by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2025
Stained glass window of Ælfthryth of Devon, Queen of the English at Peterborough Cathedral; Credit – https://peterboroughcathedral.wordpress.com
Born circa 945 at the first Lydford Castle in Lydford, Devon, England, Ælfthryth of Devon (also known as Alfrida, Elfrida, or Elfthryth) was the third wife of Edgar the Peaceful, King of the English, and the first English queen consort to be crowned and anointed. Her father was Ordgar, Ealdorman of Devon, who married an unknown woman of royal birth. Ordgar was a wealthy landowner and an advisor to King Edgar.
Ælfthryth had two brothers:
- Ordwulf of Devon (? – died after 1005), High Reeve of Devon, married Ælfwynn
- Edulf of Devon (? – died 971 or before), known for his gigantic strength and stature, his wife’s name is unknown
Ælfthryth first married Æthelwold, Ealdorman of East Anglia. Legend says that King Edgar was enamoured of Ælfthryth and killed her husband Æthelwold during a hunt so he could marry her. However, modern historians believe Æthelwold died of natural causes. By 962, Æthelwold ceases to witness charters, giving credence to his death. In 964 or 965, King Edgar married Ælfthryth.
Edgar and Ælfthryth had two sons:
Ælfthryth was the stepmother to King Edgar’s son from his first marriage to Æthelflæd:
Ælfthryth was also the stepmother to King Edgar’s daughter with Saint Wulfthryth of Wilton, who may have been his second wife or concubine:
- Saint Edith (circa 963 – circa 984), a nun at Wilton Abbey
Although Edgar probably had a coronation at Kingston-on-Thames, the traditional site for Wessex coronations, Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, felt there was a need for a major ceremony similar to the coronations of the King of the Franks and the German Emperor. Dunstan wrote the order of service for Edgar’s coronation based upon ceremonies used by the Kings of the Franks and ceremonies used in the ordination of bishops. The main elements of the British coronation service and the form of the oath taken by the sovereign can be traced to the order of service devised by Dunstan for Edgar’s coronation. Although there have been revisions in the order of the ceremony, the sequence of taking an oath, anointing, investing the regalia, crowning, and enthronement found in the Anglo-Saxon text has remained constant. The coronation took place at Bath Abbey in Bath, England, on May 11, 873. Edgar’s wife, Ælfthryth, was also anointed and crowned, becoming the first English queen to do so, thereby gaining a status higher than any previous English queen.
A popular, non-historical depiction of Ælfthryth having her stepson, King Edward the Martyr, murdered by German artist Joseph Martin Kronheim; Credit – Wikipedia
Edgar the Peaceful, King of the English, died on July 8, 975, and he was succeeded by his son Edward from his first marriage to Æthelflæd. Edward’s reign was short-lived. On March 18, 978, Edward arrived at a hunting lodge, probably at or near the mound on which the ruins of Corfe Castle now stand. Ælfthryth, his stepmother and the mother of his half-brother Æthelred, had invited Edward there, and she arranged for him to be welcomed with a cup of wine. As Edward drank the wine, he was stabbed in the back while still mounted on his horse. He fell off, but his foot caught in the stirrup, and he was dragged to his death. Called Edward the Martyr after his death, a cult and a body of literature grew up around his murder, at first implying Ælfthryth’s guilt and later accusing her outright. Although Edward’s ten-year-old half-brother Æthelred was not personally suspected of participation in the plot, the specter of his half-brother’s murder hung over him for the rest of his life.
Ælfthryth’s son Æthelred II (the Unready), King of the English; Credit – Wikipedia
Since Æthelred II (the Unready), King of the English was still a child at the time of his coronation, his mother Ælfthryth played an important role, as did Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester. Ælfthryth’s position is also reflected in the surviving documents of the time, where she appears first in the witness lists as “mater regis” (“mother of the king”). Ælfthryth’s influence seemed to wane when Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester, died in 984 and Æthelred married for the first time in 985. However, even during the 990s, she regularly appeared as a witness in a prominent position on Æthelred’s documents.
Ælfthryth remained involved as a patron of the church, supporting and founding monasteries. In 986, Ælfthryth founded Wherwell Abbey, a Benedictine nunnery in Wherwell, Hampshire, England. She retired there to live a life of penance for her part in the murders of her first husband, Æthelwald, and of her step-son, King Edward the Martyr. On November 17, 1002, Ælfthryth died at Wherwell Abbey and was buried there. Wherwell Abbey was dissolved and demolished during the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of King Henry VIII.
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Works Cited
- Elfrida of Devon (945-1000) – Find a Grave… (2022). Findagrave.com. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10811083/elfrida_of_devon
- Flantzer, Susan. (2015). Æthelred II (the Unready), King of the English | Unofficial Royalty. Unofficialroyalty.com. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/aethelred-ii-the-unready-king-of-the-english/
- Flantzer, Susan. (2019). Edgar the Peaceful, King of the English | Unofficial Royalty. Unofficialroyalty.com. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/edgar-the-peaceful-king-of-the-english/
- Venning, Timothy. (2013). The Kings & Queens of Anglo-Saxon England. Amberley Publishing Limited.
- Wikipedia Contributors. (2025). Ælfthryth (wife of Edgar). Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation.
- Wikipedia Contributors. (2023). Ordgar. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation.
- Wikipedia Contributors. (2025). Wherwell Abbey. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation.
