Page "Ælfgifu, wife of Eadwig" Paragraph 8

At an unknown date around the time of his accession, the young King Eadwig married Ælfgifu.

The union was or was to become one of the most controversial royal marriages in 10th-century England.

Eadwig's brother Edgar was the heir presumptive, but a legitimate son born out of this marriage would have seriously diminished Edgar ’ s chances of succeeding to the kingship, especially if both parents were of royal rank.

Fostered by Ælfwynn wife of Æthelstan Half-King together with her son Æthelwine, Edgar enjoyed the support of Æthelstan Half-King ( d. after 957 ) and his sons, whose power base was concentrated in Mercia and East Anglia and who would not have liked to lose power and influence to Ælfgifu's kinsmen and associates.

If Hart's suggestion that Ælfgifu was of royal Mercian descent and related to the latter family is correct, it might have been hoped that the marriage would give Eadwig some political advantage in exercising West-Saxon control over Mercia.