After Killing a King

After the startling murder of Edward the Martyr, Ælfthryth's role in the incident came under scrutiny. Was she simply greeting her stepson the king and offering him refreshment after his journey to Corfe Castle to visit her and her son? Or was she deliberately distracting him with a drink so that he could be unsuspecting and unprepared while he was dragged from his horse and stabbed by her retainers.

Or was it possibly a Becket situation, with the retainers acting on their own to remove an obstacle to Æthelred's accession to the throne, knowing this was what their mistress wanted?

Whatever the case, the murder of a king was shocking. Kings were considered to hold their position by divine right, and killing one was an egregious sin. The hasty burial at Wareham was "unceremonious," to say the least. A year later, the body was removed to Shaftesbury Abbey. When they dug him up, he was deemed "uncorrupted," a sign of saintliness.

Contemporary chroniclers telling the tale of the murder do not name the murderer(s), which is unusual since they would be known, and presumably punished. This reticence could be explained by the writers avoiding naming publicly the person they deemed the real culprit, Ælfthryth. Naming the woman who had been crowned a queen as a plotter of assassination 

Chroniclers could also have avoided naming the murderer(s) because they were retainers of Æthelred, and since he was by default the next king, any suggestion that he might have instigated or planned the murder was a chancy idea to put into writing.

In any case, the young Æthelred became king. I've written about him several times, so I want to fulfill a promise I made two days ago, when I said here that I would have more to say on Edgar's "middle" family, his second consort and her daughter. See you tomorrow for the story of Saint Edith.

Ælfthryth's Plans

Ælfthryth was the first wife of a king of England (Edgar the Peaceable) to be crowned queen herself. She was the third woman (that we know of) with whom Edgar had children. She had two with Edgar: Edmund, who died young, and Æthelred, born c.966.

Edgar had an older son, Edward, born c.962 by his first wife, Æthelflæd. Upon Edgar's death in July 975, the question of succession came down to Edward and Æthelred. Ælfthryth tried to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the marriage to Æthelflæd, trying to convince the noble and populace that Æthelred was the only legitimate son and therefore should take the throne.

There is some additional evidence supporting Ælfthryth's claim. A charter of 966 lists Ælfthryth  as the "legitimate wife" and Edmund as the "legitimate son," whereas Edward is mentioned as "begotten by the same king."

Neither of the boys had reached his majority—and the evidence suggests that Edward may, indeed, have been born out of wedlock, but by the backing of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan, and the powerful Ealdorman of East Anglia, Æthelwine, Edward was chosen over Æthelred. An account written many decades later claims that Dunstan, seeing the opposition to Edward, pushed forward with declaring Edward king in a drastically abbreviated ceremony. In compensation, Æthelred was given the lands traditionally granted to the king's eldest son.

After Edgar's support of monastic reform—replacing secular clergy in monasteries with monks following the Rule of St. Benedict—Edward's was a very different reign. One contemporary priest, Byrhtferth, described it thus:

the commonwealth of the entire realm was shaken; bishops were perplexed, ealdormen were angry, monks were struck with fear, the people were terrified, and the secular clerics were made happy, because their time had come. Abbots are now expelled, together with their monks; clerics are brought in together with their wives; and 'the last error was worse than the first'

In light of this, Ælfthryth may have been the savior of the people. In March 978 the king decided to visit his brother at Corfe Castle. When he arrived, he was met at the gate by Ælfthryth and her retainers. Some sources say he was offered a cup by his step-mother to quench his thirst after the ride. He was pulled from the horse and stabbed by her retainers. It is said his foot was caught in the stirrup, and that his horse bolted and he wa dragged for some distance.

He was 16 years old. The body was buried quickly somewhere nearby. We'll talk about the immediate aftermath tomorrow.

Edgar's Families

King Edgar the Peaceable was known to have three consorts, one or two of whom he might even have married. Two of his sons went on to become kings of England themselves.

The first woman with whom he "consorted" and married was Æthelflæd Eneda ("The White Duck"). An 11th-century scholar named Eadmer wrote a Life of St. Dunstan in which he relates that she was the legitimate wife of Edgar by 957-959, and that she died "a few years later." The two had a son, Edward, born c.962.  Edgar was known to have relations with two others not long after 962, so Æthelflæd may have died not long after Edward's birth.

Edgar next (or concurrently) consorted with Wulfthryth of Wilton in the early 960s, but by 964 was married to Ælfthryth. By Wulfthryth he had a daughter, Edith of Wilton, who was born c.961 (yes, before the birth of the son, Edward). The story goes that Edgar took Wulfthryth out of the nunnery at Wilton Abbey and to Kent, where Edith was born. William of Malmesbury wrote that they were married, but that she renounced the marriage after Edith's birth, leaving Edgar and taking Edith with her back to Wilton Abbey, where Wulfthryth remained for the rest of her life (more on them later).

The third consort—whom he married—was Ælfthryth. This was her second marriage; her first was to Æthelwald, son of Æthelstan Half-King (mentioned in Edgar's link above), and there is an interesting story about that marriage.

Ælfthryth was considered exceptionally beautiful, and Edgar sent his trusted lieutenant Æthelwald to see if the rumors of her beauty were true and to propose that she marry Edgar. It turns out the rumors were true, and the proposal was from Æthelwald himself, who married her and told Edgar that she was not beautiful at all. Hints of this betrayal got back to Edgar, who said he would visit the poor woman, whereupon Æthelwald told her to make herself as unattractive as possible. Instead, she set her eyes on being a queen and made herself as beautiful as possible. Edgar fell for her, and either killed Æthelwald during a hunt or simply posted him to Northumbria. In either case, he got Æthelwald out of the way and married Ælfthryth in 964/65.

Ælfthryth was from the Wessex royal line, and was the first wife of a king of England to be crowned herself as queen, a ceremony which took place on 11 May 973. Queen Ælfthryth was very involved in the administration of the realm, being an advocate in at least six legal cases. She was also interested in the dynastic succession, and looked carefully at Edgar's children from his previous women. Ælfthryth had her own children with Edgar, and wanted them to succeed Edgar. I'll tell you tomorrow what steps she took to ensure that outcome. Yes, it is what you think.

Edgar the Peaceable

Edgar (c.944 - 8 July 975) was king of England, a son of Edmund I, gaining the throne after the death of his older brother Eadwig. His immediate predecessors had dealt with Viking invasions of England, especially in the north, but Edgar's reign (959 - 975) was blessed in that there were no invasions to deal with, allowing him to focus on local matters.

His mother Ælfgifu seems to have died shortly after childbirth, so he was raised by Ælfwynn, the wife of Æthelstan Half-King, an ealdorman of East Anglia, whose nickname is recorded in a Life of St. Oswald and explained as the result of the authority he wielded in East Anglia and the value of his advice to the five kings of England he served. Ælfwynn was very religious, and Edgar's upbringing was exposed to the idea of monastic reform.

His teacher in this was Æthelwold of Winchester, the abbot of Abingdon Abbey.

As king, therefore, he supported English Benedictine Reform, the late 10th-century religious and intellectual movement to replace monasteries (which at the time were largely staffed by often-married secular clergy) with celibate and contemplative monks who would follow the Rule of St. Benedict. Edgar's influence in this matter was more prominent in southern England; as yet his sway over practices in the north was tentative, a holdover from the previous decades of their independence under Viking rule.

In fact, most of the contemporary or near-contemporary sources we have on Edgar come from accounts of the Benedictine Reform movement—logical, since literate clergy were the likeliest sources of writing and recording at the time. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle only has ten entries that mention him.

Later historians have a lot to say about Edgar, his three consorts—one or two of which he might have actually married—and the children he fathered with them. They make for interesting reading, and we'll start those stories tomorrow.

Oslac and Eadwulf Evil-Child

It would appear, after the death of Oswulf I of Bamburgh, that Northumbria was divided between two earls, Oslac of York and Eadwulf Evil-Child of Bamburgh. Oslac apparently managed the southern part of Northumbria, while Eadwulf held the north. Their origins are similarly obscure, but circumstantial evidence suggests a connection to Oswulf: the "Os-" element in Oslac's and Oswulf's names and the fact that "Eadwulf" was also the name of a previous ruler of Bamburgh who may have been Oswulf's father.

On the map shown, Jorvik (its original name) refers to the kingdom of York. The area north would have been Eadwulf's.

Their names appear in official documents. Oslac appears as witness to three charters in 963 as a thegn, not quite the earl status that later histories gave him. Eadwulf likewise appears as witness to royal charters between 968 and 970. Still, those charters—assuming the names on the charters are the same persons as the men administering the north—show that each of them was a trusted member of the court and traveled to meet with the king, who at the time was Edgar the Peaceable (who succeeded Eadwig who succeeded Eadred, who had worked diligently to re-unite Northumbria with southern England).

By 994, a charter is attested by Waltheof, Eadwulf's successor, suggesting that Eadwulf was either deceased or simply no longer in charge for some reason that no histories mention. Oslac was banished from England not long after the death of King Edgar. Edgar's death had led to a conflict over the succession, and some suggest that both Oslac and Eadwulf backed the unsuccessful Æthelred the Unready instead of Edward the Martyr, and lost their positions because of that misplaced loyalty (Æthelred was not even a teenager yet; Edward was older, but illegitimate; hence the debate over the succession.)

Whatever the case, Oslac and Eadwulf have their footnote in history. Oh, and why the nickname "evil child"? Who knows? His given name means "happy wolf"; perhaps it was simply a joke: "happy wolf, evil boy." Or he was truly considered to be less than a good person. Anyone who knows the reason for the name is long dead.

As is King Edgar the Peaceable, but at least we know more about him, and I'll share some of the with you next time.

Oswulf I of Bamburgh

Oswulf had (according to Roger of Wendover's account) betrayed Eric Bloodaxe to help get rid of him. Once Northumbria was finally rid of Viking rulers, King Eadred made Oswulf commander of Northumbria. He had been the ruler of Bamburgh, a village on the coast, and was likely a son of Eadwulf I of Bamburgh, who had been the ruler there until his death in 913

Bamburgh was very small—still is, but it has a castle (see illustration)—and the tradition that Oswulf became commander of all Northumbria seems a bit of a stretch, but a history written a little later, the De primo Saxonum adventu ("On the first arrival of the Saxons") supports this:

Primus comitum post Eiricum, quem ultimum regem habuerunt Northymbrenses, Oswulf provincias omnes Northanhymbrorum sub Edrido rege procuravit.

First of the earls after Erik, the last king whom the Northumbrians had, Oswulf administered under King Eadred all the provinces of the Northumbrians.

The Historia Regum ("History of Kings") by Symeon of Durham also says "Here the kings of Northumbrians came to an end and henceforth the province was administered by earls." So it looks legitimate (or at least was thoroughly believed) that the Anglo-Saxon king in the south managed Northumbria through subordinates, rather than allowing them their own king.

Northumbria might not have been "intact" under a single earl for long, however: the De primo Saxonum adventu claims that it was divided into two parts after Oswald's death, between Oslac of York and Eadwulf Evil-child. Let's talk about those two tomorrow.

Trouble in Northumbria

In 947/948, the folk of Northumbria decided to oust Amlaib Cuarán, the Viking ruler who came from Dublin with his cousin, Olaf Guthfrithson, and took over when Olaf died. They invited Eric (later called "Bloodaxe") from Norway to take his place. This request for another Scandinavian ruler seems to be a response to the Anglo-Saxon family of Æthelstan continually subduing the north to keep England united.

Archbishop of York Wulfstan supported Eric, but the current Anglo-Saxon king, Eadred, came north in 948 and destroyed part of Northumbria as punishment, even burning several buildings at Ripon (a significant place, it was founded by St. Wilfrid and housed the remains of St. Cuthbert at one time). When he departed the north, Eadred advised that he would return with greater devastation if they did not get rid of Eric.

That did not resolve the "northern trouble," however, because shortly after, King Malcolm I of Scotland raided Northumbria and took captives and stole cattle. Moreover, with Eric gone and Eadred back south, Amlaib returned in 949, so one record claims. That only lasted until 952 when, once again, the Northumbrians expelled him, whereupon Eric returned to reign from 952 - 954.

Eric might have stayed longer except for a betrayal. A history written a century later by Roger of Wendover says:

King Eric was treacherously killed by Earl Maccus in a certain lonely place which is called Stainmore, with his son Haeric and his brother Ragnald, betrayed by Earl Oswulf; and then afterwards King Eadred ruled in these districts.

After this, Oswulf administered Northumbria and was loyal to Eadred and the following English kings. Northern control by Vikings was a thing of the past. The identity of Maccus is unknown. It is assumed that Roger of Wendover had access to a text with details of the death that is no longer available to modern scholars.

Tradition tells that Oswulf ruled all of Northumbria for about the next decade, so I think he's worth talking about, although we know very little about him. See you tomorrow.

Eric Bloodaxe

I mentioned yesterday that the control of northern England passed in and out of Anglo-Saxon and Viking hands until finally the inhabitants themselves drove out the last Viking ruler in 954. That ruler was Eric Bloodaxe.

Details of Eric's life are few, and this has caused the sometime King of Northumbria in the 940s and 950s with an Eric of Norway mentioned in Norse sagas who ruled the Norwegian Westlands in the 930s. This possibly erroneous conflation of the two gives us a richer history, but cannot be proven. If true, however, then Bloodaxe is the son of Harald Fairhair and half-brother of Haakon the Good, and left the kingship of Norway to rule over northern England.

At least we have evidence of his status in England from the existence of coins minted during his reign. Shown are coins minted at York with "ERIC REX" on them, accompanied by a sword.

The epithet "Bloodaxe" comes from mentions by a Norse poet writing in the 900s, and is given to him because he supposedly slew his half-brothers to ensure his rule over Norway. Other poets and historians refer to him as a "brother killer" or simply the he was vicious as a Viking raider. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle omits "Bloodaxe" and refers to him simply as "Harald's son."

Let's talk about northern England. When Æthelstan died in 939, he was succeeded by his teenage brother Edmund. It seems that Olaf Guthfrithson almost immediately left Dublin to reclaim what he once claimed. He was joined by his cousin, Olaf Sihtricsson (known in Ireland and usually referred to in chronicles as Amlaib Cuarán). When Guthfrithson died in 941 or 942, Amlaib succeeded him. He had (for a time, at least) the support of Archbishop Wulfstan of York. Edmund then marched north and subdued Amlaib (and Wulfstan), and negotiated a treaty: Amlaib would be an ally and could hold onto Northumbria.

This second Olaf, however, was supposedly not as acceptable as the first, so Wulfstan and others helped drive him out in 952 and invited Eric from Norway to come and rule them. This is where he starts minting his own coins. Tomorrow we'll continue the back-and-forth possession of Northern England from Viking to Anglo-Saxon hands.

Æthelstan's Reign, Part 3

King Æthelstan (c.890s - 27 October 939) united England under a single ruler, prevented invasion, reformed the law, and donated to the Church. He did all the things you would want a leader to do, but of course, nothing lasts forever.

Æthelstan died almost exactly 40 years after the death of his grandfather, Alfred the Great. There is no particular reason given for his death. It is likely that, as a man in his 40s who had led armies through some fierce battles and pushed his body to its limits as the leader of a country, he was simply aged to the point where his body had enough. The fact that so many king's deaths raise the specter of poison, but not here, is telling that it seemed a natural death.

He was buried at Malmesbury Abbey. The 12th-century chronicler William of Malmesbury stated that the king had devotion to the memory of the 7th-century St. Aldhelm, but there may have been another reason. When Æthelstan first was crowned, he had an older sibling, Ælfweard, with a claim to the throne. Winchester—where Æthelstan's grandfather, father, and Ælfweard were buried—seems to have preferred Ælfweard over Æthelstan. Æthelstan might have avoided Winchester as part of a grudge.

With the king's death, the Viking king of Dublin, Olaf Guthfrithson, was chosen by York to rule them. The unification of northern England to the rest of the island was broken. It got worse: Olaf conquered the East Midlands as well. Upon Olaf's death in 941, Æthelstan's half-brother Edmund managed to regain control of the midlands in 942 and York in 944, but that victory was short-lived. Edmund died in May 946, and the Vikings once again took control of York.

I once wrote of Æthelstan as the Forgotten King. The truth is that we have little source material about his life. William of Malmesbury wrote about him long after his death, and his account is considered unreliable, but some historians argue that William must have had access to some lost biography. Still, the charters and coins give evidence of a very active king. Also, the illustration in yesterday's post was made in Æthelstan's lifetime, making his likeness one of the earliest contemporary portraits of an English king in existence.

Speaking of York: northern England swayed back and forth from Anglo-Saxon to Viking hands. Anglo-Saxon rule did not become permanent until the northerners decided to drive out their Viking rule themselves. Tomorrow we'll start the story of that Viking ruler, Eric Bloodaxe.