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AEthelflaed Of Wessex

Female Bef 885 - 918  (> 33 years)


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  • Name AEthelflaed Of Wessex 
    Born Bef 885 
    Gender Female 
    Died 918 
    Person ID I813  MyTree
    Last Modified 15 Aug 2009 

    Father the Great AElfred Of Saxony,   b. 849, Wantage, Berkshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 26 Oct 899, Kent, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 50 years) 
    Mother AElhswith Sighelm Of Saxony,   b. Aft 852, Mercia, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 5 Dec 905, St. Mary's Abbey, Winchester, Dorset, England Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age < 51 years) 
    Married 869 
    Family ID F4538  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family AEthelred Of Saxony,   b. Bef 855,   d. 911  (Age > 56 years) 
    Last Modified 17 Jul 2017 
    Family ID F4539  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • AEthelflaed was the eldest child of AElfred the Great. In or about
      884 when she was about sixteen, she married the Mercian Ealdorman
      AEthelred, who had been created "Lord of the Mercians" by AElfred.
      AEthelflaed often signed charters jointly with AEthelred and by 900
      had started to take over administration as AEthelred's illness drained
      his strength. AEthelflaed had inherited much of the resolve of her
      father, and continued her husband's campaigns against the Welsh. She
      also led the defense against the Vikings who, having established
      themselves in the north and east, now began to settle in the Wirral.
      AEthelflaed negotiated with their leader, Ingimund, to control the
      settlement, but in 905 the Vikings attacked Chester, causing
      AEthelflaed to fortify the town. She recognized that the Vikings
      might destroy the Saxon relics in the north and wherever possible she
      sought to salvage objects of veneration. These included the relics of
      Oswald of Northumbria which were translated to Gloucester in 909. When
      AEthelred died in 922, AEthelflaed continued to rule, though subject
      to her brother, Edward the Elder of Wessex. She created new fortified
      boroughs against the Welsh and Vikings, including those at Bridgnorth
      and Bromsgrove, and she sought to assist the Scots and Strathclyde
      Britons against the Norse of Dublin and York. AEthelflaed was one of
      the great warrior queens of England, and was highly respected by her
      enemies. She died at Tamworth on June 12, 918, about age fifty.
      Although she was succeeded by her daughter Elfwynn, it is evident that
      she expected AEthelstan, the eldest son of Edward the Elder, whom she
      had fostered and raised, to become king, which he eventually did.
      (Source: Mike Ashley, "British Monarchs")