Osthryth

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Osthryth (also Osthryd, Osthryda, Ostreð, Ostrida, Ostryð ; † 697 ) was the wife of King Æthelred in the 7th century, queen of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia .

Life

Osthryth was a daughter of King Oswiu of Northumbria and his wife Eanflæd .

In older research, the theory put forward by John Leland (1506–1552) was sometimes held that Osthryth might have been married to Eanhere , King of the Hwicce , in his first marriage . Their children are said to have been Osric and Oswald. This theory is rejected by modern historians.

Only a few remains of Bardney Abbey have survived, such as this stump of the column of the once approximately 70 m long nave

At an unknown point in time, Osthryth married King elthelred of Mercia. Her sister Ealhflæd had been married to Peada , the king of the middle fishing rods and brother Æthelreds, around the year 653 . The purpose of this marriage policy was to improve the decades-long strained relationship between Northumbria and Mercia. Ceolred , who later became King Mercias (709-716), emerged from the connection . Possibly Æthelred and Osthryth founded Beardaneu Abbey ( Bardney Abbey ) in Lindsey ; what is certain is that they sponsored it. In 679 there was a battle between Osthryth's husband Æthelred on the one hand and her brothers Ecgfrith , the king of Northumbria, and Ælfwine , the sub-king of Deira , on the other, in which Ælfwine fell. A weroney payment brokered by Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus , Archbishop of Canterbury , was able to restore peace. In 680 Æthelred granted the monastery Medeshamstede (today Peterborough ) exemption from taxes and gifted it with land. Osthryth's signatures are under both parts of the certificate: Ego Ostrich regina Æðelredi regis prompto animo hiis annuo. ("I, Osthryth, Queen of King Æthelred, agree with a gentle heart") and Ic Osðriðe. Æðelredes cwen ("I, Osthryth, Æthelreds queen"). The fact that her signature is still in front of the papal legate and several bishops indicates a high position at the court, although the document is probably a later forgery. In another document Æthelreds she was mentioned by name. Osthryth had the torso of her uncle King Oswald , who had once annexed Lindsey and died in the Battle of Maserfield in 642 , buried in Bardney Monastery in the 670s or 680s and promoted his cult. In 697 Osthryth was murdered by Mercian nobles, possibly because they had too stubbornly represented Northumbrian interests. She was buried in Bardney Abbey. A cult developed around her in Bardney, but its background remains unclear. She may have been considered a martyr because of her murder . It is more likely, however, that they were venerated together with Æthelred, who after his abdication was a monk and later abbot of this monastery, because of their importance for the abbey.

swell

literature

  • DP Kirby, Alfred Smyth, Ann Williams (Eds.): A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain , Routledge, 1991, ISBN 978-1-85264-047-7 .
  • Susan Janet Ridyard: The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England , Cambridge University Press, 1989, ISBN 978-052130772-7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bede: HE 3,11
  2. ↑ Bertram Colgrave: The Earliest Life of Gregory the Great , Cambridge University Press, 1985, ISBN 978-052131384-1 , S. 42nd
  3. ^ John Leland : Collectanea , Volume 1, p. 240.
  4. ↑ Patrick Sims-Williams: Religion and Literature in Western England, 600-800 , Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 9780521673426 , p. 33.
  5. ↑ Nicholas J. Higham: The convert kings: power and religious affiliation in early Anglo-Saxon England , Manchester University Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0719048289 , p. 234.
  6. ^ DP Kirby, Alfred Smyth, Ann Williams (Eds.): A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain , Routledge, 1991, ISBN 978-1-85264-047-7 , p. 195.
  7. ^ EB Pryde, DE Greenway, S. Porter, I. Roy (Ed.): Handbook of British Chronology (Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks) . Cambridge University Press, 1996 (3rd edition), ISBN 978-0-521-56350-5 , p. 8.
  8. ↑ a b Susan Janet Ridyard: The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England , Cambridge University Press, 1989, ISBN 978-052130772-7 , S. 243rd
  9. ↑ Beda: HE 4,21
  10. ↑ Charter S72 and Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 675
  11. ↑ Charter S76
  12. ↑ Beda: HE 3,9
  13. ↑ a b Ernst Pitz : The Greco-Roman Ecumenism and the Three Cultures of the Middle Ages. History of the Mediterranean part of the world between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans 270–812. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-05-003564-1
  14. ↑ Susan Janet Ridyard: The Royal Saints of Anglo-Saxon England , Cambridge University Press, 1989, ISBN 978-052130772-7 , 246. cf .: Beda: HE 3.11
  15. ↑ Beda: HE 5.24
  16. ^ Robert B. Patterson (Ed.): The Haskins Society Journal, Volume 6: 1994, Studies in Medieval History , Boydell, 1994, ISBN 978-0851156040 , p. 17.
personal data
SURNAME Osthryth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Osthryd; Osthryda; Ostreð; Ostrida; Ostryð
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Queen of Mercia
DATE OF BIRTH 7th century
DATE OF DEATH 697