The daughters of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kiev, from an 11th-century fresco in St Sophia Cathedral, Kiev. Together with the youngest, Anne, they include Anastasia, Queen consort of Andrew I of Hungary, a fellow-exile in Kiev with Edward and Edmund whom they helped put onto the Hungarian throne; Elizabeth, Queen consort of King Harald Hardrada of Norway, whom Harold of England’s estranged half-brother Tostig tried to make King of England in 1066; and (assuming William of Malmesbury is right) Agatha, wife of Edward the Exile, mother of Queen Margaret of Scotland, grandmother of King David I of Scotland, and great-great-grandmother of King Henry II of England.
EDWARD arrived in England in 1057, but died almost immediately, leaving his uncle King Edward the Confessor without an heir. The King nominated his brother-in-law, Harold Godwinson, but just months after the Confessor died in 1066, Harold was killed at the Battle of Hastings, and the victorious William, Duke of Normandy, a cousin of King Edward, claimed the crown.*
Harold’s council of noblemen, the Witenagemot, rebelled. They awarded the crown to Edgar,* young son of Edward the Exile and his Kievan wife Agatha,* saying he had inherited his father’s right; but William swore the crown had been promised to him first, and that his right had been proven in combat.
By Christmas, Edgar had stepped aside, though he subsequently took part in the ill-fated revolts which provoked William’s brutal ‘harrying of the North’ in 1069. Following an awkward reconciliation, Edgar survived to see his sister Margaret marry Malcolm III of Scotland and his niece Matilda marry Henry I of England, and died sometime after 1125.
See our post The Battle of Hastings.
Agatha’s identity is much disputed, and there is little agreement among mediaeval chroniclers. Roger of Howden, who was close to her great-great-grandson Henry II, wrote that she was a Kievan aristocrat, and much earlier William of Malmesbury, a contemporary of Edgar, said Agatha’s sister was Queen of Hungary. If that Queen was Anastasia, Queen consort of King Andrew, then Agatha would also be a daughter of Yaroslav the Wise.
Edgar’s surname ‘the Atheling’ is simply Old English for ‘the Prince’; the same word is found in the name William Adelin, who died in The Disaster of the White Ship of 1120, and who was the son of Edgar’s niece Matilda and her husband, King Henry I of England.
Matilda of Scotland (?1080-1118) was baptised Edith. For a quick guide to the bewildering variety of Matildas in this period, see The Matildas of England. Edgar was born in about 1051, and was still alive when the historian William of Malmesbury was writing in 1125.
Précis
Edward the Exile died almost immediately after returning home, so Edward the Confessor lay dying in 1066, he nominated Harold Godwinson in Edward’s place, only for William of Normandy to defeat Harold at Hastings. The English nobles declared loyalty to Edward’s son Edgar, but William prevailed, though his son Henry I still found it prudent to marry Edgar’s niece, Matilda. (60 / 60 words)
Edward the Exile died almost immediately after returning home, so Edward the Confessor lay dying in 1066, he nominated Harold Godwinson in Edward’s place, only for William of Normandy to defeat Harold at Hastings. The English nobles declared loyalty to Edward’s son Edgar, but William prevailed, though his son Henry I still found it prudent to marry Edgar’s niece, Matilda.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, may, or, otherwise, ought, unless, whereas, whether.
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Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Claim. Following. Nominate.
2 Raise. See. So.
3 Father. Help. Relative.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
tds (6+1)
outdoes. tedious. tides. tidies. toadies. toads.
teds.
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