Essay1

Now, bearing in mind that I do not profess to be an expert on medieval genealogy or research or complex family trees, I present to you a confusing conundrum that I have attempted gamely to unravel: the paternity of Princess AEthelreda of England.

This AEthelreda apparently married a certain Gospatrick of Northumberland, and by him had several children, one being Gunhilda Gospatrick. Though she is often cited as a princess of England, the name of her father (or mother, for that matter!) remains a mystery. Let's try to unravel said mystery...

AEthelreda's date of birth is 1042. Good, we have somewhere to start. Now, I originally suspected her father to be King AEthelred II, "the unready", of England as did many other people -- mostly due to the semblance of name. But this candidate for father has one big problem -- he died in 1016, quite a few decades before AEthelreda's birth! Not to mention another issue -- that of Gospatrick's mother, Ealdgyth, the granddaughter of King AEthelred through his daughter, AElgifu. Were AEthelred her father, she would be marrying her own sister's grandson! While incest and inbreeding certainly occured, I doubt it did to this degree. And so I rule out King AEthelred.

The next candidate is Edmund the Ironsides, who suffers from the same problem as his father AEthelred -- he dies in 1016, waaaaay too early to be the father of our Princess. His son Edward had two daughters of his own -- the Princesses Christina and Margaret. But no AEthelreda, who would've been a contemporary of the daughter of Edward the Outlaw. So on to the next King -- Canute.

Canute didn't fare much better, dying in 1035, and it's unlikely he would've named a daughter AEthelreda anyway. So Canute is disqualified. Harold I showed promise, but he died in 1040, still missing her birthdate by two years! His successors were Hardicanute (son of Canute and Emma of Normandy) and King Edward the Confessor. King Edward was a very pious man, and while he did marry no children are ever recorded. Hardicanute is never recorded as having married or having children, but he did die in 1042 (the year of her birth!). So far the candidates are as follows:

(1) Hardicanute, King of England, died 1042. (Never recorded as having wed or having children, but did die in the year of her birth, so it's at least a possibility).

(2) Edward the Confessor (left no offspring; if he had, it's likely the Norman Invasion would never have occured.)

(3) Edmund, son of Edmund the Ironsides (supposedly married, maybe to Agatha of Hungary, but I found no record of children).

(4) Elfwin, son of Harold I (*very* unlikely, as he was a monk.)

Of course, it's possible AEthelreda wasn't a Princess at all, but was just mislabled as such. *sigh* The mystery of AEthelreda isn't much clearer is it? Anyway, this is my best guess. If you have any information pertaining to AEthelreda's paternity, please e-mail me. I'd love to have it!

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