Otto the Great’s Tribute to His Late English Queen Finally Makes Sense

A historical document composed by King Otto I, better known as Otto the Great, to his English queen has been re-examined and re-dated by a medieval historian from the University of Exeter in the UK.

In this document, which was originally dated to 942 AD, the monarch of the Germanic Kingdom of the East Franks (East Francia) donated a large estate to a church in the village of Fallersleben (known as Valareslebo in the 10th century). Otto stated that he was doing so to guarantee the “salvation of the soul” of his beloved wife Edith, the former Edith of England who had married Otto and become his queen when he ascended to the Frankish throne in 936. He also declared his hope that his gift would secure blessings for his son, Liudolf, who was Otto and Edith’s only child.

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Seal of Otto I. (Otto Posse/Public domain)