Queen Eadgyth's tomb discovered

When the tomb was opened in 2008 a lead coffin 70cm long was found inside, bearing an inscription that read: 'The rescued remains of Queen Eadgyth are in this sarcophagus, after the second renovation of this monument in 1510.' The lead box contained the bones of a woman aged in her thirties, wrapped in white silk.

In the 10th century, she was the equivalent of Princess Diana, but I had not heard of her until this morning.

The crumbling remains of Alfred the Great's granddaughter - a Saxon princess who married one of the most powerful men in Europe - have been unearthed more than 1,000 years after her death.  The almost intact bones of Queen Eadgyth - the early English form of Edith - were discovered wrapped in silk, inside a lead coffin in a German cathedral.

Queen Eadgyth lived at the dawn of the English nation.  Her grandfather Alfred the Great was the first monarch to style himself King of the Anglo Saxons, while her step-brother Athelstan was the first King of the English.

More details and pictures at the link.  Posted for my mom, for whom this queen is a namesake.  There have been very few famous Ediths (Roosevelt, Piaf, Wharton, Evans, Bunker, and Head are the best known)