List of royal consorts of Wessex

The royal consorts of Wessex were the wives of the reigning monarchs of the Kingdom of Wessex. History has not always recorded whether each king of Wessex was married or not. In Wessex it was not customary for kings' wives to be queens but Judith was crowned queen following her marriage to Æthelwulf.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Wessex was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from AD 519 until England was unified by Æthelstan (who never married) in AD 927. There have thus been no consorts of an independent Wessex since that date and the following consorts have been those of the monarch of England.

Name	Parents	Birth	Marriage	Became Consort	Ceased to be Consort	Death	Spouse
Seaxburh (possibly)			–	no earlier than c. 642	645	c. 674	Cenwalh
Cynewise (possibly)			–	no earlier than 645	no later than 648	–	Penda
Seaxburh			–	no earlier than 648	672 Thereafter ruled in her own right	c. 674	Cenwalh
Not reliably recorded. Possibly a sister of Queen Iurminburh.			–	no earlier than c. 676	no later than c. 686	–	Centwine
Cynethryth			–	no earlier than 685	no later than 688	–	Cædwalla
Æthelburg			–	c. 688	726	–	Ine
Frithugyth			–	no earlier than 726	no later than 740	–	Æthelheard
Eadburh	Father, King Offa of Mercia Mother, Queen Cynethryth	before 788	–	no earlier than 786	802	–	Beorhtric
Unknown Late recording as Redburga but name is of doubtful historicity	–	–	–	no earlier than 802	no later than 839	–	Egbert
Osburh	Father, Oslac	–	before 839	839	no later than 856	–	Æthelwulf
Judith	Father, Charles the Bald Mother, Ermentrude of Orléans	October 844	1 October 856		13 January 858 Husband's death	after 870	Æthelwulf
Judith	Father, Charles the Bald Mother, Ermentrude of Orléans	October 844	858		860	after 870	Æthelbald
Wulfthryth	–			Period 865 to 868	not after 871	–	Ethelred I
Ealhswith	Father, Æthelred Mucil. Mother, Eadburh		868	23 April 871	26 October 899	5 December 905	Alfred the Great
Ælfflæd	Father, Æthelhelm	–	circa 901		late 910s	after 910	Edward the Elder
Eadgifu	Father, Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent	before 904	circa 919		17 July 924	after 965	Edward the Elder

References[edit]

^ Janet L. Nelson, Æthelwulf, Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
^ Williams et al., A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain
^ Stafford 1981, pp. 139–42; Story 2003, pp. 240–42.

Bibliography[edit]

Stafford, Pauline (1981). "Charles the Bald, Judith and England". In Gibson, Margaret; Nelson, Janet L. (eds.). Charles the Bald: Court and Kingdom. Oxford, UK: B A R. pp. 137–51. ISBN 0-86054-115-0.
Story, Joanna (2003). Carolingian Connections: Anglo-Saxon England and Carolingian Francia, c. 750–870. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate. ISBN 0-7546-0124-2.

[DNB-1] Janet L. Nelson, Æthelwulf, Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004

[2] Williams et al., A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain

[FOOTNOTEStafford1981139–42Story2003240–42-3] Stafford 1981, pp. 139–42; Story 2003, pp. 240–42.

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[3]

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