Ælfweard (Wessex) of Wessex (abt. 900 - 924)

Born about 0900 in Wessex, England

Ancestors

Died 2 Aug 0924 at about age 24 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Michael Cayley [send private message]

Ælfweard (Wessex) of Wessex is a member of the House of Wessex.

Biography

Ælfweard was the second son of King Edward the Elder and Æflaeda.^[1][2] His birth date is uncertain, but he was old enough in 909 to witness two charters.^[3] He would still have been a child at the time, as his mother was his father's second wife and his father's first marriage was in the period 892-894.^[3]

Little is known about him. William of Malmesbury states that he was very literate.^[3][4]

William of Malmesbury adds that "King Edward [the Elder] therefore dying [in 924}, was shortly followed by his legitimate son Ælfweard."^[3] This almost certainly refers to Ælfweard dying soon after Edward the Elder, and not to his succeeding to the throne. The Abingdon and Worcester manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle state that Ælfweard died at Oxford very soon after his father - the Worcester manuscript says 16 days after - and was buried with his father at Winchester.^[5] There is nothing in the Chronicle to suggest that Ælfweard reigned, even very briefly, and all the manuscripts of the Chronicle imply that Æthelstan succeeded directly.^[5] Both William of Malmesbury and Florence of Worcester state that Edward the Elder left his realm to Æthelstan.^[3]

A Wessex king list of the 12th century in the Textus Roffensis says Ælfweard did reign, for four weeks, but this may well be a misunderstanding of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The 11th-century New Minster Liber Vitae, produced at Winchester, records him as a king^[6] but there is no reliable source for his having reigned, and no record of a coronation, though coronations did not always occur quickly after the death of a monarch - Æthelstan himself was not crowned until 925.^[6][7]

Despite the absence of any firm evidence, some modern historians think Ælfweard may have had the briefest of reigns over the parts of England ruled by his father,^[6] or may very briefly have ruled Wessex while Æthelstan ruled Mercia, with Æthelstan coming to rule Wessex only after the death of Ælfweard.^[6][8]

Sources

1. ↑ Alison Weir. Britain's Royal Families, new edition, Pimlico, 2002, p. 13
2. ↑ Donald Henson. A Guide to late Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon Books, 1998, p. 68
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4} Charles Cawley. 'Medieval Lands' database, entry for ÆLFWEARD (Edward the Elder, child 7)
4. ↑ John Sharpe (translator), edited and revised by Joseph Stevenson. The History of the Kings of England and of his own Times, by William of Malmesbury, Seeleys, 1854, pp. 109-110
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Michael Swanton (translator and editor). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Phoenix Press, 2000, pp. 104-105
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3} Wikipedia:Aelfweard of Wessex]
7. ↑ Charles Cawley. 'Medlands', entry for ÆTHELSTAN (Edward the Elder, child 2)
8. ↑ See eg Nicholas J Higham and Martin J Ryan. The Anglo-Saxon World, Yale University Press, 2013, p. 301