Eadgifu of Wessex

Eadgifu or Edgifu (902 – after 955) also known as Edgiva or Ogive (Old English: Ēadgifu) was a daughter[1] of Edward the Elder, King of Wessex and England, and his second wife Ælfflæd. She was born in Wessex.

Eadgifu of Wessex
A 15th-century depiction of Eadgifu of Wessex, with her son Louis IV
Born902
DiedAfter 955
SpouseCharles III of France
Herbert III of Omois
IssueLouis IV
HouseWessex
FatherEdward the Elder
MotherÆlfflæd

Marriage to the French King

Eadgifu was one of three West Saxon sisters married to Continental rulers: the others were Eadgyth, who married Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor and Eadhild, who married Hugh the Great. Eadgifu became the second wife of Charles, King of the West Franks,[1] whom she married in 919 after the death of his first wife, Frederonne. Eadgifu was mother to Louis IV of France.

Flight to England

In 922 Charles III was deposed and, after being defeated at the Battle of Soissons in 923, he was taken prisoner by Count Herbert II of Vermandois, an ally of the then current king. To protect her son's safety Eadgifu took him to England in 923 to the court of her half-brother, King Æthelstan of England.[2] Because of this, Louis IV of France became known as Louis d'Outremer of France. He stayed there until 936, when he was called back to France to be crowned King. Eadgifu accompanied him.

She retired to a convent in Laon.[3] In 951, Heribert the Old, Count of Omois, abducted and married her, to the great anger of her son.[4]

Notes
  1. Lappenberg, pp. 88-89
  2. Williams. p. 112
  3. Schwennicke, 49
  4. Dunbabin, p. 384
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References
  • Dunbabin, Jean (1999). "West Francia: The Kingdom". In Reuter, Timothy (ed.). The New Cambridge Medieval History. III. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-36447-7.
  • Lappenberg, Johann (1845). A History of England Under the Anglo-Saxon Kings. Benjamin Thorpe, translator. J. Murray.
  • Schwennicke, Detlev (1984) Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band III Teilband 1 (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt), Tafel 49
  • Williams, Ann; Smyth, Alfred P.; Kirby, D. P. (1991). A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain: England, Scotland, and Wales. Routledge. ISBN 1-85264-047-2.
Eadgifu of Wessex
Born: 902 Died: after 955
Preceded by
Frederonne		 Queen of Western Francia
919–922		 Succeeded by
Béatrice of Vermandois




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