of Devon, Ordgar

Male 920 - 971  (51 years)


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  • Name of Devon, Ordgar 
    of DEVON, Ordgar
    of DEVON, Ordgar
    Birth 920  Devon, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Appointments / Titles 964 
    Ealdorman of Devon 
    Death 971  England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial 971  Tavistock Abbey, Tavistock, Devon, England Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Tavistock Abbey, Tavistock, Devon, England
    Tavistock Abbey, Tavistock, Devon, England
    Person ID I26244  The Thoma Family
    Last Modified 20 Sep 2023 

    Children 
     1. of England, Ælfthryth,   b. 947, Devon, England Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 17 Nov 1000, England Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 53 years)  [natural]
    Family ID F9734  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 20 Sep 2023 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 920 - Devon, England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 971 - England Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - 971 - Tavistock Abbey, Tavistock, Devon, England Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • Ordgar, Ealdorman of Devon

      From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      Ordgar (died 971) was Ealdorman of Devon in England. He was a great West Country landowner and apparently a close advisor[1] of his son-in-law Edgar the Peaceful, king of England. His daughter Ælfthryth was King Edgar's third wife and was mother of King Æthelred the Unready (c.968-1016). Ordgar was created an Ealdorman by King Edgar in 964. He founded Tavistock Abbey in 961.[2]

      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.[1] Digressions in William of Malmesbury's Gesta pontificum Anglorum[3] More substantial references in Geoffrey Gaimar's L'Estoire des Engles regarding the love affairs and marriages of his daughter Ælfthryth.[4]

      Gaimar's account
      According to Gaimar, Ordgar was the son of an ealdorman, and owned land in every parish from Exeter 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.[1] 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 at chess, which they had learned from the Danes.[5] Æthelwald instead took Ælfthryth for his own wife and married her in about 956.[5]

      Æthelwald died in 962, and Dunstan 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 witness on almost all charters issued by King Edgar during the period.[1]

      Tavistock Abbey
      Tavistock Abbey was founded in 961 by Ordgar and completed by his son Ordwulf[6] in 981, when the charter of confirmation was granted by King Ethelred the Unready. It was endowed with lands in Devon, Dorset and Cornwall, and became one of the richest abbeys in the west of England.

      Death and burial
      Ordgar died in 971. According to William of Malmesbury, he was buried with his son at Tavistock, but according to Florence of Worcester, he was buried at Exeter.[5]

      References
      1. Lewis, C.P. "Ordgar (d. 971), magnate" (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/20813?docPos=1.) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
      2. Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) oVl. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, part 2 (notes), chapter 5. Thorn refers to Ordga, rEaldorman of Devon as "Earl of Devon"
      3. Thomson, R. M.; Winterbottom, M. (2007). William of Malmesbury: Gesta Pontificum Anglorum: Volume II: General Introduction and Commentary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 151.I SBN 978-0-19-922661-0.
      4. Short, Ian. "Gaimar, Geffrei (fl. 1136–1137), Anglo-Norman poet and historian" (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10281). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
      5. Bateson 1895.
      6. Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen.ed.) oVl. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester, 1985, part 2 (notes), chapter 5. Thorn refers to Ordga, rEaldorman of Devon as "Earl of Devon" Attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bateson, Mary (1895). "Ordgar". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 42. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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      Categories: 971 deaths 10th-century English people English landowners History of Devon
      This page was last edited on 7 February 2017, at 06:16.
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