of Mercia, Queen Eathswith
![Female](img/tng_female.gif)
1. of Mercia, Queen Eathswith was born in 852 in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England; died on 5 Dec 902 in St Mary's Abbey, Winchester, Hampshire, England; was buried in 1110 in Hyde Abbey (now lost), Winchester, Hampshire, England.
Other Events and Attributes:
- House: Gaini tribe of Mercia
- FSID: L83F-5Z6
- Religion: Catholic - Saint Elswith
- Appointments / Titles: Between 23 Apr 871 and 26 Oct 899, Kingdom of Wessex (England); Queen Consort of Wessex
Notes:
Ealhswith
Queen consort of Wessex
Reign 23 April 871 – 26 October 899
Died 902
Burial New Minster, Winchester
Spouse Alfred, King of Wessex
Issue
Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians
Edward, King of England
Æthelgifu
Æthelweard of Wessex
Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders
Father Æthelred Mucel
Mother Eadburh
Ealhswith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ealhswith or Ealswitha (died 5 December 902) was the wife of King Alfred the Great. Her father was a Mercian nobleman, Æthelred Mucel, Ealdorman of the Gaini, which is thought to be an old Mercian tribal group. Her mother was Eadburh, a member of the Mercian royal family, and according to the historian Cyril Hart she was a descendant of King Coenwulf of Mercia.[1]
Life
She was married to Alfred in 868. His elder brother Æthelred was then king, and Alfred was regarded as heir apparent.[2][3] The Danes occupied the Mercian town of Nottingham in that year, and the marriage was probably connected with an alliance between Wessex and Mercia.[4] Alfred became king on his brother's death in 871. Ealhswith is very obscure in contemporary sources. She did not witness any known charters, and Asser did not even mention her name in his life of King Alfred. In accordance with ninth century West Saxon custom, she was not given the title of queen. According to King Alfred, this was because of the infamous conduct of a former queen of Wessex called Eadburh, who had accidentally poisoned her husband.[5]
Alfred left his wife three important symbolic estates in his will, Edington in Wiltshire, the site of one important victory over the Vikings, Lambourn in Berkshire, which was near another, and Wantage, his birthplace. These were all part of his bookland, and they stayed in royal possession after her death.[3] It was probably after Alfred's death in 899 that Ealhswith founded the convent of St Mary's Abbey, Winchester, known as the Nunnaminster. She died on 5 December 902, and was buried in her son Edward's new Benedictine abbey, the New Minster, Winchester. She is commemorated in two early tenth century manuscripts as "the true and dear lady of the English".[3]
Ealhswith had a brother called Æthelwulf,[3] who was ealdorman of western and possibly central Mercia under his niece's husband, Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, in the 890s.[6] He died in 901.[7]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ealhswith.
Children
Alfred and Ealhswith had five children who survived to adulthood.[3]
Æthelflæd (d. 918), Lady of the Mercians, married Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians
Edward the Elder (d. 924), King of the Anglo-Saxons
Æthelgifu, made abbess of her foundation at Shaftesbury by her father
Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders (d. 929), married Baldwin II, Count of Flanders
Æthelweard (d. c.920)
References
1. Keynes & Lapidge, Asser, pp. 77; 240-41; Hart, Æthelstan, p. 116 n.
2. Keynes & Lapidge, Asser, p. 77
3. Costambeys, Ealhswith
4. Williams, Ealhswith
5. Keynes & Lapidge Asser, pp. 71-72, 235-236
6. Hart, Æthelstan, p. 116
7. PASE, Æthelwulf 21 (http://pase.ac.uk/jsp/pdb?dosp=PAGE_CHANGE&N=1)
Sources
Costambeys, Marios (2004). "Ealhswith (d. 902), consort of Alfred, king of the West Saxons". Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/39226. Retrieved
25 October 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
Hart, Cyril (1973). "Athelstan 'Half King' and his family". Anglo-Saxon England. Cambridge University
Press. 2: 115–144. ISBN 0 521 20218 3. doi:10.1017/s0263675100000375.
Keynes, Simon; Lapidge, Michael, eds. (1983). Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred & Other
Contemporary Sources. Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0-14-04440-94.
Williams, Ann (1991). "Ealhswith wife of King Alfred d. 902". In Ann Williams, Alfred P. Smyth and D.
P. Kirby eds. A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain. Seaby. ISBN 1 85264 0472.
External links
Ealhswith 1 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Ealhswith at Find a Grave
St. Mary's Abbey
Preceded by
Wulfthryth?
Consort of the King of Wessex
871–899
Succeeded by
Ecgwynn or Ælfflæd
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ealhswith&oldid=784388793"
Categories: 9th-century English people 10th-century English people 9th-century women
10th-century women Anglo-Saxon royal consorts English Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns
902 deaths Alfred the Great House of Wessex
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In accordance with ninth century West Saxon custom, she was not given the title of queen, and did not witness any known charters.
Buried:
Originally buried next to her husband and children at New Minster in 905, the whole family was moved to Hyde Abbey in 1110, where they were interred before the high altar.Eathswith married of Wessex, King Alfred in 868 in Kingdom of Wessex (England). Alfred (son of of Wessex, King Æthelwulf and of Wessex, Queen Consort Osburh) was born in 849 in Wantage, Berkshire, England; died on 26 Oct 899 in Winchester Castle, Winchester, Hampshire, England; was buried in 1100 in Hyde Abbey (now lost), Winchester, Hampshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- 2. of Wessex, King Edward
was born in 874 in Wantage, Oxfordshire, England; was christened on 31 May 900 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died on 17 Jul 924 in Farndon, Cheshire, England; was buried after 17 Jul 924 in New Minster, Winchester, Hampshire, England.
- 3. of Flanders, Princess Ælfthryth
was born in 877 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died on 7 Jun 929 in Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium; was buried on 7 Jun 929 in St Peter's Abbey, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.
Generation: 2
2. of Wessex, King Edward
(1.Eathswith1) was born in 874 in Wantage, Oxfordshire, England; was christened on 31 May 900 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died on 17 Jul 924 in Farndon, Cheshire, England; was buried after 17 Jul 924 in New Minster, Winchester, Hampshire, England.
Other Events and Attributes:
- Appointments / Titles: King of the Anglo-Saxons
- House: House of Wessex
- Nickname: The Elder
- FSID: LCDM-N61
- Appointments / Titles: Between 26 Oct 899 and 17 Jul 924; King of Anglo-Saxons
Notes:
Edward the Elder
King of the Anglo-Saxons
Reign 26 October 899 – 17 July 924
Coronation 8 June 900 Kingston upon Thames or Winchester
Predecessor Alfred the Great
Successor Æthelstan
Born c. 874
Died 17 July 924 Farndon, Cheshire, England
Burial New Minster, Winchester, later translated to Hyde Abbey
Spouse
Ecgwynn
Ælfflæd
Eadgifu
Issue
Æthelstan, King of England
Daughter, wife of Sitric Cáech
Eadgifu
Ælfweard, King of Wessex?
Eadgyth
Eadhild
Ælfgifu of Wessex
Eadflæd of Wessex
Eadhild of Wessex
Edwin of Wessex
Edmund, King of England
Eadred, King of England
Saint Eadburh of Winchester
House Wessex
Father Alfred, King of Wessex
Mother Ealhswith
Religion Catholicism (pre-reformation)
Edward the Elder
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edward the Elder (Old English: Eadweard cyning; c. 874 – 17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-
Saxons from 899 until his death. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great.
He captured the eastern Midlands and East Anglia from the Danes in 917 and became ruler of Mercia
in 918 upon the death of Æthelflæd, his sister.
All but two of his charters give his title as "Anglorum Saxonum rex" ("king of the Anglo-Saxons"), a
title first used by his father, Alfred.[1] According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle the Kings of Scotland
and Strathclyde and the rulers of Northumbria "chose [Edward] as father and lord" in 920, a claim
dismissed by most modern historians.[2] Edward's cognomen "the Elder" was first used in Wulfstan's
Life of St Æthelwold (c. 996) to distinguish him from the later King Edward the Martyr.
Contents
1 Background
2 Childhood
3 Ætheling
4 Æthelwold's revolt
5 King of the Anglo-Saxons
6 Conquest of the southern Danelaw
7 Coinage
8 Church
9 Learning
10 Law and administration
11 Later life
12 Reputation
13 Marriages and children
14 Genealogy
15 Notes
16 Citations
17 Bibliography
18 Further reading
19 External links
Background
Mercia was the dominant kingdom in southern England in the eighth century and maintained its
position until it suffered a decisive defeat by Wessex at the Battle of Ellandun in 825. Thereafter the
two kingdoms became allies, which was to be an important factor in English resistance to the
Vikings.[3] In 865 the Danish Viking Great Heathen Army landed in East Anglia and used this as a
starting point for an invasion. The East Anglians were forced to buy peace and the following year the
Vikings invaded Northumbria, where they appointed a puppet king in 867. They then moved on
Mercia, where they spent the winter of 867–868. King Burgred of Mercia was joined by King Æthelred
of Wessex and his brother, the future King Alfred, for a combined attack on the Vikings, who refused
an engagement; in the end the Mercians bought peace with them. The following year, the Danes
conquered East Anglia, and in 874 they expelled King Burgred and Ceolwulf became the last King of
Mercia with their support. In 877 the Vikings partitioned Mercia, taking the eastern regions for
themselves and allowing Ceolwulf to keep the western ones. The situation was transformed the
following year when Alfred won a decisive victory over the Danes at the Battle of Edington. He was
thus able to prevent the Vikings from taking Wessex and western Mercia, although they still occupied
Northumbria, East Anglia and eastern Mercia.[4]
Childhood
Alfred the Great married his Mercian queen Ealhswith in 868. Her father was Æthelred Mucel,
Ealdorman of the Gaini, and her mother, Eadburh, was a member of the Mercian royal family. Alfred and Ealhswith had five children who survived
childhood. Their first child was Æthelflæd, who married Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians and ruled as Lady of the Mercians after his death. Edward was
next, and the second daughter, Æthelgifu, became abbess of Shaftesbury. The third daughter, Ælfthryth, married Baldwin, Count of Flanders, and the
youngest child, Æthelweard, was given a scholarly education, including learning Latin. This would usually suggest that he was intended for the church,
but it is unlikely in Æthelweard's case as he had sons. There were also an unknown number of children who died young. Neither part of Edward's name,
which means 'protector of wealth', had been used previously by the West Saxon royal house, and Barbara Yorke suggests that he may have been named
after his maternal grandmother Eadburh, reflecting the West Saxon policy of strengthening links with Mercia.[5]
Æthelflæd was probably born about a year after her parents' marriage, and Edward was brought up with his youngest sister, Ælfthryth. Yorke argues that
he was therefore probably nearer in age to Ælfthryth than Æthelflæd. However, he led troops in battle in 893, and he must have been of marriagable age
in that year as his oldest son Æthelstan was born about 894, so Edward was probably born in the mid-870s.[6] According to Asser in his Life of King
Alfred, Edward and Ælfthryth were educated at court by male and female tutors, and read ecclesiastical and secular works in English, such as the Psalms
See list
A page from the will of Alfred the
Great, which left the bulk of his estate
to Edward
Coin of Edward the Elder
and Old English poems. They were taught the courtly qualities of gentleness and humility, and Asser wrote that
they were obedient to their father and friendly to visitors. This is the only known case of an Anglo-Saxon prince
and princess receiving the same upbringing.[7]
Ætheling
As a son of a king, Edward was an ætheling, a prince of the royal house who was eligible for kingship. However,
even though he had the advantage of being the eldest son of the reigning king, his accession was not assured, as
he had cousins who had a strong claim to the throne. Æthelhelm and Æthelwold were sons of Æthelred, Alfred's
older brother and predecessor as king. More is known about Edward's childhood than about that of other Anglo-
Saxon princes, providing information about the training of a prince in a period of Carolingian influence, and
Yorke suggest that this may have been due to Alfred's efforts to portray his son as the most throneworthy
ætheling.[8]
Æthelhelm is only recorded in Alfred's will of the mid-880s, and probably died at some time in the next decade,
but Æthelwold is listed above Edward in the only charter where he appears, probably indicating a higher status.
Æthelwold may also have had an advantage because his mother Wulfthryth witnessed a charter as queen, whereas
Edward's mother Ealhswith never had a higher status than king's wife. However, Alfred was in a position to give
his own son considerable advantages. In his will, only left a handful of estates to his brother's sons, and the bulk
of his property to Edward, including all his booklands in Kent. In a Kentish charter of 898 Edward witnessed as
rex Saxonum, suggesting that Alfred may have followed the strategy adopted by his grandfather Egbert of
strengthening his son's claim to succeed to the West Saxon throne by declaring him King of Kent.[9] Alfred also
advanced men who could be depended on to support his plans for his succession, such as his brother-in-law, a
Mercian ealdorman called Æthelwulf, his son-in-law Æthelred, and a relative called Osferth, who may have been
Alfred's illegitimate son. Once Edward grew up Alfred was able to give him military commands and experience
of royal business. Edward frequently witnessed Alfred's charters, suggesting that he often accompanied his father
on royal peregrinations.[10]
In 893 Edward defeated the Vikings in the Battle of Farnham, although he was unable to follow up his victory as his troops period of service and expired
and he had to release them. The situation was saved by the arrival of troops from London led by his brother-in-law, Æthelred. The English defeated
renewed Viking attacks in 893 to 896, and in Richard Abels' view, the glory belonged to Æthelred and Edward.[11] Yorke argues that although Alfred
packed the witan with members whose interests lay in the continuation of Alfred's line, that may not have been sufficient to ensure Edward's accession, if
he had not displayed his fitness for kingship.[12] However, Janet Nelson suggests that there was conflict between Alfred and Edward in the 890s. She
points out that the contemporary Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, produced under court auspices in the 890s, does not mention Edward's military successes.
These are only known from the late tenth century chronicle of Æthelweard, such as his account of the Battle of Farnham, in which in Nelson's view
"Edward's military prowess, and popularity with a following of young warriors, are highlighted". Towards the end of his life Alfred invested his young
grandson Æthelstan in a ceremony which historians see as designation as eventual successor to the kingship. Nelson argues that while this may have been
proposed by Edward to support the accession of his own son, on the other hand it may have been intended by Alfred as part of a scheme to divide the
kingdom between his son and grandson. Æthelstan was sent to be brought up in Mercia Æthelflæd and Æthelred, but it is not known whether this was
Alfred's idea or Edward's. Alfred's wife Ealhswith is ignored in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in her husband's lifetime, but emerges from obscurity when
her son accedes. This may be because she supported her son against her husband.[13]
In about 893 Edward had married Ecgwynn, who bore him two children, the future King Æthelstan and a daughter who married Sitric, a Viking King of
York. An opponent of Æthelstan claimed that his mother was a concubine of low birth, but the earliest life of the nobly born Saint Dunstan suggests that
he was a relative of hers, and William of Malmesbury described her as an illustris femina. She may have died by 899, as around the time of Alfred's death
Edward took Ælfflæd as his second wife. She was the daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire.[14]
Æthelwold's revolt
Alfred died on 26 October 899 and Edward succeeded to the throne, but Æthelwold immediately disputed the
succession.[15] He seized the royal estates of Wimborne, symbolically important as the place where his father
was buried, and Christchurch. Edward marched with his army to the nearby Iron Age hillfort at Badbury
Rings. Æthelwold declared that he would live or die at Wimborne, but then left in the night and rode to
Northumbria, where the Danes accepted him as king.[16] Edward was crowned on 8 June 900 at Kingston upon
Thames or Winchester.[a]
In 901, Æthelwold came with a fleet to Essex, and the following year he persuaded the East Anglian Danes to
invade and harry English Mercia and northern Wessex. Edward retaliated by ravaging East Anglia, but when
he retreated the men of Kent disobeyed the order to retire, and were intercepted by the Danish army. The two sides met at the Battle of the Holme
(perhaps Holme in Huntingdonshire) on 13 December 902. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Danes "kept the place of slaughter", meaning
that they won the battle, but they suffered heavy losses, including Æthelwold and a King Eohric, possibly of the East Anglian Danes. Kentish losses
included Sigehelm, ealdorman of Kent and father of Edward's third wife, Eadgifu. Æthelwold's death ended the threat to Edward's throne.[18]
King of the Anglo-Saxons
In London in 886 Alfred had received the formal submission of "all the English people that were not under subjection to the Danes", and thereafter he
adopted the title "King of the Anglo-Saxons". This is seen by Simon Keynes as "the invention of a wholly new and distinctive polity", covering both
West Saxons and Mercians, which was inherited by Edward with the support of Mercians at the West Saxon court, of whom the most important was
Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury. In 903 Edward issued three charters at a meeting attended by the Mercian leaders and their daughter Ælfwynn.
The charters all contain a statement that Æthelred and Æthelflæd "then held rulership and power over the race of the Mercians, under the aforesaid
king".[19] This view of Edward's status is accepted by Martin Ryan, who states that Æthelred and Æthelflæd had "a considerable but ultimately
subordinate share of royal authority" in English Mercia.[20] Other historians disagree. Pauline Stafford describes Æthelflæd as "the last Mercian
queen",[21] while in Charles Insley's view Mercia kept its independence until Æthelflæd's death in 918.[22] Michael Davidson contrasts the 903 charters
with one of 901 in which the Mercian rulers were "by grace of God, holding, governing and defending the monarchy of the Mercians". Davidson
comments that "the evidence for Mercian subordination is decidedly mixed. Ultimately, the ideology of the 'Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons' may have
been less successful in achieving the absorption of Mercia and more something which I would see as a murky political coup."[23] The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle was compiled at the West Saxon court from the 890s, and the entries for the late ninth and early tenth centuries are seen by historians as
reflecting the West Saxon viewpoint; Davidson observes that "Alfred and Edward possessed skilled 'spin doctors'".[24] However, some versions of the
Chronicle incorporate part of a lost Mercian Register, which gives a Mercian perspective and details of Æthelfæd's campaign against the Vikings.[20]
The standard of Anglo-Saxon learning declined severely in the ninth century, particularly in Wessex, and Mercian scholars such as Plegmund played a
prominent part in the revival of learning initiated by Alfred. Mercians were prominent at the courts of Alfred and Edward, and the Mercian dialect and
scholarship commanded West Saxon respect.[25] The only large scale embroideries which were certainly made in Anglo-Saxon England date to Edward's
reign. They are a stole, a maniple and a possible girdle found in the tomb of St Cuthbert. They were donated by Æthelstan in 934, but inscriptions on the
embroideries show that they were commissioned by Edward's second wife, Ælflæd, as a gift to Frithestan, Bishop of Winchester. They probably did not
reach their intended destination because Æthelstan was on bad terms with Winchester.[26]
In the late ninth and early tenth centuries connection with the West Saxon royal house was seen as prestigious by continental rulers. In the mid-890s
Alfred had married his daughter Ælfthryth to Baldwin II of Flanders, and in 919 Edward married his daughter Eadgifu to Charles the Simple, King of
West Francia. In 925, after Edward's death, another daughter Eadgyth married Otto, the future King of Germany and (after Eadgyth's death) Holy Roman
Emperor.[27]
Conquest of the southern Danelaw
No battles are recorded between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danish Vikings for several years after the Battle of the Holme, but in 906 Edward agreed
peace with the East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes, suggesting that there had been conflict. According to one version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle he
made peace "of necessity", suggesting he was forced to buy them off.[15] He encouraged Englishmen to purchase land in Danish territory, and two
charters survive relating to estates in Bedfordshire and Derbyshire.[28] In 909, Edward sent an army to harass Northumbria. In the following year, the
Northumbrian Vikings retaliated by raiding Mercia, but on their way home they were met by a combined Mercian and West Saxon army at the Battle of
Tettenhall, where the Northumbrians suffered a disastrous defeat. From that point, they never ventured south of the River Humber, and Edward and his
Mercian allies were able to concentrate on conquering the southern Danelaw in East Anglia and the Five Boroughs of Viking east Mercia: Derby,
Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and Stamford.[15] In 911 Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, died, and Edward took control of the Mercian lands around
London and Oxford. Æthelred was succeeded as ruler by his widow Æthelflæd as Lady of the Mercians, and she had probably been acting as ruler for
several years as Æthelred seems to have been incapacitated in later life.[29]
Edward and Æthelflæd then began the construction of fortresses to guard against Viking attacks and protect territory captured from them. In November
911 he constructed a fort on the north bank of the River Lea at Hertford to guard against attack by the Danes of Bedford and Cambridge. In 912 he
marched with his army to Maldon in Essex, and ordered the building of an earth fortification, and this together with another fort south of the Lea at
Hertford protected London from attack, and encouraged many English living under Danish rule in Essex to submit to him instead. In 913 there was a
pause in his activities, although Æthelflæd continued her fortress building in Mercia. In 914 a Viking army sailed from Brittany and ravaged the Severn
estuary. It was defeated by a Mercian army, and Edward kept an army on the south side of the estuary which twice repelled attempts to invade Wessex. In
the autumn the Vikings moved on to Ireland. In November 914 Edward built two forts at Buckingham, and many Danes at Bedford and Northampton
submitted to him, while others left England with Earl Thurketil, reducing the number of Viking armies in the midlands. In 916 Edward built a fortress at
Maldon as another defence against the Danes of Colchester.[30]
The decisive year in the war was 917. In April Edward built a fort at Towcester as a defence against the Danes of Northampton, and another at an
unidentified place called Wigingamere. The Danes launched unsuccessful attacks on Towcester, Bedford and Wigingamere, while Æthelflæd captured
Derby, showing the value of the English defensive measures, which was aided by disunity and a lack of coordination among the Viking armies. The
Danes had built their own fortress at Tempsford, but at the end of the summer the English stormed it and killed the last Danish king of East Anglia. The
English then took Colchester, although they did not try to hold it. The Danes retaliated by sending a large army to lay siege to Maldon, but the garrison
held out until it was relieved and the retreating army was heavily defeated. Edward then returned to Towcester and reinforced its fort with a stone wall,
and the Danes of nearby Northampton submitted to him. The armies of Cambridge and East Anglia also submitted, and by the end of the year the only
Danish armies still holding out were those of four of the Five Boroughs, Leicester, Stamford, Nottingham, and Lincoln.[31]
In early 918, Æthelflæd secured the submission of Leicester without a fight, and the Danes of Northumbrian York offered her their allegiance, probably
for protection against Norse (Norwegian) Vikings who had invaded Northumbria from Ireland, but she died on 12 June before she could take up the
proposal. The same offer is not known to have been made to Edward, and the Norse Vikings took York in 919. Æthelflæd was succeeded by her daughter
Ælfwynn, but the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in December 918 she "was deprived of all authority in Mercia and taken into Wessex". Mercia then
came under Edward's direct rule. Stamford had surrendered to Edward before Æthelflæd's death, and Nottingham did the same shortly afterwards.
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 918, "all the people who had settled in Mercia, both Danish and English, submitted to him". This would
mean that he ruled all England south of the Humber, but it is not clear whether Lincoln was an exception, as coins of Viking York in the early 920s were
probably minted at Lincoln.[32] Some Danish jarls were allowed to keep their estates, although Edward probably also rewarded his supporters with land,
and some he kept in his own hands. Coin evidence suggests that his authority was stronger in the East Midlands than in East Anglia.[33]
Coinage
The principal currency was the silver penny, some of which had a stylised portrait of the king. Royal coins had "EADVVEARD REX" on the obverse
and the name of the moneyer of the reverse. The place of issue is not shown, but in Æthelstan's reign the location was shown, allowing the location of
many moneyers of Edward's reign to be established. There were mints in Bath, Canterbury, Chester, Chichester, Derby, Exeter, Hereford, London,
Oxford, Shaftesbury, Shrewsbury, Southampton, Stafford, Wallingford, Wareham, Winchester and probably other towns. No coins were struck in the
name of Æthelred or Æthelflæd, but from around 910 mints in English Mercia produced coins with an unusual decorative design on the reverse. This
ceased before 920, and probably represents Æthelflæd's way of distinguishing her coinage from that of her brother. There was also a minor issue of coins
in the name of Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury. There was a dramatic increase in the number of moneyers over Edward's reign, with less than 25 in
the south in the first ten years rising to 67 in the last ten years, around 5 in English Mercia rising to 23, plus 27 in the re-conquered Danelaw.[34]
Church
In 908, Plegmund conveyed the alms of the English king and people to the Pope, the first visit to Rome by an Archbishop of Canterbury for almost a
century, and the journey may have been to seek papal approval for a proposed re-organisation of the West Saxon sees.[35] When Edward came to the
throne Wessex had two dioceses, Winchester, held by Denewulf, and Sherborne, held by Asser.[36] In 908 Denewulf died and was replaced the following
year by Frithestan; soon afterwards Winchester was divided into two sees, with the creation of the diocese of Ramsbury covering Wiltshire and
Berkshire, while Winchester was left with Hampshire and Surrrey. Forged charters date the division to 909, but this may not be correct. Asser died in the
same year, and at some date between 909 and 918 Sherborne was divided into three sees, with Crediton covering Devon and Cornwall, and Wells
covering Somerset, while Sherborne was left with Dorset.[37] The effect of the changes were to strengthen the status of Canterbury compared with
Winchester and Sherborne, but the division may have been related to a change in the function of West Saxon bishops, to become agents of royal
government in shires rather than provinces, assisting in defence and taking part in shire courts.[38]
At the beginning of Edward's reign his mother, Ealhswith, founded the abbey of St Mary for nuns, known as the Nunnaminster, in Winchester.[39]
Edward's daughter Eadburh became a nun there, and she was venerated as a saint and the subject of a hagiography by Osbert of Clare in the twelfth
century.[40] In 901 Edward started building a major monastery for men, probably in accordance of his father's wishes. The monastery was next to
Winchester Cathedral, which became known as the Old Minster, while Edward's foundation was called the New Minster. It was much larger than the Old
Minster, and was probably intended as a royal mausoleum.[41] It acquired relics of the Breton Saint Judoc, which probably arrived in England from
Ponthieu in 901, and the body of one of Alfred's closest advisers, Grimbald, who died in the same year and who was soon venerated as a saint. Edward's
mother died in 902, and he buried her and Alfred there, moving his father's body from the Old Minster. Burials in the early 920s included Edward
himself, his brother Æthelweard, and his son Ælfweard. However, when Æthelstan became king in 924, he did not show any favour to his father's
foundation, probably because Winchester sided against him when the throne was disputed after Edward's death. The only later royal burial at the New
Minster was that of King Eadwig in 959.[42]
Edward's decision not to expand the Old Minster, but rather to overshadow it with a much larger building, suggests animosity towards Bishop Denewulf,
and this was compounded by forcing the Old Minster to cede both land for the new site, and an estate of 70 hides at Beddington to provide an income for
the New Minster. Edward was remembered by the New Minster as a benefactor, and at the Old Minster as rex avidus (greedy king).[43] Alan Thacker
comments:
Edward's method of endowing New Minster was of a piece with his ecclesiastical policy in general. Like his father he gave little to the church —
indeed, judging by the dearth of charters for much of his reign he seems to have given away little at all...More than any other, Edward's kingship
seems to epitomise the new hard-nosed monarchy of Wessex, determined to exploit all its resources, lay and ecclesiastical, for its own benefit.[44]
Patrick Wormald observes: "The thought occurs that neither Alfred nor Edward was greatly beloved at Winchester Cathedral; and one reason for
Edward's moving his father's body into the new family shrine next door was that he was surer of sincere prayers there."[45]
Learning
English scholarship almost collapsed during the ninth century, and Alfred was responsible for its revival during his last decade. It is uncertain how far his
programmes continued during his son's reign. English translations of works in Latin made during Alfred's reign continued to be copied, but few original
works are known. The Anglo-Saxon script known as Anglo-Saxon Square miniscule reached maturity in the 930s, and its earliest phases date to Edward's
reign. The main scholarly and scriptorial centres were the cathedral centres of Canterbury, Winchester and Worcester; monasteries did not make a
significant contribution until Æthelstan's reign.[46]
Law and administration
The only surviving original charter from Edward's reign is a grant by Æthelred and Æthelflæd in 901, and is not a charter of Edward himself.[47] In the
same year a meeting at Southampton was attended by his brother and sons, his household thegns and nearly all bishops, but no ealdormen. It was on this
occasion that the king acquired land from the Bishop of Winchester for the foundation of the New Minster, Winchester. No charters survive for the period
from 910 to the king's death in 924, much to the puzzlement and distress of historians. Charters were usually issued when the king made grants of land,
and it is possible that Edward followed a policy of retaining property which came into his hands in order to help finance his campaigns against the
Vikings.[48]
Clause 3 of the law code called I Edward provides that people convincingly charged with perjury shall not be allowed to clear themselves by oath, but
only by ordeal. This is the start of the continuous history in England of trial by ordeal; it is probably mentioned in the laws of King Ine (688 to 726), but
not in later codes such as those of Alfred.[49] The administrative and legal system in Edward's reign may have depended extensively on written records,
almost none of which survive.[50] Edward was one of the few Anglo-Saxon kings to issue laws about bookland (landed vested in a charter which could be
alienated by the holder, as opposed to folkland, which had to pass to heirs of the body). There was increasing confusion in the period as to what was
really bookland, and Edward urged prompt settlement in bookland/folkland disputes, and laid down that jurisdiction belonged to the king and his
offices.[51]
Later life
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, there was a general submission of rulers in Britain to Edward in 920:
Then [Edward] went from there into the Peak District to Bakewell and ordered a borough to be built in the neighbourhood and manned. And then
the king of the Scots and all the people of the Scots, and Rægnald and the sons of Eadwulf and all who live in Northumbria, both English and
Silver brooch imitating a coin
of Edward the Elder, c. 920,
found in Rome, Italy. British
Museum.
Danish, Norsemen and others, and also the king of the Strathclyde Welsh and all the Strathclyde Welsh, chose him
as father and lord.[52]
This passage was regarded as a straightforward report by most historians until the late twentieth century,[53] and Frank
Stenton observed that "each of the rulers named in this list had something definite to gain from an acknowledgement of
Edward's overlordship".[54] Since the 1980s the 'submission' has been viewed with increasing scepticism, particularly as
the passage in the Chronicle is the only evidence for it, unlike other submissions such as that of 927, for which there is
independent support from literary sources and coins.[55] Alfred Smyth points out that Edward was not in a position to
impose the same conditions on the Scots and the Northumbrians as he could on conquered Vikings, and argued that the
Chronicle presented a treaty between kings as a submission to Wessex.[56] Pauline Stafford observes that the rulers had
met at Bakewell on the border between Mercia and Northumbria, and that meetings on borders were generally
considered to avoid any implication of submission by either side.[57] Davidson points out that the wording "chosen as
father and lord" applied to conquered army groups and burhs, not relations with other kings. In his view:
The idea that this meeting represented a 'submission', while it must remain a possiblity, does however seem
unlikely. The textual context of the chronicler's passage makes his interpretation of the meeting suspect, and ultimately, Edward was in no position
to force the subordination of, or dictate terms to, his fellow kings in Britain.[58]
Edward continued Æthelflæd's policy of founding burhs in the north-west, with ones at Thelwall and Manchester in 919, and Cledematha (Rhuddlan) at
the mouth of the River Clwyd in North Wales in 921.[59]
No charters of Edward dated after 909 have survived, and nothing is known of his relations with the Mercians between 919 and the last year of his life,
when he put down a Mercian and Welsh revolt at Chester. Mercia and the eastern Danelaw were organised into shires at an unknown date in the tenth
century, ignoring traditional boundaries, and historians such as Sean Miller and David Griffiths suggest that Edward's imposition of direct control from
919 is a likely context for a change which ignored Mercian sensibilities. Resentment at the changes, at the imposition of rule by distant Wessex, and at
fiscal demands by Edward's reeves, may have provoked the revolt at Chester. He died at the royal estate of Farndon, twelve miles south of Chester, on 24
July 924, shortly after putting down the revolt, and was buried in the New Minster, Winchester.[60]
Reputation
Post-conquest chroniclers had a high opinion of Edward. John of Worcester described him as "the most invincible King Edward the Elder", who was
generally seen as "inferior to Alfred in book learning", but "equal to him in dignity and power, and superior to him in glory".[61]
Edward is also highly regarded by historians, and he is described by Keynes as "far more than the bellicose bit between Alfred and Æthelstan".[1]
According to Nick Higham: "Edward the Elder is perhaps the most neglected of English kings. He ruled an expanding realm for twenty-five years and
arguably did as much as any other individual to construct a single, south-centred, Anglo-Saxon kingdom, yet posthumously his achievements have been
all but forgotten." In 1999 a conference on his reign was held at the University of Manchester, and the papers given on this occasion were published as a
book in 2001. Prior to this conference, no monographs had been published on Edward's reign, whereas his father has been the subject of numerous
biographies and other studies. A principal reason for the neglect is that very few primary sources for his reign survive, whereas there are many for Alfred.
Edward has also suffered in historians' estimation by comparison with his highly regarded sister, Æthelflæd.[62]
In the view of F. T. Wainwright: "Without detracting from the achievements of Alfred, it is well to remember that it was Edward who reconquered the
Danish Midlands and gave England nearly a century of respite from serious Danish attacks."[63] Higham summarises Edward's legacy as follows:
Under Edward's leadership, the scale of alternative centres of power diminished markedly: the separate court of Mercia was dissolved; the Danish
leaders were in large part brought to heel or expelled; the Welsh princes were constrained from aggression of the borders and even the West Saxon
bishoprics divided. Late Anglo-Saxon England is often described as the most centralised polity in western Europe at the time, with its shires, its
shire-reeves and its systems of regional courts and royal taxation. If so — and the matter remains debatable — much of that centrality derives from
Edward's activities, and he has as good a claim as any other to be considered the architect of medieval England.[64]
Edward's cognomen the Elder was first used in Wulfstan's Life of St Æthelwold at the end of the tenth century, to distinguish him from King Edward the
Martyr.[15]
Marriages and children
Edward had about fourteen children from three marriages.[b]
He first married Ecgwynn around 893.[73] Their children were:
Æthelstan, King of England 924-939[15]
A daughter, perhaps called Edith, married Sihtric Cáech, Viking King of York in 926, who died in 927. Possibly Saint Edith of Polesworth[70]
In c. 900, Edward married Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire.[74] Their children were:
Ælfweard, died August 924, a month after his father; possibly King of Wessex for that month[75]
Edwin, drowned at sea 933[76]
Æthelhild, lay sister at Wilton Abbey[77]
Eadgifu (died in or after 951), married Charles the Simple, King of the West Franks, c. 918[78]
Eadflæd, nun at Wilton Abbey[77]
Eadhild, married Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks in 926[79]
Eadgyth (died 946), in 929/30 married Otto I, future King of the East Franks, and (after Eadgyth's death) Holy Roman Emperor[80]
Ælfgifu, married "a prince near the Alps", perhaps Louis, brother of King Rudolph II of Burgundy[81]
Edward married for a third time, about 919, Eadgifu, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent.[82] Their children were
Edmund, King of England 939-946[65]
Eadred, King of England 946-955[65]
Eadburh (died c. 952), Benedictine nun at Nunnaminster, Winchester, and saint[83]
Eadgifu, existence uncertain, possibly the same person as Ælfgifu[84]
Genealogy
Ancestors of Edward the Elder
16. Ealhmund of Kent
8. Egbert of Wessex
4. Æthelwulf of Wessex
2. Alfred the Great
10. Oslac
5. Osburga
1. Edward the Elder
6. Æthelred Mucel
3. Ealhswith
7. Eadburh
Notes
a. The twelfth-century chroniclerR alph of Diceto stated that the coronation took place at Kingston, and this is accepted bSyi mon Keynes, but Sarah Foot thinks that
Winchester is more likely.[17]
b. The order in which Edward's children are listed is based on the family tree in FootÆ's thelstan: the First King of England, which shows sons of each wife before
daughters. The daughters are listed in their birth order according to William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum.[65] The earliest primary sources do not
distinguish whether Sihtric's wife was Æthelstan's full or half sist,e rand a tradition recorded at Bury in the early twelfth century makes her a daughter of Edward's
second wife, Ælfflæd.[66] However, she is described as the daughter of Edward and Ecgwynn in William of Malmesbury's twelfth century Deeds of the English Kings,
and Michael Wood's argument that this is partly based on a lost early life of Æthelstan has been generally accepte[d6.6][67] Modern historians follow William of
Malmesbury's testimony in showing her as Æthelstan's full siste."r[68][65][15] William of Malmesbury did not know her name, but some late sources name her as Edith
or Eadgyth, an identification accepted by some historian[s1.5][68][69] She is also identified in late sources with saint Edith of Polesworth, a view accepted by Alan
Thacker, but dismissed as "dubious" by Sarah Foot, who does however think that it is like ltyhat she entered the cloister in widowhood[.70][71][72]
Citations
1. Keynes 2001, p. 57.
2. Davidson 2001, pp. 200-209.
3. Keynes and Lapidge 1983, pp. 11–12.
4. Stenton 1971, pp. 245–257.
5. Yorke 2001, pp. 25–28.
6. Yorke 2001, pp. 25–26; Miller 2004.
7. Yorke 2001, pp. 27–28.
8. Yorke 2001, p. 25.
9. Yorke 2001, pp. 29–32; Keynes and Lapidge
1983, p. 321, n. 66; Æthelhelm, PASE.
10. Yorke 2001, pp. 31–35.
11. Abels 1998, pp. 294–304.
12. Yorke 2001, p. 37.
13. Nelson 1996, pp. 53–54, 63–66.
14. Yorke 2001, pp. 33–34.
15. Miller 2004.
16. Stenton 1971, p. 321; Lavelle 2009, pp. 53, 61.
17. Keynes 2001, p. 48; Foot 2011, p. 74.
18. Stenton 1971, pp. 321–322; Hart 1992, p. 512–
515; Stafford 2004.
19. Keynes 2001, pp. 44–54.
20. Ryan 2013, p. 298.
21. Stafford 2001, p. 45.
22. Insley 2009, p. 330.
23. Davidson 2001, p. 205; Keynes 2001, p. 43.
24. Davidson 2001, pp. 203–204.
25. Gretsch 2001, p. 287.
26. Coatsworth 2001, pp. 292–296.
27. Sharp 2001, pp. 81–86.
28. Abrams 2001, p. 136.
29. Stenton 1971, p. 324, n. 1; Wainwright 1975,
pp. 308–309; Bailey 2001, p. 113.
30. Miller 2004; Stenton 1971, pp. 324–327.
31. Miller 2004; Stenton 1971, pp. 327–329.
32. Miller 2004; Stenton 1971, pp. 329–331.
33. Abrams 2001, pp. 138–139.
34. Lyon 2001, pp. 67–73, 77.
35. Brooks 1984, pp. 210, 213.
36. Rumble 2001, pp. 230–231.
37. Yorke 2004b; Brooks 1984, pp. 212–213.
38. Rumble 2001, p. 243.
39. Rumble 2001, p. 231.
40. Thacker 2001, pp. 259–260.
41. Rumble 2001, pp. 231–234.
42. Miller 2001, pp. xxv–xxix; Thacker 2001,
pp. 253–254.
43. Rumble 2001, pp. 234–237, 244; Thacker 2001,
p. 254.
44. Thacker 2001, p. 254.
45. Wormald 2001, pp. 274–275.
46. Lapidge 1993, pp. 12–16.
47. Lapidge 1993, p. 13.
48. Keynes 2001, pp. 50–51, 55–56.
49. Campbell 2001, p. 14.
50. Campbell 2001, p. 23.
51. Wormald 2001, pp. 264, 276.
52. Davidson 2001, pp. 200–201.
53. Davidson 2001, p. 201.
54. Stenton 1971, p. 334.
55. Davidson 2001, p. 206–207.
56. Smyth 1984, p. 199.
57. Stafford 1989, p. 33.
58. Davidson 2001, pp. 206, 209.
59. Griffiths 2001, p. 168.
60. Miller 2004; Griffiths 2001, pp. 167, 182–183.
61. Keynes 2001, pp. 40–41.
62. Higham 2001a, pp. 1–4.
63. Wainwright 1975, p. 77.
64. Higham 2001b, p. 311.
65. Foot 2011, p. xv.
66. Thacker 2001, p. 257.
67. Foot 2011, pp. 241–258.
68. Williams 1991, pp. xxix,123.
69. Foot 2011, pp. xv,48 (tentatively).
70. Thacker 2001, pp. 257–258.
71. Foot 2011, p. 48.
72. Foot 2010, p. 243.
73. Foot 2011, p. 11.
74. Yorke 2001, p. 33.
75. Foot 2011, p. 17.
76. Foot 2011, p. 21.
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Further reading
Smyth, Alfred P. (1996-03-14). King Alfred the Great. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822989-6.
77. Foot 2011, p. 45.
78. Foot 2011, p. 46; Stafford 2011.
79. Foot 2011, p. 18.
80. Stafford 2011.
81. Foot 2011, p. 51.
82. Stafford 2004.
83. Yorke 2004a; Thacker 2001, pp. 259–260.
84. Foot 2011, pp. 50–51; Stafford 2004.
Wikisource has original
works written by or about:
Edward the Elder
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Edward the
Elder.
External links
Edward 2 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
The Laws of King Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder Coinage Regulations
Edward the Elder at Find a Grave
Preceded by
Alfred the Great
King of the Anglo-
Saxons
899–924
Succeeded by
Æthelstan
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edward_the_Elder&oldid=784388160"
Categories: 870s births 924 deaths Anglo-Saxon monarchs 9th-century English monarchs 10th-century English monarchs Christian monarchs
House of Wessex Monarchs of England before 1066
This page was last edited on 8 June 2017, at 01:41.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Family/Spouse: of Kent, Queen Eadgifu. Eadgifu (daughter of Kent, Ealdorman Sigehelm of) was born about 903 in Kent, England; died about 966 in Kingdom of Wessex (England). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- 4. of Wessex, King Edmund I
was born in 921 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died in 962 in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England.
Edward married of Wiltshire, Ælfflæd in 899. Ælfflæd was born in 880 in Devon, England; died in 920 in Winchester Castle, Winchester, Hampshire, England; was buried in 920 in Wilton Abbey, Wilton (near Salisbury), Wiltshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- 5. of Wessex, Eadgifu
was born in 910 in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, England; died in 954 in Soissons, Aisne, Picardie, France; was buried in 955 in Cathedral of St. Maurice, Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.
3. of Flanders, Princess Ælfthryth (1.Eathswith1) was born in 877 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died on 7 Jun 929 in Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium; was buried on 7 Jun 929 in St Peter's Abbey, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.
Other Events and Attributes:
- FSID: 93HY-N89
- Appointments / Titles: 893, France; Countess consort of Flanders
Notes:
Ælfthryth of Wessex, also known as Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders, and Elftrudis (Elftrude, Elfrida).
She was the youngest daughter of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith, born is Wessex about 877.
Between 893 and 899, Ælfthryth married Baldwin II Count of Flanders (also known as the 2nd Margrave of Flanders)
Together they hey had the following children:
Arnulf I of Flanders (c. 890–964/65); married Adela of Vermandois
Adalulf, Count of Boulogne (c. 890 – 933)
Ealswid
Ermentrud
Ælfthryth died 7 June 929, likely in Bruges, West Flanders (now Belgium)
------------------------------------
“Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial & Medieval Families,” Douglas Richardson (2013):
“BAUDOUIN II the Bald, Count/Marquis of Flanders, 879-918, Count of Artois and Lay-abbot of Saint-Vaast, 892-899, Lay-abbot of Saint-Bertin, 900, Count of Boulogne, 898? -918, Count of Ternois, about 892-918, 2nd and eldest surviving son and heir, born about 863-865. He married in 884 ÆLFTHRYTH (or ELSTRUDE) OF WESSEX, daughter of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, by Ealswith, daughter of Æthelred Mucil, earldorman of the Gaini. She was born about 870. They had two sons, Arnulf (I) [Count/Marquis of Flanders] and Adalolf (or Adolf), and two daughters, Ealhswid and Ermentrude. In 918 his wife, Ælfthryth (or Elstrude), "daughter of the King of the English," gave Liefasham [Levisham], Kent to the Abbey of Mont-Blandin in Gand. BAUDOUIN II, Count/Marquis of Flanders, died in 918, probably 10 Sept. His widow, Ælfthryth (or Elstrude), died 7 June 929. He and his wife were buried in the abbey of Saint-Pierre, Gand.
Histoire des Comtes de Flandre (1698): 12-15. Panckoucke Abrégé Chronologique de l'Histoire de Flandre (1762): 8-12. Galopin Historiae Flandricae (1781): 6-7. Kervyn de Volkaersbeke Les Églises de Gand 2 (1838): 218-220. Chartes & Docs. de l’Abbaye de Saint Pierre an Mont Blandin à Gand (1868): 40-42 (Elstrude, Countess of Flanders, styled "kinswoman" [consanguinea] by Edgar, King of England in charter dated 964). Wauters Table Chronologique des Chartes et Diplômes Imprimés 1 (1866): 320, 331. Études d'Histoire de Moyen Age dédiées à Gabrielle Monad (1896): 155-162. Compte-Rendu des Séances de la Commission Royale d'Histoire 5th Ser. 9 (1898): 142-180 (sub Comtes de Flandre). Bled Regestes des Évêques de Thérouanne, 500-1553 1 (1904): 62. Brandenburg Die Nachkommen Karls des Großen (1935) V 20. Strecker Die Lateinischen Dichter des Deutschen Mittelalters (Monumenta Germaniæ Historica: Die Ottonenzeit 5(1)) (1937): 297-300. Schwennicke Europäische Stammtafeln 2 (1984): 5 (sub Flanders). Winter Descs. of Charlemagne (800-1400) (1987): V.47, VI.45-VI.49.”Ælfthryth married of Flanders, Count Baldwin II in 890. Baldwin (son of of Flanders, Baldwin I and de France, Judith) was born in 864 in French Flanders (Historical), Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France; died on 10 Sep 918 in Blandijnberg, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium; was buried on 15 Sep 918 in Abbey of Saint Pierre-Du-Mont Blandin, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- 6. of Flanders, Arnulf I
was born in 890; died on 27 Mar 964; was buried after 27 Mar 964 in Saint-Pierre de Gand, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.
Generation: 3
4. of Wessex, King Edmund I
(2.Edward2, 1.Eathswith1) was born in 921 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died in 962 in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England.
Other Events and Attributes:
- Nickname: The Magnificent
- FSID: LCTX-4Q3
- Appointments / Titles: Between 27 Oct 939 and 26 May 946; King of England
Notes:
Edmund
King of the English
Tenure 27 October 939 – 26 May 946
Coronation c. 29 November 939 probably at Kingston upon Thames[1]
Predecessor Æthelstan
Successor Eadred
Born 921 Wessex, England
Died 26 May 946 (aged 24–25) Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire, England
Burial Glastonbury Abbey
Spouse Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Æthelflæd of Damerham
Issue Eadwig, King of England
Edgar, King of England
House Wessex
Father Edward, King of Wessex
Mother Eadgifu of Kent
Religion Roman Catholic
Edmund I
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edmund I (Old English: Ēadmund, pronounced [æːɑdmund]; 921 – 26 May
946), called the Elder, the Deed-doer, the Just, or the Magnificent, was King
of the English from 939 until his death. He was a son of Edward the Elder
and half-brother of Æthelstan. Æthelstan died on 27 October 939, and
Edmund succeeded him as king.
Contents
1 Early life and Military threats
2 Louis IV of France
3 Death and succession
4 Ancestry
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links
Early life and Military threats
Edmund came to the throne as the son of Edward the Elder,[2] and therefore
the grandson of Alfred the Great, great-grandson of Æthelwulf of Wessex
and great-great grandson of Egbert of Wessex, who was the first of the house
of Wessex to start dominating the Anglo Saxon realms. However, being born
when his father was already a middle aged man, Edward lost his father when
he was a toddler, in 924, which saw his 30 year old half brother Athelstan
come to the throne. Edmund would grow up in the reign of Athelstan, even
participating in the Battle of Brunanburgh in his adolescence in 937
Athelstan died in the year 939, which saw young Edmund come to the
throne. Shortly after his proclamation as king, he had to face several military
threats. King Olaf III Guthfrithson conquered Northumbria and invaded the
Midlands; when Olaf died in 942, Edmund reconquered the Midlands.[2] In
943, Edmund became the god-father of King Olaf of York. In 944, Edmund
was successful in reconquering Northumbria.[3] In the same year, his ally
Olaf of York lost his throne and left for Dublin in Ireland. Olaf became the
king of Dublin as Amlaíb Cuarán and continued to be allied to his godfather.
In 945, Edmund conquered Strathclyde but ceded the territory to
King Malcolm I of Scotland in exchange for a treaty of mutual military
support.[3] Edmund thus established a policy of safe borders and peaceful
relationships with Scotland. During his reign, the revival of monasteries in
England began.
Louis IV of France
One of Edmund's last political movements of which there is some knowledge is his role in the restoration of Louis IV of
France to the throne. Louis, son of Charles the Simple and Edmund's half-sister Eadgifu, had resided at the West-Saxon court
for some time until 936, when he returned to be crowned King of France. In the summer of 945, he was captured by the
Norsemen of Rouen and subsequently released to Duke Hugh the Great, who held him in custody. The chronicler Richerus
claims that Eadgifu wrote letters both to Edmund and to Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor in which she requested support for her
son. Edmund responded to her plea by sending angry threats to Hugh.[4] Flodoard's Annales, one of Richerus' sources, report:
Silver penny of Edmund I
Coin of King Edmund
Edmund, king of the English, sent messengers to Duke Hugh about the
restoration of King Louis, and the duke accordingly made a public
agreement with his nephews and other leading men of his kingdom. [...]
Hugh, duke of the Franks, allying himself with Hugh the Black, son of
Richard, and the other leading men of the kingdom, restored to the
kingdom King Louis.[5][6]
Death and succession
On 26 May 946, Edmund was murdered by Leofa, an exiled thief, while attending St
Augustine's Day mass in Pucklechurch (South Gloucestershire).[7] John of Worcester
and William of Malmesbury add some lively detail by suggesting that Edmund had
been feasting with his nobles, when he spotted Leofa in the crowd. He attacked
the intruder in person, but in the event, Leofa killed him. Leofa was killed on the
spot by those present.[8] A recent article re-examines Edmund's death and
dismisses the later chronicle accounts as fiction. It suggests the king was the
victim of a political assassination.[9]
Edmund's sister Eadgyth, the wife of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, died earlier
the same year, as Flodoard's Annales for 946 report.[10]
Edmund was succeeded as king by his brother Eadred, king from 946 until 955.
Edmund's sons later ruled England as:
Eadwig, King of England from 955 until 957, king of only Wessex and Kent from 957 until his death on 1 October 959.
Edgar the Peaceful, king of Mercia and Northumbria from 957 until his brother's death in 959, then king of England
from 959 until 975.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Edmund I of England
16. Egbert of Wessex
8. Æthelwulf of Wessex
17. Redburga
4. Alfred the Great
18. Oslac
9. Osburga
2. Edward the Elder
10. Æthelred Mucil
5. Ealhswith
11. Eadburh
1. Edmund I of England
6. Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent
3. Eadgifu of Kent
Diagram based on the information found on Wikipedia
See also
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Burial places of British royalty
Edmund the Just, fictional king of Narnia
Notes
1. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England, p. 514
2. Edmund I (king of England)," Edmund-I" (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/179333/ )Encyclopædia Britannica
3. David Nash Ford, Edmund the Magnificent, King of the English (AD 921-946, )Early British Kingdoms (http://www.earlybritishkingdom
s.com/adversaries/bios/edmundmag.html.)
4. Richerus, Historiae, Book 2, chapters 49–50. See MGH online (http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/bsb00000607/images/index.html?id=000006
07&fip=62.251.15.35&no=20&seite=139.)
5. Dorothy Whitelock (tr.), English Historical Documents c. 500–1042. 2nd ed. London, 1979. p. 345.
6. Edmundus, Anglorum rex, legatos ad Hugonem principem pro restitutione Ludowici regis dirigit: et idem princeps proinde conventus
publicos eumnepotibus suis aliisque regni primatibus agit. [...] Hugo, dux Francorum, ascito secum Hugo Nneigro, filio Richardi,
ceterisque regni primatibus Ludowicum regem, [...] in regnum restituit. (FlodoardA,n nales 946.)
Wikisource has original
works written by or about:
Edmund I of England
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Edmund I
of England.
7. "Here King Edmund died on St Augustines’ Day [26 May]. It was widely known how he edned his days, that Liofa stabbed him at
Pucklechurch. And Æthelflæd of Damerham, daughter of Ealdorman Ælfg,a wr as then his queen." Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS D, tr.
Michael Swanton.
8. John of Worcester, Chronicon AD 946; William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum, book 2, chapter 144. The description of the circumstances
remained a popular feature in medieval chronicles, such aHs igden's Polychronicon: "But William, libro ij° de Regibus, seyth (says) that
this kyng kepyng a feste at Pulkirchirche, in the feste of seynte Austyn, and seyng a thefe, Leof by name, sytte [th]er amonge hys gestes,
whom he hade made blynde afore for his trespasses –(q uem rex prios propter scelera eliminavera,t whom the King previously due to his
crimes did excile) – , arysede (arrested) from the table, and takenge that man by the heire of the hedde, caste him unto the grownde.
Whiche kynge was sleyn – (sed nebulonis arcano evisceratus est) – with a lyttle knyfe the [th]e man hade in his honde [hand]; and also he
hurte mony men soore with the same knyfe; neverthelesse he was kytte (cut) at the laste into smalle partes by men longyng to the kynge."
Polychronicon, 1527. See Google Books (https://books.google.com/books?id=2lQJAAAAQAAJ&q=HIGDEN)
9. K. Halloran, A Murder at Pucklechurch: The Death of King Edmund, 26 May 946. Midland Histo, rVyolume 40, Issue 1 (Spring 2015),
pp. 120-129.
10. Edmundus rex Transmarinus defungitur, uxor quoque regis Othonis, soror ipsius Edmundi, decessit. "Edmund, king across the sea, died,
and the wife of King Otto, sister of the same Edmund, died also." (.t rDorothy Whitelock, English Historical Documents c. 500–1042. 2nd
ed. London, 1979. p. 345).
References
Flodoard, Annales, ed. Philippe Lauer, Les Annales de Flodoard. Collection des textes pour servir à l'étude et à
l'enseignement de l'histoire 39. Paris: Picard, 1905.
External links
Edmund 14 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Æthelstan
King of the
English
939–946
Succeeded by
Eadred
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edmund_I&oldid=786351603"
Categories: 921 births 946 deaths Anglo-Saxon monarchs Burials at Glastonbury Abbey
10th-century murdered monarchs 10th-century English monarchs English murder victims Christian monarchs
House of Wessex Monarchs of England before 1066
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Family/Spouse: of Shaftesbury, Ælfgifu. Ælfgifu was born in 925 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died in 944 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); was buried in 944 in Kingdom of Wessex (England). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- 7. of England, King Edgar I
was born between 6 Jan 942 and 5 Jan 944 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died on 13 Jul 975 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); was buried in Kingdom of Wessex (England).
5. of Wessex, Eadgifu (2.Edward2, 1.Eathswith1) was born in 910 in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, England; died in 954 in Soissons, Aisne, Picardie, France; was buried in 955 in Cathedral of St. Maurice, Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.
Other Events and Attributes:
- FSID: MT39-VLW
- Life Event: 951, Wilton (near Salisbury), Wiltshire, England; Nun
Notes:
Eadgifu of Wessex
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eadgifu of Wessex
Born 902
Died After 955
Spouse Charles III of France
Herbert III of Omois
Issue Louis IV
House Wessex
Father Edward the Elder
Mother Ælfflæd
Eadgifu or Edgifu (902 – after 955) also known as Edgiva or Ogive (Old English: Ēadgifu) was a daughter[1] of Edward the Elder, King of Wessex and England, and his second wife Ælfflæd. She was born in Wessex.
Contents
1 Marriage to the French King
2 Flight to England
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links
Marriage to the French King
Eadgifu was one of three West Saxon sisters married to Continental rulers: the others were Eadgyth, who married Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor and Eadhild, who married Hugh the Great. Eadgifu became the second wife of Charles, King of the West Franks,[1] whom she married in 919 after the death of his first wife, Frederonne. Eadgifu was mother to Louis IV of France.
Flight to England
In 922 Charles III was deposed and, after being defeated at the Battle of Soissons in 923, he was 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, King Æthelstan of England.[2] Because of this, Louis IV of France 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.[3] In 951, Heribert the Old, Count of Omois, abducted and married her, to the great anger of her son.[4]Eadgifu married de France, Charles in 919. Charles (son of de France, Louis II and de Paris, Adélaïde) was born on 17 Sep 879 in France; died on 7 Oct 929 in Péronne, Somme, Picardie, France; was buried after 7 Oct 929 in Abbey of Saint Fursy, Péronne, Somme, Picardie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- 8. of the West Franks, King Louis IV
was born on 10 Sep 921 in Laon, Aisne, Picardie, France; died on 10 Sep 954 in Reims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France; was buried after 10 Sep 954 in Abbey of Saint-Remi, Reims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France.
6. of Flanders, Arnulf I (3.Ælfthryth2, 1.Eathswith1) was born in 890; died on 27 Mar 964; was buried after 27 Mar 964 in Saint-Pierre de Gand, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.
Other Events and Attributes:
- Appointments / Titles: First Count of Flanders
- FSID: LZ1T-YG5
Notes:
Arnulf I (c. 893/899 – 27 March 964), called the Great, was the first Count of Flanders.
Arnulf was the son of margrave Baldwin II of Flanders and Ælfthryth of Wessex, daughter of Alfred the Great. Through his mother he was a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon kings of England, and through his father, a descendant of Charlemagne. Presumably Arnulf was named either after Saint Arnulf of Metz, a progenitor of the Carolingian dynasty, or King Arnulf of Carinthia, whom his father supported.
At the death of their father in 918, Arnulf became Count of Flanders while his brother Adeloft or Adelolf succeeded to the County of Boulogne. However, in 933 Adeloft died, and Arnulf took the countship of Boulogne for himself, but later conveyed it to his nephew, Arnulf II. Arnulf titled himself count by the Grace of God.
Arnulf I greatly expanded Flemish rule to the south, taking all or part of Artois, Ponthieu, Amiens, and Ostrevent. He exploited the conflicts between Charles the Simple and Robert I of France, and later those between Louis IV and his barons.
In his southern expansion Arnulf inevitably had conflict with the Normans, who were trying to secure their northern frontier. This led to the 942 murder of the Duke of Normandy, William Longsword, at the hands of Arnulf's men. The Viking threat was receding during the later years of Arnulf's life, and he turned his attentions to the reform of the Flemish government. Count Arnulf died 27 March 964, allegedly murdered by Heluin in revenge for the murder of William Longsword. He was buried in the Church of Saint-Pierre de Gand in Ghent.
Family
The name of Arnulf's first wife is unknown but he had at least one daughter by her:
Name unknown; married Isaac of Cambrai. Their son Arnulf succeeded his father as Count of Cambrai.
In 934 he married Adele of Vermandois, daughter of Herbert II of Vermandois. Their children were:
Hildegarde, born c. 934, died 990; she married Dirk II, Count of Holland. It is uncertain whether she is his daughter by his first or second wife.
Liutgard, born in 935, died in 962; married Wichmann IV, Count of Hamaland.
Egbert, died 953.
Baldwin III of Flanders (c. 940 – 962), married Matilda of Saxony († 1008), daughter of Hermann Billung.
Elftrude; married Siegfried, Count of Guînes.
Succession
Arnulf made his eldest son and heir Baldwin III of Flanders co-ruler in 958, but Baldwin died untimely in 962, so Arnulf was succeeded by Baldwin's infant son, Arnulf II of Flanders.
This is for information about a persons life, not just links that tell about them. Links belong in "Sources"
This is from: Arnulf I, Count of Flanders in WikipediaFamily/Spouse: de Vermandois, Adèle. Adèle (daughter of de Vermandois, Hérbert II and de France, Adela) was born in 910 in Vermandois (Historical), Picardie, France; died on 10 Oct 958 in Brugge, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium; was buried after 10 Oct 958 in Abbey of Saint Pierre-Du-Mont Blandin, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- 9. van Vlaanderen, Hildegard
was born in 934 in Vlaardingen, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands; died on 10 Apr 990 in Boxmeer, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands; was buried after 10 Apr 990 in Egmond Abbey, Egmond aan den Hoef, Egmond, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
Generation: 4
7. of England, King Edgar I
(4.Edmund3, 2.Edward2, 1.Eathswith1) was born between 6 Jan 942 and 5 Jan 944 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); died on 13 Jul 975 in Kingdom of Wessex (England); was buried in Kingdom of Wessex (England).
Other Events and Attributes:
- Appointments / Titles: King of England
- Nickname: The Peaceable
- FSID: 9QDN-T2K
Notes:
Edgar
A contemporary portrayal of King Edgar in the New
Minster Charter.
King of the English
Reign 1 October 959 – 8 July 975
Predecessor Eadwig
Successor Edward
Born 943/944
Died 8 July 975 (aged 31/32)
Winchester, Hampshire
Burial Glastonbury Abbey
Spouse Æthelflæd[1]
Wulfthryth[1]
Ælfthryth
Issue Edward, King of England
Eadgyth[1]
Edmund[2]
Æthelred, King of England
House Wessex
Father Edmund, King of England
Mother Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Religion Roman Catholic
Edgar the Peaceful
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edgar I (Old English: Ēadgār; c. 943—8 July 975), known as Edgar the Peaceful or the Peaceable,
was King of England from 959 to 975. He was the younger son of King Edmund I and his Queen,
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury.
Contents
1 Accession
2 Government
3 Benedictine reform
4 Dead Man's Plack
5 Coronation at Bath
6 Death
7 Appearance
8 Ancestry
9 See also
10 Notes
11 Further reading
12 External links
Accession
Edgar was the son of Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury. Upon the death of King Edmund in 946,
Edgar's uncle, Eadred, ruled until 955. Eadred was succeeded by his nephew, Eadwig, the son of
Edmund and Edgar's older brother.
Eadwig was not a popular king, and his reign was marked by conflict with nobles and the Church,
primarily St Dunstan and Archbishop Oda. In 957, the thanes of Mercia and Northumbria changed
their allegiance to Edgar.[3] A conclave of nobles declared Edgar as king of the territory north of the
Thames.[4] Edgar became King of England upon Eadwig's death in October 959, aged just 16
Government
One of Edgar's first actions was to recall Dunstan from exile and have him made Bishop of Worcester
(and subsequently Bishop of London and later, Archbishop of Canterbury). Dunstan remained Edgar's
advisor throughout his reign. While Edgar may not have been a particularly peaceable man, his reign
was peaceful. The Kingdom of England was well established, and Edgar consolidated the political
unity achieved by his predecessors. By the end of his reign, England was sufficiently unified in that it
was unlikely to regress back to a state of division among rival kingships, as it had to an extent under
the reign of Eadred. Blackstone mentions that King Edgar standardised measure throughout the
realm.[5] According to George Molyneaux, Edgar's reign, "far more than the reigns of either Alfred or
Æthelstan, was probably the most pivotal phase in the development of the institutional structures that
were fundamental to royal rule in the eleventh-century kingdom".[6]
Benedictine reform
The Monastic Reform Movement that introduced the Benedictine Rule to England's monastic communities peaked during the era of Dunstan, Æthelwold,
and Oswald (historians continue to debate the extent and significance of this movement).[7]
Dead Man's Plack
In 963, Edgar allegedly killed Earl Æthelwald, his rival in love, near present-day Longparish, Hampshire.[8] The event was commemorated by the Dead
Man's Plack, erected in 1825.[8] In 1875, Edward Augustus Freeman debunked the story as a "tissue of romance" in his book, Historic Essays;[9]
however, his arguments were rebutted by naturalist William Henry Hudson in his 1920 book Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn.[4]
Coronation at Bath
Edgar was crowned at Bath and along with his wife Ælfthryth was anointed, setting a precedent for a coronation of a queen in England itself.[10] Edgar's
coronation did not happen until 973, in an imperial ceremony planned not as the initiation, but as the culmination of his reign (a move that must have
taken a great deal of preliminary diplomacy). This service, devised by Dunstan himself and celebrated with a poem in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, forms
the basis of the present-day British coronation ceremony.
The symbolic coronation was an important step; other kings of Britain came and gave their allegiance to Edgar shortly afterwards at Chester. Six kings in
Britain, including the King of Scots and the King of Strathclyde, pledged their faith that they would be the king's liege-men on sea and land. Later
chroniclers made the kings into eight, all plying the oars of Edgar's state barge on the River Dee.[11] Such embellishments may not be factual, and what
A coin of Edgar, struck in
Winchcombe (c. 973-75).
actually happened is unclear.[12]
Death
Edgar died on 8 July 975 at Winchester, Hampshire. He left behind Edward, who was probably his illegitimate son
by Æthelflæd (not to be confused with the Lady of the Mercians), and Æthelred, the younger, the child of his wife
Ælfthryth. He was succeeded by Edward. Edgar also had a possibly illegitimate daughter by Wulfthryth, who later
became abbess of Wilton. She was joined there by her daughter, Edith of Wilton, who lived there as a nun until her
death. Both women were later regarded as saints.[13][14]
Some see Edgar's death as the beginning of the end of Anglo-Saxon England, followed as it was by three successful
11th century conquests — two Danish and one Norman.
Appearance
"[H]e was extremely small both in stature and bulk..."[15]
Ancestry
Ancestors of Edgar the Peaceful
16. Æthelwulf of Wessex
8. Alfred the Great
17. Osburga
4. Edward the Elder
18. Æthelred Mucel
9. Ealhswith
19. Eadburh
2. Edmund I of England
10. Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent
5. Eadgifu of Kent
1. Edgar
3. Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
7. Wynflaed
See also
House of Wessex family tree
Notes
1. Pauline Stafford, Queen Emma & Queen Edith, Blackwell 2001, pp. 324-325
2. Stafford, op. cit., p. 91
3. "Edgar the Peaceful (c943 - 975) - King of England", BBC, January 13, 200 (5http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/%C3%A2%C3%AF%C2%BF%C2%BD%C
3%AF%C2%BF%C2BDplain/A2982387)
4. Hudson, William Henry (1920). Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19691/19691-h/19691-h.htm).
5. Blackstone, "Of the King's Prerogative" Bk. 1, Ch. 7 (http://www.lonang.com/exlibris/blackstone/bla-107.htm)
6. Molyneaux, George (2015). The Formation of the English Kingdom in the eTnth Century. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 193I. SBN 978-0-19-871791-1.
7. Lehmberg, Stanford (2013). A History of the Peoples of the British Isles: Form Prehistoric Times to 1688. Routledge. p. 29. ISBN 1134415281.
8. "Deadman's Plack Monument - Longparish - Hampshire - England ("http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-139701-deadman-s-plack-monument-longparhis).
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
9. Freeman, Edward Augustus (1875).H istoric Essays (https://archive.org/details/historicalessays00free.) MacMillan & Co. pp. 10–25.
10. Honeycutt, Lois (2003). Matilda of Scotland: a Study in Medieval Queenship. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. p. 35.
11. Huscroft, R (2013). The Norman Conquest: A New Introduction. Routledge. p. 21. ISBN 1317866274.
12. Scragg, D. G. (2008), Edgar, King of the English, 959-975: New Interpertations, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, p. 121,I SBN 1843833999, "Precisely what happened at
Chester has been irretrievably obscured by the embellishments of twelfth-century historia"ns
Wikisource has original
works written by or about:
Edgar of England
13. Yorke, Barbara (2004). "Wulfthryth (St Wulfthryth) (d. c.1000), abbess of Wilton" (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/49423/?back=,8463,49423,8482,49423,848
2). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49423 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F49423) . Retrieved
17 November 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership (https://global.oup.com/oxforddnb/info/freeodnb/libraries/) required)
14. Williams, Ann (2004). "Edgar (called Edgar Pacificus) (943/4–975) "(http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8463?docPos=1.) Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8463 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Aodnb%2F8463). Retrieved 16 May 2012.(subscription or UK public
library membership (https://global.oup.com/oxforddnb/info/freeodnb/libraries/) required)
15. From the Gesta Regum Anglorum of William of Malmesbury (c.1080–1143)
Further reading
Scragg, Donald (ed.). Edgar, King of the English, 959–975: New Interpretations. Publications of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies.
Manchester: Boydell Press, 2008. ISBN 1-84383-399-9. Contents (external link).
Keynes, Simon. "England, c. 900–1016." In The New Cambridge Medieval History III. c.900–c.1024, ed. Timothy Reuter. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1999. 456-84.
Sobecki, Sebastian. "Edgar's Archipelago." In The Sea and Englishness in the Middle Ages: Maritime Narratives, Identity and Culture, ed.
Sobecki. Cambridge: Brewer, 2011. 1-30.
External links
Edgar 11 at Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
Medieval Sourcebook: Anglo-Saxon Dooms: laws of King Edgar, a fragment
Edgar the Peaceful at Find a Grave
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Eadwig
King of the English
959–975
Succeeded by
Edward the
Martyr
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edgar_the_Peaceful&oldid=784565550"
Categories: Monarchs of England before 1066 940s births 975 deaths Burials at Glastonbury Abbey Roman Catholic royal saints
10th-century English monarchs Christian monarchs House of Wessex Mercian monarchs
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Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Edgar married of England, Ælfthryth in 964 in Kingdom of Wessex (England). Ælfthryth (daughter of of Devon, Ordgar) was born in 947 in Devon, England; died on 17 Nov 1000 in England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- 10. of England, Æthelred
was born in 966 in England; died in 1016 in London, London, England.
8. of the West Franks, King Louis IV
(5.Eadgifu3, 2.Edward2, 1.Eathswith1) was born on 10 Sep 921 in Laon, Aisne, Picardie, France; died on 10 Sep 954 in Reims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France; was buried after 10 Sep 954 in Abbey of Saint-Remi, Reims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France.
Other Events and Attributes:
- House: Carolingian
- FSID: 9S9W-MPL
- Appointments / Titles: Between 936 and 954; King of West Francia
Notes:
Louis IV , called d'Outremer or Transmarinus (both meaning "from overseas"), reigned as king of West Francia from 936 to 954. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, he was the only son of king Charles the Simple and his second wife Eadgifu of Wessex, daughter of King Edward the Elder of Wessex.His reign is mostly known thanks to the Annals of Flodoard and the later Historiae of Richerus.
Louis was born in the heartlands of West Francia's Carolingian lands between Laon and Reims in 920 or 921. From his father's first marriage with Frederuna (d. 917) he had six half-sisters. He was the only male heir to the throne.
After the dethronement and capture of his faher, Charles the Simple, in 923, following his defeat at the Battle of Soissons, queen Eadgifu and her infant son took refuge in Wessex (for this he received the nickname of d'Outremer) at the court of her father King Edward, and after Edward's death, of her brother King Æthelstan. Young Louis was raised in the Anglo-Saxon court until his teens.
Louis became the heir to the western branch of the Carolingian dynasty after the death of his captive father in 929, and in 936, at the age of 15, was recalled from Wessex by the powerful Hugh the Great, Margrave of Neustria, to succeed the Robertian king Rudolph who had died.
Once he took the throne, Louis wanted to free himself from the tutelage of Hugh the Great, who, with his title of Duke of the Franks was the second most powerful man after the King.
In 945, following the death of William I Longsword, Duke of Normandy, Louis tried to conquer his lands, but was kidnapped by the men of Hugh the Great.
The Synod of Ingelheim in 948 allowed the excommunication of Hugh the Great and released Louis from his long tutelage. From 950 Louis gradually imposed his rule in the northeast of the kingdom, building many alliances (especially with the Counts of Vermandois) and under the protection of the Ottonian kingdom of East Francia.
Louis IV was crowned King by Artald, Archbishop of Rheims on Sunday, 19 June 936, probably at the Abbey of Notre-Dame and Saint-Jean in Laon, perhaps at the request of the King since it was a symbolic Carolingian town and he was probably born there.
In 939 Louis IV married Gerberga of Saxony, the widow of Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine. They were parents to eight children:
-Lothair of France (941–986)
-Matilda b. about 943; married Conrad of Burgundy
-Hildegarde b. about 944
-Carloman b. about 945
-Louis b. about 948
-Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine (953–993)
-Alberade b. before 953
-Henry b. about 953
Louis IV died on September 10, 954, after falling from a horse, some records report he died from tuberculosis.Louis married von Sachsen, Queen of France Gerberga in 939 in France. Gerberga (daughter of of Sachsen, Heinrich I and von Ringelheim, Saint Mathilde) was born on 10 Jun 913 in Nordhausen, Vogtlandkreis, Sachsen, Germany; was christened on 4 Aug 914 in Markneukirchen, Vogtlandkreis, Sachsen, Germany; died on 5 May 984 in Reims, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France; was buried on 22 May 984 in Reims Cathedral, Champagne-Ardenne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- 11. de Lorraine, Charles I
was born in 953 in Laon, Aisne, Picardie, France; died on 21 May 992 in Orléans, Loiret, Centre, France; was buried on 21 May 992 in Sint-Servatius, Maastricht, Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands.
- 12. de France, Mathilde
was born in 943 in Laon, Aisne, Picardie, France; died on 26 Nov 982 in Vermandois (Historical), Picardie, France; was buried after 26 Nov 982 in Wien, Wien, Wien, Austria.
9. van Vlaanderen, Hildegard (6.Arnulf3, 3.Ælfthryth2, 1.Eathswith1) was born in 934 in Vlaardingen, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands; died on 10 Apr 990 in Boxmeer, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands; was buried after 10 Apr 990 in Egmond Abbey, Egmond aan den Hoef, Egmond, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
Other Events and Attributes:
- Appointments / Titles: Countess of Friesland
- FSID: G98Z-6RZ
Notes:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_van_Vlaanderen
Hildegard married of Friesland, Dietrich II in 950. Dietrich (son of of Friesland, Count Dietrich I) was born in Egmond-Binnen, Egmond, Noord-Holland, Netherlands; died on 6 May 988 in Egmond-Binnen, Egmond, Noord-Holland, Netherlands. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
Children:
- 13. of Holland, Arnulf
was born in 952; died on 18 Sep 993 in Winkel, Ammerland, Niedersachsen, Germany; was buried after 18 Sep 993 in Egmond-Binnen, Egmond, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.