Judith of Flanders

Judith of Flanders was a Carolingian princess who, by her three successive marriages, became Queen of Wessex and Countess of Flanders. The daughter of Emperor Charles the Bald, she married the elderly King Æthelwulf of Wessex as an adolescent and was crowned queen in contravention of the custom in Wessex. After Æthelwulf's death in 858, Judith married his son and successor, Æthelbald. Her marriage with her stepson, considered scandalous by her contemporaries, ended with his death in 860. Queen Judith then returned to her father, only to elope in 861 or 862 with the Flemish forester Baldwin. Having thus provoked her father's wrath, Judith and Baldwin went into exile. They were reconciled with Charles in late 862, after which Baldwin was granted the march of Flanders.