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Judith of Flanders (or Judith of France) ( 843 – c. 870)〔Judith's date of birth is uncertain. Janet Nelson in her (Online DNB article on Æthelwulf ) dates it after 843, but the entry for Judith in ''A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain'' states that she was around fourteen when she married Æthelwulf in 856. It is also not known when she died. Nelson gives the date as c. 870, but also says that if she was alive in the 890s she may have arranged her son Baldwin's marriage to a daughter of Alfred the Great.〕 was the eldest daughter of the West Frankish King and later Holy Roman Emperor Charles the Bald and his wife Ermentrude of Orléans. Through her marriages to two Kings of Wessex, Æthelwulf and Æthelbald, she was twice a queen. Her first two marriages were childless, but through her third marriage to Baldwin, she became the first Countess of Flanders and an ancestress of later Counts of Flanders. One of her sons by Baldwin married Ælfthryth, a daughter of Æthelbald's brother, Alfred the Great. She was also an ancestress of Matilda of Flanders, the consort of William the Conqueror, and thus of later monarchs of England. ==Queen of Wessex== In 855 King Æthelwulf of Wessex made a pilgrimage to Rome, and on his way back in 856 he stayed at the court of the West Frankish king, Charles the Bald. In July Æthelwulf became engaged to Charles's daughter, Judith, who was no more than fourteen, while Æthelwulf was about fifty years old, and on 1 October 856 they were married at Verberie in northern France. The marriage was a diplomatic alliance. Both men were suffering from Viking attacks, and for Æthelwulf the marriage had the advantage of associating him with Carolingian prestige. In Wessex it was not customary for kings' wives to be queens, but Charles insisted that his daughter be crowned queen.〔(Janet L. Nelson, ''Æthelwulf'', Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004 )〕〔Williams et al., ''A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain''〕 The marriage provoked a rebellion by Æthelwulf's eldest surviving son, Æthelbald, probably because he feared displacement by a higher born half brother. However father and son negotiated a compromise under which Æthelwulf received the eastern districts of the kingdom and Æthelbald the western. It is not known whether this meant that Æthelwulf took Kent and Æthelbald Wessex, or whether Wessex itself was divided.〔 Judith had no children by Æthelwulf, who died on 13 January 858. He was succeeded by Æthelbald, who married Judith, his step-mother, probably to enhance his status because she was the daughter of the West Frankish king.〔 The marriage was condemned by Asser in his Life of Alfred the Great: :Once King Æthelwulf was dead, Æthelbald, his son, against God's prohibition and Christian dignity, and also contrary to the practice of all pagans, took over his father's marriage-bed and married Judith, daughter of Charles, king of the Franks, incurring great disgrace from all who heard of it.〔Simon Keynes and Michael Lapidge eds., ''Alfred the Great: Asser's Life and Other Contemporary Sources'', Penguin 1983 (2004 reprint), p. 73〕 Judith was still childless when Æthelbald died in 860 after a reign of two and a half years.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Judith of Flanders」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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