[resent Sunday, 14 November, 2004]
Saturday, 13 November, 2004
Dear Alan, Todd, et al.,
In an SGM thread in 1999, there was discussion of the identity of
Wynflaed, shown in an AT as the father of St. Ælfgifu (wife of Edmund
I, King of England 940-946). Todd questioned this identification, on
the basis that the name 'Wynflaed' had a feminine ending, but there
evidently was no resolution at that time on this issue [1].
Courtesy of the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, Michael Wood's
transcription of Searle's work on Anglo-Saxon pedigrees [hereafter
refered to in this post as "ASP"] has the answer, or at least a
direction for finding same. The annotation to p. 347 of the copy
held in the London Library states concerning Ælfgifu: "Her mother's
name was Wynflaed. BCS 1186, d. 966." [2]
The annotations in ASP were allegedly made by Searle himself,
although Michael Wood has shown this to be impossible in certain
specific cases [3]. Irregardless, I have found that the will of
Wynflæd has been published by Dorothy Whitelock [4], and was a source
for the Victoria County History account for Eynsham, co. Oxon. [5].
Following is an interesting analysis of the will of Wynflæd by
Andrew Wareham:
" Will of Wynflæd, Shaftesbury nunnery archive, c. 950
Wynflæd has been tentatively identified as the mother-in-law of
King Edmund and niece of Bishop Alfred of Sherborne [22]. In her
testament matrilineal and patrilineal ideologies of kinship were kept
in equilibrium. Wynflæd had inherited an estate from her mother
Brihtwyn, and two of Wynflæd's other estates lay about ten to fifteen
kilometres from one of Brihtwyn's properties [23]. In her testament
Wynflæd disposed of the following: two Dorset properties; one estate
in Wiltshire, possibly acquired from the crown; and a residence,
perhaps in Dorset, which she had inherited from her mother [24]. One
estate was granted to the Shaftesbury nunnery, but the other
properties passed to her daughter, Æthelflæd, along with numerous
household chattels [25]. In return Æthelflæd had 'to be mindful' of
her mother's soul, and ws asked to oversee gifts of men and stock
from these three estates to two royal nunneries and two royal
minsters in the south-west. Through these transactions vertical
bonds of female kinship linking the grandmother, Brihtwyn, to her
granddaughter, Æthelflæd, were emphasized. The spiritual
relationship between Æthelflæd and the Shaftesbury nunnery gave
value to horizontal female kinship ties, forging an alliance between
Æthelflæd, her sister who was buried at Shaftesbury, and her royal
mother-in-law.
The strength of patrilineal ideologies was demonstrated by the
bequest of four estates in Hampshire and Berkshire [26]. As one of
these estates had been Wynflæd's marriage gift from her husband, it
seems likely that the remaining three estates had also passed from
her husband's resouces. Wynflæd bequeathed these estates to Eadmær,
identified as her son, and when his son (Eadwold) reached his
majority, he was to receive two of these properties [27]. Eadmær
was required to make gifts in coin and stock to five minsters in
Berkshire, which had no known connections with the monarchy or with
Wynflæd's own family. Estates which had descended from Wynflæd's
family of birth and the royal fisc were used to emphasize ties
between kinswomen in association with royal nunneries and minsters
in the south-west, whereas estates acquired from her husband were
used to focus attention upon the male line of descent linking
grandfather to grandson in association with a group of non-royal
minsters in Berkshire." [6]
The following chart is based on the text of Wynflæd's will as
interpreted by Andrew Wareham, the chart provided by Wareham (p. 382)
and pedigrees of the Anglo-Saxon kings (including Searle, pp. 346-7).
___________________________________
I I
NN = Brihtwyn Alfred
I Bishop of Sherborne, 933-ca. 941
I
I
NN = Wynflæd
I
___I____________________________________________
I I I
Edmund = Ælfgifu Æthelflæd Eadmær
K of I I
England I I
940-946 I ________I____
______I____________ I I
I I I I
Edwy Edgar = 1) Æthelflæd Eadwold Eadgifu
K of K of I = 2) Ælfthryth
England England I I
955-959 959-975 I I___________________
________I _________I________
I I I
Edward 'the Martyr' Edmund Æthelræd 'Unræd'
King 975-978 d. ca. 970 King 978-1013, 1014-16
What possibility there is for identifying the husbands of Wynflæd
and Brihtwyn is uncertain; perhaps the manors held by Wynflaed
(including her dower of Faccombe) as named by Wareham may advance that
effort.
Hope this is helpful.
Cheers,
John *
NOTES
[1] Alan B. Wilson, <Re: Alice Tunstall (LONG! part 3 of 3)>, SGM,
20 July 1999, states in part [reply to post by Todd A. Farmerie]:
In article <
[email protected]>, "Todd A. Farmerie"
<
[email protected]> wrote:
As far as i know, there is no contemporary source for the father of St.
Aelfgifu. As to the name you give, Wynflaed, the -flaed ending is more
typical of a female name. Still Hart is a good researcher, and might
have found something of value.
" Actually Cyril Hart in Table 3.4, p. 128, shows Eadmund m., firstly,
ca 940, Aelfgifu, dau. of Wynflaed, d. 943/4. This leaves open the
possibility that Wynflaed is either Aelfgifu's father or mother. While
I photocopied the charts, I do not have the text available at home to
see whether this is clarified, and on what evidence Hart relied. "
[2] William George Searle, Anglo-Saxon Bishops, Kings and Nobles: The
Succession of the Bishops and the Pedigrees of the Kings and
Nobles [Cambridge: the University Press, 1899], p. 347. Text and
annotations (entitled Anglo-Saxon Pedigrees Annotated-Part 1,
transcribed by Michael Wood) courtesy Foundation for Medieval
Genealogy,
http://fmg.ac/ [3] Ibid., p. 269.
[4] Dorothy Whitelock, ed., Anglo-Saxon Wills [Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1930]. Source not seen.
[5] A History of the County of Oxford, XII:98-110 (courtesy British
History Online,
http://www.britishhistory.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=5203 " A further possibility that in the 10th century Eynsham belonged to a
succession of closely related members of the West Saxon royal household
depends upon its identification as the Inggeneshamme, Incgenaesham, or
Igenesham of several surviving wills. The forms have been attributed
usually to Inglesham (Wilts.), although the 10th-century Latin
chronicler Aethelweard used the very similar form Ignesham for the
undisputed Egenesham of 571 in his translation of the Chronicle.
(Footnote 20)
Aethelweard, whose son Aethelmaer founded Eynsham abbey, may have known
Eynsham, since it possibly already belonged to a kinsman. In the mid
10th century Wynflaed, probably grandmother of King Edgar, by will gave
Inggeneshamme to her son Eadmaer. (Footnote 21) Later Aelfheah (d. c.
971), ealdorman of Hampshire, by will gave Incgenaesham to King Edgar,
to whom he was related. (Footnote 22) The chronicler Aethelweard, as a
descendant of Ethelred, king of Wessex, was related to both Wynflaed
and Aelfheah. (Footnote 23) Aelfheah's successor as ealdorman of
Hampshire, Aethelmaer (d. 982), by will gave Igenesham to an unnamed
elder son, (Footnote 24) and before 1005 Aethelmaer, son of Aethelweard
the chronicler, acquired Egnesham by exchange from another Aethelweard,
his son-in-law. (Footnote 25) The son-in-law's antecedents are not
known, but it is possible that he was a descendant of Aethelmaer,
ealdorman of Hampshire, and that the Igenesham bequeathed in 982 was
the Egnesham of 1005. Interpretation of the place-name Eynsham, which
compounds with hamm (river meadow) a personal name which is either
AngloSaxon or Celtic, depends upon which early forms are accepted.
(Footnote 26) "
[ Footnotes to the VCH account above: ]
20 Chron. of Aethelweard, ed. A. Campbell, 13. The editor dismisses
the translation as a 'slip': ibid. p. Iviii.
21 D. Whitelock, A.-S. Wills, pp. 10–15, 108–10, Finberg, Wessex
Chart. pp.44, 90.
22 Whitelock, Wills, pp. 22–5, 121–2.
23 Chron. of Aethelweard,pp. xiii sqq.; S. Keynes, Diplomas of King
Aethelred, p. 188; cf. Whitelock, Wills, pp.118-19.
24 Ibid. pp. 24–7, 125–6; Finberg, Wessex Chart. pp.55–6, 99; Gelling,
Thames Valley Chart. pp. 133-4.
25 Eynsham Cart. i, pp. 19 sqq. For Aethelmaer see Chron. of
Aethelweard, pp. xiii sqq.; Keynes, Diplomas, 192, 209-10.
26 P.N. Oxon. (E.P.N.S.), ii. 258-9; Ekwall, Dict. Eng. Place Names,
171-2.
[6] Andrew Wareham, The Transformation of Kinship and the Family in
Late Anglo-Saxon England [Early Medieval Europe 10 (3)], pp.
381-383. Footnotes to the text ["W" :
" 22. W., p. 109; Charters of Shaftesbury Abbey, ed. S. E. Kelly,
Anglo-Saxon Charters 5 (London, 1996), pp. xiii-xiv.
23. W. , no. 4 (S 1539), p. 14, ls. 29-30; Charters of Shaftesbury
Abbey, ed. Kelly, nos. 13, 16.
24. W., no. 4, p. 10, ls. 7-15. She had the title deed to
Ebbesborne (Wilts.), possibly a royal grant. For other
Ebbesborne grants by the crown, S 522; S 635; S 640; S 696;
S 861.
25. W., no. 4, p. 10, ls. 7-15.
26. Ibid., p. 10, ls. 15-27; p. 12, ls. 23-4.
27. On kinship, ibid., p. 110. On property, the exception to this
pattern was Wynflæd's marriage gift, Faccombe, which after the
death of Eadmær was to pass to her daughter (Æthelflæd) and then
to her grandson Eadwold. Wynflæd may have included her daughter
Æthelflæd because she had greater control over her marriage gift
than over the other estates (Adderbury, Coleshill, Inglesham)
received from her husband. "
* John P. Ravilious