Ordgar (died 971) was Ealdorman of Devon in England. He was a great

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

landowner and apparently a close advisor of his son-in-law

Edgar the Peaceful Edgar (or Eadgar; 8 July 975), known sometimes as Edgar the Peacemaker or the Peaceable, was King of the English from 959 until his death in 975. He became king of all England on his brother Eadwig's death. He was the younger son of King Edm ...

, king of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. His daughter Ælfthryth was King Edgar's third wife and was the mother 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 � ...

(c.968 – 1016). He was created an

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

by King Edgar in 964.

Biography

Historical sources

Little is known about Ordgar other than what survives in three historical sources: *His name appears as a witness on charters of King Edgar between 962 and 970. *Digressions in

William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury (; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a gifted historical scholar and a ...

's '' Gesta pontificum Anglorum'' *More substantial references in Geoffrey Gaimar's ''L'Estoire des Engles'' regarding the love affairs and marriages of his daughter Ælfthryth

Gaimar's account

According to Gaimar, Ordgar was the son of an ealdorman, and owned land in every

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

from

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

in Devon to Frome in Somerset. He married an unknown lady of royal birth, by whom he had a daughter Ælfthryth. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography draws a conclusion that Ordgar was "clearly a figure of some importance" to have secured such a match. King Edgar determined on marrying Ælfthryth and to this end he sent Æthelwald, Ealdorman of East Anglia as his agent to woo her. On arrival Æthelwald found her in company with her father Ordgar, whom she completely controlled by her personality, playing chess, which they had learned from the

Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...

. Æthelwald instead took Ælfthryth for his own wife and married her in about 956. Æthelwald died in 962, and

Dunstan Dunstan ( – 19 May 988), was an English bishop and Benedictine monk. He was successively Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised. His work restored monastic life in En ...

suspected that he was murdered by his wife Ælfthryth who thereafter, according to Dunstan, seduced King Edgar and murdered his son Prince Edward the Martyr in order to pave the way for the crowning of her son Æthelred as king. It is, however, certain that, under whatever actual circumstances, Ælfthryth became King Edgar's third wife in 964 and in the same year her father Ordgar was created ealdorman. The ''ODNB'' supposes that Ordgar from the time of his daughter's royal marriage until 970 was one of Edgar's closest advisors, by virtue of his being named as a witness on almost all charters issued by King Edgar during the period.

Tavistock Abbey

Older historians thought that

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 ...

was founded in 961 by Ordgar but the modern consensus is that it was wholly the foundation of his son Ordwulf in 974; the charter of confirmation was granted in 981 by King Æthelred, Ordwulf's nephew.

Death and burial

Ordgar died in 971. According to

, he was buried with his son Edulf at Tavistock, Devon, but according to Florence of Worcester, he was buried at

Issue

The name of Ordgar's wife is not known; however, he is known to have issue: * Ordwulf (died after 1005), High Reeve of Devon * Ælfthryth, Queen Consort of England, married King Edgar of England. * Edulf (died 971 or before), was of gigantic strength and stature.Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 42 pg 242-243

References

;Attribution *

External links

* {{PASE, 12554, Ordgar 5 Year of birth unknown 971 deaths 10th-century English landowners English landowners History of Devon