Edmund (Wessex) of England (abt. 920 - 946)

Born about 0920 in Wessex, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 26 May 0946 at about age 26 in Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire, England

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Biography

Edmund I (Wessex) of England is a member of the House of Wessex.

Birth and Parents

Edmund was the son of Edward the Elder and his last wife Eadgifu. He was said to be 18 when he became king in 939 so he was probably born in 920 or 921.^[1][2]

Early Life

The first record mentioning Edmund appears to be a 931 charter of his half-brother King Æthelstan: Edmund's name is attached to this as a witness.^[3]

In 937 Edmund fought alongside his half-brother King Æthelstan in the Battle of Brunanburh, in which Æthelstan defeated a coalition assembled against him: the battle was a major step towards the unification of England and was commemorated in a celebratory poem preserved in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.^[1][4][5]

Ruler of England; Challenges in Mercia and the North

In 939 Edmund became king of Wessex and overlord of England, following the death of Æthelstan, who had brought all England under his control.^[1] But his rule over Mercia and the north of England was quickly challenged. Olaf Guthfrithson, king of Dublin, invaded and seized control of York and the northern part of what had been the Viking kingdom there. In 940 Olaf Guthfrithson sought to extend his rule further south, into Mercia: he was driven back from Northampton, seized Tamworth in a bloody encounter, and was then besieged at Leicester by Edmund. Archbishops Oda of Canterbury (acting for Edmund) and Wulfstan of York (acting for Olaf Guthfrithson) helped to secure a truce in which Edmund was compelled to recognise Olaf's rule over much of Mercia, as well as territories further north.^[1] England was in effect again divided between an area controlled by Wessex and Danelaw.

Olaf Guthfrithson died in 941, and was succeeded by another Olaf, Olaf Sihtricson, who, along with Olaf Guthfrithson's brother Rægnald (or Ragnall) issued coins at York. The next year Edmund succeeded in bringing the whole of Mercia under his rule, capturing Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and Stamford (known as the Five Boroughs).^[1]

In 943 Olaf Sihtricson attacked Tamworth, taking away a large amount of booty. Edmund besieged Olaf in Leicester, along with Archbishop Wulfstan of York, but they escaped by night. Subsequently Olaf Sihtricson sought terms with Edmund, and was baptised, with Edmund as his godfather.^[1][6]

In 944 Edmund gained control of Northumbria. Olaf Sihtricson and Rægnald Guthfrithson were expelled.^[7] The following year he raided Strathclyde, which he entrusted to King Malcolm of Scotland in return for Malcolm's agreement to co-operate with him militarily (possibly tantamount to an admission of Edmund's overlordship, at least in relation to Strathclyde).^[7] According to the chronicler Roger of Wendover, he was helped in this campaign by the King of Dyfed in Wales, and had the sons of King Dunmail of Strathclyde blinded.^[1][8][9]

Foreign Affairs

Edmund, like Æthelstan, maintained an interest in foreign affairs. In 944 he gave a minster at Bath as a haven for clergy expelled from St Omer.^[1][10]

In 946 Edmund and his brother-in-law Otto supported his nephew Louis IV in his domestic struggles.^[1] Edmund died before his own intervention could have much effect.^[8][11]

Religious Affairs

In 941 Edmund made Oda, who was Bishop of Ramsbury, Archbishop of Canterbury. Oda pursued a policy of religious reform, seeking to tighten up on church discipline.^[1]

In 942 Edmund made St Dunstan Abbot of Glastonbury.^[7][12] According to one story, which may not be accurate, Dunstan had fallen into disfavour but then Edmund had a narrow escape from a hunting accident, in which his horse almost fell over a precipice, and while this was happening he had an inspiration that Dunstan had been wronged: it was this that prompted Dunstan's appointment as Abbot.^[1][13] At Glastonbury, Dunstan imposed the Rule of St Benedict with greater firmness.^[14]

Edmund himself made a number of grants to the church.^[1]

Laws

During Edmund's reign, three codes of law were promulgated. The first, in which Archbishop Oda of Canterbury almost certainly had a major hand, was largely concerned with church affairs and discipline.^[1]

The second sought to reduce the level of violence. Its main purpose was to stop the practice of blood feuds. In a preamble, Edmund lamented the prevalence of "illegal and manifold fights".^[15] It sought to limit revenge to the actual killer, and provided for the safeguarding of rights of sanctuary in churches and royal manors, and for mediation and the payment of compensation ("wergeld").^[1][16]

Edmund's third code laid down an oath of loyalty to the king, but mainly dealt with the punishment of theft, including of cattle, and banned nobles from sheltering offenders.^[1][17]

Marriages and Children

Edmund married twice. His first wife was Ælfgifu, whom he may have married soon after he became king.^[1] They had two sons:

• Eadwig,^[1] who was born in 943 according to Simeon of Durham^[12] and became king of England in 955^[18]
• Edgar,^[1] who became king of England in 959^[18]

Edmund's second wife was Æthelflæd. They probably married in about 945, his first wife having died the previous year.^[19] She was the daughter of Ælfgar, who became Ealdorman of Essex in 946.^[1] There is no evidence of any children.

Death and Burial

Edmund was stabbed to death by someone called Liofa or Leofa at Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire on 26 May 946.^[18] The year of his death is recorded in Flodoard's Chronicle.^[11] He was succeeded by his brother Eadred.^[18] According to John of Worcester and Simeon of Durham, the killing occurred when Edmund sought to save the life of a seneschal whom Liofa (a convicted outlaw) was attacking.^[1][12] He was buried at Glastonbury Abbey by St Dunstan, who was then its abbot.^[1][12]

Edmund's second wife Æthelflæd survived him, and may have gone on to marry an Ealdorman called Æthelstan. In her will she granted an estate at Damerham, Hampshire to Glastonbury abbey, for the souls of Edmund, their son Edgar and herself.^[19]

Research Notes

Wife Ælfgifu

In his Medlands database, Cawley speculates that Edmund's first wife Ælfgifu may not have been a legal wife and may not have died in 944. Cawley bases this speculation on two charters, one of which, dated 943, names Ælfgifu as "concubina" of Edmund, and the other, which Cawley regards hesitantly as dated to the same year, naming Edmund's second wife Æthelflæd as "regina” (queen).^[3] Cawley is probably attaching too much significance to the vagaries of the choice of Latin words of the clerk(s) or adviser(s) who drew up these charters. The more widely accepted view is that Ælfgifu died in 944. There is nothing in the records to suggest that the legitimacy of Ælfgifu's sons was ever questioned.

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states not only that Ælfgifu died in 944 but also that she was buried at Shaftesbury and regarded as a saint.^[1] Ælfgifu is referred to as Edmund's wife ("coniugi") in a charter in which Æthelred the Unready confirmed gifts of land to Shaftesbury Abbey.^[20]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Edmund I', print and online 2004, viewable on subscription and via some libraries
2. ↑ Michael Swanton (translator and editor). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, revised edition, Phoenix press, 2000, p. 110. The age of 18 is from the Winchester manuscript; as often in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, the year is wrong - it is given as 941. The Peterborough Manuscript gives it as 940 (p. 111 in Swanton's translation), which is also wrong.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Charles Cawley. Edmund 921-946, entry in "Medieval Lands" database (accessed 9 March 2021)
4. ↑ The Battle of Brunanburh, poem in Old English preserved in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, modern translation here
5. ↑ Michael Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, entires for the year 937, pp. 106 (Winchester manuscript) and 107 (Canterbury manuscript)
6. ↑ Michael Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, p. 111, Worcester manuscript
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Michael Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, p. 110, Winchester manuscript
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Frank Stenton. Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 1971, p. 359
9. ↑ J A Giles (translator). Roger of Wendover's Flowers of History, Vol. I, Henry G Bohn, 1849, pp. 252-253, Internet Archive
10. ↑ Dorothy Whitelock. The Beginnings of English Society, 2nd edition, Penguin Books, reprinted with further revisions 1974, p. 62
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} Flodoard of Reims. Flodoardi Chronicon, viewable with French translation in Chronique de Flodoard, Reims : Regnier, 1855, pp. 101-102, Google Books
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3} Joseph Stephenson (translator and editor). The Historical Works of Simeon of Durham, Seeleys, 1855, pp. 503-504, Internet Archive
13. ↑ Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 446
14. ↑ Geoffrey Hindley. A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons, Robinson, 2006, pp. 280-281
15. ↑ Dorothy Whitelock, The Beginnings of English Society, pp. 43-44
16. ↑ Dorothy Whitelock (ed.). English Historical Documents, Volume I, c.500-1042, 2nd edition, Eyre Methuen, 1979, translation of the law code at pp. 427-429
17. ↑ Dorothy Whitelock, The Beginnings of English Society, p. 146
18. ↑ ^{18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3} Michael Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, pp. 112-113. The Peterborough manuscript wrongly gives the year as 948.
19. ↑ ^{19.0 19.1} Dorothy Whitelock (editor and translator). Anglo-Saxon Wills, Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 35 and 138-139
20. ↑ British Library Harley 61, 2v-3v: copy, s. xv, transcript on Anglo-Saxons.net, accessed 9 March 2021: "Nam et uicinis ante me temporibus auus meus Admund scilicet rex idem pro commutacione Butticanlea adquisitum coniugi sue Algife... "

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Edmund I', print and online 2004, viewable on subscription and via some libraries
• Frank Stenton. Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 1971, especially pp. 356-360
• Wikipedia: Edmund I
• Wikipedia: Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
• Wikipedia: Æthelflæd of Damerham