Lady Osburh of the Isle of Wight

Another Anglo-Saxon Queen consort we will discuss is Osburh of Wessex, (sometimes known as Osburga).

Unfortunately, there is precious little known about her, but I will try to give you as much information as possible about this past Queen of England.

 

Osburh was the daughter of Oslac of the Isle of Wight. Oslac was an important nobleman at court and served as the butler, or chamberlain, to King Æthelwulf; the chamberlain was a very prominent position in Anglo-Saxon England and was very different to what we think of now as a butler. His position at court may have been how his daughter became the Queen consort of Æthelwulf.

 

It is thought that Osburh and her husband, Æthelwulf, were around the same age. Æthelwulf was approaching 40 at the time of his accession to the throne and Osburh’s last child (the future Ælfred the Great) was born in 849. Though we do not know the date, or even the year, of the marriage of Osburh and Æthelwulf, this signifies that they were married for some time prior to Æthelwulf’s accession. As with her predecessor as Queen, Osburh was not crowned as such and thus was styled as “Lady,” and not “Queen.”

 

Osburh was renowned for her piety and Asser, a Bishop and contemporary, referred to her in his biography of Ælfred the Great as “a most religious woman, noble in character and noble by birth.” This again shows the status of Osburh and her family in Anglo-Saxon society.

 

There is a well-known story of Osburh which demonstrates that she was well-educated and also given some responsibility not only in the upbringing, but also the education of her children. This was quite rare for a noble woman of the time.

The story takes place after her daughter had left the court for her own marriage. Osburh told her sons that she would give a book of poetry to whichever one of them could memorise it first. Ælfred was mesmerised by the illuminated manuscript and worked hard to memorise it all. He succeeded and Osburh gifted him the book.

 

It is unknown how many children Osburh had in total, but records show that five sons and one daughter survived to adulthood. Though Osburh was only the first wife of Æthelwulf, she was the only one to have children by him.

 

Her death date is not anywhere recorded, but it is thought that she died prior to Æthelwulf’s second marriage, around 854-855.

Alas, that is all we know of Osburh of Wessex. I wish I had more of her life to offer, but unfortunately women were not seen as important enough to include in the chronicles.