Æthelgifu, Abbess Of Shaftesbury
   HOME
*





Æthelgifu, Abbess Of Shaftesbury
Æthelgifu (, fl. 870s to 890s) was a daughter of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex. She was the third surviving child of the marriage between Alfred and Ealhswith in 868. Alfred's biographer, Asser, wrote that "Æthelgifu, devoted to God through her holy virginity, subject and consecrated to the rules of monastic life, entered the service of God'. Asser recorded that Alfred founded Shaftesbury Abbey for nuns. It is not known when the abbey was founded, but it must be by 893 when Asser was writing. Alfred appointed Æthelgifu as its first abbess and she was joined by "many other noble nuns". Alfred granted the abbey one sixteenth of his royal revenues. According to a tradition recorded at the abbey, she adopted a religious life due to ill health. In Alfred's will he left Æthelgifu estates at Candover, probably Preston Candover, and Kingsclere, both in Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropol ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Alfred The Great
Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfred was young. Three of Alfred's brothers, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred, reigned in turn before him. Under Alfred's rule, considerable administrative and military reforms were introduced, prompting lasting change in England. After ascending the throne, Alfred spent several years fighting Viking invasions. He won a decisive victory in the Battle of Edington in 878 and made an agreement with the Vikings, dividing England between Anglo-Saxon territory and the Viking-ruled Danelaw, composed of northern England, the north-east Midlands and East Anglia. Alfred also oversaw the conversion of Viking leader Guthrum to Christianity. He defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, becoming the dominant ruler ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Wessex
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = Southern Britain in the ninth century , event_start = Established , year_start = 519 , event_end = English unification , year_end = 12 July 927 , event1 = , date_event1 = , event_pre = Settlement , date_pre = 5th–6th century , event_post = Norman conquest , date_post = 14 October 1066 , border_s2 = no , common_languages = Old English *West Saxon dialect British Latin , religion = PaganismChristianity , leader1 = Cerdic (first) , leader2 = Ine , leader3 = Ecgberht , leader4 = Alfred the Great , leader5 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Ealhswith
Ealhswith or Ealswitha (died 5 December 902) was the wife of King Alfred the Great. Her father was a Mercian nobleman, Æthelred Mucel, Ealdorman of the Gaini, which is thought to be an old Mercian tribal group. Her mother was Eadburh, a member of the Mercian royal family. Ealhswith is commemorated as a saint in the Christian East and the West on 20 July. Descent A charter of 897 (S 1442) discusses the responsibilities of Ealhswith's brother Æthelwulf towards the monastery of Winchcombe, and Barbara Yorke argues that as this monastery was claimed as a possession by the family of Ceolwulf and Coenwulf, brothers who were both kings of Mercia, Ealhswith was probably a member of this family. Richard Abels goes further, stating that she was descended from King Coenwulf. Life She was married to Alfred in 868 at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. His elder brother Æthelred was then king, and Alfred was regarded as heir apparent.Costambeys, ''Ealhswith'' The Danes occupied the Mercian town of ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Asser
Asser (; ; died 909) was a Welsh monk from St David's, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join the circle of learned men whom Alfred was recruiting for his court. After spending a year at Caerwent because of illness, Asser accepted. In 893, Asser wrote a biography of Alfred, called the ''Life of King Alfred''. The manuscript survived to modern times in only one copy, which was part of the Cotton library. That copy was destroyed in a fire in 1731, but transcriptions that had been made earlier, together with material from Asser's work which was included by other early writers, have enabled the work to be reconstructed. The biography is the main source of information about Alfred's life and provides far more information about Alfred than is known about any other early English ruler. Asser assisted Alfred in his translation of Gregory the Great's '' Pastoral Care'', and possibly with other works. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Shaftesbury Abbey
Shaftesbury Abbey was an abbey that housed nuns in Shaftesbury, Dorset. It was founded in about 888, and dissolved in 1539 during the English Reformation by the order of Thomas Cromwell, minister to King Henry VIII. At the time it was the second-wealthiest nunnery in England, behind only Syon Abbey. History Alfred the Great founded the convent in about 888 and installed his daughter Æthelgifu as the first abbess. Ælfgifu, the wife of Alfred's grandson, King Edmund I, was buried at Shaftesbury and soon venerated as a saint, and she came to be regarded by the house as its true founder. The bones of St Edward the Martyr were translated from Wareham and received at the abbey with great ceremony. The translation of the relics was overseen by St Dunstan and Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia. This occurred in a great procession beginning on 13 February 981; the relics arrived at Shaftesbury seven days later. The relics were received by the nuns of the abbey and were buried with full ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Preston Candover
Preston Candover is a village and large civil parish in Hampshire, England. It has two churches, only one of which is still in use. Its nearest town is Basingstoke, approximately away. It has an acreage of , which lies on comparatively low ground, south of the high country round the surrounding villages of Farleigh Wallop and Nutley, and north-west of that which rises to Wield and beyond to Bentworth. The village itself lies on the lowest ground towards the west of the parish on the road which comes northeast from Northington and the two other Candovers, and runs across the parish to enter Nutley at Axford and continues uphill to Farleigh Wallop and then to Basingstoke. The village was home to the late Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover and his wife Anya Linden, of the supermarket Sainsbury family. History The village of Preston Candover is probably of Saxon origin. It was originally called ''Prestecandavere'', the Candover belonging to the Priests. The name derives in part fr ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Kingsclere
Kingsclere is a large village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. Geography Kingsclere is approximately equidistant ) from the towns of Basingstoke and Newbury on the A339 road. History Kingsclere can trace back its history to a place identified as belonging to King Alfred in his will between 872 and 888, the 'clere' possibly meaning 'bright' or 'clearing'. Kingsclere formed part of the ancient demesne of the Crown. In his will King Alfred left Kingsclere for life to his second daughter, Ethelgiva, Abbess of Shaftesbury, and there are other mentions of it in Saxon charters. In 931 King Athelstan at a Witenagemot at Colchester granted 10 hides of land at Clere to Abbot Aelfric, and in 943 King Edmund bestowed 15 hides of land at Clere on the 'religious woman Aelfswith'. While sixteen years later King Edgar gave his thegn Aelfwine 10 hides of land at West Clere. Local legend asserts that King John was troubled by a bedbug during a night in a Kingsclere inn, whe ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire is the 9th-most populous county in England. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, located in the north of the county. The county is bordered by Dorset to the south-west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, and West Sussex to the south east. The county is geographically diverse, with upland rising to and mostly south-flowing rivers. There are areas of downland and marsh, and two national parks: the New Forest National Park, New Forest and part of the South Downs National Park, South Downs, which together cover 45 per cent of Hampshire. Settled about 14,000 years ago, Hampshire's recorded history dates to Roman Britain, when its chi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

9th-century English Women
The 9th century was a period from 801 ( DCCCI) through 900 ( CM) in accordance with the Julian calendar. The Carolingian Renaissance and the Viking raids occurred within this period. In the Middle East, the House of Wisdom was founded in Abbasid Baghdad, attracting many scholars to the city. The field of algebra was founded by the Muslim polymath al-Khwarizmi. The most famous Islamic Scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal was tortured and imprisoned by Abbasid official Ahmad ibn Abi Du'ad during the reign of Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim and caliph al-Wathiq. In Southeast Asia, the height of the Mataram Kingdom happened in this century, while Burma would see the establishment of the major kingdom of Pagan Kingdom, Pagan. Tang china, Tang China started the century with the effective rule under Emperor Xianzong of Tang, Emperor Xianzong and ended the century with the Huang Chao#Rebellions, Huang Chao rebellions. While the Maya civilization, Maya experienced widespread Classic Maya collapse, politica ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Anglo-Saxon Abbesses
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened within Britain, and the identity was not merely imported. Anglo-Saxon identity arose from interaction between incoming groups from several Germanic tribes, both amongst themselves, and with indigenous Britons. Many of the natives, over time, adopted Anglo-Saxon culture and language and were assimilated. The Anglo-Saxons established the concept, and the Kingdom, of England, and though the modern English language owes somewhat less than 26% of its words to their language, this includes the vast majority of words used in everyday speech. Historically, the Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period in Britain between about 450 and 1066, after their initial settlement and up until the Norman Conquest. Higham, Nicholas J., and Martin J. Ryan. ''The An ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

House Of Wessex
The House of Wessex, also known as the Cerdicings and the West Saxon dynasty, refers to the family, traditionally founded by Cerdic of Wessex, Cerdic, that ruled Wessex in Southern England from the early 6th century. The house became dominant in southern England after the accession of Ecgberht, King of Wessex, King Ecgberht in 802. Alfred the Great saved England from Viking conquest in the late ninth century and his grandson Æthelstan became first king of England in 927. The disastrous reign of Æthelred the Unready ended in Danish conquest in 1014. Æthelred and his son Edmund Ironside attempted to resist the Vikings in 1016, but after their deaths the Danish Cnut the Great and his sons ruled until 1042. The House of Wessex then briefly regained power under Æthelred's son Edward the Confessor, but lost it after the Norman Conquest in 1066. All kings of England since Henry II of England, Henry II have been descended from the House of Wessex through Henry I of England, Henry&nb ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Anglo-Saxon Royalty
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened within Britain, and the identity was not merely imported. Anglo-Saxon identity arose from interaction between incoming groups from several Germanic tribes, both amongst themselves, and with indigenous Britons. Many of the natives, over time, adopted Anglo-Saxon culture and language and were assimilated. The Anglo-Saxons established the concept, and the Kingdom, of England, and though the modern English language owes somewhat less than 26% of its words to their language, this includes the vast majority of words used in everyday speech. Historically, the Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period in Britain between about 450 and 1066, after their initial settlement and up until the Norman Conquest. Higham, Nicholas J., and Martin J. Ryan. ''The An ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]