Alfred (Wessex) of England (aft. 1005 - abt. 1036)

Born after 1005 in England

Ancestors

Died about 5 Feb 1036 before about age 31 in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England

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Biography

Alfred (Wessex) of England is a member of the House of Wessex.

Alfred was the son of Ethelred "the Unready", King of England and his second wife Emma.^[1][2] His birth date is uncertain, but his parents married in 1002^[3] and he was Emma's second son.^[1] About 1005 is a reasonable estimate.

Alfred witnessed a charter of his father in 1013.^[1] That year, he and other members of the family sought refuge in Normandy from Viking attacks on England.^[4] He probably returned to England with his parents in 1014, but then is recorded back in Normandy following the accession of Cnut.^[1]

After Cnut's death, Alfred went to England, in the hope of gaining the throne, which Harold Harefoot had claimed. He and his companions were captured in Surrey. Most of his entourage were killed. Alfred himself was taken to Ely, Cambridgeshire, where he was blinded and killed on 5 February 1036 or 1037.^[1][5] He was buried at Ely.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by M K Lawson for 'Alfred Ætheling', print and online 2004
2. ↑ Charles Cawley. ÆTHELRED, son of EDGAR "the Peaceable", entry in "Medieval Lands" database (accessed 14 April 2021) - child 13
3. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Simon Keynes for 'Æthelred II [Ethelred; known as Ethelred the Unready]', print and online 2004, revised online 2009
4. ↑ Michael Swanton (translator and editor). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, revised edition, Phoenix Press, 2000, p. 144
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Michael Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, pp. 157-158