Ælfgifu Of Shaftesbury
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Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury (died 944) was the first wife of King
Edmund I Edmund I or Eadmund I (920/921 – 26 May 946) was King of the English from 27 October 939 until his death in 946. He was the elder son of King Edward the Elder and his third wife, Queen Eadgifu, and a grandson of King Alfred the Great. Af ...
(r. 939–946). She was Queen of the English from her marriage in around 939 until her death in 944. Ælfgifu and Edmund were the parents of two future English kings, Eadwig (r. 955–959) and
Edgar Edgar is a commonly used masculine English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Edgar'' (composed of ''wikt:en:ead, ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''Gar (spear), gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the Late Midd ...
(r. 959–975). Like her mother Wynflaed, Ælfgifu had a close and special if unknown connection with the royal nunnery of Shaftesbury (Dorset), founded by King Alfred,
Asser Asser (; ; died 909) was a Welsh people, Welsh monk from St David's, Kingdom of Dyfed, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne (ancient), Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join ...
, ''Vita Ælfredi ''ch. 98.
where she was buried and soon revered as a saint. According to a pre-Conquest tradition from
Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
, her feast day is 18 May. Lantfred, ''Translatio et Miracula S. Swithuni'': pp. 328-9 n. 299 (Lapidge's commentary).'' ''


Family background

Her mother appears to have been an associate of Shaftesbury Abbey called Wynflaed (also Wynnflæd). The vital clue comes from a charter of King Edgar, in which he confirmed the grant of an estate at ''Uppidelen'' ( Piddletrenthide,
Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
) made by his grandmother (''ava'') Wynflæd to Shaftesbury''.''S 744 (AD 966). Edgar's paternal grandmother was
Eadgifu of Kent Eadgifu of Kent (also Edgiva or Ediva; in or before 903 – in or after 966) was the third wife of Edward the Elder, List of British monarchs, King of Wessex. Family background Eadgifu was the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent, who died ...
.
She may well be the nun or vowess (''religiosa femina'') of this name in a charter dated 942 and preserved in the abbey's chartulary. It records that she received and retrieved from King Edmund a handful of estates in Dorset, namely Cheselbourne and Winterbourne Tomson, which somehow ended up in the possession of the community.S 485 (AD 942); Yorke, ''Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses''. pp. 82-3. See further Kelly, ''Charters of Shaftesbury Abbey''. pp. 53-9. Since no father or siblings are known, further speculation on Ælfgifu's background has largely depended on the identity of her mother, whose relatively uncommon name has invited further guesswork. H. P. R. Finberg suggests that she was the Wynflæd who drew up a will, supposedly sometime in the mid-10th century, after Ælfgifu's death. This lady held many estates scattered across
Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...
(in
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
,
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
,
Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
,
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
, and
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
) and was well connected with the nunneries at Wilton and Shaftesbury, both of which were royal foundations. On that basis, a number of relatives have been proposed for Ælfgifu, including a sister called Æthelflæd, a brother called Eadmær, and a grandmother called Brihtwyn.S 1539; Finberg, ''The Early Charters of Wessex''. p. 44. Whitelock, ''Anglo-Saxon wills'', p. 109, identifies the testatrix with the ''religiosa femina'' of S 485 (AD 942), but she is silent about Edgar's grandmother. Brihtwyn has been tentatively identified as the wife of Alfred, bishop of Sherborne, but this has been disputed. See Whitelock, ''Anglo-Saxon Wills''; Owen, "Wynflæd's wardrobe". p. 197, note 2. There is, however, no consensus among scholars about Finberg's suggestion. Simon Keynes and Gale R. Owen object that there is no sign of royal relatives or connections in Wynflæd's will and Finberg's assumptions about Ælfgifu's family therefore stand on shaky ground.Keynes, "Alfred the Great and Shaftesbury Abbey". pp. 43-5; Owen, "Wynflæd's wardrobe". p. 197 note 1; Yorke, ''Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses''. p. 100 note 136. Andrew Wareham is less troubled about this and suggests that different kinship strategies may account for it.Wareham, "Transformation of kinship". pp. 382-3. Much of the issue of identification also seems to hang on the number of years by which Wynflæd can plausibly have outlived her daughter. In this light, it is significant that on palaeographical grounds, David Dumville has rejected the conventional date of ''c''. 950 for the will, which he considers "speculative and too early" (and that one Wynflæd was still alive in 967).Dumville, "English square minuscule". p. 146 note 75. ''The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England'' also links Wynflæd with the noble ''matrona'' of that name, who appears in as late as 967 receiving royal grants of land in Hampshire. S 754 (AD 967); , PASE.


Married life

The sources do not record the date of Ælfgifu's marriage to
Edmund Edmund is a masculine given name in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and nobles *Ed ...
. The eldest son Eadwig, who had barely reached majority on his accession in 955, may have been born around 940, which gives us only a very rough ''terminus ante quem'' for the betrothal. Although as the mother of two future kings, Ælfgifu proved to be an important royal bed companion, there is no strictly contemporary evidence that she was ever consecrated as queen. In a charter of doubtful authenticity dated 942–946, she attests as the king's concubine (''concubina regis''). but later in the century Æthelweard the Chronicler styles her queen (''regina''). Much of Ælfgifu's claim to fame derives from her association with Shaftesbury. Her patronage of the community is suggested by a charter of King Æthelred, dated 984, according to which the abbey exchanged with King Edmund the large estate at Tisbury (Wiltshire) for ''Butticanlea'' (unidentified). Ælfgifu received it from her husband and intended to bequeath it back to the nunnery, but such had not yet come to pass (her son Eadwig demanded that ''Butticanlea'' was returned to the royal family first).S 850 (AD 984).


Children

Ælfgifu had three children with her husband: two sons and a daughter. # Eadwig,King of England (c. 940 – 1 October 959) - Eadwig was the
King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers Constitutional monarchy, regula ...
(23 November 955 – 1 October 959) and died unmarried and childless after his marriage to
Ælfgifu Ælfgifu (also ''Ælfgyfu''; ''Elfgifa, Elfgiva, Elgiva'') is an Anglo-Saxon name, Anglo-Saxon feminine personal name, from ''ælf'' "elf" and ''gifu'' "gift". When Emma of Normandy, the later mother of Edward the Confessor, became queen of Engla ...
was annulled. # Edgar, King of England(c. 944  – 8 July 975) - Edgar was the
King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers Constitutional monarchy, regula ...
(1 October 959 – 8 July 975) and married thrice and had 5 sons and one daughter. # Unknown Daughter (Unknown - Unknown) - She married Baldwin, of Hesdin.


Death and burial

Ælfgifu predeceased her husband, probably in 944, and may have died in childbirth of Edgar. In the early 12th century,
William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury (; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a gifted historical scholar and a ...
wrote that she suffered from an illness during the last few years of her life, but there may have been some confusion with details of Æthelgifu's life as recorded in a forged foundation charter of the late 11th or 12th century (see below).S 357; ''Gesta pontificum Anglorum'' vol II, pp. 130-1 (Thomson's commentary); Yorke, ''Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses'', p. 76. Her body was buried and enshrined at the nunnery.See Lantfred and Æthelweard below.


Sainthood

Ælfgifu was venerated as a saint soon after her burial at Shaftesbury. Æthelweard reports that many miracles had taken place at her tomb up to his day,Æthelweard, ''Chronicon'', book IV, chapter 6. and these were apparently attracting some local attention. Lantfred of Winchester, who wrote in the 970's and so can be called the earliest known witness of her cult, tells of a young man from Collingbourne (possibly Collingbourne Kingston, Wiltshire), who in the hope of being cured of blindness travelled to Shaftesbury and kept vigil. What led him there was the reputation of "the venerable St Ælfgifu ..at whose tomb many bodies of sick person receive medication through the omnipotence of God".Lantfred, ''Translatio et Miracula S. Swithuni'', ch. 36. Despite the new prominence of Edward the Martyr as a saint interred at Shaftesbury, her cult continued to flourish in later Anglo-Saxon England, as evidenced by her inclusion in a list of saints' resting places, at least 8 pre-Conquest calendars and 3 or 4 litanies from Winchester.Thacker.,"Dynastic monasteries". p. 259; ''On the resting places of English saints'', ed. Liebermann, II no. 36. Ælfgifu is styled a saint (''Sancte Ælfgife'') in the D-text of the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...
'' (mid-11th century) at the point where it specifies Eadwig's and Edgar's royal parentage.''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' (D) s.a. 955. Her cult may have been fostered and used to enhance the status of the royal lineage, more narrowly that of her descendants.Yorke, ''Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses''. p. 83. Lantfred attributes her healing power both to her own merits and those of her son Edgar. It may have been due to her association that in 979 the supposed body of her murdered grandson Edward the Martyr was exhumed and in a spectacular ceremony, received at the nunnery of Shaftesbury, under the supervision of ealdorman Ælfhere.Yorke, ''Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses''. p. 115. According to
William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury (; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a gifted historical scholar and a ...
, Ælfgifu would secretly redeem those who were publicly condemned to severe judgment, she gave expensive clothes to the poor, and she also had prophetic powers as well as powers of healing.Studies in the Early History of Shaftesbury Abbey. Dorset County Council, 1999 Ælfgifu's fame at Shaftesbury seems to have eclipsed that of its first abbess, King Alfred's daughter Æthelgifu,Yorke, ''Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon royal houses,'' p. 77. so much so perhaps that William of Malmesbury wrote contradictory reports on the abbey's early history. In the ''Gesta regum'', he correctly identifies the first abbess as Alfred's daughter, following
Asser Asser (; ; died 909) was a Welsh people, Welsh monk from St David's, Kingdom of Dyfed, Dyfed, who became Bishop of Sherborne (ancient), Bishop of Sherborne in the 890s. About 885 he was asked by Alfred the Great to leave St David's and join ...
, although he gives her the name of Ælfgifu (''Elfgiva''),William of Malmesbury, ''Gesta regum'', ch. 122. while in his ''Gesta pontificum'', he credits Edmund's wife Ælfgifu with the foundation.William of Malmesbury, ''Gesta pontificum'', book 2, ch. 86. Either William encountered conflicting information, or he meant to say that Ælfgifu refounded the nunnery.William of Malmesbury, ''Gesta pontificum''. Vol. II. p. 131. The latter suggestion was made by Patrick Wormald in correspondence with Thomson. In any event, William would have had access to local traditions at Shaftesbury, since he probably wrote a now lost metrical ''Life'' for the community, a fragment of which he included in his ''Gesta pontificum'':William of Malmesbury, ''Gesta pontificum''. Vol. II. p. 131. :


See also

* Ælfgifu of Exeter


Notes


References


Primary sources

*
Anglo-Saxon charters Anglo-Saxon charters are documents from the early medieval period in England which typically made a grant of land or recorded a privilege. The earliest surviving charters were drawn up in the 670s: the oldest surviving charters granted land to ...

S 514
(AD 942 x 946), King Edmund grants land. Archive: Canterbury.
S 850
(AD 984), King Æthelred grants estates to Shaftesbury. Archive: Shaftesbury.
S 744
(AD 966). Archive: Shaftesbury.
S 485
(AD 942). Archive: Shaftesbury.
S 1539
ed. and tr. Dorothy Whitelock, ''Anglo-Saxon Wills''. Cambridge Studies in English Legal History. Cambridge, 1930. pp. 10–5 (with commentary, pp. 109–14). *''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...
'' (MS D), ed. D. Dumville and S. Keynes, ''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. A Collaborative Edition''. Vol. 6. Cambridge, 1983. * Æthelweard, ''Chronicon'', ed. and tr. Alistair Campbell, ''The Chronicle of Æthelweard''. London, 1961. * Lantfred of Winchester, ''Translatio et Miracula S. Swithuni'', ed. and tr. M. Lapidge, ''The Cult of St Swithun''. Winchester Studies 4. The Anglo-Saxon Minsters of Winchester 2. Oxford, 2003. 252–333. *''On the resting places of English saints'', ed. F. Liebermann, ''Die Heiligen Englands. Angelsächsisch und lateinisch''. Hanover, 1889. II no. 36 (pp. 17–8). *
William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury (; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a gifted historical scholar and a ...
, '' Gesta Pontificum Anglorum'', ed. and tr. M. Winterbottom and R.M. Thomson, ''William of Malmesbury. Gesta Pontificum Anglorum The History of the English Bishops''. OMT. 2 vols (vol 1: text and translation, vol. 2: commentary). Oxford: OUP, 2007. *William of Malmesbury, '' Gesta regum Anglorum'', ed. and tr. R.A.B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson and M. Winterbottom, ''William of Malmesbury. Gesta Regum Anglorum. The History of the English Kings''. OMT. 2 vols: vol 1. Oxford, 1998.


Secondary sources

* * Dumville, David. "English Square Minuscule Script: the mid-century phases" ''Anglo-Saxon England''; 23 (1994): 133–64. * Finberg, H. P. R. ''The Early Charters of Wessex''. Leicester, 1964. * *Owen, Gale R. "Wynflæd's wardrobe". ''Anglo-Saxon England'' 8 (1979): 195–222. *Thacker, Alan. "Dynastic Monasteries and Family Cults. Edward the Elder's sainted kindred". In ''Edward the Elder, 899-924'', ed. N. J. Higham and David Hill. London: Routledge, 2001. 248–63. *Wareham, Andrew. "Transformation of Kinship and the Family in late Anglo-Saxon England." '' Early Medieval Europe''; 10 (2001). 375–99. * *Yorke, Barbara. ''Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon Royal Houses''. London, Continuum, 2003. *


Further reading

*Foot, Sarah. ''Veiled Women''. 2 vols: vol. 2 ''(Female Religious Communities in England, 871-1066).'' Aldershot, 2000. *Jackson, R. H. "The Tisbury landholdings granted to Shaftesbury monastery by the Saxon kings". ''The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine'' 79 (1984): 164–77. *Kelly, S. E. ''Charters of Shaftesbury Abbey''. (Anglo-Saxon Charters; 5.) London, 1996. *Murphy, E. "The Nunnery that Alfred Built at Shaftesbury". ''Hatcher Review''; 4 (1994): 40–53. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aelfgifu of Shaftesbury 944 deaths 10th-century English women 10th-century English people Anglo-Saxon royal consorts West Saxon saints Roman Catholic royal saints English Christian royal saints Year of birth unknown House of Wessex Mothers of English monarchs