Godgifu of Northumbria

Godgifu - Siward's first wife:

Besides Ælfflæd, Siward is known to have been married to a woman named Godgifu, who died before Siward. The marriage is known from a grant she made of territory around Stamford, Lincolnshire, to Peterborough Abbey.[Aird, William M. (2004), "Siward, earl of Northumbria (d. 1055), magnate", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, retrieved 2009-06-28] Although no surviving children are attested, and no source states the name of Osbjorn's mother, this marriage has nonetheless raised the possibility that Waltheof and Osbjorn were born to different mothers, and William Kapelle suggested that Siward may have originally intended Osbjorn to inherit his southern territories while Waltheof inherited those territories in the north associated with the family of his mother Ælfflæd.[Aird, William M. (2004), "Siward, earl of Northumbria (d. 1055), magnate", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, retrieved 2009-06-28] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siward,_Earl_of_Northumbria#cite_note-119

Quite likely to have been the mother of Osbjorn'

• If the story of Osbjorn's death as a boy at the hand of Macbeth in 1054 is true, then Osbjorn is born c 1039
• For Aelflaed to be his mother, she must be married to Siward in c1038 at 18 - which puts her birth date at c 1020.
• This makes Aeflaed’s father’s age at her birth, only about 14yrs - given the likely date for his parents’ divorce as c 1007.

All possible; especially as based on so many estimated dates – but close enough to make a good case for Osbjorn’s being a child of Siward’s first marriage, to Godgifu.

Please see Discussion.