Ælfgifu of York (died c. 1001) was the first wife of Æthelred the Unready, King of the English. They had many children together, including Edmund Ironside. It is most probable that Ælfgifu was a daughter of Thored, Earl of southern Northumbria and his wife, Hilda.
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Identity and background
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. Unlike Æthelred's mother, Ælfthryth, and his second wife, Emma of Normandy, Ælfgifu never attested any charters, an indication of her low status.