Agatha

Agatha, born before 1030 and surviving past 1070, was the spouse of Edward the Exile, who was a claimant to the English throne. She was the mother of Edgar Ætheling, Saint Margaret of Scotland, and Cristina. Her background is not definitively known, with her paternity being a subject of scholarly debate and one of medieval genealogy’s unsolved mysteries. Her children’s births are estimated around 1045, suggesting her own birth occurred before 1030. Agatha arrived in England with her family in 1057 but became a widow soon after. The Norman Conquest in 1066 forced her to flee to Scotland with her children in 1067, where they were given sanctuary by Malcolm III, her future son-in-law.

Despite various medieval sources providing conflicting information about Agatha’s origin, it is widely debated whether she was related to Emperor Henry, and if so, which Henry it was. Some sources describe her as a kinswoman of Emperor Henry, possibly Henry II or Henry III, while others claim she was the daughter of a Hungarian king. The last known reference to Agatha dates back to 1070 by Simeon of Durham. Her name and those of her descendants have sparked theories about her Eastern European ancestry, with some scholars proposing that she may have been a daughter of Yaroslav the Wise of Kiev.