Eadgifu or Edgifu, also known as Edgiva or Ogive was a daughter of Edward the Elder

Edward the Elder

Edward the Elder was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex...

, King of Wessex

Wessex

The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...

 and England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and his second wife Ælfflæd

Ælfflæd, wife of Edward the Elder

Ælfflæd was the second wife of Edward the Elder, king of the English.Ælfflæd was the daughter of an ealdorman Æthelhelm. There were several contemporaries of this name, but some historians, including Pauline Stafford and David H. Kelley, have identified him as Æthelhelm, a son of Edward's uncle,...

. She was born in Wessex

Wessex

The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...

.

Marriage to the French King

She was the second wife of King Charles III of France

Charles the Simple

Charles III , called the Simple or the Straightforward , was the undisputed King of France from 898 until 922 and the King of Lotharingia from 911 until 919/23...

, whom she married in 919 after the death of his first wife, Frederonne

Frederonne

Frederuna was the sister of Beuve II, the Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne, and the first wife of King Charles III of France, whom she married in 907. She bore him only girls....

. Eadgifu was mother to Louis IV of France

Louis IV of France

Louis IV , called d'Outremer or Transmarinus , reigned as King of Western Francia from 936 to 954...

.

Flight to England

In 922 Charles III was deposed and the next year taken prisoner by Count Herbert II of Vermandois, an ally of the then current king. To protect her son's safety Eadgifu took him to England in 923 to the court of her half-brother, Athelstan of England

Athelstan of England

Athelstan , called the Glorious, was the King of England from 924 or 925 to 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder, grandson of Alfred the Great and nephew of Æthelflæd of Mercia...

. Because of this, Louis IV of France

Louis IV of France

Louis IV , called d'Outremer or Transmarinus , reigned as King of Western Francia from 936 to 954...

 became known as Louis d'Outremer of France. He stayed there until 936, when he was called back to France to be crowned King. Eadgifu accompanied him.

She retired to a convent in Laon. Some sources say that in 951, she left the convent and married Herbert III, Count of Vermandois

Herbert III, Count of Vermandois

Herbert III of Vermandois , Count of Vermandois, was the son of Adalbert I of Vermandois and Gerberge of Lorraine.-Family:He married Ermengard of Bar .*Adalbert II of Vermandois *Landulf, Bishop of Noyon...

, but this is likely an error as Herbert was not born until 953.