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Ælfgifu was the consort of King Eadwig of England (r. 955–59) for a brief period of time until 957 or 958. What little is known of her comes primarily by way of Anglo-Saxon charters, possibly including a will, the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' and hostile anecdotes in works of hagiography. Her union with the king, annulled within a few years of Eadwig's reign, seems to have been a target for factional rivalries which surrounded the throne in the late 950s. By ''c.'' 1000, when the careers of the Benedictine reformers Dunstan and Oswald became the subject of hagiography, its memory had suffered heavy degradation. In the mid-960s, however, she appears to have become a well-to-do landowner on good terms with King Edgar and, through her will, a generous benefactress of ecclesiastical houses associated with the royal family, notably the Old Minster and New Minster at Winchester. ==Family background== Two facts about Ælfgifu's family background are unambiguously stated by the sources. First, her mother bore the name of Æthelgifu,〔S 1292 (AD 956 x 957), witnessed by ''Ælfgifu þæs cininges wif 7 Æþelgifu þæs cyninges wifes modur''.〕 a woman of very high birth (''natione præcelsa'').〔B, ''Vita S. Dunstani'' § 21.〕 Second, she was related to her husband Eadwig, since in 958 their marriage was dissolved by Archbishop Oda on grounds that they were too closely related by blood, that is, within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity.〔''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' (MS D), AD 958.〕 Ælfgifu has been also identified with the namesake who left a will sometime between 966 and 975, which might shed further light on her origins.〔S 1484. Keynes, "Eadwig."〕 These dangling clues, unsatisfying as they are in themselves, have been used to construct two possible—-and possibly compatible—-genealogies for Ælfgifu, both of which ascribe to her a degree of royal rank. One theory espoused by Cyril Hart and considered by Pauline Stafford makes her a noblewoman of Mercian stock, who descended from Ealdorman Æthelfrith of Mercia〔S 367, 367a, 371.〕 and his wife Æthelgyth, who may have been a daughter of ealdorman Æthelwulf and a niece of King Alfred's Mercian consort Ealhswith.〔S 1442.〕 This reconstruction is based on the probability that Risborough (Buckinghamshire), one of Ælfgifu’s holdings mentioned in the will, was previously held by Æthelgyth.〔S 367 and S 1484.〕 The possible implication is that Ælfgifu inherited the estate and many others in Buckinghamshire. Given that she asked Bishop Æthelwold, one of her beneficiaries, to intercede for her "mother's soul", she may have done so through the maternal line. If the suggestion is correct, she would have been closely related to the politically prominent family of ealdorman Æthelstan Half-King and his offspring.〔Hart, Cyril, ''The Danelaw'', p. 462, etc. and 569-604; Stafford, "Ælfgifu"; Whitelock, ''Anglo-Saxon Wills''; p. 119〕 Her supposed will also provides the starting point for another, more widely regarded hypothesis.〔York, Barbara, ''Bishop Æthelwold''.〕 In this document, she makes bequests to Ælfweard and Æthelweard, seemingly her brothers (one of whom was married to Æthelflæd), and to her sister Ælfwaru. Æthelweard and Ælfweard re-appear as brothers and thegns (''ministri'') in the witness list of a spurious royal charter dated 974 〔(S 796 (AD 974) ).〕 This appears to be the same Æthelweard who regularly attests royal charters between 958 and 977 as the king's thegn〔"Æthelweard 21", PASE.〕 and may have moved on to become the illustrious ealdorman of the Western Provinces and author of a Latin chronicle,〔"Æthelweard 23", PASE.〕 in which he claimed descent from King Æthelred of Wessex (d. 871), fourth son of King Æthelwulf.〔Æthelweard (1961), ''Chronicon'', preface and IV ch. 2.〕 The conclusion which can be derived from these prosopographical byways is that if the ealdorman and chronicler Æthelweard was her brother, she must have shared with him a common ancestor in King Æthelred. In this light, Ælfgifu would have been Eadwig’s third cousin once removed. The two genealogies are not mutually exclusive. Andrew Wareham suggests that these two different branches of the royal family may have come together in the marriage which produced Ælfgifu. In view of the will´s special mention of Ælfgifu´s "mother's soul", this could mean that Æthelgifu was a descendant of Æthelgyth, while the anonymous father traced his descent to Æthelred.〔Wareham, Andrew, "Transformation of Kinship"; p. 385.〕 Neither hypothesis is conclusive. A weakness shared by these suggestions is that they hinge on the assumption that the testatrix Ælfgifu is the same as the erstwhile royal consort.〔Wormald, Patrick, “Æthelweard (''d''. 998?’).” ODNB. Accessed 1 July 2008.〕 However, for reasons explored below, the identification is favoured by most historians, though usually with reservations.〔Whitelock, Dorothy ''Anglo-Saxon wills''. p. 119; Yorke, Barbara, ''Bishop Æthelwold'', and see note.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ælfgifu, wife of Eadwig」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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