Utterly fascinating. Whether it's true or not, I really enjoy the anecdote about Alfred's love of reading being inspired by his mother. It brings the past so close you almost feel like you could be in the room.
The West Saxons certainly had a complicated relationship with the wives of their kings.
Never quite understood why – I guess it has something to do with dynastic politics and power that – Alfred chose to follow the ‘custom’ where his own wife (Ealhswith), like his mother (Osburh), would not be called queen. Yet Wulfthyth, the wife of Alfred’s brother Æthelred, was called regina.
Utterly fascinating. Whether it's true or not, I really enjoy the anecdote about Alfred's love of reading being inspired by his mother. It brings the past so close you almost feel like you could be in the room.
The West Saxons certainly had a complicated relationship with the wives of their kings.
Never quite understood why – I guess it has something to do with dynastic politics and power that – Alfred chose to follow the ‘custom’ where his own wife (Ealhswith), like his mother (Osburh), would not be called queen. Yet Wulfthyth, the wife of Alfred’s brother Æthelred, was called regina.
Did Alfred ever mention his mother in his own writing? Did he write letters or anything besides translate other peoples’ works? Just curious.