Edward, Æthelweard and Osferth – The Sons of Alfred the Great
Edward the Elder (874 – 924)
Edward was born around c. 874 to Alfred and his Mercian wife, Ealhswith. He was brought up at the royal court, where he was taught the Psalms, English literature, and the art of warfare ‘while remaining in complete subjection [to his father]’.
The most defining moment in Edward’s youth came in 892, when, at the age of 18, his father called him up to lead a division of the West Saxon army to defend against a Viking invasion in Surrey. Meeting the invaders at Farnham, Edward proved himself a worthy heir, winning a great victory and forcing the pagans to leave Wessex.
He was given further responsibilities in 898, when he was appointed King of Kent (a province of Wessex), providing him with experience governing before he would inherit his father’s kingdom. Most of the leading magnates in Wessex supported his succession when Alfred died in 899. He was challenged for the crown by his cousin Æthelwold, who after failing to win over the West Saxons in 899, went north to seek the aid of the Viking warlords of Northumbria. Returning at the head of an army in 902, Æthelwold died at the Battle of Holme fighting against Edward’s army, thus ending his challenge to the throne.
Edward spent the first decade of his reign consolidating his rule in Wessex, reforming the church and establishing primacy over Mercia, a former vassal of Alfred. After another defensive victory over the Vikings at Tettenhall in 910, Edward waged a war of conquest upon the Viking-held Danelaw, which saw him annex Essex, East Anglia, Bedfordshire, and the East Midlands. Fortress (‘burh’) building was vital to his military conquests, using border burhs to launch invasions into enemy territory and building new burhs upon newly acquired territory, ensuring these lands were permanently held.
That his conquests continued over several years without setback suggests he was an effective military planner and strategist. One prominent historian even described his Danelaw campaign as ‘one of the best-sustained and most decisive campaigns in the whole of the Dark Ages.’ While a contemporary description of his army’s siege of Tempsford – a Viking town in Bedfordshire, suggests he was a ruthless conqueror:
[Edward’s army] beset the town, and fought against it till they took it by storm, and slew the king, and Earl Toglos, and Earl Mann his son, and his brother, and all those that were there within and would defend themselves; and they took the others, and all that was therein.
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle A.D. 918
In 918, his sister, Æthelflæd, Lady of Mercia, died, leaving Mercia to Edward, thus making him the sole ruler of England south of the river Humber. The Welsh princes also swiftly ‘sought him as their lord’. And his status was further elevated in 920 when he pressured the aggressive Viking ruler of York to sign a peace treaty with himself and his northern allies at a conference held at Bakewell, Derbyshire. With all the rulers of northern Britain present, Edward was said to have been recognised as their ‘father and lord’ – likely a vague recognition of Edward’s status as the leading king in Britain.
Thus, by the time he reached his mid-40s, he had proved himself an effective warrior and diplomat and had significantly expanded his kingdom. He would also become a great dynast, as three of his sons would become kings of England, and three (maybe four) of his daughters became queens across Europe. In his recent biography of Edward, Michael John Keys (2019) commented: ‘Edward had the vision and the ability to lay the strong foundations for a future politically united England under a single ruler. In respect of his achievements it is evident that Edward the Elder should be remembered as a great king.’
The one flaw in his reign, however, is its ending. In trying to unite Mercia and Wessex, he faced opposition from the Mercians, which led to a Mercian revolt at Chester in 924. Despite swiftly defeating the rebels, he was fatally wounded during this final campaign, dying on the 17th July at the royal estate of Farndon, Chester. Mercia and Wessex both supported different sons of Edward for succession. Only with the (almost immediate) death of the Wessex-backed son were the two kingdoms reunited. The Mercian candidate and winner of the succession crisis was Æthelstan, Edward’s oldest son. Within three years, he subdued northern England, becoming the first to rule over all of England.
If the original question is, how does Edward’s reign compare with that of Alfred’s? We already have an answer from the chronicler John of Worcester, writing in the 1120s:
[Edward] was inferior to his father in learning, but surpassed him in dignity, might, and grandeur. For…he extended the frontiers of his kingdom far beyond its limits in his father’s reign, built many cities and towns, and raised others from their ruins, wrested from the Danes in all Essex, East-Anglia, Northumbria, and several districts of Mercia…and many kings and chiefs he defeated and slew.
- The Chronicle of John of Worcester A.D. 901
Æthelweard Ætheling (880 – 922)
Æthelweard, Alfred’s youngest child, was born around c. 880. A contemporary description of his schooling suggests that he received a scholarly education, in which he was taught English, Latin and ‘liberal arts’ – this included grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. He is not thought to have been brought up alongside Edward at their father’s court, instead he was sent to a monastery school where he could receive a more intense education.
Alfred had clear plans for his elder children. Edward was his heir, and his daughters would enter nunneries or marriages he arranged for them. Yet, there was no obvious plan for Æthelweard’s future. He was destined only to play a supporting role in Edward’s regime.
After Edward, Æthelweard was the second greatest beneficiary of Alfred’s will, which granted him 16 estates, making him a leading landowner in the West Country. He became an essential part of Edward’s court and a senior councillor to the king. Furthermore, as a brother to the new king, he was now likely next in line to the throne (until Edward’s sons came of age).
We do not know if Æthelweard was one of Edward’s lieutenants in the Danelaw wars or whether he remained at Winchester to help govern Wessex while his brother was at war. We do, however, have a record of his two sons, Ælfwine and Æthelwine, who were said to be ‘favourites’ of their cousin King Æthelstan (Edward’s son) and died fighting for him at Brunaburh in 937.
The year of Æthelweard’s own death was either 920 or 922 (depending on the source), meaning that he lived to the age of 40/42. He was buried alongside his father at New Minister, Winchester, which Edward had founded in 901. This was probably the most prestigious church that Æthelweard could have been buried. By picking New Minster for Æthelweard’s burial, Edward was showing great respect to his brother.
Osferth? (c. 867 – 934)
The earliest reference to Osferth comes in Alfred’s will, written in the 880s:
to my kinsman Osferth the estate at Beckley, at Rotherfield, at Ditchling, at Sutton, at Lyminster, at Angmering, and at Felpham and the lands which belong to it.
By using the term ‘kinsman’, Alfred leaves us uncertain about his relation to Osferth. However, it is believed by many that Osferth was Alfred’s illegitimate son as he is listed in one of King Edward’s charters as ‘Osferth, the king’s brother’. However, some reject this, claiming it a mistranslation. Alternative suggestions include him being a son of one of Alfred’s older brothers or even a relative of Alfred’s mother.
Alfred’s biographer, Bishop Asser, suggests that as a young man, before he was married, Alfred was somewhat of a philanderer and ‘could not abstain from carnal desires’. In this version, it was around the time of his wedding in 868 at the age of 19 that Alfred overcame his urges. So, if we accept that Osferth was Alfred’s son, he was likely born shortly before 868 – 869, making him Alfred’s oldest child. He was only recorded once in attendance at Alfred’s court. The record: a land charter from 898 accords him the title/rank of thegn – a lower aristocratic title.
The attendance/witness lists of court charters in Anglo-Saxon England were recorded hierarchically, with the most important people listed first. The typical order of precedence in charters is as follows:(1) the king, (2) other members of the royal family, (3) archbishops and bishops, (4) ealdormen, (5) lesser clergy (abbots) and lesser noblemen (thegns).
However, in this 898 charter, Osferth is placed below the ealdormen of Wessex and alongside his fellow thegns, suggesting nothing unique or special about his status and that Alfred probably did not formally recognise Osferth as his son. That Osferth does not appear in the two primary narrative texts commissioned by Alfred (The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser’s Life of King Alfred) suggests that as a pious ruler, Alfred was likely embarrassed at having an illegitimate son and perhaps sought to try to hide him from public view.
However, after Alfred’s death and two years into Edward’s reign, a 901 charter, lists Osferth directly behind the king and above the ealdormen of Wessex and in a 904 charter, he was styled ‘Osferth, the king’s brother’. He became one of the more frequent attendees of Edward’s council, and at some point between 904 and 909, the king made him an ealdorman. Judging from the location of the estates he inherited, he likely became the ealdorman of Sussex. He was now a wealthy magnate with land, title and formal recognition of his kinship to the king.
Osferth outlived his brothers and remained prominent during the reign of Edward’s son, King Æthelstan. He attended several of Æthelstan’s councils and assemblies from 926 – 934 and remained at or near the top of the list of the English ealdormen in Æthelstan’s charters. If we assume he was born in 867 (a year before his father’s wedding) and died in the same year as his final appearance at court (934), he would have lived until the age of 67.
