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I tried to make the lineage easier to follow. There were so many "his son was" statements that it was very difficult to tell who was who. It's still not well written, but I think one can at least follow the progression now.
Check for google book sources, there is absolutely no evidence that Aethelhelm was the son of a King of Wessex.
Aethelweard the Historian says he is. Streona ( talk) 10:26, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
Is he Archbishop Aethelhelm (Athelm) of Canterbury ? He was said to have been Abbot of Glastonbury so maybe not, but undoubtedly entering the cloister would have removed him as a threat to Edward and before Dunstan's reforms, priests married & had children.-- Streona ( talk) 09:04, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
King Alfred was born in 849, so his elder brother Æthelred was born earlier in the same decade; the aetheling Æthelhelm was evidently not old enough to have been associated with the kingship during his father’s reign, which ended in 871, when his father would have been in his mid twenties, but the aetheling Æthelhelm could easily have been of an age to exercise responsibility in 887, ealdorman Æthelhelm's first datable appearance. This was the occasion when the ealdorman "took the alms of the West Saxons and of King Alfred to Rome".
King Alfred's will was drawn up between 872 and 888 - almost certainly closer to the later date - so the aetheling Æthelhelm was in all likelihood alive into the 880s, though if he is identical with the ealdorman he may not have been holding that office at the time the will was made. The bequest to the aetheling Æthelhelm comes before that to his brother Æthelwold, so following the precedent set in the bequests to Alfred's own children, this suggests that he is the elder of the two.
There are no charters witnessed by an aetheling Æthelhelm, but Æthelwold, his brother, witnesses S356, dated between 870 and 899, which is also the only charter witnessed by ealdorman Æthelhelm. Of course the aetheling Æthelhelm could be deceased by the time of the charter, which would explain his apparent absence, alternatively if he is identical with the ealdorman then precedence would be observed as he witnesses above the younger aethelings, Æthelwold and Edward.
In the reign of Æthelwulf, Æthelbald, certainly, and Æthelbert, probably, witness charters as ‘dux’, so there is a precedent for an aetheling bearing the title of ealdorman, if not necessarily the exact responsibilities. Æthelbald invariably witnesses first among the ealdormen, the position occupied by ealdorman Æthelhelm in S356 (though admittedly only one other ealdorman witnesses).
Ealdorman Æthelhelm predeceased King Alfred by around three years; if he is identified with the aetheling this would be consistent with his younger brother Æthelwold being at the time of Alfred's death the claimant to the throne from Æthelred's side of the family.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the death of ealdorman Æthelhelm of Wiltshire in 897. The historian Æthelweard, who lays claim to being the grandson’s grandson of King Æthelred, gives an account of King Alfred’s final years which is independent of existing versions of the Chronicle; in this ealdorman Æthelhelm's death is not mentioned, but describing a military action of 893 in which Æthelhelm leads a cavalry force against the Danes, Æthelweard refers to the ealdorman as “illustrious". Whether or not this is indicative of family pride, it is clear that, be it either as a result of birth or merit, Æthelhelm was a notable figure.
There is no chronological obstacle to Ælfflaed, the daughter of ealdorman Æthelhelm who married King Edward, being the granddaughter of King Æthelred; but the objection is that such a relationship would have made her Edward’s first cousin once removed. The marriage of Edward's grandson Eadwig was dissolved upon grounds of far more distant consanguinity than this; however, the circumstances were very different. Eadwig had quarrelled with the church, a rift for which there is some indication his wife or her mother were held responsible, and following the loss of Mercia and Northumbria to his brother Edgar, he was in a weak political position. That Eadwig's marriage took place at all, despite the Church's prohibition on marriage within nine degrees, may be more significant than that it was dissolved.
Edward seems to have taken Ælfflaed as his wife around the time of his accession. It is conceivable that, following Æthelwold's unsuccessful bid for the crown, Edward might have seen a marriage with King Æthelred's line as a means of legitimising his succession and of tying to him any male descendants of his cousin Æthelhelm. Such a dynastic union could perhaps explain the position taken by the West Saxon Witan in the succession crisis that followed Edward's own death; passing over Æthelstan, the son of an earlier marriage, they gave their support to Ælfweard, Edward's son by Ælfflaed.
More research on consanguineous marriages on the Continent during this period might perhaps be helpful in establishing the credibility of a hypothesis which would require a marriage of first cousins.
The lack of any acknowledgement of kinship in the charter from King Alfred granting North Newnton to ealdorman Æthelhelm remains a troubling objection to the identification of the aetheling with the ealdorman, but cannot be considered a conclusive argument. Timothy Hugh Smith ( talk) 19:34, 16 December 2011 (UTC)
This article is rated Stub-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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I tried to make the lineage easier to follow. There were so many "his son was" statements that it was very difficult to tell who was who. It's still not well written, but I think one can at least follow the progression now.
Check for google book sources, there is absolutely no evidence that Aethelhelm was the son of a King of Wessex.
Aethelweard the Historian says he is. Streona ( talk) 10:26, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
Is he Archbishop Aethelhelm (Athelm) of Canterbury ? He was said to have been Abbot of Glastonbury so maybe not, but undoubtedly entering the cloister would have removed him as a threat to Edward and before Dunstan's reforms, priests married & had children.-- Streona ( talk) 09:04, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
King Alfred was born in 849, so his elder brother Æthelred was born earlier in the same decade; the aetheling Æthelhelm was evidently not old enough to have been associated with the kingship during his father’s reign, which ended in 871, when his father would have been in his mid twenties, but the aetheling Æthelhelm could easily have been of an age to exercise responsibility in 887, ealdorman Æthelhelm's first datable appearance. This was the occasion when the ealdorman "took the alms of the West Saxons and of King Alfred to Rome".
King Alfred's will was drawn up between 872 and 888 - almost certainly closer to the later date - so the aetheling Æthelhelm was in all likelihood alive into the 880s, though if he is identical with the ealdorman he may not have been holding that office at the time the will was made. The bequest to the aetheling Æthelhelm comes before that to his brother Æthelwold, so following the precedent set in the bequests to Alfred's own children, this suggests that he is the elder of the two.
There are no charters witnessed by an aetheling Æthelhelm, but Æthelwold, his brother, witnesses S356, dated between 870 and 899, which is also the only charter witnessed by ealdorman Æthelhelm. Of course the aetheling Æthelhelm could be deceased by the time of the charter, which would explain his apparent absence, alternatively if he is identical with the ealdorman then precedence would be observed as he witnesses above the younger aethelings, Æthelwold and Edward.
In the reign of Æthelwulf, Æthelbald, certainly, and Æthelbert, probably, witness charters as ‘dux’, so there is a precedent for an aetheling bearing the title of ealdorman, if not necessarily the exact responsibilities. Æthelbald invariably witnesses first among the ealdormen, the position occupied by ealdorman Æthelhelm in S356 (though admittedly only one other ealdorman witnesses).
Ealdorman Æthelhelm predeceased King Alfred by around three years; if he is identified with the aetheling this would be consistent with his younger brother Æthelwold being at the time of Alfred's death the claimant to the throne from Æthelred's side of the family.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the death of ealdorman Æthelhelm of Wiltshire in 897. The historian Æthelweard, who lays claim to being the grandson’s grandson of King Æthelred, gives an account of King Alfred’s final years which is independent of existing versions of the Chronicle; in this ealdorman Æthelhelm's death is not mentioned, but describing a military action of 893 in which Æthelhelm leads a cavalry force against the Danes, Æthelweard refers to the ealdorman as “illustrious". Whether or not this is indicative of family pride, it is clear that, be it either as a result of birth or merit, Æthelhelm was a notable figure.
There is no chronological obstacle to Ælfflaed, the daughter of ealdorman Æthelhelm who married King Edward, being the granddaughter of King Æthelred; but the objection is that such a relationship would have made her Edward’s first cousin once removed. The marriage of Edward's grandson Eadwig was dissolved upon grounds of far more distant consanguinity than this; however, the circumstances were very different. Eadwig had quarrelled with the church, a rift for which there is some indication his wife or her mother were held responsible, and following the loss of Mercia and Northumbria to his brother Edgar, he was in a weak political position. That Eadwig's marriage took place at all, despite the Church's prohibition on marriage within nine degrees, may be more significant than that it was dissolved.
Edward seems to have taken Ælfflaed as his wife around the time of his accession. It is conceivable that, following Æthelwold's unsuccessful bid for the crown, Edward might have seen a marriage with King Æthelred's line as a means of legitimising his succession and of tying to him any male descendants of his cousin Æthelhelm. Such a dynastic union could perhaps explain the position taken by the West Saxon Witan in the succession crisis that followed Edward's own death; passing over Æthelstan, the son of an earlier marriage, they gave their support to Ælfweard, Edward's son by Ælfflaed.
More research on consanguineous marriages on the Continent during this period might perhaps be helpful in establishing the credibility of a hypothesis which would require a marriage of first cousins.
The lack of any acknowledgement of kinship in the charter from King Alfred granting North Newnton to ealdorman Æthelhelm remains a troubling objection to the identification of the aetheling with the ealdorman, but cannot be considered a conclusive argument. Timothy Hugh Smith ( talk) 19:34, 16 December 2011 (UTC)