Anglo-Saxon cwenes and others

Moderator: MOD_nyhetsgrupper

Svar
Gjest

Anglo-Saxon cwenes and others

Legg inn av Gjest » 09 mai 2007 02:42:07

In "Motherhood and Mothering in Anglo-Saxon England" (2000) by Mary
Dockray-Miller, there is a chapter on the female relations of Alfred
the Great, notably his mother, Osburh. The author suggests that it is
unlikely that Osburh was the mother of Æthelwulf's elder children.
Asser dates Alfred's birth to 849, and Æthelwulf's sons Æthelstan,
Æthelbald, and Æthelberht were all grown adults and active in politics
by the early 850s. These three were probably fifteen to twenty years
older than Alfred. Dockray-Miller believes that Osburh was the mother
of Æthelwulf's three youngest children, Æthelswith, Æthelred, and
Alfred.

She also points out that Asser never refers to Osburh as Æthelwulf's
queen or even as his wife, only as Alfred's mother ("mater eiusdem")
and as the daughter of Oslac, king Æthelwulf's royal cupbearer. While
Osburh is usually believed to have died by 857, when Æthelwulf married
Judith, Dockray-Miller states that it's not unreasonable to think that
she may have simply been dismissed from Æthelwulf's service.

J. L. Nelson in her article "Reconstructing a Royal Family:
Reflections on Alfred, from Asser, Chapter 2" (People and Places in
Northern Europe: 500-1600, 1991) puts forth a theory that Alfred had
an illegitimate son, Osferth, named in Alfred's will as his kinsman.
He is described as "frater regis" in a cartulary copy of a charter
dated 904, during the reign of Alfred's son Edward the Elder. Another
unidentified member of the royal family, Oswald, signed charters as
"filius regis" up to 875. The Os- element of their names would seem to
suggest a connection to Osburh and her father Oslac.

Svar

Gå tilbake til «soc.genealogy.medieval»