Edith of Mercia

Edith of Mercia or Aldgyth of Mercia, (died after 1070)^[1], was a Queen consort first of Wales and then of England. She was the daughter of Elfgar, Earl of Mercia, the wife of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, ruler of Wales, and following the latter's death, she married King Harold II of England.^[2][3]

Family

Edith or Aldgyth was born in England on an unknown date to Elfgar, Earl of Mercia (died c.1062), and his wife Aelfgifu. She had two brothers, Edwin, Earl of Mercia and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria. Her paternal grandparents were Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and the legendary Lady Godiva.^[4] Her maternal grandparents were Morcar of Northumbria and Ealdgyth.^[5]

Silver penny depicting King Harold II of England, the second husband of Edith of Mercia

Marriages and children

See also Gruffydd and Harold

In 1058, Edith married her first husband^[6] Gruffydd ap Llywelyn of Wales, King of Gwynedd, Powys, Gwent, Glywysing, and Deheubarth (1007- 5 August 1063), an ally of her father, Elfgar who had been deprived of his Earldom of East Anglia by Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex and his brothers. Elfgar had been banished in 1055 by the orders of King Edward the Confessor and went first to Ireland, accompanied by his family, including Edith, and afterwards, Wales, where he formed an alliance with Gruffydd. With the help of the army they raised in Ireland and Wales, Gruffydd and Elgar attacked Hereford, clashed with the forces of Ralph the Timid, Earl of Hereford and soundly defeated them. Elfgar was afterwards reinstated as Earl. In 1057, upon the death of his father, Leofric, Elfgar succeeded to the Earldom of Mercia.

Gruffydd and Edith had three children:

1. Maredudd ap Gruffydd (died 1070)
2. Idwal ap Gruffydd (died 1070)
3. Nesta ferch Gruffydd (born c.1062), married Osbern FitzRichard of Richard's Castle, Shropshire, son of Richard Fitz Scrope, by whom she had issue, including a son, Hugh FitzOsbern who married Eustache de Say, and a daughter Nesta (Agnes) ferch Osbern, who, sometime before 1099, married Bernard de Neufmarche, Lord of Brecon. The Barons de Braose of Abergavenny descend from Sybil of Neufmarche, the daughter of Bernard and Nesta (Agnes), whose own daughter, Bertha of Hereford married William de Braose, Third Lord of Bramber.

On 5 August 1063, Edith's husband Gruffydd was killed at Snowdonia by his own men after fleeing from the invading army of Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex.

In 1064, at York, England, she married the enemy of her father and murdered husband, the aforementioned Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex (c.1022- 14 October 1066), who on Ephiphany 6 January 1066 would be crowned King Harold II of England. Although Edith was his lawful wife and Queen Consort, Harold Godwinson had had a common-law wife, Edith Swannesha, for over 20 years by whom he had several children, including Gytha of Wessex. Gytha later married Vladimir II Monomakh, Grand Duke of Kiev, by whom she had issue.

Edith had one posthumous son by her second marriage:

1. Harold (December 1066- 1098). He settled at the court of King Magnus II of Norway.

Battle of Hastings

On 14 October 1066, King Harold II was killed at the Battle of Hastings, by the Norman forces led by William the Conqueror, who would subsequently ascend the throne as King William I of England. Edith was seven months pregnant at the time of his death. Her son Harold was born in December.

Edith died sometime after 1070. Her son by King Harold died in 1098 in Norway, where he had gone to live in exile at the court of King Magnus II.

In fiction

Edith is the main character in the historical romance The Wind From Hastings, which was written by Morgan Llywelyn, and published in 1978.

References

1. www.ThePeerage.com.p. 10219
2. Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, England, Anglo-Saxon Nobility, Earls of Mercia
3. Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Wales, Kings and Princes