In the view of Shashi Jayakumar, "One receives the impression that Æthelweard played his cards right in Edgar's reign, perhaps by treading warily and displaying the same maddening discretion that one finds in his Chronicon.
This identification rests on Ælfgifu's possession of the estate of Risborough, which had belonged to Eadric's mother, Æthelgyth, the wife of ealdorman Æthelfrith of Mercia.
Assuming that the identification of Æthelweard as the brother of Ælfgifu is correct, his mother was the Æthelgifu whose company Eadwig enjoyed along with her daughter whilst escaping his coronation.
[8] Æthelweard wrote his work at the request of his relative Mathilde, abbess of the Essen Abbey and granddaughter of emperor Otto I and Eadgyth of Wessex.
Michael Lapidge defines it as "a style whose most striking feature is the ostentatious parade of unusual, often very arcane and apparently learned vocabulary.
"[13] The twelfth century historian William of Malmesbury, writing at a time when the style had come to be seen as barbarous, wrote about him "... of Elward, a noble and illustrious character, who attempted to arrange these chronicles in Latin, and whose intention I could applaud if his language did not disgust me, it would be better to be silent".