Eadgyth

• Reference: 1063

1. Edward "the exile"

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|--Eadgyth 
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Notes

"Todd A. Farmerie" in a posting to

soc.genealogy.medieval newsgroups on Thu, 5 Sep 1996 (Subject: Re:

Edmund Ironsides) summarizes the possibilities for Eadgyth's identity:

"This is a matter of some debate. The primary reference, the

AngloSaxonChronicle reports that Edmund took Ealdgyth, widow of

Ealdorman Sigeferth (who with Ealdorman Morcar was killed by the

instigation of Eadric Streona)from a convent, married her, and took

overthe Northumbrian posessions ofthe Ealdorman, all without his

father's permission. Who was she though? Ihave seen three theories

advanced:

1. An addition (which term is a matter of opinion in this case) to the

7th edition of Weis, Ancestral Roots calls her sister of Ealdorman Eadric

Streona, citing DNB, CCN, and Ronay. Ronay says nothing of the sort (see

below), and I don't have access to CCN, but It is not a source which

carries weight. As for DNB, all it says is that Eadric and Edmund were

brothers-in-law, which would seem to be the source of the statement.

The problem is that it was Eadric that married Edmund's sister, and not

the other way. (Alas, there is nothing worse than an incorrect

correction to such a source, since it is viewed as having some higher

degree of validity than what was there before.)

2. Ronay, in his biography of Edward the Exile, proposes that she was

daughter of Olaf, King of Sweden. (This relation was also used as the

nucleus of a work of historical fiction that I have seen referenced,

called "Olaf's kin" and dealing with the exiled princes.) I did not find a

reference for this statement, or even the statement itself, but it is

implied from his refering to her as half-sister of one of Olaf's

daughters. Without some source for this statement, I cannot evaluate

this solution. I have little faith in this solution however, since it is

unlikely that the daughter of the King of Sweden would marry a

Northumbrian Ealdorman, when the King of England had an unmarried son

(who later did marry Sigeferth's widow).

3.Moriarty, in his Plantagenet Ancestry, presents a reconstruction (I do

not recall off hand who first proposed this) that she was daughter of

Morcar, Ealdorman of Sigeferth, and his political ally. I cannot do this

argument justice, but I recommend giving it a read, since this solution is

the only one I have seen which appears to fit with the political history

of the time.

Keep in mind that none of these have contemporary evidence, so as far

as the proven parentage of Edmund's wife, "Unknown" may be the more

conservative answer.