Ælfgifu of York (fl. c. 970 – 1002) was the first wife of Æthelred the Unready, King of the English; as such, she was Queen of the English from their marriage in the 980s until her death in 1002. They had many children together, including Edmund Ironside. It is most probable that Ælfgifu was a daughter of Thored, Earl of southern Northumbria.
Her name and paternity do not surface in the sources until sometime after the Conquest. The first to offer any information at all, Sulcard of Westminster (fl. 1080s), merely describes her as being 'of very noble English stock' (ex nobilioribus Anglis), without naming her, while in the early 12th century, William of Malmesbury has nothing to report. All primary evidence comes from two Anglo-Norman historians. John of Worcester, also writing in the early 12th century, states that Æthelred's first wife was Ælfgifu, daughter of the nobleman Æthelberht (comes Agelberhtus) and the mother of Edmund, Æthelstan, Eadwig and Eadgyth. Writing in the 1150s, Ailred of Rievaulx identifies her as a daughter of earl (comes) Thored and the mother of Edmund, though he supplies no name. Ailred had been seneschal at the court of King David I of Scotland (r. 1124– 53), whose mother Margaret was a great-granddaughter of Ælfgifu. Although his testimony is late, his proximity to the royal family may have given him access to genuine information.
These two accounts are irreconcilable at the point of ascribing two different fathers to Æthelred's first wife (in both cases, Edmund's mother). One way out of it would be to assume the existence of two different wives before the arrival of Queen Emma, Æthelred's Norman wife, although this interpretation presents difficulties of its own, especially as the sources envisage a single woman. Historians generally favour the view that John of Worcester was in error about the father's name, as Æthelberht's very existence is under suspicion: if Latin comes is to be interpreted as a gloss on the office of ealdorman, only two doubtful references to one or two duces (ealdormen) of this name can be put forward that would fit the description. All in all, the combined evidence suggests that Æthelred's first wife was Ælfgifu, the daughter of Earl Thored. This magnate is likely to have been the Thored who was a son of Gunnar and earl of (southern) Northumbria.
Sons:
* Æthelstan (born before 993, d. 1014)
* Ecgberht (born before 993, d. 1005)
* Edmund (II) Ironside (born before 993, d. 1016)
* Eadred (d. 1012 x 1015)
* Eadwig (born before 997, exiled and killed 1017)
* Edgar (born before 1001, d. 1012 x 1015)
Daughters:
* Eadgyth (born before 993), married Eadric Streona, ealdorman of Mercia.
* Ælfgifu, married ealdorman Uhtred of Northumbria.
* (possibly) Wulfhild, who married Ulfcytel (Snillingr) (d. 1016), apparently ealdorman of East Anglia.
* possibly an unnamed daughter who married the Æthelstan who was killed fighting the Danes at the Battle of Ringmere in 1010. He is called Æthelred's aðum, meaning either son-in-law or brother-in-law. Ann Williams, however, argues that the latter meaning is the appropriate one and refers to Æthelstan as being Ælfgifu's brother.
* possibly unnamed daughter, who became abbess of Wherwell.
Ælfgifu (also Ælfgyfu; Elfgifa, Elfgiva, Elgiva) is an Anglo-Saxon feminine personal name, from ælf 'elf' and gifu 'gift'. When Emma of Normandy, the later mother of Edward the Confessor, became queen of England in 1002, she was given the native Anglo-Saxon name of Ælfgifu to be used in formal and official contexts.
Latinized forms of the name include forms such as Aelueua, Alueua, Alueue, Elgiva, Elueua, Aluiua, Aueue (etc.).
People called Ælfgifu:
* Ælfgifu of Exeter, Anglo-Saxon saint
* Ælfgifu of Northampton, first wife of King Cnut the Great. Her name became Álfífa in Old Norse.
* Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, wife of King Edmund I of England
* Ælfgifu of York, first wife of Æthelred the Unready
* Ælfgifu, wife of Eadwig, king of England
va, a 1790 verse tragedy by Frances Burney
* Emma of Normandy adopted the name Ælfgifu upon her marriage to Æthelred the Unready
* Ælfgifu, wife of Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia
* Ælfgifu, daughter of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and sister of King Harold II of England
* Ælfgifu, daughter of Æthelred the Unready and wife of Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria
* Ælfgyva, a woman of unknown identity in the Bayeux Tapestry
