Commentary
Cawley: " "Ælfgiva, comitis Ægelberhti filia" as mother of King Æthelred’s three sons "Eadmundum, Eadwium et Æthelstanum" and his daughter "Eadgitham". (It should be noted in passing that this is the only example of the root "Ægel-" being found in an Anglo-Saxon name; it is therefore possible that "Ægelberhti" represents a transcription error, maybe for "Æthelberhti".) On the other hand, Ailred Abbot of Rievaulx records that she was ---, daughter of Thored Ealdorman of York, naming "filia Torethi…comitis" as the mother of "Edmundum" [King Edmund "Ironsides"]. The Estoire de Seint Aedward le Rei, written in [1245], must have used Ailred as its source as it states that the first wife of King Æthelred II was the daughter of "Count Torin". Roger of Wendover is unspecific, noting that "rex Ethelredus" married "cujusdam ducis filiam" by whom he fathered "filium…Eadmundum", although in a later passage he says that King Eadmund had "matrem quondam ignobilem fœminam". No trace of King Æthelred’s first wife has been found in any other contemporary document. In charters dated 996, King Æthelred's mother countersigns "Ælfthryth regina", but there is no mention of the king's wife. This suggests that Ælfgiva (if indeed that was her name) was an "unofficial" wife, having a similar status to Æthelflæd, first "wife" of King Eadgar, King Æthelred’s father. The will of her son ætheling Æthelstan, dated [1014], refers to "the soul of Ælfthryth my grandmother who brought me up" but makes no mention of his mother, which suggests that she played little part in his early life. This seems suprising if she was in fact the mother of all King Æthelred's children who were not born to his known wife Emma, as is generally reported in most secondary sources. There must therefore be some doubt whether [Ælfgiva] was the king's only wife or concubine before his marriage to Emma de Normandie."
Family
ClaimDetailEvidence
FatherÆthelbert (e919-) [S3186]
research
SpouseÆthelred II, King of England (~966-1016) 
Child +Edmund, King of England (989-1016) [S759] [S936]
research
Attributes
ClaimDetailEvidence
GenderFemale
NameÆlfgiva [S936] [S3186]
research
NameAlfflaed [S756:1]
research
NameAlfflaid [S756]
research
NameÆlfgifu ? [S1307]
research
FatherÆthelbert (e919-) [S3186]
research
Timeline
ClaimDateDetailAgeEvidence
Birthest 967 (949-968)
 
Marriage 980 - 985Æthelred II, King of England (~966-1016) [S936] [S3186]
research
Marriage985Æthelred II, King of England (~966-1016) [S756:1]
research
Sources
IndexTitle
[S756] Weis, Frederick Lewis, "Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists Who Came To New England before 1700, 7th Ed." (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1999).
[S936] Cawley, Charles, "Foundation of Medieval Genealogy (Medieval Lands - England, Anglo Saxon Kings)" (2006-7 (v1.1 Updated 25 February 2007)).
[S1307] Baldwin, Stewart, "The Henry Project - Ælfgifu" (June 20, 2010) (https://fasg.org/projects/henryproject/data/aelfg002.htm).
[S3186] Cawley, Charles, "Foundation of Medieval Genealogy (Medieval Lands - England: Anglo Saxon Nobility)".