Edgitha (c. 912–946)
Edgitha (c. 912–946)
West Saxon princess and German empress. Name variations: Eadgyth; Edith. Born around 912; died on January 26, 946, in Germany; interred at St. Maurice Cathedral, Magdeburg, Germany; daughter of Edward I the Elder (c. 870–924), king of the English (r. 899–924), and Elflaed (d. 920); stepdaughter of Edgifu (d. 968); half-sister of English kings Ethelstan (r. 924–939), Edmund (r. 939–946), and Eadred (r. 946–955); niece of Ethelflaed (869–918) and Elfthrith (d. 929); became first wife of Otto I the Great (912–973), king of Germany (936–973), Holy Roman emperor (r. 962–973), and duke of Saxony, in 929 or 930; children: son Liudolf, duke of Swabia; daughter Liutgard of Saxony (d. 953), duchess of Lorraine. (Otto also had an illegitimate son William, future archbishop of Mainz, from an early liaison with a Slav woman of noble birth.)
Edgitha was the daughter of Elflaed and Edward the Elder and the half-sister of English king Ethelstan, whose mother Ecgwynn had been Edward's mistress. To shore up alliances, Ethelstan married Edgitha to the German emperor Otto I the Great. As her wedding gift, Otto offered her the town of Magdeburg, an important commercial crossroad. After Magdeburg was destroyed by the Magyars, Edgitha rebuilt the town, and upon her death in 946 she was buried there. When Otto died in 973, he was buried next to her. Otto's second wife was Adelaide of Burgundy (931–999), the mother of Otto II.