Remains of ‘Saxon queen Eadgyth’ found in German cathedral

LONDON - Scientists have discovered bones in a German cathedral that they believe are the remains of Queen Eadgyth, who died in 946.

The bones were excavated from the Magdeburg Cathedral in 2008, and the findings were presented at the University of Bristol on June 17, with a spokesman saying they are the oldest surviving remains of an English royal burial.

Eadgyth, who was a Saxon princess, and the granddaughter of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, married Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, in 929.

She had at least two children with Otto and lived most of her married life in Magdeburg, in what is now the state of Saxony-Anhalt. She died aged about 36.

She was buried in the monastery of St Maurice but her bones were moved at least three times, she was finally interred in an elaborate tomb at Magdeburg Cathedral in 1510, wrapped in silk in a lead coffin.

“The historical record and the scientific records match,” the BBC quoted professor Mark Horton as saying.

A study of the bones at the University of Mainz confirmed that the remains were those of a woman who died aged between 30 and 40, and crucial evidence came from the study of teeth in Eadgyth’s upper jaw.

Researchers at the University of Bristol’s Department of Archaeology and the Institute of Anthropology at Mainz University studied strontium and oxygen isotopes that mineralise in the teeth when they form.

They found the isotope results exactly matched records of Eadgyth’s childhood and adolescence in Wessex.

Her bones will be reburied in Magdeburg Cathedral later this year, 500 years after they were interred there in 1510. (ANI)