Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury

     Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury was the daughter of Wynflæd.¹ Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury married King Edmund I, son of Edward the Elder and Eadgifu of Kent; 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. Likewise, her formal position at court appears to have been relatively insignificant, overshadowed as it was by the queen mother Eadgifu of Kent.¹ Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury died in 944 at England.¹ She was buried at Shaftesbury, England.¹
     Ælfgifu was the first wife of Edmund I (r. 939–946), by whom she bore two future kings, Eadwig (r. 955–959) and Edgar (r. 959–975). Like her mother Wynflæd, she had a close and special if unknown connection with the royal nunnery of Shaftesbury (Dorset), founded by King Alfred, where she was buried and soon revered as a saint. According to a pre-Conquest tradition from Winchester, her feast day is 18 May.¹