The Royal Women Who Made England

The Tenth Century in Saxon England

M J Porter

• Publisher: Pen and Sword History
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781399068451
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

Read all about the royal women who were powerful in their own right, as well as through their husbands, sons, and grandsons. Throughout the tenth century, England, as it would be recognized today, formed. No longer many Saxon kingdoms, but rather, just England. Yet, this development masks much in the century in which the Viking raiders were seemingly driven from England's shores by Alfred, his children and grandchildren, only to return during the reign of his great, great-grandson, the much-maligned Æthelred II. Not one but two kings would be murdered, others would die at a young age, and a child would be named king on four occasions. Two kings would never marry, and a third would be forcefully divorced from his wife. Yet, the development towards 'England' did not stop. At no point did it truly fracture back into its constituent parts. Who then ensured this stability? To whom did the witan turn when kings died, and children were raised to the kingship? The royal woman of the House of Wessex came into prominence during the century, perhaps the most well-known being Æthelflæd, daughter of King Alfred. Perhaps the most maligned being Ælfthryth (Elfrida), accused of murdering her stepson to clear the path to the kingdom for her son, Æthelred II, but there were many more women, rich and powerful in their own right, where their names and landholdings can be traced in the scant historical record. Using contemporary source material, The Royal Women Who Made England can be plucked from the obscurity that has seen their names and deeds lost, even within a generation of their own lives.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Family Tree: Kings of Wessex, The Anglo-Saxons, and England (The House of Wessex)
• Chapter 1 The Long Tenth Century and its Kings
• Chapter 2 The Royal Women
• Chapter 3 The Mercian Royal Women
• Chapter 4 The Wives of Edward the Elder
• Chapter 5 The Religious
• Chapter 6 English Wives
• Chapter 7 The Continental Connection
• Chapter 8 The First Wife and the Daughters of ÆEhelred II
• Chapter 9 Women in Law
• Chapter 10 The Written Record
• Chapter 11 The Royal Women of the Long Tenth Century
• Chapter 12 Conclusion
• Biographical details
• Appendix I Charters attested by Eadgifu
• Appendix II Charters attested by Elfrida
• Appendix III The House of Wessex in the Tenth Century
• Appendix IV The Marriages of Edward the Elder,King of the Anglo-Saxons 899–924
• Bibliography
• Endnotes