Osburh
{{Short description|First wife and consort of King Æthelwulf of Wessex}}
{{see also|Osburh of Coventry}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
| image = Queen Osburga reads for her son, Alfred.gif
| caption = Early 20th century illustration of Osburh reading to her son Alfred
| consort = yes
| spouse = Æthelwulf, King of Wessex
| issue = {{plainlist|
- Æthelstan, King of Kent
- Æthelswith, Queen of Mercia
- Æthelbald, King of Wessex
- Æthelberht, King of Wessex
- Æthelred I, King of Wessex
- Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons}}
| father = Oslac
| death_date =
}}
Osburh or Osburga (also Osburga Oslacsdotter) was the first wife of King Æthelwulf of Wessex and mother of King Alfred the Great. Alfred's biographer, Asser, described her as "a most religious woman, noble in character and noble by birth".Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge eds, Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources, London, Penguin Classics, 1983, p. 68
Sources
Osburh's existence is known only from Asser's Life of King Alfred. She is not named as witness to any charters, nor is her death reported in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. So far as is known, she was the mother of all Æthelwulf's children, his five sons Æthelstan, Æthelbald, Æthelberht, Æthelred and Alfred, and his daughter Æthelswith, wife of King Burgred of Mercia.
Osburh is best known from Asser's story about a book of Saxon songs which she showed to her sons, offering to give the book to whoever could first memorise it, a challenge which Alfred took up and won. This exhibits high-status ninth-century women's interest in books and their role in educating their children.[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/20887 Janet L. Nelson, Osburh, 2004, Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography] In Nelson's view, Osburh may have been dead by 856 or may have been repudiated.
Osburh was the daughter of Oslac (who is also only known from Asser's Life), King Æthelwulf's pincerna (cupbearer), an important figure in the royal court and household.Keynes and Lapidge, pp. 68, 229. Oslac is described as being of partial Gothic ancestry,{{Cite web |title=Asser's Life of King Alfred, by Albert S. Cook—A Project Gutenberg eBook |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/63384/63384-h/63384-h.htm |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=www.gutenberg.org}} and descendant of King Cerdic's Jutish nephews, Stuf and Wihtgar, who conquered and settled the Isle of Wight.Asser states that Oslac was a Goth, but this is regarded by historians as an error as Stuf and Wightgar were Jutes. Keynes and Lapidge pp. 229-30 and Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, Oxford, Oxford UP, 3rd edition 1971, p. 23-4
See also
Notes
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References
- Lees, Clare A. & Gillian R. Overing (eds), Double Agents: Women and Clerical Culture in Anglo-Saxon England. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8122-3628-9}}