Orgar or Orgarius, sometimes Ordgar, "Ordgar dux" was a magnate and Ealdorman of Devon and Cornwall. He was also a prominent landowner in the west country in the middle of the tenth century and maternal grandfather of Æthelred the Unready. He subscribed charters of King Edgar dated between 964 and 970, one charter dated 966 specifying that he was "Ordgarus dux Domnoniæ"

Wife: Wulfryth Children: Ordulf and Ælfthryth

see wikipedia

see also ENGLAND, ANGLO-SAXON NOBILITY

(from MedLands:)
ORDGAR (-971, bur Exeter). Ealdorman of Devon. "Ordgar dux" subscribed charters of King Edgar dated between 964 and 970[26], one charter dated 966 specifying that he was "Ordgarus dux Domnoniæ"[27]. Simeon of Durham records the death in 971 of "Ordgar duke of Devonshire the father-in-law of King Eadgar" and his burial at Exeter[28]. His death in 971 is recorded by Roger of Hoveden[29].

m ---. The name of Ordgar's wife is not known.

Ordgar & his wife had two children:

a) ORDULF (-after 1004). A document which narrates the foundation of Tavistock Monastery names “Ordulphus…filius…Ordgari”[30]. "Ordulf comes" subscribed a charter of King Æthelred II dated 1004[31].

b) ÆLFTHRYTH (Lydford Castle, Devon ([945]-Wherwell Abbey, Hampshire [999/1002], bur Wherwell Abbey). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the marriage in 965 of King Edgar and Ælfthryth, stating that she was the daughter of ealdorman Ordgar[32]. Simeon of Durham records the marriage of King Eadgar and "the daughter of Ordgar duke of Devonshire after the death of her husband Elfwold…duke of the East Angles" in 964[33]. Roger of Hoveden names her, her father and her first husband, when recording her second marriage[34]. Geoffrey Gaimar records a lengthy account of King Edgar having sent "Edelwoth" to woo "Estrueth la fille Orgar" on his behalf, and Æthelwold having married her without the king´s knowledge[35]. King Edgar granted land in Buckinghamshire to "Ælfgifu que mihi afinitate mundialis cruoris coniuncta" in 966[36]. "Ælfthryth regina" subscribed charters of King Edgar dated between 964 and 974[37]. William of Malmesbury recounts that King Edgar killed Ælfthryth's first husband to enable him to marry her[38]. She was crowned with her husband in 973, apparently the first recorded instance of the coronation of a queen in England. It was alleged that she was involved in the plot to kill her stepson so her own son could succeed as king[39]. "Ælfthryth regina" subscribed charters of King Æthelred II between 979 and 983[40], and "Ælfthryth regis mater" between 981 and 999[41]. She became a nun at Wherwell Abbey, Hampshire in [985]. Her son King Æthelred II granted privileges to Wherwell Abbey in 1002 for the benefit of her soul[42]. m firstly [as his second wife,] ÆTHELWOLD Ealdorman of the East Angles, son of --- (-before 964). The Vita Oswaldi names Æthelwald as husband of Ælfthryth[43]. m secondly ([965]) as his second wife, EDGAR "the Peaceable" King of England, son of EDMUND King of Wessex & his first wife Ælfgifu --- (943-Winchester 8 Jul 975, bur Glastonbury Abbey).

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Tradition tells us that Orgarius, began the foundation of Tavistock minster which he jointly dedicated to Our Lady and the Cornish Saint Rumon whose relics were said to be a great treasure of the place.[3] He began it in 961, but did not live to finish it. It was completed in 981 by Ordulph, his son, and endowed by him with the manor of Tavistock and many others.

Although apparently without any official position at the court of King Eadwig (r. 955–9), he was clearly a figure of some importance, because in 956 his daughter Ælfthryth married Æthelwald, Ealdorman of East Anglia, eldest son of Ealdorman Æthelstan Half-King. He witnessed King Edgar's charters as a thegn from 962. Ælfthryth was widowed in 962 or 963, and in 964 married the king. The charter by which Edgar endowed his new wife with an estate in Berkshire was the last which his new father-in-law witnessed as a mere thegn, since Edgar made him an ealdorman later in 964. Later tradition called him ealdorman of Dumnonia, probably meaning Devon and Cornwall, and a connection with the latter shire is evident from the fact that he is known to have freed one of his slaves at the altar of St Petroc in Bodmin. As a thegn, Ordgar had witnessed only a handful of Edgar's charters between 962 and 964; as an ealdorman he was named on almost all of those issued between 964 and 970, a period when he must have been among the king's closest advisers. Ordgar died in 971 and was buried at Exeter. In the twelfth century William of Malmesbury claimed that he had founded and been buried at Tavistock Abbey, through a confusion with his son Ordwulf, the real founder of Tavistock, and with a later Ordgar who was buried there. Although Ordwulf did not become an ealdorman, he was a figure of great importance in the reign of Æthelred.[4]

Ealdorman Ordgar featured as a rich widower with lands in every town and village between Frome and Exeter in a tale elaborated by Geoffrey Gaimar in the twelfth century, which centred on Ordgar's beautiful daughter Ælfthryth, King Edgar, and the deceitful knight Æthelwold, who wooed the girl for himself. In Gaimar's version the story begins with Ælfthryth and her doting father, Ordgar, playing chess when Æthelwold arrives. Ælfthryth's two marriages clearly formed a foundation for the story, though it adds nothing credible to knowledge of Ordgar or anyone else.

His death in 971 is recorded by Roger of Hoveden in Devon.[5] Simeon of Durham records the death in 971 of "Ordgar duke of Devonshire the father-in-law of King Eadgar" and his burial at Exeter.[6]

References

   * The House of Ordgar and the foundation of Tavistock Abbey By H P R Finberg

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References

   * The House of Ordgar and the foundation of Tavistock Abbey By H P R Finberg

1. ^ Wessex and England

  2. ^ Charles Cawley's Medieval Lands

  3. ^ County and town in England, together with some annals of Churnside (1901) (page 215)

  4. ^ http://www.jstor.org/pss/553932

  5. ^ Devonshire Celebrities By T. L. Pridham (page 179)

  6. ^ Simeon of Durham, p. 507.

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B: Abt 0922 Of, , Devonshire, England

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Ordgar was an Ealdorman. An ealdorman (from Old English ealdorman, lit. "elder man") is the term used for a high-ranking royal official and prior magistrate of an Anglo-Saxon shire or group of shires from about the ninth century to the time of King Cnut.

As the chief magistrate of a shire or group of shires in Anglo-Saxon England, he commanded the army of the shire(s) and districts under his control on behalf of the king.

They were appointees of the king and were originally mostly from the ancient and powerful families, but later were often chosen from among the king's comites (plural of comes , lit. "companion") and many, especially in the early Danish period, were new to high office. The office generally was not hereditary. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ealdorman]

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Kilde http://fabpedigree.com/s064/f735832.htm

Ordgar. Ongar fra Middleseaxan

Ongar var sønn av Leoftan. Kone ukjent. De hadde sønnen sønnen Leofstan (Lefstan). Ongar, Han døde ca 1143

Kilde http://fabpedigree.com/s064/f735832.htm