Editing Eadgyth

{{Short description|Queen of Germany from 936 to 946}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox royalty
| image = Edita 250.jpg
| caption = Detail from a Gothic statue in Magdeburg Cathedral assumed to represent Edith
| succession = [[Queen consort of Germany]]
| reign-type= Tenure
| reign = 936–946<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=Michael |title=The life of an Anglo-Saxon princess |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/jun/17/archaeology-forensicscience |website=The Guardian |access-date=27 April 2022 |language=en |date=17 June 2010}}</ref>
| reign-type1= Tenure
| birth_date = {{circa}} 910
| birth_place = 
| death_date = {{death year and age|946|910}}
| death_place = [[Magdeburg]], [[Duchy of Saxony|Saxony]]
| burial_place = [[Cathedral of Magdeburg]]
| house = [[House of Wessex|Wessex]]
| father = [[Edward the Elder]]
| mother = [[Ælfflæd, wife of Edward the Elder|Ælfflæd]]
| spouse = [[Otto I of Germany]] ({{abbr|m.|married}} 930)
| issue = [[Liutgard of Saxony (died 953)|Liutgarde, Duchess of Lorraine]] <br> [[Liudolf, Duke of Swabia]]
}}
'''Edith of England''', also spelt '''Eadgyth''' or '''Ædgyth''' ({{langx|ang|Ēadgȳð}}, {{langx|de|Edgitha}}; 910–946), a member of the [[House of Wessex]], was the [[East Francia|East Frankish]] ([[Kingdom of Germany|German]]) queen from 936, by her marriage to King [[Otto the Great]].

==Life==

Edith was born to the reigning [[Kingdom of England|English]] king [[Edward the Elder]] by his second wife, [[Ælfflæd, wife of Edward the Elder|Ælfflæd]], and hence was a granddaughter of King [[Alfred the Great]]. She had an older sister, [[Eadgifu of Wessex|Eadgifu]]. She apparently spent her early years near Winchester in Wessex, moving about frequently with the court,<ref name=Morris>[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/jun/17/saxon-princess-remains-german-cathedral Morris, Steven. "Remains of first king of England's sister found in German cathedral", ''The Guardian'', June 16, 2010]</ref> and may have spent her later youth, with her mother, living for a time at a monastery.<ref name=bristol/>

At the request of the [[East Frankish]] king [[Henry the Fowler]], who wished to stake a claim to equality and to seal the alliance between the two Saxon kingdoms, her half-brother King [[Æthelstan]] sent his sisters Edith and Edgiva to [[Kingdom of Germany|Germany]]. Henry's eldest son and heir to the throne Otto was instructed to choose whichever one pleased him best. Otto chose Edith, according to [[Hrotsvitha]] a woman "of pure noble countenance, graceful character and truly royal appearance", and married her in 930.<ref name=Morris/> In 929 King Otto I had granted the city of [[Magdeburg]] to his Edith as [[dower]]. She had a particular love for the town and often lived there.<ref name=Löffler>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09524b.htm Löffler, Klemens. "Magdeburg." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.{{PD-notice}}</ref>

[[File:Ankunft Ottos I. und Ediths in Magdeburg.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|left|Otto I and his wife Edith arrive near Magdeburg (Hugo Vogel 1898, Ständehaus Merseburg)]]
In 936 Henry the Fowler died and his eldest son Otto, Edith's husband, was crowned king at [[Aachen Cathedral]].<ref>Reuter, Timothy. ''Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056''. Addison Wesley Longman. (1991) p. 148 {{ISBN|978-0-582-49034-5}}</ref> A surviving report of the ceremony by the medieval chronicler [[Widukind of Corvey]] makes no mention of his wife having been crowned at this point, but according to Bishop [[Thietmar of Merseburg]]'s chronicle, Eadgyth was nevertheless [[Anointing|anointed]] as queen, albeit in a separate ceremony.

As queen consort, Edith undertook the usual state duties of a "First Lady": when she turns up in the records it is generally in connection with gifts to the state's [[List of Imperial abbeys|favoured monasteries]] or memorials to holy women and saints. In this respect she seems to have been more diligent than her now widowed and subsequently sainted mother-in-law, Queen [[Matilda of Ringelheim|Matilda]], whose own charitable activities only achieve a single recorded mention from the period of Eadgyth's time as queen. There was probably rivalry between the [[Order of Saint Benedict|Benedictine]] [[:de:Mauritiuskloster|Monastery of St Maurice]] founded at [[Magdeburg]] by Otto and Eadgyth in 937, a year after coming to the throne, and Matilda's foundation [[Quedlinburg Abbey]], intended by her as a memorial to her husband, the late King Henry. Edith accompanied her husband on his travels, though not during battles. While Otto fought against the rebellious dukes [[Eberhard of Franconia]] and [[Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine|Gilbert of Lorraine]] in 939, she spent the hostilities at [[Lorsch Abbey]]. In 941 she effected a reconciliation between her husband and his mother.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=laubCAAAQBAJ&dq=eadgyth+of+wessex&pg=PT161 Wood, Michael. ''In Search of the Dark Ages'', Random House, 2015, (no pagination)] {{ISBN|9781448141517}}</ref> 

Like her brother, Æthelstan, Edith was devoted to the cult of their ancestor Saint [[Oswald of Northumbria]] and was instrumental in introducing this cult into Germany after her marriage to the emperor. Her lasting influence may have caused certain monasteries and churches in the [[Duchy of Saxony]] to be dedicated to this saint.<ref name="GuardianEadgyth20Jan10">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/jan/20/alfred-great-granddaughter-remains-wessex|last=Kennedy|first=Maev|date=20 January 2010|title=Remains of Alfred the Great's granddaughter returned / Coming home: the Saxon queen lost for 1,000 years|pages=5|access-date=20 January 2010 | location=London | work=The Guardian}}</ref>

Eadgyth's death in 946 at around the age of thirty-six,<ref name=athelstan>[https://www.athelstanmuseum.org.uk/malmesbury-history/people/princess-eadgyth/ "Princess Eadgyth", Athelstan Museum, Malmesbury]</ref> was unexpected. Otto apparently mourned the loss of a beloved spouse. He married [[Adelaide of Italy]] in 951.

==Children==
Edith and Otto's children were:
* [[Liudolf, Duke of Swabia]] (930 – 6 September 957)<ref>Parkes, Henry. ''The Making of Liturgy in the Ottonian Church'', p.78</ref>
* [[Liutgard of Saxony (died 953)|Liutgarde]] (931 – 18 November 953), married the [[Lotharingia]]n duke [[Conrad the Red]] in 947
both buried in [[St. Alban's Abbey, Mainz]] (since destroyed).

==Tomb==
[[File:Blick in die Grabkiste von 1510.jpg|thumb|View inside the lead coffin]]
Initially buried in the St Maurice monastery, Edith's tomb since the 16th century has been located in [[Magdeburg Cathedral]].<ref name=bristol>[https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2010/7073.html "Bones confirmed as those of Saxon Princess Eadgyth", University of Bristol, June 17, 2010]</ref> Long regarded as a [[cenotaph]], a lead coffin inside a stone sarcophagus with her name on it was found and opened in 2008 by archaeologists during work on the building. An inscription recorded that it was the body of Eadgyth, reburied in 1510.<ref name=athelstan/> The fragmented and incomplete bones were examined in 2009, then brought to [[Bristol]], England, for tests in 2010.

The investigations at Bristol, applying [[Technetium-99m|isotope]] tests on tooth enamel, checked whether she was born and brought up in [[Wessex]] and [[Mercia]], as written history indicated.<ref name="GuardianEadgyth20Jan10" /><ref name="DiscoveryNewsSatter">{{Cite web|url=http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/english-princess-bones.html |title=Discovery News |last=Satter |first=Raphael G. |date=20 January 2010 |work=Bones of early English princess found in Germany |access-date=21 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123012854/http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/english-princess-bones.html |archive-date=23 January 2010 }} Retrieved from Internet Archive 14 February 2014.</ref> Testing on the bones revealed that they are the remains of Eadgyth, from study made of the enamel of the teeth in her upper jaw.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100617043529/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/england/bristol/10332975.stm German cathedral bones 'are Saxon queen Eadgyth, BBC News, 16 June 2010] Retrieved from Internet Archive 14 February 2014.</ref> Testing of the enamel revealed that the individual entombed at Magdeburg had spent time as a youth in the [[chalk]]y uplands of [[Wessex]].<ref>''The Times'', Simon de Bruxelles, 17 June 2010</ref> The bones are the oldest found of a member of English royalty.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://bristol.ac.uk/news/2010/7073.html| title = Bones confirmed as those of Saxon Princess Eadgyth, University of Bristol, 17 June 2010}}</ref>

Following the tests the bones were re-interred in a new titanium coffin in her tomb at Magdeburg Cathedral on 22 October 2010.<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/0,1518,724628,00.html Königin Editha im Magdeburger Dom bestattet] in: [[Spiegel Online]] vom 22. Oktober 2010</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*Freytag von Loringhoven, Baron. Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, 1965.
*Klaniczay, Gábor. ''Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses'', 2002.

==External links==
*[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/jun/17/study-teeth-revealing-history How the study of teeth is revealing our history, Mike Pitts, ''The Guardian'', 17 June 2010]
*{{PASE|67742|Eadgyth 2}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[House of Wessex]]||910|26 January|946}}
{{s-roy}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Matilda of Ringelheim]]}} 
{{s-ttl|title=[[Queen consort of Germany]]|years=2 July 936 – 26 January 946}} 
{{s-aft|after=[[Adelaide of Italy]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Royal consorts of Germany}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:910 births]]
[[Category:946 deaths]]
[[Category:10th-century English people]]
[[Category:10th-century English women]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon women]]
[[Category:Ottonian dynasty]]
[[Category:Queens consort of East Francia]]
[[Category:10th-century German nobility]]
[[Category:Burials at Magdeburg Cathedral]]
[[Category:Duchesses of Saxony]]
[[Category:House of Wessex]]
[[Category:English princesses]]
[[Category:Saxon princesses]]
[[Category:10th-century German women]]
[[Category:German people of English descent]]
[[Category:Daughters of kings]]
[[Category:Otto the Great]]