Royal Profile: Edith of Wessex

Edith of Wessex, Queen Consort of England

     
     On this day in 1075, Edith of Wessex, the wife and queen consort of King Edward the Confessor, died at Winchester. She was the daughter of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, the most powerful English nobleman of the age, and the man with whom Edward frequently clashed during the course of his reign. It has been speculated that it was due to Edward's issues with Edith's family that he did not have children with her, though this claim has been disputed. However, unlike most wives of English kings during the 10th and 11th centuries, Edith was crowned queen.

     Edith was a political operative, who was part of King Edward's inner circle of advisers, and helped to secure the Earldom of Northumbria  for her brother Tostig. She was even accused in court of plotting to assassinate a Northumbrian nobleman in Tostig's interest when he became unpopular (though he was eventually forced into exile as the revolt grew out of control).

     As the richest woman in England according to the Domesday Book, Edith was also a philanthropist of the religious sort, and gave lands to one abbey in order to secure endowment for the Diocese of Bath. She also rebuilt Wilton Abbey, where she had been brought up and educated.

     When King Edward dies in January 1066, Edith's other brother Harold succeeded him to the throne. Edward had earlier promised his crown to his cousin William, Duke of Normandy, but had an apparent change of heart at the last minute and signaled his desire for Harold to become king. But William invaded England to claim what thought of as his irrevocable inheritance, and Harold was killed at the Battle of Hastings in October.

     Edith survived the Norman Conquest on English - the only senior member of her family to so, since four of her brothers had been killed either at Hastings or the Battle of Stamford Bridge, and another brother, Wulfnoth, was held captive in Normandy. Upon her death, she was buried with her husband in Westminster Abbey in funeral arranged by William the Conqueror (whose takeover of England may not have happened if Edith had children with Edward).