Ælfwynn, Wife Of Æthelstan Half-King

Ælfwynn or Ælfwyn (died 8 July 983) was a member of a wealthy Anglo-Saxon family in Huntingdonshire who married Æthelstan Half-King, the powerful ealdorman of East Anglia, in about 932. She is chiefly known for having been foster-mother to the future King Edgar the Peaceful following his mother's death in 944, when he was an infant. She had four sons, and the youngest, Æthelwine, became the chief secular magnate and leading supporter of the monastic reform movement. Ælfwynn donated her estates for his foundation of Ramsey Abbey in 966 and was probably buried there.

Life and family

Ælfwynn was the wife of Æthelstan Half-King, Ealdorman of East Anglia, who was called the Half-King because it was believed that he was so powerful that King Edmund I ( 940–946) and his brother King Eadred ( 946–955) depended on his advice. He was a strong supporter of the monastic reform movement and a close friend of Dunstan, who was one of its leaders and a future Archbishop of Canterbury and saint. Æthelstan married Ælfwynn soon after he became an ealdorman in 932. Her parents are not known, but she came from a wealthy Huntingdonshire family. The late tenth-century writer Byrhtferth of Ramsay wrote that her son Æthelwine: "had a distinguished lineage on his mother's side. In praising her, Archbishop Dunstan said that she and her kindred were blessed." She had a brother, Æthelsige, who acted as a surety when estates in Huntingdonshire were sold to Peterborough Abbey.

Ælfwynn had four sons, Æthelwold, Ælfwold, Æthelsige (his uncle's namesake) and Æthelwine. Æthelwold was appointed an ealdorman for part of his father's territory of East Anglia by Edmund's elder son King Eadwig ( 955–959) in 956, perhaps in preparation for Æthelstan's retirement shortly afterwards to become a monk at Glastonbury Abbey. In the same year, Æthelwold married Ælfthryth, and after his death in 962 she became the wife of King Edgar the Peaceful ( 959–975) and the mother of King Æthelred the Unready ( 978–1016). Ælfwold witnessed Edgar's charters as a thegn from 958 to 972. Æflwyn's third son, Æthelsige, also witnessed charters as a thegn from 958. He was part of Edgar's inner circle, serving as his (chamberlain) until 963.

King Edmund's younger son, the future King Edgar, was born around 943 and his mother Ælfgifu died in 944. Edgar was sent to be fostered by Ælfwynn, which the Medieval Latin expert Michael Lapidge sees as a "token of her power and influence". It enabled Æthelstan's family to strengthen its ties with the royal family. Edgar was probably brought up in Huntingdonshire, which was the location of Ælfwynn's estates and later of Æthelwine's home. In about 958 Edgar gave Ælfwynn a ten- hide estate at Old Weston in Huntingdonshire as thanks. The historian Robin Fleming comments that the ''ætheling'' (prince) was profoundly influenced by his upbringing:
:Thus, the was reared in the household of one of his father's closest allies and raised among the Half-King's own brothers and sons, five of whom at one time or another were ealdormen. Since Half-King was an intimate of the reform circle, in particular with St Dunstan, Edgar came of age in an atmosphere dominated by the ideals of monastic reform. Some of Edgar's affection for monks and his determination to revive Benedictine monasticism must have been acquired in this household of his youth.

Ælfwynn's youngest son, Æthelwine, was a few years older than Edgar and probably brought up with him. Æthelwine was appointed ealdorman of East Anglia when Æthelwold died in 962, and he became the dominant lay figure in government, attesting charters in first place among the ealdormen, following the death of his chief rival, Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia, in 983. After Æthelsige left Edgar's service, he was active in his brother's administration of East Anglia until he died on 13 October 987.

Æthelwine was called (friend of God) because he was the leading lay patron (after Edgar) of the monastic reform movement, and in 966 he founded Ramsey Abbey, together with Oswald, the Bishop of Worcester and later Archbishop of York. Ælfwynn supported Ramsey in preference to the religious houses favoured by her husband, and her estates, including the property donated by Edgar, formed part of the endowment for Ramsey. She may have played a crucial role in its establishment. Her second son, Ælfwold, was a strong supporter of monastic reform who ordered the killing of a man who illegally claimed property belonging to Peterborough Abbey. He and his wife were also benefactors of Ramsey and he was buried there following his death on 14 April 990. Æthelwine ceased attesting charters in 990 and he died on 24 April 992 after a long illness. He was also buried at Ramsey.

Death

Ælfwynn died on 8 July 983. Her husband was buried at Glastonbury Abbey, whereas Ælfwynn was probably buried at Ramsey. She was recorded in the Ramsey necrology as "our sister", the donor of Old Weston, and her death was commemorated each year on 8 July, the same day as King Edgar.

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10th-century English women