Lady Ælfgifu of York

The first consort of King Æthelred "the Unready" of England was named Ælfgifu and, born in York, she was probably of Viking descent.

Most of Ælfgifu's background was not recorded, but from the evidence that does survive, it seems that she was the daughter of Lady Hilda of Wessex and her husband, Ealdorman Thored Gunnarsson of York.

Other accounts suggest that she was actually of Norman descent; historians who believe in this theory suggest that she was the daughter of a Norman nobleman named Æthelberht. However, the majority of surviving evidence seems to refute this idea.

 

Ælfgifu's mother died in 970, possibly as a result of giving birth either to her or to the brother, Æthelstan, who has featured in some records from around the same year. It is possible that Ælfgifu and her brother were twins, but all that is known is that there is no record of either of them existing prior to 970 and the death of their mother.

 

By the mid-980's, Ælfgifu had married King Æthelred. This most likely occurred in 984, after Æthelred had reached his 18th birthday and was attempting to assert his own authority over his mother at court. The marriage has been dated to 984 with the help of a charter from 993, which lists four of Ælfgifu's children as witnesses, all of whom were known to have been born prior to the date of the charter.

The match was probably arranged with the help of Ælfgifu's father, who lived long enough to see Ælfgifu, who was potentially around 14 years old at the time, wed to the King. Due to Ealdorman Thored's connections in the North of the country, it is likely that this was a political match, as opposed to a love match.

 

Ælfgifu's time as Queen was quiet and she played no political role, unlike and potentially because of her mother-in-law. There is unfortunately little evidence of her very existence at all. The marriage, however, was incredibly successful in the one way that counted most in the medieval period; the lack of role Ælfgifu played at court may have also been due to the amount of time she devoted to childbearing.

 

During the course of her 18-year marriage to King Æthelred, Ælfgifu bore at least nine children; six sons and 3 daughters are named in the records, but there were potentially more children who may have been stillborn or died in infancy. It is unlikely that Ælfgifu played any role in her children's upbringing, as they were sent to be raised with their grandmother, the Dowager Queen Ælfthryth of Devon. It is impossible to know how Ælfgifu felt about bearing so many children and having them all sent away from her.

 

Most of her children were born in quick succession, suggesting a certain level of intimacy in Ælfgifu and Æthelred's marriage, though there is no evidence for emotional closeness in their marriage. Her first son, Æthelstan, was born in 986. Considering the amount of children and the short time frame between most of the births, it is possible that Æthelred refrained from consummating his marriage to the teenaged Ælfgifu immediately after the wedding. This is pure speculation, of course, as other royal children had been married and bore children of their own by this age and there could well have been a pregnancy of two prior to Æthelstan's birth that did not go to full term and were unrecorded. Nevertheless, Ælfgifu's first recorded child, and the heir to Æthelred's throne, was born in 986. A year later, another ætheling (prince) followed, named Ecgberht. Edmund was born in 988, another year later, and he was followed in 990 by Eadred. A year after this, Ælfgifu had another son, Eadwig. Three years later, in 994, her final son, Eadgar, was born.

Ælfgifu's childbearing was a complete triumph for an Anglo-Saxon Queen. She gave her husband six sons, providing not only an heir but also several spares; with the infant mortality rate in the medieval era, having spare æthelings was a necessity. Three daughters, who could be married off for their father's gain, followed the sons. In 995 Ælfgifu gave birth to her firs surviving daughter, Eadgyth. Wulfhild followed her in 998 and then her final child, named Ælfgifu, was born in 1002.

There is some evidence to suggest Ælfgifu may have had two more daughters at some point during her marriage, but this is unconfirmed. This idea stems from the record of a marriage to a man named Æthelstan into the royal family, though none of her recorded daughters married this man. The other possible daughter is recorded as an Abbess of Wherwell Abbey in the mid-1000's.

 

Ælfgifu disappears from the records entirely after the birth of her final child. It is possible that she, like so many Queens before her, was repudiated so that King Æthelred could make a more prestigious match for himself. However, with the success of the marriage and the amount of childbearing her body was subjected to, it is most likely that she died as a result of the final birth. It has been suggested that she may have been in childbed with the mysteriously unrecorded daughter who became an Abbess, as she was said to have been born in 1002, however, it is equally possible that she died giving birth to her final daughter, Ælfgifu. As previously mentioned, there is no evidence to say either way whether Ælfgifu and Æthelred shared any romantic feelings towards each other or whether their marriage, successful as it was, was a happy one. But, naming children after family members was not the usual practise in England until after the Norman invasion in 1066. The fact that Ælfgifu's last daughter was named Ælfgifu as well could be mere coincidence, or it could very well have been the intention of Æthelred to name his final child by his first wife after Ælfgifu, in her memory. If this was indeed the case, it would suggest that Ælfgifu and Æthelred did indeed find love in their relationship and that Æthelred in some way grieved her passing.

 

Ælfgifu did not live to see her children's deaths, but their father did; as there are no confirmed dates of death for Ælfgifu's daughters, we can only say with certainty that the third son, Edmund, of all of Ælfgifu's nine surviving children, actually managed to outlive both of his parents.

 

Ælfgifu seems to have lived a quiet life both before and during her time as Queen. So far in history, she has been hidden away in the shadows of her predecessor and successor as Queen, both of whom were consecrated and crowned as Queens, whereas she did not receive that honour. I hope I have managed to shed some light on the life of this particular Queen of England.