Mucel Family

Æthelred Mucel

Married: Eadburh

Children: Occupation: Ealdorman of the Gaini

Notes:
Asser’s life of King Alfred p17 (ed. Albert S. Cook, 1914)
  29. Alfred marries. — In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 868, which was the twentieth of King Alfred’s life, the aforesaid revered King Alfred, then occupying only the rank of viceroy (secundarii), betrothed and espoused a noble Mercian lady,4 daughter of Æthelred, surnamed Mucill, Ealdorman of the Gaini.5 The mother of this lady was named Eadburh, of the royal line of Mercia, whom I often saw with my own eyes a few years before her death. She was a venerable lady, and after the decease of her husband remained many years a chaste widow, even till her own death.
  4 William of Malmesbury calls her Æthelswith.
  5 Of the Gaini nothing is known.

The Annals of Roger de Hoveden vol 1 p44 (translated by Henry T. Riley, 1853)
  In the year 868, a comet was distinctly seen. Alfred, the venerated brother of king Ethelred, asked and obtained in marriage a noble Mercian lady, daughter of Ethelred, earl of the Gaini,64 who was surnamed “Mucil,” which means “the great.” Her mother’s name, who was of the royal family of Mercia, was Eadburga; she was a venerable woman, and for very many years after the death of her husband, lived a life of extreme chastity, as a widow, even to the day of her death.
  64 This is “Gamorum,” in the text, but it ought to be “Gainorum, of the Gaini;” who were the inhabitants of Gainsborough, in Yorkshire.

Dictionary of national biography vol 1 p154 (ed. Leslie Stephen, 1885)
In 868 [Ælfred] married Ealhswith daughter of Æthelred surnamed the Mickle, ealdorman of the Gainas (a people whose name survives in Gainsborough) and his wife Eadburh.
  
Sources:

Eadburh

Married: Æthelred Mucel

Children: Notes:
Asser claimed to have personally known Eadburh, calling her "a venerable lady".
Asser’s life of King Alfred p17 (ed. Albert S. Cook, 1914)
  29. Alfred marries. — In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 868, which was the twentieth of King Alfred’s life, the aforesaid revered King Alfred, then occupying only the rank of viceroy (secundarii), betrothed and espoused a noble Mercian lady,4 daughter of Æthelred, surnamed Mucill, Ealdorman of the Gaini.5 The mother of this lady was named Eadburh, of the royal line of Mercia, whom I often saw with my own eyes a few years before her death. She was a venerable lady, and after the decease of her husband remained many years a chaste widow, even till her own death.
  4 William of Malmesbury calls her Æthelswith.
  5 Of the Gaini nothing is known.

The Annals of Roger de Hoveden vol 1 p44 (translated by Henry T. Riley, 1853)
  In the year 868, a comet was distinctly seen. Alfred, the venerated brother of king Ethelred, asked and obtained in marriage a noble Mercian lady, daughter of Ethelred, earl of the Gaini,64 who was surnamed “Mucil,” which means “the great.” Her mother’s name, who was of the royal family of Mercia, was Eadburga; she was a venerable woman, and for very many years after the death of her husband, lived a life of extreme chastity, as a widow, even to the day of her death.
  64 This is “Gamorum,” in the text, but it ought to be “Gainorum, of the Gaini;” who were the inhabitants of Gainsborough, in Yorkshire.
  
Sources:

Ealhswith

Father: Æthelred Mucel

Mother: Eadburh

Married: Ælfred the Great in 868
 
Children: Notes:
Asser’s life of King Alfred p17 (ed. Albert S. Cook, 1914)
  29. Alfred marries. — In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 868, which was the twentieth of King Alfred’s life, the aforesaid revered King Alfred, then occupying only the rank of viceroy (secundarii), betrothed3 and espoused a noble Mercian lady,4 daughter of Æthelred, surnamed Mucill, Ealdorman of the Gaini.5 The mother of this lady was named Eadburh, of the royal line of Mercia, whom I often saw with my own eyes a few years before her death. She was a venerable lady, and after the decease of her husband remained many years a chaste widow, even till her own death.
  3 ‘Subarravit, formed from sub and arrha, represents literally the English verb wed, which refers to the giving of security upon the engagement of marriage. … [It] is glossed by beweddian in Napier’s Old English Glosses’ (Stevenson).
  4 William of Malmesbury calls her Æthelswith.
  5 Of the Gaini nothing is known.

Eahlswyth is mentioned in the will of her husband, Alfred, drawn up about 885.
British Library: Medieval manuscripts blog
Alfred's will … In what appears to be a sentimental gesture, he bequeaths to his wife Ealhswith the places of his birth, Lambourn, and two greatest victories, Wantage and Edington.

The Annals of Roger de Hoveden vol 1 p44 (translated by Henry T. Riley, 1853)
  In the year 868, a comet was distinctly seen. Alfred, the venerated brother of king Ethelred, asked and obtained in marriage a noble Mercian lady, daughter of Ethelred, earl of the Gaini,64 who was surnamed “Mucil,” which means “the great.” Her mother’s name, who was of the royal family of Mercia, was Eadburga; she was a venerable woman, and for very many years after the death of her husband, lived a life of extreme chastity, as a widow, even to the day of her death.
  64 This is “Gamorum,” in the text, but it ought to be “Gainorum, of the Gaini;” who were the inhabitants of Gainsborough, in Yorkshire.

Dictionary of national biography vol 1 p154 (ed. Leslie Stephen, 1885)
In 868 [Ælfred] married Ealhswith daughter of Æthelred surnamed the Mickle, ealdorman of the Gainas (a people whose name survives in Gainsborough) and his wife Eadburh.
  
Extract from the Metrical Calendar of Hampson
A page from Ælfred's will
Add MS 82931, f. 10v posted on British Library: Medieval manuscripts blog
Death: 5 December 902

The Anglo-Saxon chronicle p65 (ed. John Allen Giles, 1906)
  A. 902. This year Elswitha died.

British Library: Medieval manuscripts blog (December 2017)
The metrical calendar of Hampson survives in four manuscripts, all made in England in the 10th or 11th century … The date when the earliest surviving version of the poem was compiled is slightly easier to narrow down. The oldest copy was made after Alfred's wife, Ealhswith, died in 902, since it mentions her death in the verse for 5 December: ‘The fifth [day] has dear Ealhswith, true lady of the English’.

Burial: St Swithun cathedral monastery, and then, after the New Minster at Winchester was built, the remains both of her and Ælfred were translated there.

Liber monasterii de Hyda page xxviii (ed. Edward Edwards, 1866)
  Immediately after the dedication, the remains of Alfred, and those of his wife Ealhswith, were brought in solemn procession from St. Swithun’s. It does not appear that this re-interment—natural as it seems under the circumstances which attended the foundation of New Minster—was originally contemplated. So little foundation is there for the common statement that New Minster was expressly designed to be “a royal cemetery.” 

Sources:
Return to Chris Gosnell's Home Page

If you have any comments, additions or modifications to the information on this page, please feel free to email me.
Created and maintained by: chris@ocotilloroad.com