Page 41 - Alfred the Great And His Legacy

The Role of Women in Anglo-Saxon Society

• Alfred educated his daughters alongside his sons

but in Wessex, royal women were not allowed to

play any political role.

• However, in Mercia there was a tradition of

queenly importance. Alfred’s sister, Aethelswith,

had been the wife of King Burgred of Mercia. She

had witnessed charters as queen & had made
grants jointly with her husband & in her own name.

• Aethelfaed benefitted from this Mercian tradition

of queenly importance.