July 8, 975. Edgar dies
Edward (the Martyr), Edgar's son, succeeds to England
Edgar died in 975 and left two sons, by different mothers. The older, Edward, was son of Wulfthryth or Æthelflæd and was probably somewhere between eleven and sixteen (born before the second marriage of 964, but not much before because Edgar himself was only about 20 in 964; the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes he was 29 in 973). The younger, Æthelred, was son of Ælfthryth, and probably nine or younger (as the second son of a marriage of 964). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes that Edward succeeded.
The succession of the oldest son is not in itself surprising, though it was not guaranteed in Anglo-Saxon England, as is seen from the succession of Æthelstan's younger brother Ælfweard after the death of Edward the Elder in 924. What makes the succession of Edgar's son Edward surprising is the fact that there had been clear signs while Edgar was alive that the kingship was expected to pass to a son of Ælfthryth (see note under Edgar's accession, 959). While the Chronicle notes no dissent to Edward's succession, the near-contemporary Life of St Oswald notes that there was a conflict, with some nobles preferring the king's elder son, and others the younger, partly because the younger seemed gentler in speech and deeds while the older inspired terror both with words and with blows (extract at EHD 236, p.914). The Life does not give the names of nobles in the opposing camps, but some of the parties can be reconstructed: Æthelwold bishop of Winchester, Ælfthryth Edgar's widow, and Ælfhere ealdorman of Mercia were on Æthelred's side, while Dunstan archbishop of Canterbury, Æthelwine ealdorman of East Anglia and Byrhtnoth of Essex favoured Edward (see Keynes, Diplomas, p.166, and Yorke, pp.81-5). Since the two princes were both very young, it is likely that family loyalties played at least as much part in the choosing of sides as the perceived throne-worthiness of either boy.
There was continuing unrest in Edward's reign, but it is hard to know how much of this is resistance to Edward and how much a more general reaction to a loosening of the repressive control of Edgar's reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in Mercia and elsewhere, nobles including Ealdorman Ælfhere plundered and destroyed many of the monasteries founded in Edgar's reign. But it seems that the establishment of the monasteries had sometimes encroached on secular rights, and the nobles were more probably trying to recover what they saw as their own property than to blot out the monastic reform. A charter of Æthelred's records that some of the land Edgar granted to the monastery at Abingdon had been land set aside for the æthelings, and that after Edgar's death and Edward's accession it was recovered and given to Æthelred for his use (S 937; translated as EHD 123). (For further examples, see Keynes, "900-1016", p.00.)
Aside from the unrest, almost nothing is known of Edward's reign. He was murdered in 978.
S. Keynes, The Diplomas of King Æthelred "The Unready" 978-1016: A Study in their Use as Historical Evidence (Cambridge: 1980), pp.163-6
S. Keynes, "England 900-1016", in T. Reuter (ed.), The New Cambridge Medieval History III (Cambridge: forthcoming)
B. Yorke, "Æthelwold and the Politics of the Tenth Century", Bishop Æthelwold: His Career and Influence (Woodbridge: 1988), pp.65-88