Ælfwine Haroldsson, Monk At St. Poi Aquitaine

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Biography

Ælfwine Haroldsson or Ælfwine was most probably an illegitimate son of King Harold Harefoot of England. He was probably born during the early 1030s, either in Scandinavia or after 1035 in England.[1] He appears in an early twelfth-century cartulary from the monastery of Sainte Foi at Conques in Aquitaine as Alboynus (a cognate of Ælfwine), alongside the records that he was born in London and was the son of a King Heroldus (a Latinised version of Harold) and one Alveva ("Ælfgifu" Latinised). It is also noted that he arrived in Conques in 1060 on pilgrimage and persuaded the local authorities to rebuild the church and make him prior. W. H. Stevenson showed the only chronologically plausible candidate for his father is King Harold Harefoot.[2] With Harold Harefoot's sudden death on 17 March 1040 Ælfwine was most likely left in his otherwise unknown mother's care, or even that of his powerful and influential grandmother Ælfgifu of Northampton, who may be the Ælfgifu of the record mistakenly named as his mother, rather than grandmother.[3] He did not lay any claim to the throne of England. Little is known about him, but he is thought to have died in the 1070s or 1080s. He was a grandson of Cnut the Great.

In popular culture

Ælfwine is a courtier of William IV, Count of Toulouse in the Paradox Interactive game Crusader Kings II.

References

1. Bolton, T. (2007) "Ælfgifu of Northampton: Cnut the Great's other woman", in: Nottingham Medieval Studies; LI (2007), pp. 247-68, at 263-65
2. Stevenson, W. H. (1913) "An Alleged Son of King Harold Harefoot", in: English Historical Review; 109 (1913), pp. 112–17
3. Bolton, T. "Ælfgifu of Northampton"; pp. 247-68 at 267-68

Sources

• Tim Bolton, "Reign of King Harold Harefoot", The Literary Encyclopedia, 5 May 2006.
• Appears in some sources stating he is King Harold Harefoot's son.