Queen Eadburh: Maligned but Not Murderous
A woman who was once a murderous queen of
the West Saxons winds up begging in the streets of Lombardy. Lovely poetic
justice, if only it were true.
Eadburh, daughter of Mercian King Offa and
Queen Cynethryth, was a real person. She did marry a king and was widowed. And
she might have ended her days in Lombardy, but not begging and for much more
mundane reasons than those in a story written by an author currying favor with
a political enemy.
Offa (d. 796) was known for his
ruthlessness and for the dike bearing his name. Like most aristocrats, he and
his wife arranged for their children to marry for political advantage. In 789, Eadburh
wed Beorhtric, king of Wessex.
[image error]An Anglo-Saxon king and noblewoman from Costumes of All Nations (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
The alliance had a mutual benefit. Beorhtric
might have come to power as an outsider taking advantage of a power vacuum when
his predecessor died. Marriage to the daughter of a powerful Mercian king
solidified his claim. In his part of the bargain, Beorhtric teamed up with Offa
to drive rival Ecgberht out of England. Beorhtric also had the dubious honor of
having Vikings land on his shore and kill his reeve.
Apparently, Eadburh did wield power and
influence. She gave away land in her own name and witnessed charters with her
husband and her brother. Even though her marriage to Beorhtric lasted several
years, they didn’t have children. Men in this age sometimes tried to repudiate
wives who didn’t produce a healthy son. Beorhtric seems to have been a
steadfast husband. Or maybe he feared upsetting Eadburh’s parents more than
dying without an heir.
After Offa died, his son, Ecgfrith,
succeeded him, and Beorhtric and Eadburh supported him. But Ecgfrith’s reign
didn’t last even a year. He died, likely not of natural causes.
Eadburh and Beorhtric’s marriage lasted
until his death in 802. He didn’t die of old age, either.
A 13th century image of Beorhtric (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)And now we get to the fiction, an account by
Asser, who wrote Life of Alfred in
893. The title character was Ecgberht’s grandson. Asser supposedly includes
Eadburh’s story to explain why the wives of the Wessex kings weren’t crowned
queen like Eadburh was and not take her seat beside him on the throne. More
likely this is an attempt to discredit the rival family.
If we are to believe Asser—and I don’t—Eadburh
was tyrannical like her father and dominated the relationship (not good in
medieval eyes). If her husband liked anyone she didn’t, she would poison the
friendship, and if that didn’t work, the poisoning took a literal turn. Poison,
the weapon of women and cowards, fits nicely into the narrative.
Eadburh planned to kill a young man she
thought was getting too close to her husband. The victim took the poison. So
did Beorhtric. Oops.
In reality, Ecgberht is the more probable
culprit. He might have invaded Wessex with his followers, and Beorhtric fell in
battle. Ecgberht subsequently seized the throne.
According to Asser, Eadburh took treasures
and fled. That much is believable. What’s next is a stretch, and that’s being
charitable.
Eadburh went to Charlemagne’s court. The
emperor, whose fifth wife had died, asked Eadburh if she wanted himself or his
son Charles. Eadburh said she preferred the younger man. Charlemagne told her
had she chosen the father, she would have gotten the son, but now she could
have neither.
This doesn’t pass the laugh test. By
medieval standards, Eadburh was not a desirable bride, especially for a royal
marriage. Her father and brother were dead, leaving her without the family
connections needed to form alliances.
[image error]Equestrian statue of Charlemagne, by Agostino Cornacchini (1725), St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican (photo by Myrabella via Wikimedia Commons, used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License)
Instead, Charlemagne appointed her as an
abbess. Using another time-honored technique to discredit women, Asser says
that Eadburh was caught fornicating with one of her countrymen and expelled
from the convent on Charlemagne’s order. Somehow she made her way to Pavia with
a slave and ended her days in shame and misery as a beggar.
She might have spent the rest of her days
in Lombardy but not as a punishment or in poverty. A confraternity book written
between 825 and 850 shows an “Eadburg” as an abbess of a large Lombard convent.
If this Eadburg is the former queen of Wessex, she would be in her 50s to her
70s.
It was common for a widowed queen to
retire to a convent, and if the emperor thought her a reliable ally, he might
appoint her as the abbess. An abbess was a leader, controlling land and the
convent’s other assets, and she usually did not live an ascetic lifestyle.
The real Charlemagne very much believed in
the power of prayer, and that extended to winning wars. If he trusted Eadburh
to lead her sisters in prayer, it is possible he or his successor, Louis the
Pious, might have bestowed the abbey upon her.
This
post was originally published May 16, 2018 on English Historical Fiction
Authors.
Sources
“Eadburh” by Janet L. Nelson, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
“Beorhtric” by Heather Edwards, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Asser’s Life of King Alfred, together with the Annals of Saint Neots erroneously ascribed to Asser by John Asser, d. 909, edited by William Henry Stevenson
“A handsome, but wretched head.” by Lisa Graves, The History Witch
“Eadburh, Queen of the West Saxons” by Susan Abernethy, The Freelance History Writer
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