Agatha (Unknown) Wessex (aft. 1018 - aft. 1068)

Descendants

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Agatha (Unknown) Wessex is a member of the House of Wessex.

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Biography

Family Origins

Agatha's precise family origins are unclear. There is no agreement in medieval sources, and modern researchers have been unable to find conclusive evidence. She may have been a member of the Hungarian royal house or closely related to a Holy Roman Emperor.^[1] A full discussion appears on Stewart Baldwin's page for Agatha on the Henry Project website.^[2] Charles Cawley's Medlands entry for her husband Edward the Exile also summarises various possibilities, referencing medieval chroniclers.^[3]

Medieval sources variously refer to her as^[3]

• "daughter of Solomon King of the Magyars" - Orderic Vitalis
• a niece of Emperor Henry of Germany - John of Worcester and Ailred of Rievaulx
• a sister of Emperor Henry - Matthew Paris
• a sister of the Queen of Hungary, implying she was of the family of Iaroslav, Grand Prince of Kiev - William of Malmesbury, Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines, Roger of Wendover

The D manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles describes her as a relative of the German Emperor.^[4]

Other places where discussion of Agatha's origins can be found include:

• her Wikipedia entry^[5]
• a 1962 article by Szabolcs de Vajay, cited in Wikipedia^[6]
• a 2002 article in The Scottish genealogist^[7]
• a 2003 article in Foundations, the journal of the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy^[8]
• three articles in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register^[9][10][11]
• a 1998 article in Russian History by Norman Ingham^[12]

Agatha's entry in the Henry Project discusses a range of improbable theories as to her origins, in addition to the more likely possibilities that she was either connected to the family of the Holy Roman Emperor or else to the Hungarian royal family and the family of the Grand Duke of Kiev.^[2]

Marriage and Children

Agatha married Edward the Exile. They had three children:

• Edgar Ætheling^[1][3][13]
• St Margaret of Scotland who married Malcolm Canmore^[1][3][13]
• Cristina^[1][3][13]

Edward the Exile came to England in 1057, presumably with Agatha, and died very soon after.^[4]

Later Life

Agatha was alive in 1068, when she accompanied her children from England to Scotland following William the Conqueror's invasion of England.^[2][3][14] Her death date is uncertain. Alison Weir in her book on Britain's Royal Families states that, possibly after her daughter Margaret's death in 1093, she became a nun at Newcastle-upon-Tyne,^[15] but it is not clear what source she has for this statement, and it may well not be true: Agatha may have died well before then.

Research Notes

Agatha and Edward the Exile have previously been shown on WikiTree as parents of Aethlreda, whose profile is unsourced. There is no good source for their having a child of this name and she has been detached. It is not at all clear who Aethlreda's profile is meant to represent, and her existence is uncertain.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by M K Lawson for 'Edward Ætheling [called Edward the Exile]', print and online 2004
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Baldwin, Stewart. "The Henry Project', entry for 'Agatha', accessed 19 May 2021
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5} Charles Cawley. EDWARD ([1016/17-London 19 Apr 1057], entry (under his father Edmund Ironside) in "Medieval Lands" database (accessed 17 May 2021)
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Michael Swanton (translator and editor). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, revised edition, Phoenix Press, 2000, pp. 187-188
5. ↑ [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_(wife_of_Edward_the_Exile) Wikipedia: Agatha (wife of Edward the Exile)
6. ↑ Szabolcs de Vajay. Agatha, Mother of St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, Duquesne Review, vol. 7, no. 2 (Spring 1962), pp. 71-80
7. ↑ Gregory M S Lauder-Frost. Agatha - The Ancestry Dispute in The Scottish Genealogist, Edinburgh, Sept 2002, vol.xlix no.3, p.71-2 [not seen by Michael Cayley when he revised this biography in May 2021]
8. ↑ William Humphreys. Agatha, Mother of St Margaret: the Slavic versus Slalian Solutions - a Critical Overview in 'Foundations' (Journal of the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy), Vol. 1(1), 2003, pp. 31-43, web
9. ↑ David Faris and Douglas Richardson. The Origin of Agatha -The Debate Continues: The Parents of Agatha, Wife of Edward The Exile, New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol.152
10. ↑ René Jetté. Is the Mystery of the Origins of Agatha, Wife of Edward the Exile, Finally Solved?, New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 150 (October 1996), pp. 417-432
11. ↑ G Andrews Moriarty. Agatha, wife of the Atheling Eadward, New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 106 (1952), pp. 52-60
12. ↑ Norman W. Ingham. Has a missing daughter of Iaroslav Mudryi been found?, Russian History 25 (1998): 231-270
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2} The Henry Project, entry for Eadweard "the Exile"
14. ↑ Michael Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, p. 201
15. ↑ Alison Weir. Britain's Royal Families, new Pimlico edition, Vintage Books, 2008, p. 28

• Baldwin, Stewart. The Henry Project: The Ancestors of King Henry II of England, entry for Agatha: Wife of Eadweard the Exile, accessed 19 May 2021
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by M K Lawson for 'Edward Ætheling [called Edward the Exile]', print and online 2004
• Wikipedia: Agatha (wife of Edward the Exile)