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The people and places important to King Egbert &

The origins of Redburh or Rædburh (a conjecture)

Carlos Martel, m.741Prefeito dos palácios de Austrasia,

Neustria e Borgonha|

| | Alda of France Pepin, the Short, King of France

Natronai al-Makir/Teodoric Princesa Bertha | |

Redburga Charlemagne,King of France

The subject of Redburh (Rædburh, also Redburga), wife of Egbert of Wessex (King of Wessex 802-839), and her ancestry has been a matter of debate for some time. Described by "regisFrancorum sororia" [sister <better, sister-in-law> of the king of the Franks] in an early, but possibly not contemporary record, she has been variously identified as a sister or

sister-in-law of Charlemagne [1]. (http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GEN-

MEDIEVAL/2006-09/1157552388)

Egbert’s spouse, Redburga, was said to be the sister of Charlemagne, though his only known sister was named Gisela. Redburga may have been his sister-in-law, as the sister of his fourth wife, Luitgarde. Some sources describe her as his niece, and another as the great-granddaughter of Charles Martel. She appears in a medieval manuscript from Oxford described as “Regis Francorum sororia” which translated as “sister to the King of the Franks.” More specifically “sororia” means “pertaining to someone’s sister,” so it could mean sister-in-law. (http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~emty/People&Places_Important_to_Egbert_People.html)

Researching about the subject above, the kinship of the wife of King Egbert of Wessex, Redburh/ Rædburh/ Redburga, to the King of the Franks Charles the Great, the famous Charlemagne, I found that the propositions above are in error because of a rendering error about the latin word “Sororia”.

“Sororia” is a latin word related to the latin word “Soror (sister)”. However in the latin language there is two types of “Soror”, the “Soror” alone, meaning “Sister”, and another type of “Soror”, the “Soror Patruelis” that means “Cousin”. These two types are included in the kinship “Sororia”.

Thus, “Regis Francorum sororia” could be translated to “Sister of the King of the Franks” or “Cousin of the King of the Franks”, but never “Sister-in-law of the King of the Franks”, because “Sister-in-law” in the latin language is “Glos”.

Indeed, the accurate rendering of “Regis Francorum sororia” in the manuscripts – based in the conjecture that Redburh/ Rædburh/ Redburga was really a daughter of the Frank Princess Alda, who in turn was a daughter Charles Martel, that is to say that Redburh/ Rædburh/ Redburga was a granddaughter of Charles Martel – is “Cousin of the King of the Franks”, so, Redburh/ Rædburh/ Redburga, was a cousin of a King of the Franks. And who was this King of the Franks? By the genealogy showed above and based in the same conjecture described above we can see that Redburh/ Rædburh/ Redburga was cousin of Charlemagne.

1 William George Searle, Anglo-Saxon Bishops, Kings and Nobles: The Succession of the Bishops and the Pedigrees of the Kings and Nobles [Cambridge: the University Press, 1899], p. 343. Text and annotations (entitled Anglo-Saxon Pedigrees Annotated-Part 1, transcribed by Michael Wood) courtesy Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, http://fmg.ac/