Ælfflæd or Æthelflæd (fl. 840) is not recorded before the twelfth century. William of Malmesbury describes Æthelflæd as the daughter of King Ceolwulf I of Mercia, wife of King Wiglaf's son Wigmund, and mother of Wigstan.[1]

According to Thomas of Marlborough's hagiographical life of Wigstan, when his father King Wigmund died in 840, Wigstan refused to become king, preferring a life of religion. His relative Beorhtwulf then asked for permission to marry the widowed queen, Æfflæd, and when Wigstan refused, he had him murdered. John of Worcester has a different version of Wigstan's parentage and death, which he dates to 849. Wigstan was regarded as a saint, like many other Anglo-Saxon royals murdered for political reasons.[2]

She was the heir of her father and his brother Coenwulf, and, by the middle of the century, she was probably abbess of Winchcombe, as she was disposing of its property. She died after 850, and may have been the mother of King Ceolwulf II[3] and Eadburh, wife of Æthelred Mucel.[4][5][6][7]

References

  1. ↑ William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, iv.161.1, cited in Æthelflæd 27 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
  2. ↑ Rollason, David (2004). "Wigstan [St Wigstan] (d. 849)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/39291. Retrieved 9 February 2018. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  3. ↑ Williams, Ann (1991). "Ælfflæd". In Williams, Ann; Smyth, Alfred P.; Kirby, D. P. (eds.). A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain. Seaby. p. 6. ISBN 1-85264-047-2.
  4. ↑ Mommaerts-Browne, T S M (2005). "Anglo-Saxon Aristocracy: Tracing Lineages" (PDF). Foundations. 6: 404–413 – via Foundation for Medieval Genealogy.
  5. ↑ Kirby, D.P. (1992). The Earliest English Kings. London: Routledge. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-415-09086-5.
  6. ↑ This claim is based on the assertion made by the Welsh monk and bishop, Asser, that Eadburh was a member of the Mercian royal line. Similarly, the historian Richard Abels makes a connection to King Coenwulf of Mercia. Furthermore, D. P. Kirby goes further in claiming that Asser himself mentions Eadburh's kinship with Ceonwulf. Ford Mommaerts-Browne, nonetheless, observes that Ceonwulf's son, Cynehelm died young, and that his daughter, Cwoenthryth, was a nun, therefore Eadburh's descent from him seems unlikely. Alternatively, he suggests a connection to Coenwulf's brother, Ceolwulf, placing Eadburh as a daughter of Ælfflæd and Wigmund.
  7. ↑ Keynes & Lapidge, Asser, pp. 77; 240–41; Abels, Alfred the Great, p. 121
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