Osferth

[2] Alfred bequeathed "to my kinsman Osferth" estates at Beckley, Rotherfield, Ditchling, Sutton, Lyminster, Angmering and Felpham.

[7] In a doubtful charter of 909 he is listed straight after Edward's son Ælfweard as propinquus regis (king's kinsman).

"[23] According to Keynes and Lapidge, Osferth was described as Edward's brother "mistakenly" (in Nelson's view "with a briskness worthy of the late Dorothy Whitelock herself").

She points out that in the introduction to Alfred's will he says that on his succession to the throne there were complaints about his treatment of Æthelred's sons, "the older and the younger", meaning Æthelhelm and Æthelwold.

In the ninth century moralists were increasingly condemning sex outside marriage, and Alfred suffered such anxiety over his sexuality that he prayed for an illness that would inhibit lust.