Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: GZ5X-CS6
• Name: Ealdgyth
• Birth: 960, Kingdom of Wessex (England)
• Death: 1017, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Family/Spouse: of Northumbria, Morcar. Morcar was born in 960 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died in 1015 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: M47Y-DXN

Notes:

Aelfgifu was the wife of Aelfgar the Earl of Mercia. They had 4 children:
- Burgheard, died returning from Rome 1060, buried at Reims
- Edwin, Earl of Mercia
- Morcar, Earl of Northumbria
- Ealdgyth, married (1st) Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, King of Wales (2nd) Harold Godwinson, King of England.

Aelfgifu is believed to be the sister of William Malet, Lord of Eye.
Not much is know about the wife of Aelfgar, Earl of Mercia. Most sources do not name her at all, others claim her name was of Aelgifu. Some people try to make her Ælfgifu, the daughter of King Æthelred the Unready, however, this is not possible. Ælfgifu, the daughter of King Æthelred, is well known to have married Uchtred of Bamburgh about 1014. Uchtred died in 1016 and not much is known about Ælfgifu after that, which leads many to presume she remarried to Ælfgar. There are records documenting the remarriage of Uchtred's other wives but there is nothing documenting Ælfgifu's marriage to Aelfgar. As the daughter of King Æthelred she whould have been much more high profile than Uchtred's other wives and yet nothing. Surely if Aelfgar had married the daughter of a king it would be documented and he would have used those familial relations to his advantage. Ælfgifu did have a daughter named Ealdgyth, just like Aelfgar and his wife, however, the father of her daughter is known to be Uchtred. Ealdgyth, Uchtred's daughter was born between 1014 and 1016 and is known to have married Maldred, Lord of Allerdale about 1036, together they had 3 children. The daughter of Aelfgar, born 1026 or much later, would have been too young to have married Maldred in 1036. She is known to have married Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, King of Wales about 1055 and had at least one child. After his death she married Harold Godwinson, King of England in 1066 and had a son. The daughter of Uchtred born no later than 1016 would have been at least 50 years old in 1066 and past child bearing years. The daughter of Uchtred can not possibly be the same woman that was also the daughter (or step-daughter) of Aelfgar. And Ælfgifu the wife of Uchtred was not also the woman who married Aelfgar. Additionally, William Malet, High Sheriff of Yorkshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, is "said to be the brother of Aelgifu, wife of Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia". Malet was certainly not the son of King Æthelred.

In a one on one comparison, it can be seen they are not the same woman:
Ælfgifu: Born: 991 to 1001
Father: King Æthelred
Marriage: Uchtred 1014
Daughter: Ealdgyth, born 1014 to 1016

Aelgifu: Born: ?
Father: ? same father as William Malet
Marriage: Aelfgar about 1023
Daughter: Ealdgyth, born sometime after 1025

Some records such as The Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
report Aelgifu's parents as Morcar Thegn of Derbyshire and his wife Ealdgyth. However, this does not appear to fit with her also being the sister of William Malet. UNLESS they were half-siblings sharing the same mother but not the same father. FMG does not have any records supporting this parent/child relationship. Aelgifu did name 2 of her children Morcar and Ealdgyth, these names are not seen in Aelfgar's family so the children could well be named in honor of Aelgifu's parents. This is just a possibility however with out sources to confirm it.
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLAND,%20AngloSaxon%20nobility.htm#AelfgifuNorthumbriaMAelfgarMercia

Ælfgifu married of Mercia, ÆlfgarEngland. Ælfgar (son of de Mercia, Sir Leofric III and of Mercia, Lady Godiva) was born on 12 Aug 1002 in Kingdom of Mercia, England; was christened in 1002 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England; died in 1062 in Kingdom of Mercia, England; was buried in 1062 in Saint Michael's Cathedral, Coventry, Warwickshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: 9CW5-JNL
• Appointments / Titles: 1054; Queen Consort of England; Queen Consort of Wales

Notes:

05 Aug 1063 in Snowdonia, Wales; After escaping a surprise attack by the forces of Harold Godwinson in 1062, Gruffydd lost his head to Harold's brother in Snowdonia on 5 August 1063.

Jan 1066 in London, England; Ealdgyth married for a 2nd time to Harold Godwinson (King of England). The marriage was likely politically motivated and is believed to have occurred shortly before or after he became king in January 1066.

14 Oct 1066 in Hastings, Sussex, England; Ealdgyth's second husband, King Harold Godwinson, died on 14 October 1066 in the Battle of Hastings against William the Conqueror

14 Oct 1066 in Cheshire, England; At the news of Harold's death, Ealdgyth's brothers went to London to fetch her and immediately sent her to Chester for shelter. It is unknown what happened to her thereafter.

NOT THE SAME AS EDITH SWANNECK: Ealdgyth was the wife of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn and 2nd wife of Harold Godwinson, while Edith Swanneck was the mistress/consort of Harold Godwinson BEFORE his marriage to Ealdgyth

1041 Capture of Wife of Hywel
Some historians hold that Gruffydd had a liaison with the wife of Hywel ab Edwin, taken as part of "the spoils of war" in 1041.
Wolcott states that in 1041 that during a battle with King Hywel ap Edwin of Deheubarth, Gruffudd ap Llewelyn seized Hywel's wife. The 3 principal versions of the Brut differ as to what Gruffudd had in mind when he took the lady.
- Took her for his own, i.e. took her for a mistress;
- Took her as his own wife
- Took her and controlled her. This version might describe his simply taking the lady hostage, a common occurrence in warfare during that era. Since we believe he already had a wife, and knew the lady was a daughter of Earl Leofric we suspect she was taken as a bargaining chip in the event Mercia interfered with his plans to take Deheubarth and, indeed, all of Wales.

Edith or Ealdgyth, was the daughter of Aelfgar, who became Earl of East Anglia in 1053 and Earl of Mercia in 1057, dying shortly after 1062.
Wolcott emphasizes that while many suppose that Aeldgyth was the same lady Gruffudd had taken from Hywel in 1041, the chronology does not fit. The lady widowed in 1063 bore 2 sons to Harold before 1066, but the lady taken from Hywel would have been in her mid or late 40's by then.
First Marriage to Gruffudd
Gruffudd married, first, about 1057, as her first husband, Edith (or Ealdgyth Ealgyth Aldgyth), daughter of Aelfgar (of Elgar), King of Mercia, son of Leofric, son of Leofwine, the earl of Mercia who died before 1032. Her grandmother was Lady Godiva.
Edith married, about 1057, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn.

After his first wife Nest died, probably in childbirth, Gruffudd married Ealdgyth about 1055 . The marriage of Gruffudd and Eadgyth would have been about 1055 when Gruffudd and Aelfgar were known to be allies.
The number of Ealdgyth's children with Gruffydd is also in some dispute. While Nesta is her daughter, there is some uncertainty about the mother of Maredudd and Idwal.
m.1(c. 1050 or 1056/7) Gruffydd ap Llywelyn of Wales (d. 1063).[2] Issue: 1 proven:

(unproven) Maredudd "Meredith" ap Gruffydd (d. 1068 or later; or 1070).
(unproven) Idwal ap Gruffydd (d. 1068 or 1070).
Nesta.
m. Osbern FitzRichard
Per https://www.geni.com/people/Ealdgyth/6000000000115658521, Ealdgyth was butied in Spalding, Lincoln, England

Ealdgyth married ap Llywelyn, Gruffydd in 1054 in Rhuddlan, Flintshire, Wales. Gruffydd (son of ap Seisyll, King Llewelyn and verch Maredudd, Queen Angharad) was born in 1007 in Flynn on-Fair, St. Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales; died on 5 Aug 1063 in Bannockburn, Stirlingshire, Scotland; was buried after 5 Aug 1063 in Abbey-Cwmhir, Radnorshire, Wales. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Princess of Wales
• FSID: G8ZS-9TQ

Family/Spouse: FitzAlan, Fledaldus. Fledaldus (son of Seneschal, Allan and de Lumley, Margaret Filia Rex) was born in 1046 in Dol, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France; died in 1106 in Dol, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]