kings in Britain.
Athelstan's law codes strengthened royal control over his large kingdom;
currency was regulated to control silver's weight and to penalise
fraudsters. Buying and selling was mostly confined to the burghs,
encouraging town life; areas of settlement in the midlands and Danish towns
were consolidated into shires. Overseas, Athelstan built alliances by
marrying four of his half-sisters to various rulers in Western Europe.
He also had extensive cultural and religious contacts; as an enthusiastic
and discriminating collector of works of art and religious relics, he gave
away much of his collection to his followers and to churches and bishops in
order to retain their support.
Athelstan died at the height of his power and was buried at Malmesbury; a
church charter of 934 described him as 'King of the English, elevated by
the right hand of the Almighty ... to the Throne of the whole Kingdom of
Britain'. Athelstan died childless.
EDMUND I (939-46)
Son of Edward the Elder, succeeded his half-brother, Жthelstan, with whom
he had fought at Brunanburh. Combated the Norse Vikings in Northumbria and
subdued them in Cumbria and Strathclyde. He entrusted these lands to an
ally, Malcolm I of Scotland. Edmund met his death when he was killed at
Pucklechurch, in Gloucestershire, by a robber.
EADRED (946-55)
King of Wessex and acknowledged as overlord of Mercia, the Danelaw and
Northumbria. A challenge to Eadred, which serves to illustrate one of his
chief qualities, developed in the north, in the early 950's. Eric Bloodaxe,
an aptly named, ferocious, Norse Viking who had been deposed by his own
people, established himself as king of Northumbria at York, apparently with
the fearful acquiescence of the Northumbrians. Eadred responded by marching
north with a considerable force to meet the threat. He proceeded to ravage
the Norse-held territories, then moved back to the south. He was attacked
on the way home by Eric's forces. Eadred was so enraged that he threatened
to go back to Northumbria and ravage the entire land.
This prospect frightened the already frightened Northumbrians into
abandoning Eric Bloodaxe. It must be that they viewed Eadred as more
formidable than a bloodthirsty Viking, who had been thrown out of a society
known for its bloodthirstiness, because he was too bloodthirsty and
tyrannical for them. In any case, according to the "AngloSaxon Chronicle",
"the Northumbrians expelled Eric."
As to his personal side, William of Malmesbury provides some
illumination. He says that Eadred was afflicted with some lingering
physical malady, since he was, "constantly oppressed by sickness, and of so
weak a digestion as to be unable to swallow more than the juices of the
food he had masticated, to the great annoyance of his guests." Regarding
his spiritual side, apparently the pillaging, ravaging and laying waste
that he did, had no deleterious effects on him. As Malmesbury states, he
devoted his life to God, "endured with patience his frequent bodily pains,
prolonged his prayers and made his palace altogether the school of virtue."
He died while still a young man, as had so many of the kings of Wessex,
"accompanied with the utmost grief of men but joy of angels."
EADWIG (EDWY) (955-59 AD)
On the death of Eadred, who had no children, Eadwig was chosen to be king
since he was the oldest of the children in the natural line of the House of
Wessex. He became king at 16 and displayed some of the tendencies one could
expect in one so young, royalty or not. Historians have not treated Eadwig
especially well, and it is unfortunate for him that he ran afoul of the
influential Bishop Dunstan (friend and advisor to the recently deceased
king, Eadred, future Archbishop of Canterbury and future saint), early in
his reign. An incident, which occurred on the day of Eadwig's consecration
as king, purportedly, illustrates the character of the young king.
According to the report of the reliable William of Malmesbury, all the
dignitaries and officials of the kingdom were meeting to discuss state
business, when the absence of the new king was noticed. Dunstan was
dispatched, along with another bishop, to find the missing youth. He was
found with his mind on matters other than those of state, in the company of
the daughter of a noble woman of the kingdom. Malmesbury writes, Dunstan, "
regardless of the royal indignation, dragged the lascivious boy from the
chamber and...compelling him to repudiate the strumpet made him his enemy
forever." The record of this incident was picked up by future monastic
chroniclers and made to be the definitive word on the character of Eadwig,
mainly because of St. Dunstan's role in it.
Dunstan was, after that incident, never exactly a favorite of Eadwig's,
and it may be fair to say that Eadwig even hated Dunstan, for he apparently
exiled him soon after this. Eadwig went on to marry Жlgifu, the girl with
whom he was keeping company at the time of Dunstan's intrusion. For her
part, "the strumpet" was eventually referred to as among "the most
illustrious of women", and Eadwig, in his short reign, was generous in
making grants to the church and other religious institutions. He died,
possibly of the Wessex family ailment, when he was only 20.
EDGAR (959-975)
Edgar, king in Mercia and the Danelaw from 957, succeeded his brother as
king of the English on Edwy's death in 959 - a death which probably
prevented civil war breaking out between the two brothers. Edgar was a firm
and capable ruler whose power was acknowledged by other rulers in Britain,
as well as by Welsh and Scottish kings. Edgar's late coronation in 973 at
Bath was the first to be recorded in some detail; his queen Aelfthryth was
the first consort to be crowned queen of England.
Edgar was the patron of a great monastic revival which owed much to his
association with Archbishop Dunstan. New bishoprics were created,
Benedictine monasteries were reformed and old monastic sites were re-
endowed with royal grants, some of which were of land recovered from the
Vikings.
In the 970s and in the absence of Viking attacks, Edgar - a stern judge -
issued laws which for the first time dealt with Northumbria (parts of which
were in the Danelaw) as well as Wessex and Mercia. Edgar's coinage was
uniform throughout the kingdom. A more united kingdom based on royal
justice and order was emerging; the Monastic Agreement (c.970) praised
Edgar as 'the glorious, by the grace of Christ illustrious king of the
English and of the other peoples dwelling within the bounds of the island
of Britain'. After his death on 8 July 975, Edgar was buried at Glastonbury
Abbey, Somerset.
EDWARD II «THE MARTYR» (975-979)
The sudden death of Edgar at the age of 33 led to a succession dispute
between rival factions supporting his sons Edward and Ethelred. The elder
son Edward was murdered in 978 at Corfe Castle, Dorset, by his seven-year-
old half-brother's supporters.
ETHELRED II «THE UNREADY» (979-1013 AND 1014-1016)
Ethelred, the younger son of Edgar, became king at the age of seven
following the murder of his half-brother Edward II in 978 at Corfe Castle,
Dorset, by Edward's own supporters.
For the rest of Ethelred's rule (reigned 978-1016), his brother became a
posthumous rallying point for political unrest; a hostile Church
transformed Edward into a royal martyr. Known as the Un-raed or 'Unready'
(meaning 'no counsel', or that he was unwise), Ethelred failed to win or
retain the allegiance of many of his subjects. In 1002, he ordered the
massacre of all Danes in England to eliminate potential treachery.
Not being an able soldier, Ethelred defended the country against
increasingly rapacious Viking raids from the 980s onwards by diplomatic
alliance with the duke of Normandy in 991 (he later married the duke's
daughter Emma) and by buying off renewed attacks by the Danes with money
levied through a tax called the Danegeld. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1006
was dismissive: 'in spite of it all, the Danish army went about as it
pleased'. By 1012, 48,000 pounds of silver was being paid in Danegeld to
Danes camped in London.
In 1013, Ethelred fled to Normandy when the powerful Viking Sweyn of
Denmark dispossessed him. Ethelred returned to rule after Sweyn's death in
1014, but died himself in 1016.
SWEYN (1013-1014)
The son of a Danish king, Sweyn 'Forkbeard' began conquering territory in
England in 1003, effectively devastating much of southern and midland
England. The English nobility became so disillusioned with their existing
king, Ethelred 'The Unready', that they acknowledged Sweyn as king in 1013.
Sweyn's reign was short, as he died in 1014, but his son Canute the Great
soon returned and reclaimed control of England.
EDMUND II, IRONSIDE (1016)
Edmund was King of England for only a few months. After the death of his
father, Жthelred II, in April 1016, Edmund led the defense of the city of
London against the invading Knut Sveinsson (Canute), and was proclaimed
king by the Londoners. Meanwhile, the Witan (Council), meeting at
Southampton, chose Canute as King. After a series of inconclusive military
engagements, in which Edmund performed brilliantly and earned the nickname
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