Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxons

King of the West Saxons

King of the Anglo-Saxons

Events

Date of Birth: 848 or 849.

Place of Birth: Wantage.

The date and place are given by Wormald.

Date of Death: 26 October 899.

Place of Death: unknown.

The date and place are given by Wormald.

Place of Burial: New Minster, Winchester.

The place is given by Wormald.

Relationships

Father: Æthelwulf (died 858), king of Wessex.

This relationship is given by Wormald and Nelson. The relationship is recorded in Anglo-Saxon charters S290, S302, S303, S304, S306, S307, S308, S309, S310, S311, S312, S313, S315, S316, S317, S325, S327, S331, S333, S335, S340, S354, S358, S384, S1199, S1201, and the will of King Alfred (S1507); in Asser’s Vita Alfredi 1.6-7, 8, 11; in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle s.a. 853 (A), s.a. 871 (A,D,E,F), s.a. 901 (A); in Æthelweard’s Chronicle (iii.4, iv. 2, iv. 3), in Pope Leo IV’s letter to King Æthelwulf in Epistolae Carolini Aeui (p. 602 (no. 31)), and in other sources.

Mother: Osburh.

This relationship is given by Wormald and Nelson. It is recorded in Asser’s Vita Alfredi 2, 22, and 23.

Spouse: Ealhswith (died 902 or 903).

This relationship is given by Wormald and Costambeys.

Children:

(Complete source citations for the children on this page are currently outside the scope of this project. Most information below comes from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography articles and Baldwin.)

Æthelflæd (died 12 June 918), ruler of the Mercians, married Æthelred.

Edward the Elder (died 17 July 924), king of the Anglo-Saxons, married (1) Ecgwynn; married (2) Æelfflæd; married (3) Eadgifu.

Æthelgifu, abbess of Shaftsbury.

Ælfthryth married Baldwin II, count of Flanders.

Æthelweard (died 16 October 922).

other children died young.

References

Anglo-Saxons.net [Gives transcriptions of Old English charters]

Asser. Life of King Alfred (William Henry Stevenson ed.) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1904).

Baldwin, Stewart. “Ælfred "the Great"” in The Henry Project. [accessed 8 June 2014]

“Alfred 8” on the Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England website. [accessed 9 June 2014]

Costambeys, Marios. “Ealhswith (d. 902)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Giles, J.A. (trans. and ed.) “Ethelwerd’s Chronicle” in Old English Chronicles (London: George Bell & Sons, 1906).

Hirsch-Gereuth, A. (ed.) Epistolae Carolini Aeui (Monumenta Germaniae Historica:1899).

Miller, Sean. “Edward [Edward the Elder] (870s?-924)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Nelson, Janet L. “Æthelwulf (d. 858)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Nelson, Janet L. “Osburh (fl. 839)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Plummer, Charles (ed.) Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel: A Revised Text (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892-1899).

van Houts, Elisabeth. “Ælfthryth (d. 929)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Wormald, Patrick. “Alfred (848/8-899)” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford University Press, 2004).