Assers Life of Alfred 868. 868. 29. Alfred marries.⁶⁷ In the year of our Lord's incarnation 868, which was the twentieth of King Alfred's life, the aforesaid revered King Alfred, then occupying only the rank of viceroy (secundarii), betrothed⁶⁸ and espoused a noble Mercian lady⁶⁹, daughter of Æthelred, surnamed Mucill, Ealdorman of the Gaini.⁷⁰ The mother of this lady was named Eadburh, of the royal line of Mercia, whom I often saw with my own eyes a few years before her death. She was a venerable lady, and after the decease of her husband remained many years a chaste widow, even till her own death.

Note 67. Original.

Note 68. 'Subarravit, formed from sub and arrha, represents literally the English verb wed, which refers to the giving of security upon the engagement of marriage.... [It] is glossed by beweddian in Napier's Old English Glosses' (Stevenson).

Note 69. William of Malmesbury calls her Æthelswith.

Note 70. Of the Gaini nothing is known.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 902. Collation. This year Elswitha died.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 903. This year died Alderman Ethelwulf, the brother of Elhswitha, mother of King Edward; and Virgilius abbot of the Scots; and Grimbald the mass-priest; on the eighth day of July. This same year was consecrated the new minster at Winchester, on St. Judoc's advent.

In 1110 Hyde Abbey was consecrated. The bodies of [her former husband] King Alfred "The Great" of Wessex, his wife Æalhswith of Mercia Queen Consort of England, and their son [her son] King Edward "Elder" of the Anglo Saxons were carried in state through Winchester to be interred before the high altar. Their royal presence made Hyde Abbey a popular pilgrimage destination.