Eadgifu of Wessex

Eadgifu of Wessex, also known as Edgiva or Ogive, was the daughter of Edward the Elder, King of Wessex and England, and his second wife Ælfflæd. She became Queen of the West Franks through her marriage to King Charles the Simple and was the mother of King Louis IV of France. Eadgifu was one of three West Saxon sisters married to Continental rulers; her sisters Eadgyth and Eadhild married Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Hugh the Great, respectively.

Following the deposition and imprisonment of her husband Charles III in 923, Eadgifu fled to England with her son Louis for his safety. Louis was raised at the court of his uncle, King Æthelstan of England, earning him the nickname ‘Louis d’Outremer.’ He returned to France in 936 to be crowned King, accompanied by Eadgifu. Later in life, Eadgifu retired to a convent in Laon and was abducted and married by Herbert the Old, Count of Omois, which angered her son. She passed away in Soissons and is last recorded in the year 951.