Elfrida: The First Crowned Queen of England by Elizabeth Norton

(Amberley Publishing), 2013, 2014 - 19pp., £9.99 paper, ISBN 978-1-4456-3765-5

The role played by elite women in Anglo-Saxon England and their influence in both politics and religion is now widely recognised. Elfrida is perhaps the most powerful and notorious of them all. She was the first woman to be crowned Queen of England, sharing her husband King Edgar's imperial coronation at Bath in 973. The couple made a love match, with claims that they plotted the death of her first husband to ensure that she was free. Edgar divorced his second wife, a former nun, after conducting an adulterous affair with Elfrida, leading to an enmity between the two women that lasted until their deaths. During her marriage, Elfrida claimed to be the king's only legitimate wife, but she failed to secure the succession for her son, Ethelred. In 978, Elfrida was certainly implicated in, and may have orchestrated, the murder of her stepson, King Edward the Martyr, who died on a visit to her at Corfe Castle. She then ruled England on behalf of her young son for six years before he expelled her from court. Elfrida eventually returned to court but Ethelred proved himself unable to counter the Viking attacks. This is a well-written, interesting book on a neglected figure in late-Anglo-Saxon England and it is eminently readable.