Page "Ælfgifu, wife of Eadwig" Paragraph 13

While it appears then that Dunstan and Archbishop Oda opposed the marriage, it was not all hostility that Ælfgifu had to endure from ecclesiastical magnates.

Another Benedictine reformer, Æthelwold, abbot of Abingdon and later bishop of Winchester, seems to have preferred to support her, even if he was not uncritical of her husband's reign.

One of the few charters to have been witnessed by Ælfgifu is the aforementioned memorandum from Abingdon, which confirms an exchange of land between Æthelwold and Brihthelm.

In the subscription, she is recognised as the king ’ s wife ( þæs cininges wif ).

Ælfgifu ’ s will, if it can be ascribed to her, provides even clearer evidence for her close association with Æthelwold.