The Queen of Wessex Twice

Re-marriage and Regency

When I woke up the next morning, Æthelbald was nowhere to be seen. I quickly got dressed and met him at the dining hall. He was eating from a good platter, a symbol that he was now king. I was restricted from dining with the king, but on Æthelbald's orders, I was allowed in.

When I returned to my chambers after my meal, a messenger passed me a letter. It was from my father, and he urged me to join the Holy Sisters. Once again, I was furious, and I threw the letter in the fire. I wrote back to my father, and swore never to join the Sisters.

However, two weeks later, I was playing a game of cards with Æthelbald. Five men approached me and one of them, the leader, held a warrant. He passed it to me, and I opened it. In it read:

"Her Highness Queen Dowager Judith shall return to France. If she does not do so, she will be arrested and brought back to France forcefully."

I threw the letter onto the ground and ran towards the door. However, one of the guards grabbed onto my headdress.

Æthelbald stood up and tried to stop the guards, but another one of them took out a dagger and threatened to kill me. Æthelbald relented and the guards roughly shoved me out.

"Æthelbald, stop this! I will be married-" I tried to plead my case, but the guards slammed the door shut and kicked me to the ground.

I was arrested by my own father and brought to Steyning to await the burial of my late husband. My cell was cold and damp, and I fell ill with fever. Æthelbald was not allowed to visit me, and my sickness only grew worse.

On the first day of February in the Year of Our Lord 858, my late husband's body was carried from Winchester to Steyning in a grand funeral procession. My father did not bother to come, and only the Mercian, East Anglian and Northumbrian monarchs came to mourn my late husband.

I was given a set of black clothes and I was escorted to Steyning church by three bodyguards. Æthelbald was the head mourner, and for the first time in my life, I saw Æthelbald cry. I cried along with him, not because I truly mourned my husband, but because I wanted to mourn with Æthelbald.

After we all watched my late husband buried, we left the church and my three men escorted me back to my cell. However, on the way, we passed by some muddy fields with thick bushes, and all of a sudden, my bodyguards were being attacked by some men and they were left wounded on the ground. I tried to fight back, and I took out my dagger. I slashed one of the men in the face, and in a fit of rage, he punched me in the face. Then, I blacked out.

I was dragged to Steyning Church where a man was waiting. When he took off his hood, everything dawned upon me; Æthelbald had rescued me from my father. And now, I was free to marry him.

***

I smiled as my ladies dressed me in the finest fabric they could find, which was white satin, made in the upper region of my father's kingdom called Flanders. I wore the necklace that Æthelbald gave me two years ago, along with other diamonds that Æthelbald gave me as a present. Then, I was led to the front of the court and I sat on the Queen's throne, beside Æthelbald. The whole court gasped.

Æthelbald too was dressed in his finest robes. He passed me his hand, and I accepted it gracefully. We stood up together, and he cleared his throat before saying, "I am pleased to announce that I will be married to Her Highness Queen Dowager Judith in two weeks' time." The court had mixed feelings about what Æthelbald announced.

Æthelbald's brother, Æthelberht, protested, stating that it was disgraceful and scandalous to marry me, as I was his stepmother. Æthelbald shrugged it off, stating that I was a free woman and that I too had agreed to the marriage.