20)]. Some have argued that this
incident could not have occurred until after Æthelwulf's second
marriage with Judith in 856, and that this therefore proves that
Osburh was still living after 856 [e.g., Lappenberg (1834-81), 2:
30]. Others have argued that the event took place before 856, and
that Osburh was already dead at the time that Æthelwulf married
Judith [e.g., Stevenson, in his notes to Asser, 221-5]. The
details on this matter are too vague to be certain. Although
Osburh's survival past 856 would make Æthelwulf technically a
bigamist, it cannot be ruled out.
Father: Oslac, pincerna of king Æthelwulf.
Mother: Unknown.
Spouse: Æthelwulf, d. 858 (prob. 13 Jan.), king of Wessex.
Possible children:
Although it seems likely that
Osburh was also the mother of at least some of Æthelwulf's other
children, there is no direct statement to that effect in any of
the early sources.
Æthelbeald, d. 860, bur. Sherborne, king
of Wessex, 855-860;
m. Judith, his father's widow, daughter of Charles the Bald, king of the West Franks, emperor.
Æthelswith, d. 888, bur. Pavia;
m. 853 (after Easter), Burgred, d. after 874,
bur. Rome, king of Mercia, 852-874.
Æthelbeorht, d. 865×6, bur. Sherborne,
king of Kent, 858-865×6; king of Wessex, 860-865×6.
Æthelred I, d. soon after Easter, 871, bur
Wimborne, king of Wessex, 865×6-871;
prob. m. Wulfthryth, fl. 868.
Known child:
Osburh is explicitly called the
mother of Ælfred by Asser (see above).
Ælfred "the Great", b. ca. 848×9, d. 26 October 899, king of Wessex,
871-899;
m. Ealhswith, d. 5 December 902×3, daughter
of Æthelred
Mucil, ealdorman of the Gaini.
Asser = William Henry Stevenson, ed., Asser's Life of King Alfred (new impression, Oxford, 1959).
Lappenberg (1834-1881) = J. M. Lappenberg, A History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings (translated by Benjamin Thorpe, new edition by E. C. Otté), 2 vols. (London, 1881, orig. pub. 1834).
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 20 June 2010.