
Eadwyn of Oxfordshire was a Mercian noblewoman who was the wife of the Ealdorman of Oxfordshire during the late 9th century AD. On her husband's death in battle with the Danish jarl Guthrum during the Viking invasions of England, she assumed power with the help of King Alfred the Great of Wessex, but she was ousted in a Danish-backed uprising led by Thegn Geadric in 874 AD.
Biography[]
Eadwyn was born in Oxfordshire, England to an aristocratic Anglo-Saxon family. She brought considerable financial heft to her marriage with the Ealdorman of Oxfordshire. When the Ealdorman was killed defending against a Viking raiding party led by Jarl Guthrum, Eadwyn tried to secure continued control of the shire using her loyal army. She took up the fight against the Danes with the goal of avenging the losses of her husband and livelihood, and she was promised aid by King Alfred the Great of Wessex. Eadwyn was faced with a conspiracy of minor thegns led by Geadric, and she responded by having Geadric arrested in Buckingham in 874 AD. However, the Vikings Sigurd Styrbjornson and Eivor and their Hidden Ones ally Basim ibn Ishaq rescued Geadric after a fight in the streets and longhouse of Buckingham, which Eadwyn survived by dispatching her guards to deal with the Vikings as she escaped. The Vikings also rescued the other thegns from the Leah Villa before they could be executed, and the thegns raised their fyrds and besieged Eadwyn at her last stronghold, Cyne Belle Castle. After the Vikings weakened Eadwyn's forces across the shire, the Mercian rebels assaulted the fortress. Eadwyn was bested in a duel with Eivor and forced to surrender, and Geadric left Eadwyn's fate in Eivor's hands. Eivor decided that, as Eadwyn had fought with honor, she should be allowed to keep her privileges and respect while under Geadric's care, although she was able to do so only under the condition that she sever her ties to Alfred.