Cwenthryth

{{Short description|9th century princess of Mercia}}

{{about||the 8th century Anglo-Saxon queen|Cynethryth|the fictional Thryth folces cwen (the people's queen)|Thryth}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Cwenthryth (fl. 811-c.827) was a daughter of King Coenwul of Mercia.{{sfn|Kelly|2004}} In 811 she witnessed a charter of her father as filia regis (king's daughter).{{cite web|work=The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters |publisher=King's College London |location=London, UK|title=Charter S 147 |url = https://esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk/charter/165.html}} She was abbess of Winchcombe Minster, Reculver and Minster in Thanet, which she inherited from her father. She also inherited a dispute with Wulfred, Archbishop of Canterbury, over control of Reculver and Minster in Thanet. Coenwulf died in 821 and in 825 Wulfred launched a lawsuit to force her to submit to him and by 827 he had gained control over the properties. She is not recorded after that year.{{sfn|Kelly|2004}}

According to a late and unreliable source, Cwenthryth murdered her brother, Cynehelm, who was later described as Saint Kenelm in a late eleventh-century hagiography and venerated in the later Middle Ages.{{sfn|Rollason|2004}}