802. Beorhtric of Wessex dies (poisoned accidentally by his wife Eadburh?)
Mercian ealdorman Æthelmund raids into Wessex
Ecgberht succeeds to Wessex
The story of the accidental poisoning of Beorhtric of Wessex by his queen Eadburh appears in chapter 14 of Asser's Life of King Alfred, where it is used to explain the low status of the king's wife in 9th-century Wessex. Asser notes that Beorhtric's wife Eadburh was daughter of the tyrannical Offa, and like her father in her tyrannical ways and misuse of power. She is supposed to have hated Beorhtric's friends, and to have denounced them before the king; if she failed to make him kill or imprison them, she killed them herself with poison. On one occasion, when Eadburh meant to kill one of the king's friends, Beorhtric himself took some of the poison unawares, and died.
Asser goes on in the following chapter to explain that, not surprisingly, Eadburh had to leave the country, and she fetched up with many treasures at the court of Charlemagne. Charlemagne apparently gave her the choice of marrying him or his son; she chose the son because he was younger, and was doubtless chagrined to hear the king reply that had she chosen him, he would have given her his son, but as she had not, she would have neither of them. She was granted charge of a large convent as abbess, but expelled a few years later for reckless and debauched behaviour, and ended her days as a beggar in Pavia.
One cannot help comparing this with the more obviously legendary tale of how Rowenna killed Vortigern's son Vortimer with a poisoned glove, or wondering how much truth there may be in either. Asser tells us that he has the story from the truthful King Alfred, and adds that Alfred had it from many reliable witnesses, most of whom remembered the story in all its particulars -- this unusual emphasis on the veracity of the story might suggest that Asser was worried his audience would think it unlikely. It should be remembered that the marriage of Eadburh and Beorhtric was part of an alliance as a result of which Alfred's grandfather Ecgberht was forced to leave the country: it would not be surprising if stories to the discredit of Offa, Beorhtric and Eadburh began to circulate once Ecgberht was back and in power. The story of Eadburh's antics should perhaps be treated with the same caution as the vituperation heaped on King Eadwig by the author of the first Life of St Dunstan, which is probably the result not of a truthful and sober assessment of Eadwig's character, but of spite that Eadwig exiled Dunstan towards the beginning of his reign.
No other source mentions the accidental poisoning: of the death, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says only that Beorhtric died and Ecgberht succeeded to the kingdom. It is probably safest to leave it at that, and treat the story of Eadburh as an example of later 9th-century propaganda rather than early 9th-century fact.
The Chronicle adds that on the same day (as Beorhtric's death or Ecgberht's succession), the (Mercian) ealdorman Æthelmund rode from the territory of the Hwicce across the border at Kempsford, and was repulsed in a great battle by ealdorman Weohstan and the people of Wiltshire. This shows the importance of quickly establishing the succession in Anglo-Saxon times, since at least on this occasion nobles of bordering kingdoms were ready and waiting to take advantage of any weakness or confusion in the aftermath of a king's death.