Ecgwynn (also spelled Ecgwynna; Old English: EÃÂáwynn, meaning âÂÂsword joyâÂÂ;) was the first known consort of Edward the Elder, who reigned as King of the English from 899 to 924. She was the mother of ÃÂthelstan (r. 924âÂÂ939), the first monarch to rule a unified England, and is also believed to have had a daughter who married Sitric Cáech, Norse king of Dublin, Ireland and Northumbria.
Virtually nothing is known about EcgwynnâÂÂs origins or personal life and her name is absent from all contemporary records and does not appear in any surviving sources until after the Norman Conquest. The earliest known reference comes from William of Malmesbury, who Latinized her name as Egwinna and who is in fact the principal source for her existence.
According to William of Malmesbury, ÃÂthelstan was thirty years old when he became king in 924, placing his birth around 894 and suggesting that EcgwynnâÂÂs union with Edward the Elder occurred circa 893. By this time, Edward had reached majority, and one of his priorities would have been to secure the continuation of Alfred's line.
No contemporary sources record what became of Ecgwynn after ÃÂthelstanâÂÂs birth, but two developments are particularly relevant. First, William notes that, at AlfredâÂÂs direction, ÃÂthelstan was sent to be raised at the Mercian court under the care of his aunt ÃÂthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians. Second, by 901, Edward had married ÃÂlfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman ÃÂthelhelm.
The reasons behind this transition remain uncertain. It is possible that Ecgwynn had died by 899, prompting Edward to seek a new consort. Alternatively, the first marriage may have lacked the political weight necessary to reinforce EdwardâÂÂs position as king of the English. Some scholars suggest that Alfred himself may have arranged EdwardâÂÂs initial marriage, and that his death in 899 allowed Edward and his counsellors room to follow a different course.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that King ÃÂthelstan arranged the marriage of his sister to Sitric Cáech (d. 927), Norse king of Northumbria and Dublin. The wedding took place on 30 January 926 at Tamworth, a prominent Mercian royal center.
According to William of Malmesbury, the bride was a daughter of Ecgwynn, though he was unable to discover her name from any of the sources available to him. Only later medieval writers offer possible identifications, though their reliability remains uncertain.
These accounts have received mixed evaluations from modern historians. Some scholars accept the possibility that her name was Eadgyth, or at least support RogerâÂÂs identification. However, historian Barbara Yorke argues that the name Eadgyth is unlikely to have belonged to two daughters of Edward the Elder, given that another daughter by ÃÂlfflæd bore the same name.Yorke instead suggests that Edith of Polesworth may have been an earlier namesake, unrelated to Ecgwynn.
Ecgwynn's own family background and social status cannot be identified with any certainty. What little evidence there is appears in the main to be coloured by a controversy which surrounded ÃÂthelstan's succession, contested as it probably was by supporters of Edward's sons by ÃÂlfflæd.
William of Malmesbury claims that Alfred had intended the throne to go to ÃÂthelstan, and to give ceremonial expression to his grandson's status as successor, personally invested him with a cloak, belt and sword. Moreover, Alfred is said to have ensured his education at the Mercian court of his aunt ÃÂthelflæd. A Latin acrostic poem, possibly contemporary (c. 893/4 x 899), in which a young ÃÂthelstan appears to be addressed as future ruler, would seem to lend credence to the idea that ÃÂthelstan's eligibility for kingship was already acknowledged in the 890s.
However, Edward may have entertained other plans when his second wife ÃÂlfflaed had borne him sons. While his intentions are unknown, it appears to have been ÃÂlfweard, Edward's eldest son by ÃÂlfflæd, who on 17 July 924 succeeded his late father in Wessex, while the Mercians chose ÃÂthelstan for their king. By some mishap, ÃÂlfweard died within a month and Wessex was ceded to ÃÂthelstan, who thereby obtained his father's entire kingdom. His accession in Wessex, however, met with considerable resistance. One indication of this is that his coronation at Kingston upon Thames was delayed until 4 December the following year (925). William notes explicitly that "a certain ÃÂlfred" at Winchester opposed the succession on grounds that ÃÂthelstan was a concubine's son and hence an illegitimate son. Such allegations seem to have served the interests of a royal contender, especially Edwin, ÃÂlfflæd's eldest surviving son. In a royal charter for a thegn (minister) called ÃÂlfred, Edwin subscribes as cliton "ætheling", witnessing after ÃÂthelstan, which implies that he was recognised as his heir to the throne. The circumstances of his death in 933 suggest that any peaceful understanding which may have existed between the half-brothers had come to an end. The Annals of St. Bertin compiled by Folcuin the Deacon note laconically that Edwin, "driven by some disturbance in his kingdom," attempted to sail to the continent, but was caught in a storm and drowned.
The written and oral sources consulted by William of Malmesbury for his accounts of ÃÂthelstan's parentage seem to reflect the political stances which polarised during these succession struggle(s). To begin with, there is the account favoured by William himself. Possibly paraphrasing from a non-contemporary Latin poem in praise of ÃÂthelstan, he describes Ecgwynn as âÂÂa distinguished womanâ (illustris femina) and John of Worcester follows suit, giving the similar description "a very noble woman" (mulier nobilissima).
William was also aware of rumours (though he rejected them) that ÃÂthelstan's mother was a concubine, as propagated by âÂÂa certain ÃÂlfredâ who headed a group opposed to the succession. By the early 12th century, such rumours had given rise to fully-fledged popular traditions which reduced her to a low-born mistress, if still one of noble appearance. William cites an anecdote about ÃÂthelstan's conception which he overheard from popular song (cantilena) and to which he gave only little credence himself. One day, when out of old affection, Edward the Elder visited his former nurse (nutrix), a reeve's wife, he met a beautiful shepherd's daughter who had been raised like a noblewoman. Edward slept with the unnamed girl, who bore him the future king called ÃÂthelstan.
These slurs may represent a later development of stories in favour of ÃÂlfflæd's sons, but there is evidence to suggest that the status difference between Edward's first two wives had been an issue at an earlier stage. A distant but near-contemporary poet writing in the 960s, Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim, tells that ÃÂthelstan's mother was lower in status (generis satis inferioris) than ÃÂlfflæd, whose daughter Eadgyth married Otto I. Since she wrote her Life in praise of Otto I, Eadgyth and their descendants, presumably based on sources sympathetic to the latter, not a small degree of bias may be assumed. On the other hand, if Ecgwynn had been set aside in favour of ÃÂlfflæd, then the political importance of the latter's family may have played a large part.
Further near-contemporary evidence comes only indirectly by inference from later kinsmen whose precise connectedness is impossible to specify. According to his first biographer, Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, was related to a certain ÃÂthelflæd, a lady of royal rank who was herself a niece of King ÃÂthelstan, to Bishop ÃÂlfheah of Winchester, to Bishop Cynesige of Lichfield, and to various men at court (including his brother Wulfric). Dunstan's father Heorstan, who lived near the âÂÂroyal islandâ of Glastonbury, cannot be shown to have been a prominent figure in the kingdom, although sources for Edward's reign are notoriously scanty. Since ÃÂthelstan, Dunstan and Heorstan all share the rare onomastic element -stan, it has been tentatively suggested that they derived their kinship through Ecgwynn.