St. Ælfgifu
St. ÆlfgifuÆlfgifu signs a charter of Eadmund of 942×6 as "concubine" of the king ["Ego Ælfgifu concubina regis affui" Cart. Sax. 2: 517 (#779)]. A charter of her grandson Æthelred calls her the wife of Eadmund ["ego Æðelred regionis Angligenarum rex ... auus meus Eadmund scilicet rex, ... coniugi suae Ælfgifae" Codex Dipl. Sax. 3: 200 (#641)].
Date of birth: Unknown.
Place of birth: Unknown.
Date of death: 18 May ca. 944.
Place of
burial: Shaftesbury.
An eleventh century calendar gives
the date of her death as 18 May ["18. [May] Sanctæ
Aefgiuæ reginæ" Lib. Vitae Hyde, 270]. The chronicler
Æthelweard states that she died in the same year that Ragnald
and Anlaf were driven out of York (evidently 944) but also in the
same year that Eadmund died (946) ["In eodem uero anno
obiit et regina Elfgyuu, Eadmundi regis coniux, postque
sanctificatur. In cuius mausoleo, (Cooperante deo) usque ad
præsens innumerosa equidem miracula fiunt in coenobio, quod
uulgo Sceftesbyrig nuncupatur." (Translation: "And
in the same year Queen Ælfgifu died, the wife of King Eadmund,
and afterwards she was held to be a saint. And at her tomb, with
the help of God, down to the present day, very many miracles take
place in the monastery known by the common people as Shaftesbury")
Æthelweard, iv, 6 (p. 54)]. Since Eadmund had another wife at
the time of his death [ASC(D) s.a. 946; see the page of Eadmund], a date closer to 944 is likely for Ælfgifu's death.
Father: Unknown.
Mother: Wynflæd.
In 966, king Eadgar ("Adgar") of England
confirmed a grant of land in co. Dorset to Shaftesbury Abbey
which had formerly been granted by his grandmother Winfled
["... ego Adgar tocius Britannie basileus ... ava mea
Winfled" Cart. Sax. 3: 449 (#1186)].
Spouse: Eadmund I, d. 26 May 946, king of Wessex and Mercia.
Children:
See the page of Eadmund I for more details.
Eadwig, d. 1×2 October 959, king of
England, 955-7, king of Wessex, 957-9;
m. Ælfgifu, divorced 958.
Eadgar, d. 8
July 975, king of England 959-975;
m. (1) Æthelflæd, alias Candida or
Eneda, daughter of ealdorman Ordmær.
m. (2) Wulfthryth, nun, bur. Wilton.
m. (3) 965, Ælfthryth, daughter of Ordgar, ealdorman, dux of Devon, widow of Æthelweald/Æthelwold,
ealdorman of East Anglia.
Æthelweard = A. Campbell ed., Chronicon Æthelweardi/The Chronicle of Æthelweard, (New York, 1962).
ASC = Charles Plummer, Two of the Saxon Chronicles parallel, based on the earlier edition by John Earle, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1892-9). ASC(A) indicates the "A" manuscript of the chronicle, and similarly for the other manuscripts.
Cart. Sax. = Walter de Gray Birch, ed., Cartularium Saxonicum, 4 vols. (1885-99).
Codex Dipl. Sax. = John M. Kemble, ed., Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici, 6 vols. (London, 1839-48).
Lib. Vitae Hyde = Walter de Gray Birch, ed., Liber Vitae: Register and Martyrology of New Minister and Hyde Abbey, Winchester (Hampshire Record Society, London 1892).
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 20 June 2010.