Elfgifu (d. 959)

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Elfgifu (d. 959)

Anglo-Saxon queen. Name variations: Aelfgifu; Elgiva. Died in September 959 in Gloucester, Gloucester-shire, England; daughter of Aethelgifu also spelled Ethelgifu; married Edwy also known as Eadwig (c. 940–959), king of the English (r. 955–959), around 955 (marriage annulled).

Because of their blood kinship, Elfgifu was separated from her husband King Eadwig by proclamation of Archbishop Odo, a Norman prelate and noble whose half-brother was William I the Conqueror. In untrustworthy accounts of monastic legends, Elfgifu and her mother Ethelgifu became the brunt of cruelties imposed by Odo. Elfgifu has often been historically confused with her mother.

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