Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury

File:S 1539 Will of Wynflæd, circa AD 950 (11th-century copy, BL Cotton Charters viii. 38).jpg (British Library Cotton Charters viii. 38)Charter [http://www.esawyer.org.uk/charter/1539.html S 1539] at the Electronic Sawyer]]

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) made by his grandmother (ava) Wynflæd to Shaftesbury.S 744 (AD 966). Edgar's paternal grandmother was Eadgifu of Kent. 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 (in Somerset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Hampshire) 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|12720|Wynnflæd 3|nm=1}}, PASE.

The sources do not record the date of Ælfgifu's marriage to Edmund. 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).S 514 (AD 942 x 946); Campbell, A., 1973 The Charters of Rochester, p. xxvi (cited in [http://www.esawyer.org.uk/charter/514.html Sawyer, S514]), 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).

Ælfgifu had three children with her husband: two sons and a daughter{{Cite book |last=Weir |first=Alison |url=https://archive.org/details/britainssroyalfa0000weir/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Britains's royal families : the complete genealogy |date=1996 |publisher=London : Pimlico |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7126-7448-5}}.

1. Eadwig,King of England (c. 940 – 1 October 959) - Eadwig was the King of England (23 November 955 – 1 October 959) and died unmarried and childless after his marrige to Ælfgifu was annulled.
2. Edgar, King of England(c. 944  – 8 July 975) - Edgar was the King of England(1 October 959 – 8 July 975) and married thrice and had 5 sons and one daughter {{Cite book |last=Weir |first=Alison |url=https://archive.org/details/britainssroyalfa0000weir/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Britains's royal families : the complete genealogy |date=1996 |publisher=London : Pimlico |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7126-7448-5}}.
3. Unknown Daughter (Unknown - Unknown) - She married Baldwin, of Hesdin{{Cite book |last=Weir |first=Alison |url=https://archive.org/details/britainssroyalfa0000weir/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Britains's royal families : the complete genealogy |date=1996 |publisher=London : Pimlico |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7126-7448-5}}.

File:Shaftesbury Abbey 1.jpgÆlfgifu predeceased her husband, probably in 944, and may have died in childbirth of Edgar.{{sfnm|1a1=Yorke|1y=2014|1p=143|2a1=Keynes|2y=1999|2p=65, n. 78}} In the early 12th century, William of Malmesbury 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.

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 (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, 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, 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.

:

• Ælfgifu of Exeter

{{reflist}}

• Anglo-Saxon charters
• [http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+514 S 514] (AD 942 x 946), King Edmund grants land. Archive: Canterbury.
• [http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+850 S 850] (AD 984), King Æthelred grants estates to Shaftesbury. Archive: Shaftesbury.
• [http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+744 S 744] (AD 966). Archive: Shaftesbury.
• [http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+485 S 485] (AD 942). Archive: Shaftesbury.
• [http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+1539 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 (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, 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.

• {{PASE|13052|Ælfgifu 3|accessdate=2009-03-27}}
• 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.
• {{cite book|last=Keynes |first=Simon |chapter=King Alfred the Great and Shaftesbury Abbey|pages=17–72 |title=Studies in the Early History of Shaftesbury Abbey|editor-first=Laurence|editor-last=Keen |publisher=Dorset County Council |location =Dorchester, UK |year=1999|isbn= 978-0-85216-887-5 }}
• 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.
• {{cite encyclopedia |first=Ann |last =Williams | publisher = Oxford University Press | encyclopedia= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | title=Edmund I (920/21–946) | year = 2004 | url = https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-8501| doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/8501 |isbn =978-0-19-861412-8 }} {{ODNBsub}}
• Yorke, Barbara. Nunneries and the Anglo-Saxon Royal Houses. London, Continuum, 2003.
• {{cite book|last=Yorke |first=Barbara |chapter=The Women in Edgar's Life|pages= 143–57|title=Edgar King of the English, 595-975|editor-first=Donald|editor-last=Scragg|edition=Paperback |publisher=The Boydell Press |location =Woodbridge, UK |year=2014|isbn=978-1-84383-928-6}}

• 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.

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{{succession box | before = Eadgifu of Kent
as Queen of the Anglo-Saxons| title = Queen consort of the English | years =939–944 | after = Æthelflæd of Damerham}}

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{{Anglo-Saxon saints}}

{{English consort}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aelfgifu of Shaftesbury}}

Category:944 deaths

Category:10th-century English women

Category:10th-century English people

Category:Anglo-Saxon royal consorts

Category:West Saxon saints

Category:Roman Catholic royal saints

Category:English Christian royal saints

Category:Year of birth unknown

Category:House of Wessex

Category:Mothers of English monarchs