Osburh (Person) AKA Osburga Oslacsdotter
Osburh
820 AD - 855 AD
AKA Osburga Oslacsdotter
Osburh's existence is known only from Asser's Life of King Alfred.
Most historians describe Osburh as the mother of all Æthelwulf's children, but some scholars have argued that in view of the large age gap between older and younger ones, Osburh may only have been the mother of Æthelred and Alfred, while Æthelberht and his older brothers were born to an unrecorded earlier wife
She is not named as witness to any charters, nor is her death reported in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
So far as is known, she was the mother of all Æthelwulf's children, his five sons Æthelstan, Æthelbald, Æthelberht, Æthelred and Alfred the Great, and his daughter Æthelswith, wife of King Burgred of Mercia.
She is best known from Asser's story about a book of Saxon songs, which she showed to Alfred and his brothers, offering to give the book to whoever could first memorize it, a challenge which Alfred took up and won. This exhibits high-status ninth-century women's interest in books and their role in educating their children
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820 AD - Issue
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830 AD -
835 AD -
845 AD -
847 AD
Events (6)
for
Attachments
Osburga and Alfred Queen Osburga reads for her son Alfred, who would become Alfred the Great
