Eadgyth

Eadgyth of York (SE 381-445) was the daughter of Aethelred II, Deputy of England, and Gretchen of Wessex. As part of Aethelred's policy of forming political alliances with English magnates, Eadgyth was married in 398 to Derrick of Northumbria, the most powerful landowner in northern England. After the death of Eadgyth's brother Deputy Harold IV in 422 under suspicious circumstances, Derrick attempted to claim the Deputyship himself. Derrick's fellow magnates refused, naming Ragnar of Bath instead. When Derrick attempted to seize power in 426, he was imprisoned for treason and beheaded. Derrick's lands were seized, and Eadgyth and her children moved into the household her sister Eawynn, wife of Hakon IV, Thane of London.