Weohstan (died 802) was the ealdorman of Wiltshire, part of the kingdom of Wessex, at the beginning of the ninth century. In 802 King Beorhtric died, and on the same day ealdorman Æthelmund of the Hwicce invaded Wiltshire. He was met by a Wiltshire army under Weohstan, which defeated the invasion and both ealdormen were killed in the battle.[1]
According to a poem in the fifteenth century Chronicon Vilodunense, Weohstan founded Wilton Abbey, and his wife Alburga, the half-sister of Beorhtric's successor, King Ecgberht, later became the abbess. This story is accepted by some historians, but rejected by Sarah Foot and Elizabeth Crittall.[2][3][4]
References
edit- ^ Whitelock, Dorothy, ed. (1979) [1st edition 1955]. "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle". English Historical Documents, Volume 1, c. 500–1042 (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-415-14366-0.
- ^ Farmer, David (2011). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (5th revised ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-19-959660-7.
- ^ Foot, Sarah (2000). "Wilton, Wiltshire". Veiled Women. Vol. II. Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate. p. 229. ISBN 978-0-7546-0044-2.
- ^ Crittall, Elizabeth (1956). "Houses of Benedictine nuns: Abbey of Wilton". A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 3. Victoria County History. p. 231.