Vem gifte sig med Edmund Järnsida?

Edmund Järnsida (engelska: Ironside), född omkring 989, död den 30 november 1016, var kung av England under en del av 1016. Han var son till Ethelred och Aelfgifu.

Edmund utropades den 23 april 1016 efter faderns död av Londons borgare till kung, medan rikets förnämsta män samtidigt i Southampton hyllade Knut den store. Edmund blev erkänd som kung även i Wessex och upptog till en början med framgång striden om kronan med Knut, vilken han besegrade vid Pen i Somerset och tvingade att upphäva Londons belägring. Till sist blev han dock fullständigt besegrad vid Assandun (antingen Ashdown eller Ashington i Essex) 18 oktober 1016, ingick därefter förlikning med sin besegrare och fick som kungarike behålla landet söder om Themsen jämte East Anglia och Essex, varvid troligen även bestämdes, att den överlevande skulle erhålla hela riket. Edmund dog redan 30 november samma år. "Järnsida" kallades han för sitt mod och sin stora kroppsstyrka.

Han gifte sig 1015 med Ealdgyth (Edith) av East Anglia (född ca 986), dotter till Mocar och Edgitha.

Barn:

• Edvard Landsflyktingen "Aetheling" (1016–1057), född i Wessex, avliden i London, gift med Agatha av Ungern omkring 1035.
• Edmund Ætheling (född cirka 1015–1017, troligen död 1046), gift med en prinsessa av Ungern (Hedwig?)

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Ealdgyth (circa 992 – after 1016), modern English Edith may have been the name of the wife of Sigeferth son of Earngrim, thegn of the Seven Burghs, and later of King Edmund Ironside. She was probably the mother of Edmund's sons Edward the Exile and Edmund Ætheling.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Sigeferth and his brother Morcar, described as "foremost thegns of the Seven Burghs" were killed at an assembly of the English nobility at Oxford. Ealdorman Eadric Streona is said to have killed them "dishonourably" after having invited them to his rooms. The Seven Burghs, otherwise unknown, are presumed to have been the Five Burghs and Torksey and York. Following the killings, King Æthelred the Unready had the property of Sigeferth and Morcar seized and ordered that Sigeferth's widow, whose name the Chronicle does not record, should be detained at Malmesbury Abbey. The chronicle of John of Worcester calls her Ealdgyth.

In the late summer of 1015, at some time between 15 August and 8 September, Edmund Ironside raised a revolt against his father King Æthelred. Either then, or perhaps even earlier, he removed Sigeferth's widow from Malmesbury, against his father's wishes, and married her. Sigeferth and Morcar's friends and allies supported Edmund after this. While two charters issued by Edmund which mention his wife survive from about this time, neither of them contain her name in the surviving texts.

It is generally, but not universally, supposed that Ealdgyth, if that was her name, was the mother of Edmund Ironside's sons. These were Edmund, who died young in exile, and Edward the Exile, who returned to England late in the reign of his uncle King Edward the Confessor and died soon afterwards. Whether she went into exile with her children following Edmund's death in 1016 is unknown.

One reason advanced for supposing that John of Worcester may have been mistaken in naming this woman Ealdgyth is that Sigeferth's brother Morcar had also been married to a woman named Ealdgyth. This Ealdgyth was the daughter of Ælfthryth, and niece of Ælfhelm, Ealdorman of York and Wulfric Spot. While Ealdgyth is a common female name in the period, this coincidence has raised the suspicion that the Worcester chronicler has confused Sigeferth's widow with his sister-in-law.

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