Ancestral Trails 2016 » EDWARD I OF WESSEX (875-924)

Données personnelles EDWARD I OF WESSEX 

• Il est né en l'an 875 dans Wessex.
• Titre: King of the Anglo-Saxons 899-924
• (Coronation) le 8 juin 900 dans Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey.Source 1
• (Ancestry) : House of Wessex.
• (Titles) octobre 899 dans Succeeded his father, King Alfred the Great, as King of Wessex.
• Il est décédé le 17 juillet 924 dans Fardon on Dee, Nr Chester, Cheshire, il avait 49 ans.
• Il est enterré en l'an 924 dans Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, Hampshire.
• Un enfant de ALFRED THE GREAT et EALSWITH OF MERCIA

Famille de EDWARD I OF WESSEX

(1) Il est marié avec EDGIVA MEAPHAM OF KENT.

Ils se sont mariés en l'an 919 à Wessex, il avait 44 ans.

Enfant(s):

1. Edgiva of WESSEX  922-944
2. Thyra of WESSEX  924-????
3. ALBERIC OF WESSEX  ± 920-???? 
4. EDMUND I OF WESSEX  921-946 
5. Aedred of WESSEX  925-956

(2) Il est marié avec AELFLEDA OF WESSEX.

Ils se sont mariés en l'an 899 à Wessex, il avait 24 ans.

Enfant(s):

1. Aedfleda of WESSEX  906-± 963
2. Aelfweard of WESSEX  900-924
3. Edwin of WESSEX  902-933
4. Aelgive of WESSEX  915-± 940
5. AEDGIFU OF WESSEX  904-± 953 
6. EADGYTH OF WESSEX  910-???? 
7. Eadhilda of WESSEX  908-938
8. Æthelhild of WESSEX  912-????

(3) Il est marié avec ECGWINA OF WESSEX.

Ils se sont mariés environ 893 à Wessex.

Enfant(s):

1. Aelfred of WESSEX  893-????
2. Adele of WESSEX  895-944
3. Aethelstan of WESSEX  895-941
4. AEDGYTH OF WESSEX  896-> 930 

Notes par EDWARD I OF WESSEX

Edward the Elder (c. 874 - 17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin Æthelwold, who had a strong claim to the throne as the son of Alfred's elder brother and predecessor, Æthelred.

Alfred had succeeded Æthelred as king of Wessex in 871, and almost faced defeat against the Danish Vikings until his decisive victory at the Battle of Edington in 878. After the battle, the Vikings still ruled Northumbria, East Anglia and eastern Mercia, with only Wessex and western Mercia under Anglo-Saxon control. In the early 880s Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, the ruler of western Mercia, accepted Alfred's lordship and married his daughter Æthelflæd, and around 886 Alfred adopted the new title King of the Anglo-Saxons as the ruler of all Anglo-Saxons not subject to Danish rule.

In 910 a Mercian and West Saxon army inflicted a decisive defeat on an invading Northumbrian army, ending the threat from the northern Vikings. In the 910s, Edward conquered Viking ruled southern England in partnership with his sister Æthelflæd, who had succeeded as Lady of the Mercians following the death of her husband in 911. Historians dispute how far Mercia was dominated by Wessex during this period, and after Æthelflæd's death in June 918 her daughter Ælfwynn briefly became second Lady of the Mercians, but in December Edward took her into Wessex and imposed direct rule on Mercia. By the end of the 910s he ruled Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia, and only Northumbria remained under Viking rule. In 924 he faced a Mercian and Welsh revolt at Chester, and after putting it down he died at Farndon in Cheshire on 17 July 924. He was succeeded by his eldest son Æthelstan.

Edward has been described as "perhaps the most neglected of English kings", partly because few primary sources for his reign survive. His reputation among historians rose in the late twentieth century, and he is seen as destroying the power of the Vikings in southern England, and laying the foundations for a south-centred united English kingdom.

Mercia was the dominant kingdom in southern England in the eighth century and maintained its position until it suffered a decisive defeat by Wessex at the Battle of Ellandun in 825. Thereafter the two kingdoms became allies, which was to be an important factor in English resistance to the Vikings. In 865 the Danish Viking Great Heathen Army landed in East Anglia and used this as a starting point for an invasion. The East Anglians were forced to pay off the Vikings, who invaded Northumbria the following year. They appointed a puppet king in 867, and then moved on Mercia, where they spent the winter of 867-868. King Burgred of Mercia was joined by King Æthelred of Wessex and his brother, the future King Alfred, for a combined attack on the Vikings, who refused an engagement; in the end the Mercians bought peace with them. The following year, the Danes conquered East Anglia, and in 874 they expelled King Burgred, and Ceolwulf became the last King of Mercia with their support. In 877 the Vikings partitioned Mercia, taking the eastern regions for themselves and allowing Ceolwulf to keep the western ones. The situation was transformed the following year when Alfred won a decisive victory over the Danes at the Battle of Edington. He was thus able to prevent the Vikings from taking Wessex and western Mercia, although they still occupied Northumbria, East Anglia and eastern Mercia.

Childhood
Alfred the Great married Ealhswith in 868. Her father was Æthelred Mucel, Ealdorman of the Gaini, and her mother, Eadburh, was a member of the Mercian royal family. Alfred and Ealhswith had five children who survived childhood. The oldest was Æthelflæd, who married Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, and ruled as Lady of the Mercians after his death. Edward was next, and the second daughter, Æthelgifu, became abbess of Shaftesbury. The third daughter, Ælfthryth, married Baldwin, Count of Flanders, and the younger son, Æthelweard, was given a scholarly education, including learning Latin. This would usually suggest that he was intended for the church, but it is unlikely in Æthelweard's case as he had sons. There were also an unknown number of children who died young. Neither part of Edward's name, which means 'protector of wealth', had been used previously by the West Saxon royal house, and Barbara Yorke suggests that he may have been named after his maternal grandmother Eadburh, reflecting the West Saxon policy of strengthening links with Mercia.

Æthelflæd was probably born about a year after her parents' marriage, and Edward was brought up with his youngest sister, Ælfthryth. Yorke argues that he was therefore probably nearer in age to Ælfthryth than Æthelflæd. However, he led troops in battle in 893, and he must have been of marriageable age in that year as his oldest son Æthelstan was born about 894, so Edward was probably born in the mid-870s. According to Asser in his Life of King Alfred, Edward and Ælfthryth were educated at court by male and female tutors, and read ecclesiastical and secular works in English, such as the Psalms and Old English poems. They were taught the courtly qualities of gentleness and humility, and Asser wrote that they were obedient to their father and friendly to visitors. This is the only known case of an Anglo-Saxon prince and princess receiving the same upbringing.

Ætheling
As a son of a king, Edward was an ætheling, a prince of the royal house who was eligible for kingship. Even though he had the advantage of being the eldest son of the reigning king, his accession was not assured, as he had cousins who had a strong claim to the throne. Æthelhelm and Æthelwold were sons of Æthelred, Alfred's older brother and predecessor as king, but they had been passed over because they were infants when their father died. More is known about Edward's childhood than about that of other Anglo-Saxon princes, providing information about the training of a prince in a period of Carolingian influence, and Yorke suggest that we may know so much due to Alfred's efforts to portray his son as the most throneworthy ætheling.

Æthelhelm is only recorded in Alfred's will of the mid-880s, and probably died at some time in the next decade, but Æthelwold is listed above Edward in the only charter where he appears, probably indicating a higher status. Æthelwold may also have had an advantage because his mother Wulfthryth witnessed a charter as queen, whereas Edward's mother Ealhswith never had a higher status than king's wife. However, Alfred was in a position to give his own son considerable advantages. In his will, he only left a handful of estates to his brother's sons, and the bulk of his property to Edward, including all his booklands (land vested in a charter which could be alienated by the holder, as opposed to folkland, which had to pass to heirs of the body) in Kent. Alfred also advanced men who could be depended on to support his plans for his succession, such as his brother-in-law, a Mercian ealdorman called Æthelwulf, and his son-in-law Æthelred. Edward witnessed several of his father's charters, and often accompanied him on royal peregrinations. In a Kentish charter of 898 Edward witnessed as rex Saxonum, suggesting that Alfred may have followed the strategy adopted by his grandfather Egbert of strengthening his son's claim to succeed to the West Saxon throne by making him sub-king of Kent.

Once Edward grew up Alfred was able to give him military commands and experience in royal business. The English defeated renewed Viking attacks in 893 to 896, and in Richard Abels' view, the glory belonged to Æthelred and Edward rather than Alfred himself. In 893 Edward defeated the Vikings in the Battle of Farnham, although he was unable to follow up his victory as his troops' period of service had expired and he had to release them. The situation was saved by the arrival of troops from London led by Æthelred. Yorke argues that although Alfred packed the witan with members whose interests lay in the continuation of Alfred's line, that may not have been sufficient to ensure Edward's accession if he had not displayed his fitness for kingship.

In about 893 Edward probably married Ecgwynn, who bore him two children, the future King Æthelstan and a daughter who married Sihtric, a Viking King of York. The twelfth-century chronicler William of Malmesbury described Ecgwynn as an illustris femina, and stated that Edward chose Æthelstan as his heir as king. She may have been related to St Dunstan, the aristocratic tenth-century Archbishop of Canterbury. However, William also stated that Æthelstan's accession in 924 was opposed by a nobleman who claimed that his mother was a concubine of low birth. The suggestion that Ecgwynn was Edward's mistress is accepted by some historians such as Simon Keynes and Richard Abels, but Yorke and Æthelstan's biographer, Sarah Foot, disagree, arguing that the allegations should be seen in the context of the disputed succession in 924, and were not an issue in the 890s. Ecgwynn probably died by 899, as around the time of Alfred's death Edward married Ælfflæd, the daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire.

Janet Nelson suggests that there was conflict between Alfred and Edward in the 890s. She points out that the contemporary Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, produced under court auspices in the 890s, does not mention Edward's military successes. These are only known from the late tenth century chronicle of Æthelweard, such as his account of the Battle of Farnham, in which in Nelson's view "Edward's military prowess, and popularity with a following of young warriors, are highlighted". Towards the end of his life Alfred invested his young grandson Æthelstan in a ceremony which historians see as designation as eventual successor to the kingship. Nelson argues that while this may have been proposed by Edward to support the accession of his own son, on the other hand it may have been intended by Alfred as part of a scheme to divide the kingdom between his son and grandson. Æthelstan was sent to be brought up in Mercia by Æthelflæd and Æthelred, but it is not known whether this was Alfred's idea or Edward's. Alfred's wife Ealhswith was ignored in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in her husband's lifetime, but emerged from obscurity when her son acceded. This may be because she supported her son against her husband.

King of the Anglo-Saxons
In London in 886 Alfred had received the formal submission of "all the English people that were not under subjection to the Danes", and thereafter he adopted the title Anglorum Saxonum rex (King of the Anglo-Saxons), which is used in his later charters and all but two of Edward's. This is seen by Keynes as "the invention of a wholly new and distinctive polity", covering both West Saxons and Mercians, which was inherited by Edward with the support of Mercians at the West Saxon court, of whom the most important was Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury. In 903 Edward issued several charters concerning land in Mercia. Three of them are witnessed by the Mercian leaders and their daughter Ælfwynn, and they all contain a statement that Æthelred and Æthelflæd "then held rulership and power over the race of the Mercians, under the aforesaid king". Other charters were issued by the Mercian leaders which did not contain any acknowledgment of Edward's authority, but they did not issue their own coinage. This view of Edward's status is accepted by Martin Ryan, who states that Æthelred and Æthelflæd had "a considerable but ultimately subordinate share of royal authority" in English Mercia.

Other historians disagree. Pauline Stafford describes Æthelflæd as "the last Mercian queen", while in Charles Insley's view Mercia kept its independence until Æthelflæd's death in 918. Michael Davidson contrasts the 903 charters with one of 901 in which the Mercian rulers were "by grace of God, holding, governing and defending the monarchy of the Mercians". Davidson comments that "the evidence for Mercian subordination is decidedly mixed. Ultimately, the ideology of the 'Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons' may have been less successful in achieving the absorption of Mercia and more something which I would see as a murky political coup." The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was compiled at the West Saxon court from the 890s, and the entries for the late ninth and early tenth centuries are seen by historians as reflecting the West Saxon viewpoint; Davidson observes that "Alfred and Edward possessed skilled 'spin doctors'". However, some versions of the Chronicle incorporate part of a lost Mercian Register, which gives a Mercian perspective and details of Æthelflæd's campaign against the Vikings.

In the late ninth and early tenth centuries connection with the West Saxon royal house was seen as prestigious by continental rulers. In the mid-890s Alfred had married his daughter Ælfthryth to Baldwin II of Flanders, and in 919 Edward married his daughter Eadgifu to Charles the Simple, King of West Francia. In 925, after Edward's death, another daughter Eadgyth married Otto, the future King of Germany and (after Eadgyth's death) Holy Roman Emperor.

Later life
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, there was a general submission of rulers in Britain to Edward in 920:
"Then [Edward] went from there into the Peak District to Bakewell and ordered a borough to be built in the neighbourhood and manned. And then the king of the Scots and all the people of the Scots, and Rægnald and the sons of Eadwulf and all who live in Northumbria, both English and Danish, Norsemen and others, and also the king of the Strathclyde Welsh and all the Strathclyde Welsh, chose him as father and lord."

This passage was regarded as a straightforward report by most historians until the late twentieth century, and Frank Stenton observed that "each of the rulers named in this list had something definite to gain from an acknowledgement of Edward's overlordship". Since the 1980s this submission has been viewed with increasing scepticism, particularly as the passage in the Chronicle is the only evidence for it, unlike other submissions such as that one in 927 to Æthelstan, for which there is independent support from literary sources and coins. Alfred Smyth points out that Edward was not in a position to impose the same conditions on the Scots and the Northumbrians as he could on conquered Vikings, and argues that the Chronicle presented a treaty between kings as a submission to Wessex. Stafford observes that the rulers had met at Bakewell on the border between Mercia and Northumbria, and that meetings on borders were generally considered to avoid any implication of submission by either side. Davidson points out that the wording "chosen as father and lord" applied to conquered army groups and burhs, not relations with other kings. In his view:
"The idea that this meeting represented a 'submission', while it must remain a possibility, does however seem unlikely. The textual context of the chronicler's passage makes his interpretation of the meeting suspect, and ultimately, Edward was in no position to force the subordination of, or dictate terms to, his fellow kings in Britain.

Edward continued Æthelflæd's policy of founding burhs in the north-west, with ones at Thelwall and Manchester in 919, and Cledematha (Rhuddlan) at the mouth of the River Clwyd in North Wales in 921.

Nothing is known of his relations with the Mercians between 919 and the last year of his life, when he put down a Mercian and Welsh revolt at Chester. Mercia and the eastern Danelaw were organised into shires at an unknown date in the tenth century, ignoring traditional boundaries, and historians such as Sean Miller and David Griffiths suggest that Edward's imposition of direct control from 919 is a likely context for a change which ignored Mercian sensibilities. Resentment at the changes, at the imposition of rule by distant Wessex, and at fiscal demands by Edward's reeves, may have provoked the revolt at Chester. He died at the royal estate of Farndon, twelve miles south of Chester, on 24 July 924, shortly after putting down the revolt, and was buried in the New Minster, Winchester. In 1109, the New Minster was moved outside the city walls to become Hyde Abbey, and the following year Edward and his parents were translated to the new church

Marriages and children
Edward had about fourteen children from three marriages.

He first married Ecgwynn around 893. Their children were:
Æthelstan, King of England 924-939
A daughter, perhaps called Edith, married Sihtric, Viking King of York in 926, who died in 927. Possibly Saint Edith of Polesworth.

In c. 900, Edward married Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire. Their children were:
Ælfweard, died August 924, a month after his father; possibly King of Wessex for that month
Edwin, drowned at sea 933
Æthelhild, lay sister at Wilton Abbey
Eadgifu (died in or after 951), married Charles the Simple, King of the West Franks, c. 918
Eadflæd, nun at Wilton Abbey
Eadhild, married Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks in 926
Eadgyth (died 946), in 929/30 married Otto I, future King of the East Franks, and (after Eadgyth's death) Holy Roman Emperor
Ælfgifu, married "a prince near the Alps", perhaps Louis, brother of King Rudolph II of Burgundy

Edward married for a third time, about 919, Eadgifu, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent. Their children were
Edmund, King of England 939-946
Eadred, King of England 946-955
Eadburh (died c. 952), Benedictine nun at Nunnaminster, Winchester, and saint
Eadgifu, existence uncertain, possibly the same person as Ælfgifu
SOURCE: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_the_Elder

EADVVEARD ÆLFREDING ÐE ELDRA WESTSEAXNA CYNING EADVVEARD REX SAXONVM OCCIDENTALIVM He succeeded his father in 899 as EDWARD "the Elder" King of Wessex. EADWEARD, son of ALFRED King of Wessex & his wife Ealhswith ([872]-Farndon-on-Dee near Chester 17 Jul 924, bur Winchester Cathedral. "Eadwardum" is named by Roger of Hoveden as the younger of King Alfred's sons by Queen Ealswith. "Edward/Eadweard filius regis" subscribed charters of King Alfred dated 871 and 892 (two).

He defeated the Danes at Fareham 893. "Eadweard rex" subscribed a charter of King Alfred dated 898, implying that he was crowned in the lifetime of his father. He succeeded his father in 899 as EDWARD "the Elder" King of Wessex, crowned 31 May or 9 Jun 900 at Kingston-upon-Thames. He was faced soon after by the rebellion of his first cousin Æthelwold, son of Æthelred I King of Wessex, whom he finally defeated at the battle of the Holm in [902/05].

King Edward attacked the Danes in Northumbria in 909 and forced them to accept peace on his terms. The Danes countered by raiding Mercia as far as the Bristol Avon, but Edward defeated them at Tettenhall 5 Aug 910. In 911, Edward occupied London and Oxford, and in Summer 912 he attacked the Danes in Essex. King Edward continued northwards in 915, occupying Bedford. Edward began a major offensive against the Danes in the Midlands in 917, helped by the Mercian troops of his sister Æthelflæd.

After his sister's death in 918, King Edward seized Tamworth to ensure the loyalty of Mercia, but left his niece Ælfwynn in nominal authority in Mercia until the winter of 919 when he had her taken to Wessex, marking the final integration of Mercia into Wessex. This was followed by the submission to him by the Welsh kings of Gwynedd, Dyfed and the lands between Merioneth and Gower, which made King Edward overlord of major parts of Wales.

Edward then turned his attention to the reconquest of the remaining Danish colonies south of the river Humber, which he completed by 920, culminating with the submission to him of Rægnald King of York, Ealdred of Bamburgh and the king and people of Strathclyde. He was suppressing a revolt in Chester when he died. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the death of King Edward at Farndon-on-Dee in Mercia in 924 and his burial at Winchester. SOURCE: Charles Cawley at http://fmg.ac/

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