by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2025
Ælfflæd’s husband Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons; Credit – Wikipedia
Note: The first woman to be formally crowned, anointed, and given the title queen during the House of Wessex era was Ælfthryth, who was crowned and anointed alongside her husband, King Edgar the Peaceful, on May 11, 973.
Ælfflæd was the second of the three wives of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons, who reigned from 899 to 924. Edward was not called “the Elder” during his lifetime. At the end of the tenth century, “the Elder” was added to his name to distinguish him from King Edward the Martyr. Edward was the elder of the two sons and the second of the five known children of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, King of the Anglo-Saxons, and his wife Ealhswith of Mercia. Ælfflæd was born circa 878 in Wiltshire, the Kingdom of Wessex, the daughter of Æthelhelm, Ealdorman of Wiltshire.
Ælfflæd’s husband Edward was a child throughout the wars his father fought with the Danes, and was more of a soldier than a scholar like his father. By 892, he was commanding part of the Anglo-Saxon army, and when his father died in 899, the Anglo-Saxons were prepared to accept him as their leader. Edward was crowned on June 8, 900, by Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Kingston-upon-Thames, where the ancient coronation stone can still be seen.
Around 899, Edward married Ælfflæd, and they had eight children, so Ælfflæd was pregnant for much of her marriage:
- Ælfweard (circa 902 – 924), unmarried, died sixteen days after his father and was possibly king during that period
- Edwin (died 933), unmarried, drowned in a shipwreck in the North Sea
- Æthelhild, lay sister at Wilton Abbey
- Eadgifu (born 902 – died in or after 951), married (1) Charles the Simple, King of West Francia, had one son, Louis IV, King of West Francia (2) Heribert III, Count of Omois, no children
- Eadflæd, a nun at Wilton Abbey
- Eadhild (died 937), married Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris, no children
- Eadgyth (910 – 946), married Otto I, King of East Francia, and, after Eadgyth’s death, Holy Roman Emperor, had two sons
- Ælfgifu, married “a prince near the Alps”, possibly Louis, brother of King Rudolph II of Burgundy
Ælfflæd died around 919. Edward married a third time in 920, so Ælfflæd may have died before 920, or perhaps Edward set her aside so that he could marry his third wife, Eadgifu. There is some evidence that Ælfflæd retired to Wilton Abbey, where she was joined by two of her daughters, Eadflæd and Æthelhild, and that all three were buried there.
* * * * * * * * * *
This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.
* * * * * * * * * *
Works Cited
- Ælfflæd of Wiltshire (878-919) – Find a Grave… (2015). Findagrave.com. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/147305342/%C3%A6lffl%C3%A6d-of_wiltshire
- Flantzer, Susan. (2019). Edmund II Ironside, King of the English | Unofficial Royalty. Unofficialroyalty.com. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/edmund-ii-ironside-king-of-the-english/
- Venning, Timothy. (2013). The Kings & Queens of Anglo-Saxon England. Amberley Publishing Limited.
- Wikipedia Contributors. (2024). Ælfflæd (wife of Edward the Elder). Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation.
