Ordgar, Ealdorman of Devon

Ordgar, Ealdorman of Devon (died 971) was an English West Country landowner notable as a presumed close advisor of Edgar the Peaceful, king of England, and as the father of Ælfthryth, the king's third wife and mother of Æthelred the Unready. Ordgar was created an Ealdorman by Edgar in 964.

Biography

Little is known about Ordgar; three key sources are his name as witness on charters of King Edgar between 962 and 970;^[1] and digressions in William of Malmesbury's Gesta pontificum Anglorum and in Geoffrey Gaimar's L'Estoire des Engles concerned with the love affairs and marriages of his daughter Ælfthryth.^[2]

According to Gaimar, Ordgar was the son of an ealdorman, and was a landowner in every village from Exeter to Frome. He married an unknown lady of royal birth, by whom he had a daughter Ælfthryth. When King Edgar sent a messenger to woo Ælfthryth, he found her and her father, whom she completely controlled, playing at chess, which they had learned from the Danes. The messenger, Æthelwald son of Æthelstan Half-King - a leading member of a very prominent Anglo-Saxon family--instead took Ælfthryth for his own, marrying her ca. 956.^[3][1] The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography draws a conclusion that Ordgar was "clearly a figure of some importance" to have secured such a match.^[1]

Æthelwald died in 962, and some suspicion, notably on the part of Dunstan, rests on Ælfthryth for his death, together with the seduction of Edgar and later murder of his son Edward the Martyr to pave the way for her son Æthelred to ascend to the throne. Whatever the circumstances, Ælfthryth became Edgar's third wife in 964 and in the same year Ordgar was created Ealdorman. The ODNB infers that Ordgar from this point until 970 was one of Edgar's closest advisors, by virtue of his being named on virtually all charters issued by Edgar in the period.^[1]

Tavistock Abbey was founded in 961 by Ordgar and completed by his son Ordulf in 981, in which year the charter of confirmation was granted by King Ethelred II. It was endowed with lands in Devon, Dorset and Cornwall, and became one of the richest abbeys in the west of England.

Ordgar died in 971 and according to Florence of Worcester was buried at Exeter.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Lewis, C.P.. "Ordgar (d. 971), magnate". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/20813?docPos=1. Retrieved 13 January 2011. 
2. ^ Short, Ian. "Gaimar, Geffrei (fl. 1136–1137), Anglo-Norman poet and historian". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10281. Retrieved 13 January 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Bateson, Mary. "Ordgar or ORGAR (d 971), ealdorman of Devon". Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/olddnb-nav.jsp?articleid=20813. Retrieved 13 January 2011. 

Notes

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:  Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.