Medieval history is typically a male-dominated affair and the lives of women at this time are not well represented. One exception is Elfrida, a queen whose life is tied closely to the history of Wherwell. Elfrida is commonly believed to have been adulterous, murderous and ruthlessly ambitious, but is this image accurate? I decided to consult different historical accounts to gain a better understanding of this fascinating woman.
Elfrida was born in c945 at Lydford Castle, Devon. Her father was Ordgar, Ealdorman of Devon. Historical sources suggest she grew into a woman of great beauty, so much so that when the first wife of King Edgar, Ethelfleda, died in c962/4, he sent one of his confidants, Aethelwold, to visit Elfrida to assess her beauty and to offer her marriage if accounts of her desirability turned out to be true.
According to the chronicler William of Malmesbury, Aethelwold met Elfrida but soon fell in love with her and married her for himself, telling the King that she was ‘a girl of vulgar and commonplace appearance’. The King lost interest in Elfrida, but later suspected something was awry and therefore arranged to visit Elfrida to assess her beauty for himself. Aethelwold became alarmed and confessed the sequence of events to his wife, asking her to dress and act as plainly as possible. Elfrida instead put on her finest clothes and, ‘omitted nothing which could stimulate the desire of a young and powerful man’. King Edgar fell in love with Elfrida and, under the pretence of hunting, went out with Aethelwold into Harewood Forest where he killed him with a javelin.
Elfrida was crowned with King Edgar in Bath Abbey on 11th May 973. This was the first instance of the coronation of a Queen of England. (Some sources suggest Elfrida was the second queen to be crowned, the first being Judith, the second wife of King Ethelwulf. However, Judith was crowned Queen of Wessex, not Queen of England).
In 975, the King died unexpectedly and was succeeded by Edward, his son from his first marriage. Elfrida, however, wished for Ethelred, her own son from her marriage to Edgar, to succeed. On the 18th March 978, King Edward went hunting near Wareham in Dorset and decided to visit his young brother, Ethelred, at Corfe Castle. According to Henry of Huntingdon, on entering the castle, King Edward, ‘was treasonably slain by his own family … it is reported that his stepmother [Elfrida]… stabbed him with a dagger while she was in the act of offering him a cup to drink’.
King Edward was buried at Wareham Abbey and later moved to Shaftesbury Abbey. In 1970, his remains were examined and revealed that it was likely the King was stabbed in the back whilst riding his horse and that he had been dragged along the ground with his foot caught in a stirrup. It has been suggested that Elfrida killed the King in an effort to have her own son placed upon the throne. However, there is no firm evidence to support this, and it is possible that the King was killed by prominent nobles who wanted Edward removed because he failed to support them in their plight in taking possession of monastic lands at a time of famine.
Ethelred, then only a boy, was crowned King Ethelred II (later nicknamed ‘the Redeless’, meaning ‘without counsel’). When he became of age, King Ethelred forced Elfrida to retire from political life. In 979, Elfrida founded the Benedictine Abbey of St Mary and St Melor near Amesbury. It has been suggested that this was an act of remorse and penance over the blood spilled at her own hands. In 986, Elfrida became a nun and founded the Benedictine Abbey at Wherwell. She spent the rest of her life quietly at Wherwell Abbey until 17th November 1002 when she fell into the river and drowned. It is highly probable she was buried at Wherwell Abbey.
Whether Elfrida deserves her murderous and adulterous image is difficult to say with any degree of certainty. My own belief is that she was involved in the death of her stepson, King Edward, although not directly by her own hands. However, it is evident that Queen Elfrida was an extraordinary woman living in extraordinary times. It is also sobering to think that beneath the peaceful and picturesque surface of Wherwell, lies such a bloody and violent past.
This article was written by David Wright and published in the April 2017 edition of this Community Magazine. It is the first of occasional ‘looking back’ articles which will be published as the months pass by.
The slaying of Aethelwold in Harewood Forest was retold in the Wherwell Millennium Video, originally available in VHS format and later reproduced in DVD format. If any reader would like to purchase a copy of this DVD, please contact Mike Gee on 01264 860592.
Copies of the Community Magazine for year 2000 and later have been archived by Wherwell History Group. If any reader stumbles across editions prior to year 2000, please contact Andrew Flanagan on 01264 860560.
See pages 30 & 31 of the Chilbolton & Wherwell Community Magazine
Book ‘Finding Elfrida’ by Rosemarie Martin listed for sale on Etsy
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