Image talk:Cnut and Emma Minster Register.jpg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Caption

I believe this image is incorrecly captioned. It shows Cnut and his first wife Aelgifu, not his second wife Emma as indicated. The description provided on the image itself says "ÆLFGYFV REGINA" on one side of the cross and "CNVT REX" on the other. This mistake has been perpetuated in at least one other place I have found. I will change the caption. --ukforever 00:42, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

This is confusing. I've changed it back: here's what I just posted to ukforever's talk page:

Hi -- I noticed your edit to Image:Cnut and Emma Minster Register.jpg, so I went and checked the source I scanned it from. What it says is "King Cnut and Queen Emma (called by the English Aelfgyfu)". I am not an expert on Cnut, so I don't know if this has support elsewhere, but the source (James Campbell's "The Anglo-Saxons") is well respected. I'm going to go ahead and change it back, but I must admit I'm baffled. I also found this web page, which seems pretty authoritative as it's the British Library; it says effectively the reverse -- "King Cnut and Queen Aelfgifu (also called Emma)". If you know what's going on better than I do, please feel free to clarify again. Thanks. Mike Christie (talk) 03:02, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

If anyone knows more, please chime in. Thanks. Mike Christie (talk) 03:05, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

The British Library seems to think that this is Emma, and they own the manuscript. (They also support the Aelfgifu=Emma idea) See the Catalogue of illuminated manuscripts (To find the manuscript, click the "Particular manuscript" link. On that page set the collection dialogue box to Stowe MS and enter "944" in the "MS number" box and click "search". This image is the first one displayed. (f. 6). Click on the thumbnail to see a the BL's description of this illumination.) The British Library's opinion aside I think it unlikely that any consort of Cnut other than Emma would appear in this manuscript, as this is the Liber Vitae (Book of Life, a record of all of the donors to the monastary) of Newminster and Hyde and this monastary was closely tied to the Wessex dynasty. (Alfred was buried there). Emma gave the monastary its greatest treasure, the head of St. Valentine. Dsmdgold 03:57, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

I appreciate your responses. I'm no expert on Cnut either, I just know he was involved with at least two different women- Aelgifu and Emma, and that the MS clearly designates someone named Aelgifu. Maybe a question that needs to be asked is: is Aelgifu the Anglo-Saxon form of the name "Emma"? Are they really both named Emma and historians have maybe called them by different forms to clarify? I'm not sure, but I'm just throwing that out there. Anyone know Anglo-Saxon? ukforever 22:46, 13 June 2007 (UTC)