Wynflæd or Ƿynflæd (died ) was an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

noblewoman and a major landowner in the areas of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

and

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. Wynflæd is likely a widow vowess primarily connected to royal foundation at

Shaftesbury Abbey Shaftesbury Abbey was an abbey that housed nuns in Shaftesbury, Dorset. It was founded in about 888, and Dissolution of the monasteries, dissolved in 1539 during the English Reformation by the order of Thomas Cromwell, minister to King Henry VI ...

, with further connections to royal nunnery at Wilton Abbey. There is ongoing debate if she was the mother of Aelfgifu of Shaftesbury and thus the grandmother of Kings Eadwig and

Edgar the Peaceful Edgar (or Eadgar; 8 July 975), known sometimes as Edgar the Peacemaker or the Peaceable, was King of the English from 959 until his death in 975. He became king of all England on his brother Eadwig's death. He was the younger son of King Edm ...

Wynflæd's Will

Wynflæd's will has provided scholars with ample materials to better understand tenth-century England and Wessex in particular, including social conditions, material goods, familial strategies, religious women and legal processes. Her will lists holdings and estates including Faccombe Netherton (modern Netherton, Hampshire) and Charlton Horethorne along with further manors and lands, and moveable goods such as tents, chests, cups, and clothing. In 2018–19, Wynflæd's will was displayed in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

exhibition ''Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War'' and included in the exhibition catalogue edited by Claire Breay and Joanna Story.

References

External links

* , , , and may all relate to her.
British Library blogWealthy Wynflæd’s wonderful will
10th-century deaths 10th-century English landowners 10th-century English women Year of birth unknown {{England-noble-stub