of Mercia, Lady Ealdgyth

Female 1040 - 1066  (26 years)


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  • Name of Mercia, Ealdgyth  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
    Title Lady 
    Birth 1040  Kingdom of Mercia, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 3, 6
    Gender Female 
    Appointments / Titles 1054  [2, 3, 6
    Queen Consort of England; Queen Consort of Wales 
    FSID 9CW5-JNL  [2, 3, 6
    Death 1066  Chester, Cheshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 3, 6
    Burial 1066  Spalding, Lincolnshire, England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3, 6
    Person ID I33445  The Thoma Family
    Last Modified 20 Sep 2023 

    Father of Mercia, Ælfgar,   b. 12 Aug 1002, Kingdom of Mercia, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1062, Kingdom of Mercia, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 59 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother Mallet, Ælfgifu,   b. 997, Kingdom of Wessex (England) Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1092, Kingdom of Mercia, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 95 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Marriage England Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
    Family ID F12994  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family ap Llywelyn, Gruffydd,   b. 1007, Flynn on-Fair, St. Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 Aug 1063, Bannockburn, Stirlingshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 56 years) 
    Marriage 1054  Rhuddlan, Flintshire, Wales Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3, 6
    Children 
     1. verch Griffith, Guenta,   b. 1050, Dol, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1084, Wales Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 34 years)  [natural]
    Family ID F12993  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 20 Sep 2023 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 1040 - Kingdom of Mercia, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - 1054 - Rhuddlan, Flintshire, Wales Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 1066 - Chester, Cheshire, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - 1066 - Spalding, Lincolnshire, England Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • 05 Aug 1063 in Snowdonia, Wales; After escaping a surprise attack by the forces of Harold Godwinson in 1062, Gruffydd lost his head to Harold's brother in Snowdonia on 5 August 1063.

      Jan 1066 in London, England; Ealdgyth married for a 2nd time to Harold Godwinson (King of England). The marriage was likely politically motivated and is believed to have occurred shortly before or after he became king in January 1066.

      14 Oct 1066 in Hastings, Sussex, England; Ealdgyth's second husband, King Harold Godwinson, died on 14 October 1066 in the Battle of Hastings against William the Conqueror

      14 Oct 1066 in Cheshire, England; At the news of Harold's death, Ealdgyth's brothers went to London to fetch her and immediately sent her to Chester for shelter. It is unknown what happened to her thereafter.

      NOT THE SAME AS EDITH SWANNECK: Ealdgyth was the wife of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn and 2nd wife of Harold Godwinson, while Edith Swanneck was the mistress/consort of Harold Godwinson BEFORE his marriage to Ealdgyth

      1041 Capture of Wife of Hywel
      Some historians hold that Gruffydd had a liaison with the wife of Hywel ab Edwin, taken as part of "the spoils of war" in 1041.
      Wolcott states that in 1041 that during a battle with King Hywel ap Edwin of Deheubarth, Gruffudd ap Llewelyn seized Hywel's wife. The 3 principal versions of the Brut differ as to what Gruffudd had in mind when he took the lady.
      - Took her for his own, i.e. took her for a mistress;
      - Took her as his own wife
      - Took her and controlled her. This version might describe his simply taking the lady hostage, a common occurrence in warfare during that era. Since we believe he already had a wife, and knew the lady was a daughter of Earl Leofric we suspect she was taken as a bargaining chip in the event Mercia interfered with his plans to take Deheubarth and, indeed, all of Wales.

      Edith or Ealdgyth, was the daughter of Aelfgar, who became Earl of East Anglia in 1053 and Earl of Mercia in 1057, dying shortly after 1062.
      Wolcott emphasizes that while many suppose that Aeldgyth was the same lady Gruffudd had taken from Hywel in 1041, the chronology does not fit. The lady widowed in 1063 bore 2 sons to Harold before 1066, but the lady taken from Hywel would have been in her mid or late 40's by then.
      First Marriage to Gruffudd
      Gruffudd married, first, about 1057, as her first husband, Edith (or Ealdgyth Ealgyth Aldgyth), daughter of Aelfgar (of Elgar), King of Mercia, son of Leofric, son of Leofwine, the earl of Mercia who died before 1032. Her grandmother was Lady Godiva.
      Edith married, about 1057, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn.

      After his first wife Nest died, probably in childbirth, Gruffudd married Ealdgyth about 1055 . The marriage of Gruffudd and Eadgyth would have been about 1055 when Gruffudd and Aelfgar were known to be allies.
      The number of Ealdgyth's children with Gruffydd is also in some dispute. While Nesta is her daughter, there is some uncertainty about the mother of Maredudd and Idwal.
      m.1(c. 1050 or 1056/7) Gruffydd ap Llywelyn of Wales (d. 1063).[2] Issue: 1 proven:

      (unproven) Maredudd "Meredith" ap Gruffydd (d. 1068 or later; or 1070).
      (unproven) Idwal ap Gruffydd (d. 1068 or 1070).
      Nesta.
      m. Osbern FitzRichard
      Per https://www.geni.com/people/Ealdgyth/6000000000115658521, Ealdgyth was butied in Spalding, Lincoln, England

  • Sources 
    1. [S788] WORLD: Wikipedia.
      https://www.wikipedia.org/

    2. [S789] WORLD: Family Search, Family Tree.
      https://www.familysearch.org/search/tree/name

    3. [S843] ENGLAND: British History Online.
      http://www.british-history.ac.uk/

    4. [S2769] USA: Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists Who Came to New England 1623-1650.
      https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89062951181&view=1up&seq=13

    5. [S2771] USA: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America bef 1760, Frederick Lewis Weis.
      https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/49030/

    6. [S2774] WORLD: Family Search, Books.
      https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/

    7. [S774] WORLD: WikiTree.
      https://www.wikitree.com/

    8. [S827] WORLD: Dictionary of National Biography.
      https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009805258

    9. [S790] WORLD: Family Search, Ancestral File.
      https://www.familysearch.org/search/genealogies

    10. [S791] WORLD: Ancestry Family Trees.
      https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/42/

    11. [S2824] ENGLAND: The Baronage of England by Dugdale.
      https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=eebo;idno=A36794.0001.001