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Ealhflæd

1611 John Speed illustration of Ealhflæd ordering the murder of Peada

Ealhflæd (Alhflæd, Elfleda) was a seventh-century Mercian queen and the wife and murderer of Peada of Mercia.

Ealhflæd was the daughter of Oswiu of Northumbria. Her mother may have been Rhiaianfellt.[1] According to Bede's Ecclesiastical History, the pagan Peada of Mercia asked for Ealhflæd in marriage in the year 653, and Oswiu gave the condition that Peada and his kingdom should convert to Christianity first, which he did.[2] Her brother Alhfrith, who was also Peada's brother-in-law through his sister Cyneburh, was instrumental in Peada's conversion.[2]

Bede continues, "that Peada was the next spring [655 AD] very wickedly killed, by the treachery, as is said, of his wife, during the very time of celebrating Easter."[3] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Liber Eliensis also record that Peada was killed by the betrayal of his wife at Easter 655, although Bede is the only one who supplies the name of the wife.[4][5]

It is believed that an image of Ealhflæd appears on the smaller of the two Sandbach Crosses.

References

  1. ^ Kirby, David P. (1991) The Earliest English Kings. London: Unwin Hyman ISBN 0-04-445691-3, p. 75
  2. ^ a b Bede. Ecclesiastical History of the English People (PDF). Translated by Jane, L. C. p. 122.
  3. ^ Bede, Ecclesiastical History, p. 129.
  4. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Translated by Ingram, James.
  5. ^ ""Ealhflæd 1" at PASE (Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England)".
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