Elfrida
|
|
Elfrida (945-1000, also Ælfthryth or Elfthryth) was the second wife of King Edgar of England.
Her father was Earl Ordgar, Alderman of Devon. Before marrying King Edgar, Elfrida was the wife of Ethelbald, Alderman of the East Angles. Edgar had slain Ethelbald, in order to obtain the hand of his widow; and Elfrida appears to have connived at the crime.
Elfrida was also party to the murder of her step son Edward the Martyr at her residence in Corfe Castle on March 18, 978. This was to place her 10-year-old son Ethelred on the throne as King Ethelred II of England. Henry of Huntingdon relates:
- "[Edward] was treasonably slain by his own family... it is reported that his stepmother, that is the mother of King Ethelred, stabbed him with a dagger while she was in the act of offering him a cup to drink."
References
- Chapter XIII - History of the Anglo-Saxons - by Sir Francis Palgrave (1876).