Æthelheard (Wessex)

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Æthelheard (also Æþelheard, Æðelheard, Æðelherd, Adelhardus, Edilhard, Athelardus etc .; † around 740 ) was king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex from 726 to 740 .

Life

family

Æthelheard was from the Wessex family , but his parents are unknown. He was married to Frithugyth, whose origin is unknown. Descendants of Æthelheard have not been passed down. Later sources name him as the brother of Æthelburg , the wife of his predecessor Ine .

His successor Cuthred is generally referred to as his relative in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , while Symeon of Durham , a 12th century chronicler, considers him a brother.

Domination

In 726, King Ine, a blood relative, abdicated and went on a pilgrimage to Rome . When he abdicated, he apparently made no further arrangements about his successor, so that in addition to Æthelheard, the Ætheling (for example "Prince") Oswald as a relative of Ines (he was probably a descendant of Ceawlin ) made claims. Æthelheard was able to prevail militarily, presumably because he enjoyed the support of King Æthelbald of Mercia . Oswald died in 730. In Wthelheard's time, Wessex was in a phase of weakness.

Some of Æthelheard's charters have been preserved in copies . In 729, Æthelheard and regina ("Queen") Frithugyth gave away large estates in Pouholt (Polden Hills, Somerset ) to Abbot Cengisl and Glastonbury Abbey . Æthelbald, King of Mercia, made an advance into Wessex in 733 and captured parts of Somerset and the royal seat in Somerton . Æthelheard had to recognize his sovereignty and seems to have accompanied him on campaigns against Wales. A charter issued by Æthelbald of Mercia and Æthelheard between 726 and 737 regarding a donation at Wacenesfeld (Watchfield in the District of Vale of White Horse ) and Geenge (Ginge Brook, Berkshire ) to St Mary's Minster in Abingdon is probably a later forgery.

In 737 Æthelheard and Frithugyth gave several small pieces of land in Tantun ( Taunton ), Cearn (probably Charmouth , Dorset) and Wiðiglea (Withiel Florey, Somerset ) to the Peter and Paul Church in Winchester . Around the year 737 Kings Frithugyth and Forthhere, the Bishop of Sherborne, made a pilgrimage to Rome. 739 transferred Æthelheard Bishop Forthhere of Sherborne, land in Crediton for the construction of a monastery ("monasterium" or "minster"), which cultivated the Roman version of Christianity followed by Canterbury against the Celtic variant spreading from Wales and Cornwall also in Devon and should spread. This donation was later confirmed by Æthelstan (924–939).

Æthelheard died around the year 740 and his cousin Cuthred succeeded him as king.

swell

literature

  • David C. Douglas (Ed.): English Historical Documents. Volume 1: Dorothy Whitelock (Ed.): Antiquity to early medieval. c. 500-1042. 2nd edition, reissude. Routledge, London 1996, ISBN 0-415-14366-7 .
  • David P. Kirby: The Earliest English Kings. Revised edition. Routledge, London et al. 2000, ISBN 0-415-24211-8 .
  • Michael Lapidge, John Blair, Simon Keynes, Donald Scragg (Eds.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Reprinted edition. Blackwell, Oxford et al. 2001, ISBN 0-631-15565-1 .
  • Barbara Yorke : Wessex in the early Middle Ages. Leicester University Press, London et al. 1995, ISBN 0-7185-1856-X .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ A b Simon Keynes: Kings of the West Saxons. In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. 2001, pp. 511-514.
  2. ↑ a b Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 728.
  3. ↑ a b Charter S253
  4. ↑ Barbara Yorke: Ine. In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. 2001, pp. 251-252.
  5. ↑ a b Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 740.
  6. ^ Symeon of Durham: De Gestis Regum Anglorum / Historia regum Anglorum et Dacorum for the year 739.
  7. ↑ DP Kirby: The Earliest English Kings. 2000, pp. 112-114.
  8. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 729.
  9. ↑ Oswald 3 ( Memento from July 11, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) in Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE)
  10. ↑ Susan E. Kelly (ed.): Charters of Malmesbury Abbey (= Anglo-Saxon Charters. 11). Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 2005, ISBN 0-19-726317-8 , p. 11.
  11. ↑ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 733.
  12. ^ Barbara Yorke: Wessex in the early Middle Ages. 1995, p. 62.
  13. ↑ Charter S93
  14. ↑ Charter S254
  15. ↑ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 737.
  16. ↑ Charter S255
  17. ↑ Charter S443
predecessor Office successor
Ine King of Wessex
726-740 		Cuthred
personal data
SURNAME Æthelheard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aethelheard; Ethelheard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Wessex
DATE OF BIRTH 7th century or 8th century
DATE OF DEATH 740