General Notes

!Col. & Rev. Fam. of PA, p. 537; Magna Charta Sureties

!King Edgar heard of Elfrida's beauty and sent his favorite, Athelwold, to
report to him if the universal praise was true, of one who lived in seclusion
from th4 court.  Athelwold became violently in loved wioth the lady; and upon
his return concealed from the king the impression when her charms had made upon
himself; spoke disparagingly of her attractions; and subsequently married her.
The truth came to the knowledge of the luxurious king; and he announced to this
thane that he would visit him and his bride.  The terrified Athelwold exhorted
his wife to exhibit herself as a slatern, and to conceal her fascinations under
a coarse deportment.  The ambitious woman had another policy.  She put on her
gayest adornings and her most encouraging smiles.  Edgar and Elfrida came to a
perfect understanding.  Athelwold was run through by the king with a javeline,
when hunting with him.  Elfrida became Edgar's queen.  To make up the complete
picture, Malmesbury records that Edgar extended his protection to an
illegitimate son of Athelwold, because the youth, being asked by his royal
master how he like the sport in which his father fell, replied, "I ought not to
be displeased with that which gives you pleasure."  The duplicity of Athelwold,
the profligate ambition of Elfrida, the ferocity of Edgar, and the dastardly
coldness of the sycophantic boy, exhibit a state of morals which is not
favorable to the cultivation of Saxon sympathies. [Knight's Popular History of
England, Vol. 1, pp. 166-7]

!Following her husband, King Edgar's, death her step-son Edward was anointed
king.  She was furious that he was chosen over her son and thus became involved
in a plot.  At Corfe, a royal manor, resided Elfrida and Ethelred.  Edward had
been hunting at Wareham, and became separated from his companions.  A dwarf
appears out of the forest coverts, and proposes to guide him to a place of rest
and refreshment.  He reached the home of the widowed queen, who meets him at
the door with a betraying kiss.  She brings out wine to the wearied boy; and as
he lifts the goblet to his lips, sitting on his horse, he is stabbed in the
back.  He spurs his steed from the fatal porch; faints and falls; is dragged in
the stirrups; and is traced by his blood.  We may well believe the the guilty
woman, as the chorniclers record, suffered the most fearful terrors of an evil
conscience; and we may also believe that many a less innocent saint has been
canonized than this poor boy, "Edward the Martyr."  Knight's, Vol. 1, p. 171]

!Wessex, 964.  Edgar put aside Wulfthryth to wed Aelfthryth, the widow of a
royal official.
Winchester, Hampshire, 966.  Queen Aelfthryth bears a son, Edmund.  There is
great celebration to overcome the rumors of the impropriety of Edgar's
marriage.
Wessex, c. 967.  Queen Aelfthryth has another son, Aethelred.
Corfe, Dorset, 18 March 978. King Edward is murdered; his stepmother Aelfthryth
is linked to the plot. [Chronicle of the Royal Family, p. 20]

Dau. of Ordgar, Earldorman of Devonshire, and Wulfrith; m.1 Eathelwold,
Earldorman of East Anglia; m.2 964/5 King Eadgar I of England; mother of
Aethelred II the Unready; 9. 999/1002. [Charlemagne & Others, Chart 3314]

Dau. of Earl Ordgar; m. 965 Edmund the Magnificent; mother of Aethelred II; b.
945, d. 1000. [Ancestral Roots, p. 2]

b. 945, Devonshire; d. a nun, c. 1000; widow of Eathelwold, Earldorman of East
Anglia; 3rd wife of Edgar the Peaceful, King of England; dau. of Ordgar,
Earldorman of Devonshire, and Wulfrith; mother of Ethelred II. [Royalty for
Commoners, p. 119]

m. Edgar, King of England; mother of Ethelr4ed II, king of England. [WFT Vol 1
Ped 986]