Wulfthryth of Wessex

For the 10th-century abbess and saint, see Wulfthryth of Wilton.

Wulfthryth
Queen consort of Wessex
The witness list of charter S 340, with Wulfthryth's name in sixth position.
Bornfl. 868
SpouseÆthelred I, King of Wessex
IssueÆthelhelm
Æthelwold

Wulfthryth (fl. 868) was a queen of Wessex, the wife of King Æthelred I.

Little is known of Wulfthryth. She witnessed a charter of 868, in which she has the title of regina ("queen").[1] The charter appears in the Codex Wintoniensis, but Wulfthryth is otherwise unrecorded in primary sources.[2] Stephanie Hollis notes that 868 was the year of Alfred the Great's marriage to a Mercian and that "Wulfthryth's name looks Mercian".[3] Wulfthryth may be related to the Ealdorman Wulfhere who was granted land in Wiltshire by King Æthelred I in 869[4] and had his land confiscated for treason by King Alfred[5] He is identified incorrectly as "Wulfhere princeps" in the 869 charter[4] and his name appears directly below that of "Wulthryth regina".

Wulfthryth had two sons, Æthelhelm (c. 865 – c. 890) and Æthelwold (died 902), who were too young to succeed their father when he died in 871, and Alfred became king. Æthelwold unsuccessfully led Æthelwold's Revolt, disputing the throne with his cousin Edward the Elder after Alfred's death in 899.[6] Keynes & Lapidge suggest that Wulthryth may have been the mother of the "Oswald filius regis" who subscribes to a charter[7] in 868, and whom may be the father of the "Osferth" that is mentioned in King Alfred's will, and later is referred to as an Ealdorman in charters from King Edward's reign.[8]

References

  1. ^ Janet L. Nelson, 'Reconstructing a royal family: reflections on Alfred', in Ian N. Wood, Niels Lund (eds.), People and Places in Northern Europe, 500-1600: Essays in Honour of Peter Hayes Sawyer (Boydell & Brewer, 1991) p. 55
  2. ^ Florence Elizabeth Harmer, Select English Historical Documents of the Ninth and Tenth Centuries (Cambridge University Press, 1914), p. 102
  3. ^ Stephanie Hollis, Anglo-Saxon Women and the Church: Sharing a Common Fate (1992), p. 215 (footnote)
  4. ^ a b Charter S.341. "Online catalogue of Anglo-Saxon charters". The Electronic Sawyer. Retrieved 28 November 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ Charter S.362. "Online catalogue of Anglo-Saxon charters". The Electronic Sawyer. Retrieved 28 November 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ N. J. Higham, D. H. Hill, Edward the Elder: 899-924 (2013), p. 35
  7. ^ Charter S.340. "Online catalogue of Anglo-Saxon charters". The Electronic Sawyer. Retrieved 28 November 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Keynes, Simon; Lapidge, Michael (1983). Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and other contemporary sources. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books. p. 314. ISBN 978-0-14-044409-4.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.