Ælfweard of Wessex

Ælfweard (904 – 2 August 924) was the second son of Edward the Elder, the eldest born to his second wife Ælfflæd.

Kingship and death

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle simply states that Ælfweard died soon after his father's death on 17 July 924 and that they were buried together at Winchester Cathedral. Manuscript D of the Chronicle specifies that he outlived his father by only 16 days. No reign is explicitly attributed to him here. However, a list of West-Saxon kings in the 12th-century Textus Roffensis^[1] mentions him as his father's successor, with a reign of four weeks.^[2] He is also described as king in the New Minster Liber Vitae,^[3] a 11th-century source based in part on earlier material.^[4] On the other hand, William of Malmesbury, relying on a poem, related that Edward's eldest son (by his first wife Ecgwynn), Athelstan, succeeded directly under the terms of King Alfred's will (since lost).^[5] The poem had once been considered a near-contemporary authority, but Michael Lapidge has shown this to be based on a misunderstanding of William's reference to "a certain obviously ancient book".^[6]

This conflicting documentation has led to alternative interpretations, some modern historians concluding that he had succeeded his father in preference to his older half-brother Athelstan, while others maintain that Athelstan was the only heir to his father.^[5] Alternatively, a divided rule has been suggested, since the so-called Mercian register of the Chronicle reports that Athelstan became king of the Mercians, and William of Malmesbury, though denying a reign for Ælfweard, reports that Athelstan was educated at the Mercian court of his aunt Æthelflæd.^[2][5][7] By this theory, Ælfweard would have succeeded his father in Wessex and Athelstan in Mercia, the latter only acquiring Wessex following his brother's death shortly thereafter.

If king, Ælfweard was probably never crowned, dying 2 August 924 at Oxford. Athelstan himself was not crowned king of the Anglo-Saxons until 4 September 925 more than a year later.

Notes

References

• Miller, Sean, "Æthelstan" in M. Lapidge et al. (eds), The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Blackwell, London, 1999. ISBN 0-631-22492-0
• Walker, Ian. Mercia and the Making of England. Sutton: Stroud, 2000. ISBN 0-7509-2131-5.
• Lapidge, Michael. "Some Latin Poems as Evidence for the Reign of Athelstan." In Anglo-Latin Literature 900-1066, ed. M. Lapidge. London, 1993.
• Williams, Ann, "Some Notes and Considerations on Problems Connected with the English Royal Succession, 860-1066", Proceedings of the Battle Conference, 1978, R. Allen Brown, ed., Boydell & Brewer, 1979, 144-167.
• Yorke, Barbara. Bishop Æthelwold. His Career and Influence. Woodbridge, 1988.
• "Ælfweard 4 (male)." Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England. Accessed: 2009-04-08.

See also

• House of Wessex family tree

v • d • e   English monarchs   Kingdom of the English 886–1066 Alfred the Great · Edward the Elder · Ælfweard · Athelstan the Glorious1 · Edmund the Magnificent1 · Eadred1 · Eadwig the Fair1 · Edgar the Peaceable1 · Edward the Martyr · Æthelred the Unready · Sweyn Forkbeard · Edmund Ironside · Cnut1 · Harold Harefoot · Harthacnut · Edward the Confessor · Harold Godwinson · Edgar the Ætheling Kingdom of England 1066–1649 William I · William II · Henry I · Stephen · Matilda · Henry II2 · Henry the Young King · Richard I · John2 · Henry III2 · Edward I2 · Edward II2 · Edward III2 · Richard II2 · Henry IV2 · Henry V2 · Henry VI2 · Edward IV2 · Edward V2 · Richard III2 · Henry VII2 · Henry VIII2 · Edward VI2 · Jane2 · Mary I2 with Philip2 · Elizabeth I2 · James I3 · Charles I3 Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland 1653–1659 Oliver Cromwell4 · Richard Cromwell4 Kingdom of England 1660–1707 Charles II3  · James II3  · William III and Mary II3  · Anne3 1Overlord of Britain. 2Also ruler of Ireland. 3Also ruler of Scotland. 4Lord Protector. Debatable or disputed rulers are in italics.