Note 70 — Chapter V · THE CORONATION OF A KING. THE ENGLISH RITE
Reading edition
‘For the nation of the West-Saxons does not allow a queen to sit beside the king, nor to be called a queen, but only the king’s wife.’ Asser, De rebus gestis Aelfredi, s.a. 856 (Petrie, Mon. Hist. Brit. p. 471). The Annales Bertiniani, which s.a. 856 recount the coronation of Judith in France, definitely state that the coronation of a queen was not practised among the Saxons. See Pertz, M.G.H. Script. I. 450. For the position accorded to the consorts of Anglo-Saxon kings, see Liebermann, Gesetze der Angelsachsen, II. s.v. ‘Königin.’