Eadwig Ætheling (sometimes also known as Eadwy or Edwy) (died 1017) was the fifth of the six sons of King
Æthelred the Unready
Æthelred II (,Different spellings of this king's name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or "Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the original Old English form . Compare the modern dialect word . ; ; 966 � ...
and his first wife,
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 ...
. Eadwig is recorded as a witness to charters from 993.
When
Sweyn Forkbeard
Sweyn Forkbeard ( ; ; 17 April 963 – 3 February 1014) was King of Denmark from 986 until his death, King of England for five weeks from December 1013 until his death, and King of Norway from 999/1000 until 1014. He was the father of King Ha ...
conquered England in 1013, Æthelred fled to
Normandy
Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy.
Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
, but Eadwig, who had previously rarely been associated with his elder brothers,
Æthelstan Ætheling
Æthelstan Ætheling (; early or mid 980s – 25 June 1014) was the eldest son of King Æthelred the Unready by his first wife Ælfgifu of York, Ælfgifu, and was the heir apparent to the kingdom until his death. He is first mentioned as a wi ...
and
Edmund Ironside
Edmund Ironside (30 November 1016; , , ; sometimes also known as Edmund II) was King of the English from 23 April to 30 November 1016. He was the son of King Æthelred the Unready and his first wife, Ælfgifu of York. Edmund's reign was marre ...
, remained behind with them in England. Sweyn died in February 1014, and Æthelred was restored to the throne. Æthelstan died in June 1014 and Æthelred in April 1016, leaving Edmund and Sweyn's son
Cnut
Cnut ( ; ; – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035. The three kingdoms united under Cnut's rul ...
to dispute the throne. In October 1016 Cnut and Edmund agreed to divide England between them, but Edmund died a month later, leaving Cnut as undisputed king.
Eadwig, who was now the last surviving son by his father's first marriage, was banished in 1016 and then outlawed in 1017 by Cnut, however he was reconciled with Cnut the same year and allowed to live in England, but was murdered soon after at the instigation of Cnut, possibly after attempting to rally resistance in the south west.
[Stafford, op. cit., pp. 225-26] The Anglo-Saxon claim to the throne then passed to the elder son of Æthelred's second marriage, the future
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex.
Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...
. Eadwig was buried at
Tavistock Abbey
Tavistock Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Mary, the mother of Jesus, Saint Mary and Saint Rumon, is a ruined Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine abbey in Tavistock, Devon. The Abbey was surrendered in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monaste ...
in Devon, a place built by his uncle
Ordwulf.
See also
*
House of Wessex family tree
This is a list of monarchs of the Kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex) until 886 AD. While the details of the later monarchs are confirmed by a number of sources, the earlier ones are in many cases obscure.
The names are given in modern English f ...
References
External links
* {{PASE, 11810, Eadwig 11
10th-century births
1017 deaths
10th-century English nobility
11th-century English people
Anglo-Saxon royalty
Year of birth unknown
House of Wessex
English princes