Elgiva

Elgiva (Ælgifu, Algyva, Ælgytha).Both R.P.S. and an 11th-century calendar of Hyde testify to the cult of Elgiva at Shaftesbury. Most probably she should be identified with the wife of Edmund, king of Wessex (921–46). She was the mother of Kings Edwy and Edgar and died in 944. William of Malmesbury called her the foundress (or the second foundress after Alfred) of the Shaftesbury nunnery, and said that she died there. He praised her for generosity, wise counsel, and the gift of prophecy; he also wrote some verses in honour of her miracles. Later, as in C.S.P., she was called abbess of Wilton. Feast: 18 May.

Bibliography
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• R.P.S.; C.S.P.; G.P., pp. 186–7