May 26, 946. Edmund dies (stabbed in a brawl)
Eadred, Edmund's brother, succeeds to England
August 16, 946. Eadred consecrated king

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Edmund died on St Augustine's day (26 May), stabbed by Leofa in a brawl at Pucklechurch. John of Worcester, writing in the 12th century, adds that Edmund was trying to rescue his seneschal from being killed by a robber, and that he was buried at Glastonbury by St Dunstan (JW, pp.398-9).

It was only in Eadred's reign that Northumbria became a permanent part of the kingdom of England, almost three decades after Æthelstan conquered Northumbria and declared the perfecta Saxonia (q.v.). His dealings with the Northumbrians took up most of his reign (see entry on 947-54).

Eadred is not known to have married or had children, and seems increasingly remote in his last years: less than a third of the charters of 953-5 are witnessed by the king, and the prevalence of "Dunstan B"-type charters may suggest that Dunstan took over some of the production of charters in this period (see Keynes, pp.185-6).

The earliest Life of St Dunstan, written towards the end of the century, deals with King Eadred in chapters 19 and 20 (extracts at EHD 234). It describes a very good relationship between Eadred and Dunstan, such that Dunstan was one of Eadred's favourite counsellors, and that Eadred entrusted the best of his treasures to Dunstan. This fits the possibility that Dunstan took over some of the charter-production in 953-5, and Eadred's will, in which Abbot Dunstan appears on a level with bishops and the archbishop of Canterbury, confirms that Eadred held Dunstan in high esteem (S 1515; see EHD 107). The will also confirms that some of Eadred's treasures were distributed among the ecclesiastics (a sum put aside for the use of Bishop Oscytel of Dorchester is said to be in the possession of Bishop Wulfhelm of Wells). The Life of Dunstan also notes that Eadred suffered from an unpleasant-sounding but unidentified disease, which eventually killed him. He died in 955.

R. Darlington and others, The Chronicle of John of Worcester, II: The Annals from 450 to 1066 (Oxford: 1995)

S. Keynes, "The 'Dunstan B' Charters", Anglo-Saxon England 23 (1994), pp.165-93

W. Stubbs, Memorials of St Dunstan (London: 1874) [A new edition of the Life of St Dunstan is being prepared by M. Lapidge and M. Winterbottom]