Margaret of Wessex
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One of the most fascinating (and bloody) periods of English history is The Anarchy, when Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I (he who might well be found sometime soon in the ruins of Reading Abbey) fought her cousin Stephen of Blois (thought to be in Faversham Abbey) for the English throne. Battles raged across the…
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Edgar the Aetheling: Failure or Survivor?
“Perkin”, anniversaries, Battle of Hastings, Denmark, Edgar the Atheling, Edward the Exile, Edward V, exiles, Harold II, House of Wessex, Hungary, Malcolm III, Margaret of Wessex, Normandy, Normans, Norway, Richard of Shrewsbury, Scotland, St. Edward the Confessor, Stigand, Wallingford, Westminster Abbey, William I, Witangemot, youth
Originally posted on Giaconda's Blog: You could argue that Edgar was set up to fail from the start. As the last male heir of the ancient royal House of Cerdic of Wessex; Edgar had the bloodline but little else to support his claim to the English throne when his great uncle, Edward the Confessor,…
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This Glasgow Herald article illustrates how historian Sheila Pitcairn wishes to search Dunfermline Abbey and identify Malcolm III and his family. Robert I (le Brus) can easily be found there already. The widowed Malcolm III married (St.) Margaret of Wessex, great-niece of Edward the Confessor and granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, in about 1070, allowing Anglo-Saxon…
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Edmund II (Ironside) is a curiosity among English Kings. He reigned for barely seven months, succeeding his father Ethelred II (Unraed) on St. George’s Day 1016 but dying “in suspicious circumstances” on St. Andrew’s Day the same year. He was the half-brother of Edward the Confessor and grandfather of Edgar the Atheling, thus the ancestor…
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A section of the Bayeaux Tapestry showing the death of Harold II Hulton Archive/Getty Images http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/five-missing-kings-and-queens-and-where-we-might-find-them-a6798966.html I think we should all get out our trowels and knee-pads to go digging around again!