by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2025
Ealdgyth’s husband, Edmund II Ironside, King of the English; Credit – Wikipedia
Very little is known about Ealdgyth, the wife of Edmund II Ironside, King of the English, the third of the six sons of Æthelred II (the Unready), King of the English, and his first wife Ælfgifu of York. Ealdgyth was born circa 992, but her parents are unknown. Ealdgyth was first married to a Danish nobleman, the Chief Thegn of the Five Burghs, named Sigeferth, who was murdered by Eadric Streona, Ealderman of Mercia, in 1015. Æthelred II, King of the English, seized Sigeferth’s lands and imprisoned Sigeferth’s widow, Ealdgyth. Æthelred II’s son Edmund Ironside freed Sigeferth’s widow from prison without his father’s consent and married her.
When Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark, seized the English throne in 1013, Æthelred II, King of the English, fled to Normandy, but his two eldest surviving sons, Æthelstan Ætheling and Edmund Ironside, remained in England. Sweyn Forkbeard’s reign was short, as he suddenly died on February 3, 1014. Sweyn’s elder son succeeded him in Denmark as Harald II, King of Denmark, and his younger son Cnut the Great was proclaimed King of England by the Danes in England. However, leading English noblemen sent a deputation to Æthelred II, King of the English, to negotiate his restoration to the throne. Æthelred II returned from exile in Normandy in the spring of 1014, managed to drive Cnut out of England, and then reigned until his death on April 23, 1016.
After the death of his father, Æthelred II, Ealdgyth’s husband was now Edmund II Ironside, King of the English, but he had to fight Cnut the Great to keep the Kingdom of England. He earned the added name “Ironside” because of his bravery in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut the Great.
Edward the Exile, Ealdgyth ’s elder son; Credit – Wikipedia
Ealdgyth and Edmund had two sons:
- Edward the Exile (1016 – 1057), married Agatha, had three children
- Edmund Ætheling (circa 1017 – circa 1054), married Hedwig of Hungary, no children
Edmund Ironside only reigned for eight months, dying on November 30, 1016. Cnut, who also reigned as King of Denmark from 1018 to 1035 and King of Norway from 1028 to 1035, was recognized as King of England. Ealdgyth, now Edmund’ Ironside’s widow, fled to Scandinavia with her young sons Edward the Exile and Edmund Ætheling. Nothing is known about Ealdgyth after the death of her husband, Edmund II Ironside, King of the English, but her two sons, Edward the Exile and Edmund Ætheling, have an interesting history.
According to the English monk and chronicler John of Worcester, after Edmund Ironside’s death, King Cnut sent his two very young children to King Olof Skötkonung of Sweden to be murdered, but instead, King Olof sent them to Kyiv, where his daughter was the queen. Sometime in the 1040s, Edward the Exile and Edmund Ætheling, now adults, both traveled to Hungary and helped the exiled Andrew of Hungary become King of Hungary. Edmund Ætheling died in Hungary before 1054. Edward the Exile married Agatha, whose background is uncertain.
Edgar the Ætheling, grandson of Ealdgyth; Credit – Wikipedia
Edward the Exile and Agatha had three children who were all born in Hungary:
- Saint Margaret of Scotland (circa 1045 – 1093), married Malcolm III, King of Scots, had eight children, including three Kings of Scots (Edgar, Alexander I, and David I) and Edith, also called Maud or Matilda, who married King Henry I of England
- Edgar the Ætheling (circa 1051 – circa 1126), unmarried
- Cristina (circa 1057 – circa 1093), Abbess at Romsey Abbey
In 1057, Edward the Confessor, the childless King of England, discovered that his nephew Edward the Exile was still alive and summoned him to England in 1057 as a potential successor. However, Edward the Exile died within two days of his arrival in England, and the cause of his death has never been determined. Murder is a possibility, as he had many powerful enemies. After his father’s death, his son Edgar the Ætheling had the best hereditary claim to the English throne. Edmund Ironside’s three children were then raised in the court of Edward the Confessor, who died in January 1066. Edgar was considered too young to be king, and the Witenagemot elected Harold Godwinson as king mainly because it was thought he could defend England against foreign claimants to the English throne.
In October 1066, William of Normandy (the Conqueror) invaded England and defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. Following Harold’s death in battle, the Witenagemot elected Edmund’s son Edgar the Ætheling, the last of the House of Wessex, King of England. As William of Normandy’s position grew stronger, it became evident to those in power that King Edgar should be abandoned and that they should submit to William.
Ealdgyth’s granddaughter, Saint Margaret of Scotland, stained glass window at St. Margaret’s Chapel at Edinburgh Castle; Credit – Wikipedia
In 1068, Edgar the Ætheling, his mother Agatha, and his sisters Margaret and Cristina fled to Northumbria. Agatha wanted to return to Hungary, but their ship was blown off course by a storm. They sought refuge from Malcolm III, King of Scots, who is the Malcolm in the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Malcolm’s first wife, Ingebjorg Finnsdotter, died around 1069, and shortly thereafter, he married Margaret, who was canonized a saint in 1250. Margaret and Malcolm had eight children, six sons and two daughters. Bearing in mind that William the Conqueror’s new dynasty in England was not secure and their sons would have a claim on the English throne, Margaret and Malcolm gave four of their sons Anglo-Saxon royal names and named the other two sons after Alexander the Great and the biblical King David. Their elder daughter, Edith (also known as Matilda), married King Henry I of England and brought the bloodline of the Anglo-Saxon kings into the English/British royal family. Their other daughter, Mary, was the mother of Matilda of Boulogne, who married King Stephen of England.
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Works Cited
- 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/
- Lady Ealdgyth of the Five Boroughs. (2023). Swords and Sceptres. https://www.swordsandsceptres.co.uk/queens-of-england-23/ladyealdgythofthefiveboroughs
- Venning, Timothy. (2013). The Kings & Queens of Anglo-Saxon England. Amberley Publishing Limited.
- Wikipedia Contributors. (2025). Ealdgyth (wife of Edmund Ironside). Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation.
