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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1999-05 > 0926564260


From: "Chris Bennett" < >
Subject: Ronay on Jette on Agatha
Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 19:57:40 -0700


Just received the May issue of History Today. The Letters page contains a
letter from Gabriel Ronay, author of "The Lost King of England", about
Edward the Exile, who puts foward the theory that Edward's wife Agatha was
the daughter of Liudolf of Brunswick. I have followed this issue when
debated in this newsgroup, but not too closely. However, I thought those
who are more interested in the matter would like to be aware of this letter.

The letter is an attack on Rene Jette's article in the NEHGR proposing that
Agatha was a daughter of Yaroslav of Kiev, which he describes as "distorted
use of 'new theories' without any fresh evidence." In essence, Ronay argues
that Jette shows no hole in Ronay's and Szabolcs de Vajay's arguments for
Liudolf, and that his sole adduced 'proof' of a Russian parentage is a 13th
century interpolation in the Leges Edovardi Confessori which only gives the
following two facts about Agatha: that she was of noble birth and that she
had at some point in her life lived in Russia; which of themselves prove
nothing.

Chris

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