Frithuwald of Surrey

Frithuwald was a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon ruler in Surrey, and perhaps also in modern Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, who is known from two surviving charters. He was a sub-king ruling under King Wulfhere of Mercia. According to late hagiographical materials, he was a brother-in-law of Wulfhere. The monks of Saint Peter's Minster, Chertsey, revered Frithuwald, whom they considered the founder of their monastery, as a saint.

While it has been argued that Frithuwald was a native ruler of Surrey, the consensus view makes Frithuwald a Mercian or Middle Anglian appointed by Wulfhere to rule over Surrey. His charters state that he had one son, but do not name him. The princeps Frithuric who was active in Mercia in the reign of Wulfhere's brother and successor Æthelred is presumed to be a kinsman of Frithuwald, perhaps his son.

The twelfth century life of Saint Osgyth of Aylesbury states that Osgyth was the daughter of Wilburh, sister of King Wulfhere, and a certain King Fredeswald. As Fredeswald and Frithuwald are simply variant forms of the same name, if this Fredeswald did exist, "it can hardly be doubted that he was the same man as the sub-king of the Chertsey charter".

The possible Frith family may also have included the eighth-century figures Saint Frithuswith, and Frithugyth, wife of King Æthelheard of Wessex.

Two charters issued by Frithuwald to Eorcenwald, Abbot of Saint Peter's Minster, Chertsey, and later Bishop of London, survive. The first, dated to between 672 and 674, grants 200 hides of lands at Chertsey and 5 at Thorpe, together with 10 hides in London, to St Peter's. The second, dated after 675 and before 693, grants multiple estates in modern Surrey, Hampshire, and Berkshire, to Chertsey Minster. A spurious charter of King Wulfhere supposedly confirmed grants by Frithuwald to Chertsey, while later forged charters attributed to Offa, and to Edgar, claim to reconfirm Frithuwald's grants.

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