Æthelswith
Æthelswith (c. 838–888) was the only known daughter of King Æthelwulf of Wessex. She married King Burgred of Mercia in 853. The couple had no known children.
Although it is unclear to what extent, Æthelswith wielded some power as a queen in her own right. In 868 she witnessed a West Saxon charter and made a grant of fifteen hides of land in her own name in Berkshire, rare for a queen of the period to do so.[1][2]
Burgred's reign lasted until 874 when the Vikings drove him from the kingdom and he fled to Rome with Æthelswith. He died shortly after. Æthelswith lived on in Italy for another decade, before dying while on a pilgrimage in Pavia in 888[3] and was buried in the monastery of San Felice.[4]
References
[edit]- ↑ Stafford, Pauline (2003). "Succession and inheritance: a gendered perspective on Alfred's family history". In Reuter, Timothy (ed.). Alfred the Great. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315262932. ISBN 978-1-315-26293-2. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
- ↑ Whitehead, Annie (30 May 2020). Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England. Pen and Sword History. ISBN 978-1-5267-4814-0.
- ↑ Simon Keynes & Michael Lapidge eds, Alfred the Great, Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources (Penguin Classics). London: Penguin, 1983, pp. 69, 113, 232, 281.
- ↑ "Pavia, S. Felice". Codice diplomatico della Lombardia medieval (secoli VIII- XII). Retrieved 5 August 2022.
External links
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