Edgar (Wessex) of England (943 - 975)

Born 7 Aug 0943 in Wessex, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 8 Jul 0975 at age 31 in Winchester, England

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Michael Cayley [send private message] and Medieval Project WikiTree [send private message]

Edgar (Wessex) of England is managed by the Medieval Project. Pre-1500 certified? Join: Medieval Project Discuss: Medieval

Edgar (Wessex) of England is a member of the House of Wessex.

Biography

Birth, Parents, and Early Life

Edgar was the son of King Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu.^[1][2] He was probably born in 943 or 944 (his mother died in the latter year):^[1] the Abingdon manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives his age as 16 when he became king of England in 959.^[2]

Edgar was educated at a Benedictine foundation at Abingdon, Berkshire and this led to an association with Benedictine reform in England, and hence to his being regarded with favour by leading exponents of that reform.^[1]

In 953 he witnessed a charter of his uncle King Eadred.^[3]

Accession to the Throne

Edgar's brother Eadwig became king of England in 955.^[2] In 957 the kingdom was divided and Edgar became ruler of the northern part, centred on Mercia.^[1][2] This may well have been as sub-king, under his brother, who continued to style himself "king of the English", while Edgar referred to himself as king of the Mercians or Northumbrians.^[1] The early life of St Dunstan alleges that the division happened because of dissatisfaction with Eadwig in the northern part of the realm, "because he acted foolishly in the government committed to him, ruining with vain hatred the shrewd and wise, and admitting with loving zeal the ignorant and those like himself," but charters suggest the arrangement was amicable.^[1] Eadwig died on 1 October 959, and Edgar then became king of England as a whole.^[1][2] According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, his formal coronation did not take place until 973, at Bath.^[2]

Political Affairs

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in 966 someone called Thored, son of Gunnar, raided Northumberland. No more is known about this, and it may have been a private initiative.^[1][2] Another unexplained event recorded in the Chronicle is a raid Edgar launched on the Isle of Thanet in 969.^[2]

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that, soon after his coronation, six kings came to Edgar at Chester and committed themselves to be his allies.^[2] The Chronicle frequently attributed to Florence of Worcester, and really compiled by John of Worcester, put together considerably later, increases the number of kings to eight, and states that they included Kenneth of Scotland and Malcolm of Cumbria. Aelfric of Eynsham, who died in 1010, stated that "all the kings who were in this island, Cumbrians and Scots, came to Edgar, once eight kings on one day, and they all submitted to Edgar's direction", but does not give a date for this.^[1] Even before this, in some charters Edgar had claimed to rule all of Britain.^[3]

Edgar granted Lothian - the area between the the Tweed and the Forth - to Kenneth of Scotland.^[4]

Religious Affairs

Edgar made a number of grants to religious establishments. In 958 he gave land in Nottinghamshire to the Archbishop of York, and later he made a gift to a foundation at Peterborough.^[2][5][6]

Edgar supported Benedictine reform, and appointed two leading exponents of it to key positions in the English church: St Dunstan as Archbishop of Canterbury,^[1] (and possibly initially as Bishop of Worcester if one manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is correct);^[2] and Æthelwold, his former tutor, as Bishop of Winchester in 963.^[1][2] Reform was forced on some religious houses, with the expulsion of priests and their replacement with monks who accepted reform.^[2]

Administration and Laws

Edgar allowed the area that came to be known as Danelaw, which had formerly been ruled by Vikings and Danes, a degree of autonomy, giving recognition to its laws and customs.^[3] It may have been Edgar who instituted a system under which an administrative unit in Mercia, the Five Boroughs (Lincoln, Stamford, Nottingham, Derby, and Leicester), served as a protection for lands further south.^[1]

Several law codes have been attributed to Edgar's reign, though their date is uncertain.^[1][7] They concerned both religious and secular matters. One possibly issued in 962-3, sets out remedies for a "sudden pestilence which greatly oppressed and reduced his people far and wide", and sought to remedy departure from people's obligations, both under secular law and to the church.^[7] It may have been in Edgar's reign that a short set of laws concerning the responsibilities of the Hundred, an Anglo-Saxon administrative unit, was promulgated.^[8]

In 973 Edgar instituted a reform of the coinage, and established 40 official mints for their production.^[3]

Marriages and Children

Edgar married twice. His first wife was Æthelflæd.^[1] They had one chid:

• Edward, who succeeded his father and was murdered in 978^[2][3]

His second wife, whom he married in 964 or 965, was Ælfthryth, daughter of Ordgar.^[1]ref name="Chronicle"/> William of Malmesbury alleges that Edgar had her first husband, an Ealdorman called Æthelwold killed,^[3] but it is not at all clear where this story originated, and it may well be false. They had two sons:

• Eadmund, who died in 970 or 971 and was buried at Romsey Abbey^[2]
• Æthelred the Unready, who became king on his half-brother Edward's death in 978^[2]

Edgar's second wife appears to have had some influence in the running of the realm. Her witnessing of charters was not particularly unusual, but in addition Bishop Æthelwold, when he sought the freedom of Taunton in 968, made a generous gift of gold to her in return for her assistance.^[9]

Edgar also had a daughter by Wulfthryth, who went on to become Abbess of Wilton. It is not certain if they formally married,^[1] though an 11th-century hagiographer called Goscelin claims that they were tied by "indissoluble vows".^[10] Their daughter was:

• Eadgyth,^[1] who entered her mother's community at Wilton and came to be venerated as a saint^[11]

Death, Burial and Reputation

Edgar died on 8 July 975 and was buried at Glastonbury Abbey.^[1] At Glastonbury - but seemingly not elsewhere - he was venerated as a saint, with a feast day of 8 July, and, when his tomb was opened in 1052, it was claimed that his remains emitted blood.^[12]

The Peterborough manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ascribes "one ill deed" to Edgar - that he was too fond of foreign heathen customs, and attracted foreigners to the detriment of the English.^[2] It is not known what underlies this complaint.

Probably because of comparison with the troubles, especially with the Vikings, that preceded and followed his reign, Edgar came to be known as "Pacificus", or "the Peaceful": the epithet is first found in the Chronicle of John of Worcester, dating from the 12th century.^[1]

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} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Edgar [called Edgar Pacificus] (943/4–975)', print and online 2004, revised online 2014, available online on subscription and via some libraries
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16} Michael Swanton (translator and editor). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, revised edition, Phoenix Press, 2000, pp. 112-123
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5} Charles Cawley. Edgar, entry in "Medieval Lands" database, accessed 21 March 2021
4. ↑ Frank Stenton. Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press 1971, p. 370
5. ↑ William Farrer. Early Yorkshire Charters, Vol. I, privately printed, 1914, subsequently reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 10-15, Internet Archive
6. ↑ Early Yorkshire Charters</i> (Yorkshire Archaeological Society Pub. between 1914 and 1965) Vol. 1, Page 10
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Dorothy Whitelock (ed.). English Historical Documents Volume I, c.500-1042, 2nd edition, Eyre Methuen, 1979, pp. 429-437: includes translations
8. ↑ Translation of the law on Fordham University website, accessed 21 March 2021
9. ↑ Honeycutt, Lois. Matilda of Scotland: a Study in Medieval Queenship, The Boydell Press. 2003, p. 37, viewable on Google Books
10. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Wulfthryth [St Wulfthryth]', print and online 2004
11. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Edith [St Edith, Eadgyth] (961x4–984x7)', print and online 2004
12. ↑ David Hugh Farmer. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 5th Edition Revised, Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 135, Google Books

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Edgar [called Edgar Pacificus] (943/4–975)', print and online 2004, revised online 2014
• Wikipedia: Edgar of England
• Keynes, Simon. "England, c. 900–1016" in The New Cambridge Medieval History III. c.900–c.1024, ed. Timothy Reuter, Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 478-482, Google Books
• Scragg, Donald. Edgar, King of the English, 959-975: New Interpretations, published for the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies by Boydell and Brewer, 2008, contents viewable on JSTOR (account - free - required): full access to the book appears not to be available via JSTOR
• Stenton, Frank. Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press 1971, pp. 364-372
• Honeycutt, Lois. Matilda of Scotland: a Study in Medieval Queenship, The Boydell Press. 2003: snippets of pages 37-39 on Google Books
• Weir, Alison. Britain's Royal Families, new edition, Pimlico, 2002, pp. 20-21