Eadgyth
| Edith of Wessex | |
|---|---|
Detail from a Gothic statue in Magdeburg Cathedral assumed to represent Otto and Edith
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| Queen consort of Germany | |
| Tenure | 2 July 936 – 26 January 946 |
| Predecessor | Matilda of Ringelheim |
| Successor | Adelaide of Italy |
| Duchess consort of Saxony | |
| Predecessor | Matilda of Ringelheim |
| Successor | Adelaide of Italy |
| Born | 910 |
| Died | 26 January 946 (aged 35–36) Magdeburg, Saxony |
| Burial | Cathedral of Magdeburg |
| Spouse | Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor |
| Issue |
Liutgarde, Duchess of Lorraine Liudolf, Duke of Swabia |
| House | Wessex |
| Father | Edward the Elder |
| Mother | Ælfflæd |
Edith of England, also spelt Eadgyth or Ædgyth (Old English: Ēadgȳð, German: Edgitha; 910 – 26 January 946), a member of the House of Wessex, was German queen from 936 until her death, by her marriage with King Otto I.
Edith was born to the reigning English king Edward the Elder by his second wife, Ælfflæd, and hence was a granddaughter of King Alfred the Great. In 919 her sister Eadgifu married the West Frankish king Charles the Simple. Nothing is known of Edith until at the request of the East Frankish king Henry the Fowler, who wished to stake a claim to equality and to seal the alliance between the two Saxon kingdoms, her half-brother King Æthelstan sent his sisters Edith and Edgiva to Germany. Henry's eldest son and heir to the throne Otto was instructed to choose whichever one pleased him best. Otto chose Edith, according to Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim a woman "of pure noble countenance, graceful character and truly royal appearance", and married her in 930. The remaining sister Edgiva was married to a "king near the Jupiter mountains" (the Alps), probably to Louis, brother of King Rudolph II of Burgundy. The precise identity of the husband of this sister is debated.
In 936 Henry the Fowler died and his eldest son Otto, Edith's husband, was crowned king at Aachen Cathedral. A surviving report of the ceremony by the medieval cronicler Widukind of Corvey makes no mention of his wife having been crowned at this point, but according to Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg's chronicle, Eadgyth was nevertheless anointed as queen, albeit in a separate ceremony.
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