Osburh

Osburh or Osburga was the first wife of King Æthelwulf of Wessex and mother of Alfred the Great, "a religious woman, noble both by birth and by nature".

Osburh's existence is known only from Asser's Life of King Alfred. She is not named as witness to any charters, nor is her death reported in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It is presumed, but nowhere recorded, that she was also the mother of Alfred's older brothers Æthelstan of Wessex, Æthelbald of Wessex, Æthelberht of Wessex, Æthelred of Wessex, and of his sister Æthelswith, wife of King Burgred of Mercia. The internal chronology of Asser's life suggests that Osburh was alive after the second marriage of Æthelwulf, to the Carolingian princess Judith, in 856.

Osburh is described as the daughter of Oslac, pincerna (Chamberlain) of Æthelwulf's royal household. Oslac is described as a descendant of the fictitious Jutish kings Stuf and Wihtgar, and is also ascribed Gothic ancestry. Asser may not however have been familiar with Bede,who writes that the Jutish inhabitants of the Isle of Wight- descendants of Stuf (although Wihtgar was probably fictitious)-were "destroyed", so it is unlikely that Oslac was their descendant.

Oslac and Osburh are known to have held Arreton Manor on the Isle of Wight. Oslac is described as "The Chief Butler of England", although it is uncertain what this title implies.

Issue

See also

• House of Wessex family tree

References

• Asser's Life of King Alfred
• Lees, Clare A. & Gillian R. Overing (eds), Double Agents: Women and Clerical Culture in Anglo-Saxon England. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2001. ISBN 0-8122-3628-9