Ælfweard of Wessex
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Ælfweard (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Circa – Template:Circa) 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. 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<ref>(Rochester, Cathedral Library, MS A.3.5, fols. 7v-8r).</ref> mentions him as his father's successor, with a reign of four weeks.<ref name="Yorke">Yorke, Bishop Æthelwold. p. 71.</ref> He is also described as king in the New Minster Liber Vitae,<ref>f. 9v, cited by Yorke.</ref><ref>Template:PASE</ref> an 11th-century source based in part on earlier material. On the other hand, William of Malmesbury, summarising a text dating to the lifetime of Ælfweard's elder brother Æthelstan, states that Æthelstan succeeded under the terms of his father's will.<ref name="Williams">Williams, "Some Notes", pp. 149–50; Mynors et al, William of Malmesbury, p. 211</ref>
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 Æthelstan, while others maintain that Æthelstan was the only heir to his father.<ref name=Williams/> Alternatively, a divided rule has been suggested, since the so-called Mercian register of the Chronicle reports that Æthelstan became king of the Mercians, and William of Malmesbury, though denying a reign for Ælfweard, reports that Æthelstan was educated at the Mercian court of his aunt Æthelflæd.<ref name=Yorke/><ref name=Williams/><ref>Walker, Mercia and the Making of England. p. 127.</ref> In the view of Simon Keynes, Ælfweard was recognised as king in Wessex and Æthelstan in Mercia, and although it is possible that Edward intended a division of the kingdom after his death, it is more likely that the leaders of Wessex chose Ælfweard, and Mercia set up Æthelstan in opposition.<ref name="Rulers">Keynes, 'Rulers of the English', p. 514</ref>
Ælfweard died only 16 days after his father, on 2 August 924 at Oxford, and was buried at the New Minster, Winchester. Æthelstan still had difficulty in securing acceptance in Wessex, and he was not crowned King of the Anglo-Saxons until 4 September 925.<ref name=Rulers/><ref>Foot, Æthelstan, p. 17</ref>
See also
Notes
References
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- 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.
Further reading
External links
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