Eadmund I
Eadmund IEadmund succeeded at the death of his brother Æthelstan on 27 October 939 ["Her Æþelstan cyning forðferde ... & Eadmund æþeling feng to rice. & he wæs þa .xviii. wintre." ASC(A) s.a. 941 (orig. 940) ("Here King Athelstan passed away ... And the ætheling Edmund succeeded to the kingdom; and he was then 18 years old." ASC(Eng), 110); "Her Æðelstan cyning forðferde. & feng Ædmund to rice his broðor." ASC(E) s.a. 940; "Strenuus et gloriosus rex Anglorum Æthelstanus ... decessit, ... cui frater suus Eadmundus, XVIIIº. ætatis suæ anno, in regnum successit." John Worc., s.a. 940 (1: 132-3); on 939 as the year of Æthelstan's death, see Beaven (1917); Vaughan (1954)]. Eadmund was assassinated on 26 May 946 [see below], and was succeeded by his brother Eadred. [On the chronology of Eadmund's reign, see Beaven (1918).]
Date of birth: ca. 922.
Place of birth: Unknown.
John of Worcester states that
Eadmund succeeded to the kingdom in his eighteenth year ["Eadmundus,
XVIIIº. ætatis suæ anno, in regnum successit." John
Worc. s.a. 940 (1: 133)]
Date of death: 26 May 946.
Place of
death: Pucklechurch.
Place of
burial: Glastonbury.
["Her Eadmund cyning
forðferde ón Scs. Agustinus mæsse dæge. & he hæfde rice
seofoþe healf gear; & þa feng Eadred æþeling his broþor
to rice, ..." ASC(A) s.a. 946 ("Here King
Edmund passed away on St. Augustine's Day; and he had the kingdom
six and a half years. And then his brother the ætheling Eadred
succeeded to the kingdom, ..." ASC(Eng), 114); "...
þ. wæs wide cuð. hu he his dagas geendode. þ. Liofa hine
ofstang æt Puclancyrcan." ASC(D) s.a. 946 ("It
was widely known how he ended his days, that Liofa stabbed him at
Pucklechurch." ASC(Eng), 112); "Magnificus rex
Anglorum Eadmundus, die festivitatis S. Augustini, Anglorum
doctoris, dum in regia villa, quæ Anglice Pucelecirce dicitur,
suum dapiferum e manibus pessimi cleptoris Leovæ, ne
occideretur, vellet eripere, quinque annis septemque mensibus
regni sui peractis, indictione IV., septimo kal. Junii, feria
III., ab eodem interficitur, et Glæstoniam delatus, a B.
Dunstano abbate sepelitur." John Worc. s.a. 946 (1:
134); "Edmundus rex Transmarinus defungitur."
Flodoard, Annales, s.a. 946, 101; "26
[May] Hic obiit Eadmund rex." Lib. Vit. Hyde, 271]
Father: Eadweard "the Elder", d. 17 July 924, king of Wessex.
Mother: Eadgifu, living 966, daughter of Sigehelm, ealdorman of Kent.
Spouses:
(1) St. Ælfgifu, d. 18 May ca. 944.
(2) Æthelflæd, of Domerham, daughter of Ælfgar, ealdorman of the
Wilsætas.
["... & Æþelflæd æt Domerhame, Ælfgares dohter
ealdormannes, wæs þa his cwen." ASC(D) s.a. 946; on
her family, see Searle (1899), 411] Æthelflæd's will gave
numerous bequests to ealdorman Beorhtnoth and her sister, and
also gave legacies to, among others, her kinsman Sibriht, her
kinsman Ælfgeat, and her kinswoman Crawe [Cart. Sax. 3: 600
(#1288); Thorpe (1865), 519-522 (includes modern English
translation)]
Children:
["... & Eadwig feng
to West Seaxena rice, & Eadgar his broþor feng to Myrcena
rice. & hi wæron Eadmundes suna cyninges. & Sce.
Ælfgyfe." ASC(D) s.a. 955; "Magnifico regi
Eadmundo cum sua regina sancta Ælfgiva filium peperisset
Eadgarum, ..." John Worc., s.a. 943 (1: 133); see also
below]
Eadwig, d. 1×2 October 959, king of
England, 955-7, king of Wessex, 957-9;
m. Ælfgifu, divorced 958.
Eadwig succeeded his uncle Eadred in 955
["Her forþferde Eadred cining. ... & þa feng
Eadwig to rice. Eadmundes sunu cinges." ASC(A) s.a. 955
("Here King Eadred passed away, ... and then Eadwig, the
son of King Edmund, succeeded to the kingdom."
ASC(Eng), 112)]. In 957, the Mercians and Northumbrians renounced
their allegiance to Eadwig, and chose his brother Eadgar as king
in his place ["Her Eadgar æþeling feng to Myrcna rice."
ASC(B,C) s.a. 957 ("Here the ætheling Edgar succeeded
to the kingdom of Mercia." ASC(Eng), 113); ASC(D) s.a.
955 (incorrectly); "Rex Anglorum Eadwius, quoniam in
commisso regimine insipienter egit, a Mercensibus et
Northhymbrensibus contemptus relinquitur, et suus germanus, clito
Eadgarus, ab eis rex eligitur" John Worc., s.a. 957 (1:
137)]. Eadwig and his wife were divorced because of consanguinity
in 958 ["Her on þissum geare Oda arcebiscop totwæmde
Eadwi cyning & Ælgyfe. forþæm þe hi wæron to gesybbe."
ASC(D) s.a. 958 ("Here in this year Archbishop Oda
divorced King Eadwig and Ælfgifu because they were related."
ASC(Eng), 113)]. When Eadwig died, apparently in 959, he was
succeeded by Eadgar in the entire kingdom ["Her
forðferde Eadwig cing. & Eadgar his broðor feng to ríce."
ASC(B,C) s.a. 959; ASC(E) s.a 959; "kl. Octobr."
ASC(A) s.a. 958; "Rex West-Saxonum Eadwius, IV. annis
regni sui peractis, defunctus, Wintoniæ in Novo Monasterio est
sepultus" John Worc., s.a. 959 (1: 138); "2.
[Oct] Hic obiit Eadwig rex." Lib. Vit. Hyde, 272]. In
favor of 959 as the year of Eadwigs death, we have the nearly
contemporary testimony of the chronicler Æthelweard that Eadwig
reigned for four years [Æthelweard, 55], a kinglist (in two
related MSS) that he reigned for 3 years, 36 weeks, and 2 days
[Dumville (1986), 29], and a kinglist that he reigned for 4 years
minus 7 weeks [ibid., 30]. Besides the Parker Chronicle, 958 is
supported by a kinglist giving Eadwig a reign of two and a half
years ibid., 29].
Eadgar, d. 8
July 975, king of England 959-975;
m. (1) Æthelflæd, alias Candida or
Eneda, daughter of ealdorman Ordmær.
m. (2) Wulfthryth, nun, bur. Wilton.
m. (3) 965, Ælfthryth, daughter of Ordgar, ealdorman, dux of Devon, widow of Æthelweald/Æthelwold,
ealdorman of East Anglia.
Falsely attributed daughter (in fact a sister):
Eadgyth, m. Otto I
"the Great", d. 7 May 973, emperor.
Thietmar of Merseburg mistakenly makes
Eadgyth a daughter of Eadmund ["Otto, coniugem suam
Editham, Ethmundi regis Anglorum filiam" Thietmar, Chron.,
ii, 1, MGH SS 3: 744]. Liudprand makes "Otgith"
a daughter of an unnamed brother of Æthelstan ["Duxerat
idem rex Otto ante regni susceptionem ex Anglorum gente
nobilissima regis Hadelstani fratris filiam sibi uxorem, nomine
Otgith; ..." Liudprand, Antapodosis, iv, 17,
Dümmler (1877), 88]. Widukind makes Otto's wife incorrectly a
daughter of "Ethmundus" but correctly a sister
of Æthelstan ["Nam rex dedit filio suo Oddoni coniugem
filiam Ethmundi regis Anglorum, sororem Adalstani, ..."
Widukind, i, 37, MGH SS 3: 434]. She was in fact a sister, as
seen on the page of Eadweard
"the Elder".
Æthelweard = A. Campbell ed., Chronicon Æthelweardi/The Chronicle of Æthelweard, (New York, 1962).
ASC = Charles Plummer, Two of the Saxon Chronicles parallel, based on the earlier edition by John Earle, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1892-9). ASC(A) indicates the "A" manuscript of the chronicle, and similarly for the other manuscripts.
ASC(Eng) = Michael Swanton, ed. & trans., The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (London, 2000).
Beaven (1917) = Murray L. R. Beaven, "The Regnal Dates of Alfred, Edward the Elder, and Athelstan", English Historical Review 32 (1917): 517-531.
Beaven (1918) = Murray L. R. Beaven, "King Edmund I and the Danes of York", English Historical Review 33 (1918): 1-9.
Cart. Sax. = Walter de Gray Birch, ed., Cartularium Saxonicum, 4 vols. (1885-99).
Dümmler (1877) = Ernst Dümmler, ed., Liudprandi episcopi Cremonensis opera omnia (MGH SRG, Hannover, 1877).
Dumville (1986) = David N. Dumville, "The West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List: Manuscripts and Texts", Anglia 104 (1986): 1-32.
Flodoard, Annales = Ph. Lauer, ed., Les Annales de Flodoard (Paris, 1905).
John Worc. = Benjamin Thorpe, ed., Florentii Wigorniensis monachi chronicon ex chronicis, 2 vols., (London, 1848-9). (The work formerly attributed to Florence of Worcester is now generally attributed to John of Worcester.)
Lib. Vit. Hyde = Walter de Gray Birch, Liber Vitae: Register and Martyrology of New Minister and Hyde Abbey Winchester (London, 1892).
MGH SS = Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores series.
Onom. Anglo-Sax. = William George Searle, Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum (Cambridge, 1897). Spellings of Anglo-Saxon names on this page have been standardized according to this source.
Searle (1899) = William George Searle, Anglo-Saxon Bishops, Kings and Nobles (Cambridge, 1899).
Thorpe (1865) = Benjamin Thorpe, ed., Diplomatarium Anglicum Ævi Saxonici (London, 1865).
Vaughan (1954) = Richard Vaughan, "The Chronology of the Parker Chronicle, 890-970", English Historical Review 69 (1954): 59-66.
Compiled by Stewart Baldwin
First uploaded 20 June 2010.