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Persoonlijke gegevens Ælfthryth of Devon 

• Zij is geboren in het jaar 945 in Wessex (West Saxony), England.
• (Feit:) .

  Ælfthryth/ Alfrida/ Elfrida/Elfthryth was the second wife of King Edgar of England. Ælfthryth was the first king's wife known to have been crowned and anointed as Queen of the Kingdom of England. Mother of King Ethelred the Unready, she was a powerful political figure, linked to the murder of her stepson King Edward the Martyr & appeared as a stereotypical bad Queen and evil stepmother in many medieval histories. Married 1) Æthelwald, son of Æthelstan Half-King as recorded by Byrhtferth of Ramsey in his Life of Saint Oswald of Worcester. The beauty of Ordgar's daughter Ælfthryth was reported to King Edgar. Edgar, looking for a Queen, sent Æthewald to see Ælfthryth, ordering him "to offer her marriage to Edgar if her beauty were really equal to report." When she turned out to be justas beautiful as was said, Æthelwald married her himself & reported back to Edgar that she was quite unsuitable. Edgar was eventually told of this & decided to repay Æthelwald's betrayal in like manner. He said that he would visit the poor woman, which alarmed Æthelwald. He asked Ælfthryth to make herself as unattractive as possible for the king's visit, but she did the opposite. Edgar, quite besotted with her, killed Æthelwald during a hunt. Edgar had previously been married to Æthelflæd, by whom he had a son named Edward, and to Wulfthryth, with whom he had a daughter named Eadgifu later known as Saint Edith of Wilton. Sound political reasons encouraged the match between Edgar, whose power base was centred in Mercia & Ælfthryth, whose family were powerful in Wessex & linked with the family of Æthelstan Half-Kingas well as connected to the family of Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia. Edgar married Ælfthryth in 965. In 966 Ælfthryth gave birth to a son who was named Edmund. In King Edgar's charter regranting privileges to New Minster, Winchester that same year, the infant Edmund is called "clito legitimus" legitimate ætheling, and appears before Edward in the list of witnesses. Edmund died young, circa 970, but in 968 Ælfthryth had given birth to a second son, Æthelred. King Edgar organised a second coronation to bolster his claims to be ruler of all of Britain at Bath on 11 May 973. Here Ælfthryth was crowned and anointed, granting her a status higher than any recent queen. Edgar died in 975 leaving two sons, Edward and Æthelred. Edward was almost an adult, andwas supported by many key figures including Archbishops Dunstan and Oswald and the brother of Ælfthryth's first husband, Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia. Supporting the claims of the child Æthelred were the Queen dowager, Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester, and Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia. On 18 March 978, while visiting Ælfthryth at Corfe Castle, King Edward was killed by servants of the Queen, leaving the way clear for Æthelred to be installed as king. Edward was soon considered a martyr, and Ælfthryth blamed for his murder. Due to Æthelred's youth, Ælfthryth served as regent forher son until his coming of age in 984. By then her earlier allies Æthelwold and Ælfhere had died, and she withdrew from the court at this time. However, she remained an important figure, being responsible for the care of Æthelred's children by his first wife, Ælfgifu. Although her reputation was marked by the murder of her stepson, Ælfthryth was a religious woman, taking an especial interest in monastic reform when Queen. Late in life she retired to Wherwell where she died.

• Zij is overleden op 17 november 1002 in Wherwell, Hampshire, England, zij was toen 57 jaar oud.
• Een kind van Ordgar of Devon

Gezin van Ælfthryth of Devon

Zij had een relatie met Ēadgār "the Peacable" King of England.

Kind(eren):

1. Æthelred II "The Redeless" of England  966-1016 

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