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Aelfgifu of Northampton

Aelfgifu of Northampton (2 January 996-7 January 1015) was the wife of Canute and the mother of Svein Knutsson and Harold Harefoot.

Biography[]

Aelfgifu of Northampton was the daughter of Aelfhelm, Ealdorman of York, and her father was killed in 1006 on the orders of King Aethelred the Unready. The family later helped Canute during the Danish conquest of England of 1013-1014, and Aelfgifu was married to Canute in a political move. She bore him Svein Knutsson and Harold Harefoot before dying in 1015 at the age of 19.

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