Ælfric Cild
Encyclopedia
Ælfric Cild was a wealthy Anglo-Saxon nobleman from the east Midlands, ealdorman
of Mercia
between 983 and 985, and possibly brother-in-law to his predecessor Ælfhere. He was also associated with the monastic reformer Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester
, being involved in a number of land transactions for the (re)foundation and endowment of Peterborough Abbey and Thorney Abbey
during the 970s and early 980s.
, ealdorman of central Mercia, and hence that he was brother-in-law to Ælfhere, ealdorman in Mercia between 956 and 983. Her name may have been Æthelflæd. Her brother Ælfheah, ealdorman in Wessex, left a will "probably drawn up in the late 960s" in which he bequeathed estates to Ælfwine, his "sister's son", who was probably Ælfric's son with her. This Ælfwine is also thought to be the warrior of this name who died fighting in the battle near Maldon
(Essex, 991), according to the Old English heroic poem which was composed to commemorate the event (The Battle of Maldon
).
It has been suggested that it may have been Ælfric Cild who in 956 received from King Eadwig land at Hanney and who is addressed as the king's adoptivus parens in the charter
which records the transaction. The description has been interpreted as indicating that Ælfric had married into a family of royal rank and possibly that he "had a hand in raising the young Eadwig".
In some contemporary as well as later sources, Ælfric (a common Old English name) is distinguished by his cognomen Cild. Literally meaning "child", it is an Old English title borne by some Anglo-Saxon nobles and typically denotes a man of high rank. Ælfric appears to have been a wealthy landowner in Huntingdonshire, East Anglia, hence in the ealdormanry of Ælfhere's great rival Æthelwine
.
. Æthelwold also acquired part of Yaxley from Ælfric. Another religious house re-established by Æthelwold was Peterborough Abbey. A list of sureties dating from Ælfric's time as ealdorman (983 x 985) suggests that it, too, acquired some of Ælfric's lands.
Ælfric is also found in the company of Bishop Æthelwold on other occasions. The Liber Eliensis
specifies that the meeting of King Edgar at which Bishop Æthelwold bought land at Gransden, was attended by Ælfhere, Æthelwine and Ælfric Cild. According to the same source, Ælfric was joining Æthelwold
, bishop of Winchester, the young ætheling Æthelred, "then an earl [comes]", and his mother Queen Ælfthryth when they were doing business at Ely Abbey sometime in the reign of King Edward the Martyr
(975-978). The text remembers these years as a time "when the government of the kingdom was in disorder and the legal tenure of the land disrupted". Ælfric's presence may indicate that he belonged to a faction which supported Æthelred's claims to the throne, one which included Bishop Æthelwold.
. The Liber Eliensis names Ælfhere, Æthelwine and Ælfric Cild as those present at a local council which was held at Slaughter, Gloucestershire sometime after King Edgar's death. This council dealt with a dispute about land at Hatfield.
When Ælfhere died in c. 983, Ælfric was appointed ealdorman in his place. The office was a powerful asset since under Ælfhere's tenure, its sphere of authority had grown to include not only central Mercia, but also parts of Mercia formerly controlled by ealdormen Æthelmund and Æthelstan Rota
, that is, western Mercia (from Cheshire to Gloucestershire) and Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Ælfric was not able to retain his new position for very long, however. Early in the year 985, a royal council was convened at Cirencester
and Ælfric was driven out of the country on account of treason. The nature of the accusation is unknown, but it may be related to allegations that he had appropriated estates in Gloucestershire from a widowed matrona called Eadflæd, possibly Ælfhere's widow. These allegations are known from two royal diplomas which were issued around the turn of the century in favour of Abingdon Abbey
.
In one of King Æthelred's so-called 'restitution charters', ealdorman Ælfric and Wulfgar, bishop of Ramsbury, are singled out as greedy men whose bad counsel had misled the king into violating the privileges of Abingdon Abbey, such as the right to elect its own abbot. Ælfric is said to have bribed the king and so to have bought the abbacy for his brother Eadwine
. There is some uncertainty among historians as to whether this Ælfric, who is described as maior domus regis by the Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis
(History of Abingdon Abbey), refers to Ælfric Cild or to Ælfric, ealdorman of Hampshire
(d. 1016).
Ælfric's son appears to be the Ælfwine who died fighting in the Battle of Maldon in 991. In the Maldon poem, he is portrayed as a young man in the personal household troop of Byrhtnoth
, ealdorman of Essex, who led the fateful attack against the Viking army and in the event, perished himself. Following Byrhtnoth's death and the flight of several of his men, a speech is attributed to Ælfwine in which he urges his fellow warriors to remember the heroic boasts they made at the drinking table and exhorts them to avenge their lord, against all odds. Ælfwine is expressly identified as a son (bearn) of Ælfric, but in his speech, he is made to identify himself as a grandson of Ealhhelm (wis ealdorman) as well as a kinsman (mæge) of Byrhtnoth.
The next ealdorman known to have been given responsibilities in Mercia is Leofwine (d. 1016), who received the office in 994. It has been suggested that in the interim when the position of ealdorman remained vacant, Æthelsige, a king's thegn, may have been given "some position in Mercia".
Ealdorman
An ealdorman is the term used for a high-ranking royal official and prior magistrate of an Anglo-Saxon shire or group of shires from about the ninth century to the time of King Cnut...
of Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
between 983 and 985, and possibly brother-in-law to his predecessor Ælfhere. He was also associated with the monastic reformer Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester
Æthelwold of Winchester
Æthelwold of Winchester , was Bishop of Winchester from 963 to 984 and one of the leaders of the tenth century monastic reform movement in Anglo-Saxon England....
, being involved in a number of land transactions for the (re)foundation and endowment of Peterborough Abbey and Thorney Abbey
Thorney Abbey
Thorney Abbey was on the island of Thorney in The Fens of Cambridgeshire, England.- History :The earliest documentary sources refer to a mid-7th century hermitage destroyed by a Viking incursion in the late 9th century. A Benedictine monastery was founded in the 970s, and a huge rebuilding...
during the 970s and early 980s.
Family connections
It is thought that he married the daughter of EalhhelmEalhhelm
Ealhhelm was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and ealdorman in Mercia of West Saxon origins.It was in the reign of Edmund, circa 940, that Ealhhelm was appointed as an ealdorman. He shared authority in Mercia with others, including Æthelstan Rota, Æthelmund, and another Æthelstan. The division is presumed...
, ealdorman of central Mercia, and hence that he was brother-in-law to Ælfhere, ealdorman in Mercia between 956 and 983. Her name may have been Æthelflæd. Her brother Ælfheah, ealdorman in Wessex, left a will "probably drawn up in the late 960s" in which he bequeathed estates to Ælfwine, his "sister's son", who was probably Ælfric's son with her. This Ælfwine is also thought to be the warrior of this name who died fighting in the battle near Maldon
Battle of Maldon
The Battle of Maldon took place on 10 August 991 near Maldon beside the River Blackwater in Essex, England, during the reign of Aethelred the Unready. Earl Byrhtnoth and his thegns led the English against a Viking invasion. The battle ended in an Anglo-Saxon defeat...
(Essex, 991), according to the Old English heroic poem which was composed to commemorate the event (The Battle of Maldon
The Battle of Maldon
The Battle of Maldon is the name given to an Old English poem of uncertain date celebrating the real Battle of Maldon of 991, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent a Viking invasion...
).
It has been suggested that it may have been Ælfric Cild who in 956 received from King Eadwig land at Hanney and who is addressed as the king's adoptivus parens in the charter
Anglo-Saxon Charters
Anglo-Saxon charters are documents from the early medieval period in Britain which typically make a grant of land or record a privilege. The earliest surviving charters were drawn up in the 670s; the oldest surviving charters granted land to the Church, but from the eighth century surviving...
which records the transaction. The description has been interpreted as indicating that Ælfric had married into a family of royal rank and possibly that he "had a hand in raising the young Eadwig".
In some contemporary as well as later sources, Ælfric (a common Old English name) is distinguished by his cognomen Cild. Literally meaning "child", it is an Old English title borne by some Anglo-Saxon nobles and typically denotes a man of high rank. Ælfric appears to have been a wealthy landowner in Huntingdonshire, East Anglia, hence in the ealdormanry of Ælfhere's great rival Æthelwine
Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia
Æthelwine was ealdorman of East Anglia and one of the leading noblemen in the kingdom of England in the later 10th century. As with his kinsmen, the principal source for his life is Byrhtferth's life of Oswald of Worcester...
.
Ælfric Cild and Æthelwold
The sources for Ælfric's landed possessions associate him with Bishop Æthelwold's monastic reform in East Anglia. One of them is a charter, dated 973, which purports to confirm the acquisition of various estates by Bishop Æthelwold for the refoundation of Thorney Abbey. Although the charter is spurious in its present form, it is nevertheless thought to preserve an authentic core. The text reports that Ælfric, called miles, sold Water Newton, Huntingdonshire, to Æthelwold for 20 librae of silver. Although he initially contested the alleged outcome of the transaction, he consented on accepting from the bishop a further amount of silver (13 librae) as well as some land at Ræsen (possibly Market Rasen, Lincolnshire) and Titchmarsh, NorthamptonshireTitchmarsh, Northamptonshire
Titchmarsh is a village and civil parish in East Northamptonshire, England. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 543 people....
. Æthelwold also acquired part of Yaxley from Ælfric. Another religious house re-established by Æthelwold was Peterborough Abbey. A list of sureties dating from Ælfric's time as ealdorman (983 x 985) suggests that it, too, acquired some of Ælfric's lands.
Ælfric is also found in the company of Bishop Æthelwold on other occasions. The Liber Eliensis
Liber Eliensis
The Liber Eliensis is a 12th-century English chronicle and history, written in Latin. Composed in three books, it was written at Ely Abbey on the island of Ely in the fenlands of eastern Cambridgeshire. Ely Abbey became the cathedral of a newly formed bishopric in 1109...
specifies that the meeting of King Edgar at which Bishop Æthelwold bought land at Gransden, was attended by Ælfhere, Æthelwine and Ælfric Cild. According to the same source, Ælfric was joining Æthelwold
Æthelwold
-Royalty and nobility:*King Æthelwold of Deira, King of Deira, d. 655*King Æthelwold of East Anglia, King of East Anglia, d. 664*King Æthelwold Moll of Northumbria, King of Northumbria, d. post-765*Æthelwold of Wessex, son of King Æthelred of Wessex, d. 902...
, bishop of Winchester, the young ætheling Æthelred, "then an earl [comes]", and his mother Queen Ælfthryth when they were doing business at Ely Abbey sometime in the reign of King Edward the Martyr
Edward the Martyr
Edward the Martyr was king of the English from 975 until he was murdered in 978. Edward was the eldest son of King Edgar, but not his father's acknowledged heir...
(975-978). The text remembers these years as a time "when the government of the kingdom was in disorder and the legal tenure of the land disrupted". Ælfric's presence may indicate that he belonged to a faction which supported Æthelred's claims to the throne, one which included Bishop Æthelwold.
Ealdorman of Mercia (983-985)
Ælfric is associated with Ælfhere in a number of local transactions. Sometime between 971 and 980, Ælfric witnessed a charter, issued in the absence of the king, which records that Ælfhere sold land to Ordgar, abbot of AbingdonAbbot of Abingdon
The following is a list of abbots of Abingdon. The Abbey of Abingdon was in northern Berkshire. The site is now in Oxfordshire.-Fictional abbots:Historian Susan E...
. The Liber Eliensis names Ælfhere, Æthelwine and Ælfric Cild as those present at a local council which was held at Slaughter, Gloucestershire sometime after King Edgar's death. This council dealt with a dispute about land at Hatfield.
When Ælfhere died in c. 983, Ælfric was appointed ealdorman in his place. The office was a powerful asset since under Ælfhere's tenure, its sphere of authority had grown to include not only central Mercia, but also parts of Mercia formerly controlled by ealdormen Æthelmund and Æthelstan Rota
Æthelstan Rota
Æthelstan was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman. He served as an Ealdorman in southern Mercia in the reigns of Kings Eadwig and Edgar. He is referred to as Æthelstan Rota in one charter, and is so known to distinguish him from Æthelstan Half-King, and another Æthelstan Æthelstan (floruit 940–970) was...
, that is, western Mercia (from Cheshire to Gloucestershire) and Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Ælfric was not able to retain his new position for very long, however. Early in the year 985, a royal council was convened at Cirencester
Cirencester
Cirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswold District. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural...
and Ælfric was driven out of the country on account of treason. The nature of the accusation is unknown, but it may be related to allegations that he had appropriated estates in Gloucestershire from a widowed matrona called Eadflæd, possibly Ælfhere's widow. These allegations are known from two royal diplomas which were issued around the turn of the century in favour of Abingdon Abbey
Abingdon Abbey
Abingdon Abbey was a Benedictine monastery also known as St Mary's Abbey located in Abingdon, historically in the county of Berkshire but now in Oxfordshire, England.-History:...
.
In one of King Æthelred's so-called 'restitution charters', ealdorman Ælfric and Wulfgar, bishop of Ramsbury, are singled out as greedy men whose bad counsel had misled the king into violating the privileges of Abingdon Abbey, such as the right to elect its own abbot. Ælfric is said to have bribed the king and so to have bought the abbacy for his brother Eadwine
Eadwine of Abingdon
Eadwine was Abbot of Abingdon.Eadwine was the brother of Ealdorman Ælfric Cild, who purchased the abbacy for him in 985; he died in 990 ....
. There is some uncertainty among historians as to whether this Ælfric, who is described as maior domus regis by the Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis
Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis
The Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis or History of the Church of Abingdon was a medieval chronicle written at Abingdon Abbey in England in the 12th century.-Background:The Historia is one of a number of monastic histories...
(History of Abingdon Abbey), refers to Ælfric Cild or to Ælfric, ealdorman of Hampshire
Ælfric of Hampshire
Ælfric of Hampshire was a late 10th century Anglo-Saxon ealdorman of Hampshire. He is most famous for having informed an invading Viking army in 992 that they were to be entrapped at sea....
(d. 1016).
After 985
It is not known when Ælfric died or what became of him in exile. The cartulary-chronicle Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis written in the 12th century claims that he left for Denmark, assembled a band of Viking soldiers and returned to attack England. However, the text may have confused Ælfric Cild with his namesake, ealdorman of Hampshire, as it has done elsewhere.Ælfric's son appears to be the Ælfwine who died fighting in the Battle of Maldon in 991. In the Maldon poem, he is portrayed as a young man in the personal household troop of Byrhtnoth
Byrhtnoth
Byrhtnoth was a 10th century Ealdorman of Essex. His name is composed of Old English beorht and noth ....
, ealdorman of Essex, who led the fateful attack against the Viking army and in the event, perished himself. Following Byrhtnoth's death and the flight of several of his men, a speech is attributed to Ælfwine in which he urges his fellow warriors to remember the heroic boasts they made at the drinking table and exhorts them to avenge their lord, against all odds. Ælfwine is expressly identified as a son (bearn) of Ælfric, but in his speech, he is made to identify himself as a grandson of Ealhhelm (wis ealdorman) as well as a kinsman (mæge) of Byrhtnoth.
The next ealdorman known to have been given responsibilities in Mercia is Leofwine (d. 1016), who received the office in 994. It has been suggested that in the interim when the position of ealdorman remained vacant, Æthelsige, a king's thegn, may have been given "some position in Mercia".
Primary sources
- Anglo-Saxon ChronicleAnglo-Saxon ChronicleThe Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
(MSS C, D and E), tr. - The Battle of MaldonThe Battle of MaldonThe Battle of Maldon is the name given to an Old English poem of uncertain date celebrating the real Battle of Maldon of 991, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent a Viking invasion...
, ed. - Anglo-Saxon chartersAnglo-Saxon ChartersAnglo-Saxon charters are documents from the early medieval period in Britain which typically make a grant of land or record a privilege. The earliest surviving charters were drawn up in the 670s; the oldest surviving charters granted land to the Church, but from the eighth century surviving...
, listed by number assigned in the Sawyer catalogues:- S 1485 (c. 968 x 971), will of ealdorman Ælfheah.
- S 792 (dated AD 973), spurious charter for Thorney Abbey.
- S 1216 (AD 971 x 980), Ælfhere selling land to the abbot of Abingdon
- S 1448a (AD 983 x 985): list of sureties for estates of Peterborough Abbey
- S 876 (AD 993), confirmation of privileges to Abingdon Abbey
- S 896 (AD 999) and S 937 (AD 999?)
- Liber EliensisLiber EliensisThe Liber Eliensis is a 12th-century English chronicle and history, written in Latin. Composed in three books, it was written at Ely Abbey on the island of Ely in the fenlands of eastern Cambridgeshire. Ely Abbey became the cathedral of a newly formed bishopric in 1109...
2.7 (=Libellus Æthelwoldi 5, concerning Hatfield); 2.11 (=Libellus Æthelwoldi 12, concerning Downham); 2.46 (=Libellus Æthelwoldi 57, concerning Gransden)- ed.
- tr.