Ælfthryth (wife of Edgar)

Ælfthryth was a powerful political figure and possibly orchestrated the murder of her stepson, King Edward the Martyr, in order to place her son Æthelred on the throne.

[2] Ælfthryth was first married to Æthelwald, son of Æthelstan Half-King as recorded by Byrhtferth of Ramsey in his Life of Saint Oswald of Worcester.

In King Edgar's charter (S 745) regranting privileges to New Minster, Winchester that same year, the infant Edmund is called "clito legitimus" (legitimate ætheling), and appears before Edward in the list of witnesses.

The queen's responsibility for the kingdom's nunneries had been established by the Regularis Concordia, a rule for religious life composed by Ælfthryth's close ally, Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester, as part of the wider English Benedictine Reform.

As such, she formed a key part of the Anglo-Saxon legal system as a mediator between the individual and the crown, which was increasingly viewing its role in the courts as a symbol of its authority as protector of its subjects.

Ælfthryth's actions as forespeca were largely for the benefit of female litigants, and her role as a mediator shows the possibilities for women to have legal and political power in late Anglo-Saxon England.

Edward was almost an adult, and his successful claim for the throne was supported by many key figures including Archbishops Dunstan and Oswald and the brother of Ælfthryth's first husband, Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia.

Accounts written over subsequent centuries suggest that he may have been killed by servants of the queen, leaving the way clear for her son Æthelred to be installed as king.

As the king developed into a cult figure and martyr, a body of literature grew up around his murder, at first implying Ælfthryth's guilt and later accusing her outright.

[18] The 12th century monastic chronicle the Liber Eliensis went so far as to accuse her of being a witch, claiming that she had murdered not only the king, but also Abbot Brihtnoth of Ely.

[20] She was partnered in this regency by her allies Bishop Æthelwold and Ealdorman Ælfhere, but both had died by 984 and Æthelred rebelled against his old advisers, preferring a group of younger nobility.

[22] Although her reputation was damaged by the murder of her stepson, Ælfthryth was a religious woman, taking an especial interest in monastic reform during her queenship.