 Ælfgifu's fame at Shaftesbury seems to have eclipsed that of its first abbess, King Alfred's daughter Æthelgifu, so much so perhaps that William of Malmesbury wrote contradictory reports on the abbey's early history.In the "Gesta regum", he correctly identifies the first abbess as Alfred's daughter, following Asser, although he gives her the name of Ælfgifu ("Elfgiva"), while in his "Gesta pontificum", he credits Edmund's wife Ælfgifu with the foundation.Either William encountered conflicting information, or he meant to say that Ælfgifu refounded the nunnery.