Æthelhelm or ''Æþelhelm'' (fl. 880s) was the elder of two known sons of

Æthelred I Æthelred (; ) or Ethelred () is an Old English personal name (a compound of '' æþele'' and '' ræd'', meaning "noble counsel" or "well-advised") and may refer to: Anglo-Saxon England * Æthelred and Æthelberht, legendary princes of Kent * Æ ...

, King of

Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...

from 865 to 871, and Queen Wulfthryth. Æthelred's sons were infants when their father died in 871, and the throne passed to their uncle,

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 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 Alfr ...

. The only certain record of Æthelhelm is as a beneficiary in Alfred's will in the mid 880s, and he probably died at some time in the next decade. Following Alfred's death in 899 Æthelhelm's younger brother

Æthelwold Æthelwold was a common Anglo Saxon name. It may refer to: Royalty and nobility *King Æthelwold of Deira, King of Deira, d. 655 *King Æthelwold of East Anglia, King of East Anglia, d. 664 *King Æthelwold Moll of Northumbria, King of Northumbria, ...

unsuccessfully contested the succession.

Pauline Stafford Pauline Stafford is Professor Emerita of Early Medieval History at Liverpool University and a visiting professor at Leeds University in England. Dr. Stafford is a former vice-president of the Royal Historical Society. Scholarship Her work focu ...

identifies him with the Æthelhelm who served as

Ealdorman Ealdorman ( , )"ealdorman"
''Collins English Dictionary''. was an office in the Government ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, the probable father of

Ælfflæd Ælfflæd is a name of Anglo-Saxon England meaning Ælf (Elf) and flæd (beauty). It may refer to: * Saint Ælfflæd of Whitby (654–714) * Ælfflæd of Mercia, daughter of Offa, wife of King Æthelred I of Northumbria * Ælfflæd, wife of Edwa ...

, who became

Edward the Elder Edward the Elder (870s?17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousi ...

's second wife about 899. However,

Barbara Yorke Barbara Yorke FRHistS FSA (born 1951, Barbara Anne Elizabeth Troubridge) is a historian of Anglo-Saxon England, specialising in many subtopics, including 19th-century Anglo-Saxonism. She is currently emeritus professor of early Medieval histo ...

rejects this idea, arguing that it does not appear to have been the practice for

ætheling Ætheling (; also spelt aetheling, atheling or etheling) was an Old English term (''æþeling'') used in Anglo-Saxon England to designate princes of the royal dynasty who were eligible for the kingship. The term is an Old English and Old Saxon ...

s (princes of the royal dynasty who were eligible to be king) to become ealdormen, that a grant from Alfred to Ealdorman Æthelhelm makes no reference to kinship between them, and that the hostile reception to King

Eadwig Eadwig (also Edwy or Eadwig All-Fair, 1 October 959) was King of England from 23 November 955 until his death in 959. He was the elder son of Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu, who died in 944. Eadwig and his brother Edgar were you ...

's marriage to

Ælfgifu Ælfgifu (also ''Ælfgyfu''; ''Elfgifa, Elfgiva, Elgiva'') is an Anglo-Saxon name, Anglo-Saxon feminine personal name, from ''ælf'' "elf" and ''gifu'' "gift". When Emma of Normandy, the later mother of Edward the Confessor, became queen of Engla ...

, his

third cousin once removed A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, c ...

, shows that a marriage between Edward and his first cousin once removed would have been forbidden as incestuous. Yorke, op. cit., pp. 33–34. Keynes and Lapidge also treat the two Æthelhelms as different people, although they are more cautious in rejecting the identification, saying that they are "probably" not the same, p. 321, n. 66 The historian

Æthelweard Æthelweard, also spelled Ethelweard, Aethelweard, Athelweard, etc., is an Anglo-Saxon male name. It may refer to: * King Æthelweard of the Hwicce (''fl''. 7/8th century) * King Æthelweard of East Anglia (''fl.'' mid-9th century) * Æthelweard ( ...

(died c. 998) claimed descent from King Æthelred I and may therefore be a descendant of Æthelhelm. Some genealogists have suggested that the Godwins descended from Æthelred I through Æthelhelm, but almost all historians dismiss this idea.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aethelhelm 860s births Anglo-Saxon royalty 890s deaths House of Wessex

See also

References

External links