Edmund I of England

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Edmund I
King of England

Reign	October 27, 939 – May 26, 946
Predecessor	Athelstan
Successor	Edred
Spouse	Ælfgifu; Æthelflæd of Damerham
Issue	Eadwig Edgar
Father	Edward the Elder
Mother	Edgiva of Kent
Born	921 Wessex, England
Died	May 26, 946 Pucklechurch, Wessex, England
Burial	Glastonbury Abbey
Military Service
Rank	10th

Edmund I (or Eadmund) (922 – May 26, 946), called the Elder, the Deed-Doer, the Just or the Magnificent, was King of England from 939 until his death. He was a son of Edward the Elder and half-brother of Athelstan. Athelstan died on October 27, 939, and Edmund succeeded him as king.

1 Military threats
2 Louis IV of France
3 Death and succession
4 Notes
5 References
6 Ancestry

[edit] Military threats

Shortly after his proclamation as king he had to face several military threats. King Olaf I of Dublin conquered Northumbria and invaded the Midlands. When Olaf died in 942 Edmund reconquered the Midlands. In 943 he became the god-father of King Olaf of York. In 944, Edmund was successful in reconquering Northumbria. 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 Olaf Cuaran and continued to be allied to his god-father. In 945 Edmund conquered Strathclyde but conceded his rights on the territory to King Malcolm I of Scotland. In exchange they signed a treaty of mutual military support. Edmund thus established a policy of safe borders and peaceful relationships with Scotland. During his reign, the revival of monasteries in England began.

[edit] Louis IV of France

One of Edmund's last political movements of which we have some knowledge is his role in the restoration of Louis (IV) d'Outremer to the throne. Louis, son of Charles III and his Anglo-Saxon queen 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 by Duke Hugh the Great, who however, held him in custody. The chronicler Richerus claims that Eadgifu wrote letters both to Edmund and to Otto I in which she requested support for her son; Edmund responded to her plea by sending angry threats to Hugh, who brushed them aside.^[1] Flodoard's Annales reports:

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.^[2]

"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."^[3]

[edit] Death and succession

On 26 May, 946, Edmund was murdered by Leofa, an exiled thief, while celebrating St Augustine's Mass Day in Pucklechurch (South Gloucestershire).^[4] 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, Edmund and Leofa were both killed.^[5]

Edmund's sister Eadgyth, wife to Otto I, died (earlier) the same year, as Flodoard's Annales for 946 report.^[6]

Edmund was succeeded as king by his brother Edred, king from 946 until 955. Edmund's sons later ruled England as:

Edwy of England, King from 955 until 957, king of only Wessex and Kingdom of Kent from 957 until his death on October 1 959.
Edgar of England, king of only Mercia and Northumbria from 957 until his brother's death in 959, then king of England from 959 until 975.

[edit] Notes

^ Richerus, Historiae, Book 2, chapters 49-50. See MGH online.
^ Flodoard, Annales 946.
^ Dorothy Whitelock (tr.), English Historical Documents c. 500-1042. 2^nd ed. London, 1979. p. 345).
^ "Here King Edmund passed away on St Augustine’s Day [26 May]. It was widely known how he ended his days, that Liofa stabbed him at Pucklechurch. And Æthelflæd of Damerham, daughter of Ealdorman Ælfgar, was then his queen." Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS D, tr. Michael Swanton.
^ 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 as Higden'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 -- (quem rex prios propter scelera eliminaverat, 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
^ 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." (tr. Dorothy Whitelock, English Historical Documents c. 500-1042. 2^nd ed. London, 1979. p. 345).

[edit] References

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

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.

[edit] 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

1. Edmund I of England

6. Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent

3. Edgiva of Kent

Diagram based on the information found on Wikipedia

Preceded by Athelstan	King of England 939–946	Succeeded by Edred

v • d • e English Monarchs

Monarchs Pre-Conquest	Alfred the Great · Edward the Elder · Ælfweard · Athelstan the Glorious^¶ · Edmund the Magnificent^¶ · Eadred^¶ · Eadwig the Fair^¶ · Edgar the Peaceable^¶ · Edward the Martyr · Ethelred the Unready · Sweyn Forkbeard · Edmund Ironside · Canute the Great^¶ · Harold Harefoot · Harthacanute · Edward the Confessor · Harold Godwinson · Edgar the Ætheling

Monarchs Post-Conquest	William I · William II · Henry I · Stephen · Matilda (disputed) · Henry II · Richard I · John^† · Henry III^† · Edward I^† · Edward II^† · Edward III^† · Richard II^† · Henry IV^† · Henry V^† · Henry VI^† · Edward IV^† · Edward V^† · Richard III^† · Henry VII^† · Henry VIII^† · Edward VI^† · Jane (disputed)^† · Mary I^† · Elizabeth I^† · James I^‡ · Charles I^‡ · Commonwealth · Charles II^‡ · James II^‡ · William III^‡ with Mary II^‡ · William III^‡ · Anne^‡

^¶Also Overlord of Britain. ^†Also Lord/Monarch of Ireland. ^‡Also Monarch of Scotland and Ireland.

This is an extract from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia