July 17, 924. Edward dies
Ælfweard, Edward's son, succeeds (in Wessex?)
August 924. Ælfweard dies
Æthelstan, Edward's son, succeeds
September 4, 925. Æthelstan's coronation
Pulling together information from several pre-Conquest sources we can say that Edward died on July 17, 924, at Farndon in Mercia. His son Ælfweard was recognized as king at least in Winchester (the Liber Vitae of the New Minster at Winchester calls him king, and one version of the West Saxon regnal list includes his reign), but he died either 16 days or 4 weeks later (either way, in the first half of August 924). Both Edward and Ælfweard were buried at the New Minster. No version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions Ælfweard's kingship: the West Saxon branch says only that Edward died and Æthelstan succeeded, while the Mercian annals say that Edward died, Ælfweard died shortly after (without suggesting that Ælfweard was king), the Mercians chose Æthelstan as king, and he was consecrated at Kingston. A charter issued on the day of Æthelstan's coronation gives us the date, September 4, 925 (S 394).
The puzzle in all this is why was the coronation delayed for over a year, from Ælfweard's death in August 924 until September 925? Pre-Conquest sources shed no light on this problem, so later sources must be cautiously invoked. From William of Malmesbury's writings in the 12th century come hints that the delay should be seen in terms of a division between the Mercians and the West Saxons.
First of all, William adds the detail that Edward died shortly after putting down an English and British revolt in Chester (in Mercian territory; Farndon, where the Mercian annals report Edward died, is nearby). Unfortunately the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is blank for the last three years of Edward's reign, so there is no contemporary corroboration of this revolt, but in view of the apparent resentment in the Mercian annals of the treatment of Ælfwyn in 918, a Mercian revolt is plausible. (Another reason for revolt might be the reorganization of western Mercia into shires, which it has been suggested took place in the last years of Edward's reign, after his assertion of direct control over Mercia in 918; see Gelling, p.141. These new boundaries ran rough-shod over the older divisions of Mercia, and the rearrangement would probably have caused at least as much outrage in the 10th as it did in the 20th century.)
William also notes that Æthelstan was brought up at the court of Æthelred and Æthelflæd. This might have made him more acceptable as a ruler to the Mercians, though this might well depend on what part he played (if any) in the suppression of Ælfwyn in 918 and the Mercian revolt at Chester in 924 (if this really happened). If he had sided with the Mercians against his father on either occasion, it might also have made him less acceptable as a ruler to the West Saxons. That some of the West Saxons did object to Æthelstan is suggested by William's note that there was a conspiracy, led by a certain Alfred, to have Æthelstan blinded at Winchester. William reports that Alfred's conspiracy was based on the assertion that Æthelstan was illegitimate, the son of a concubine. This suggests that there may have been a faction, based perhaps at Winchester, which favoured the accession of Ælfweard's brother Edwin after Ælfweard's death in August 924. (According to William of Malmesbury, Ælfweard and Edwin were sons of Edward and Ælfflæd, while Æthelstan was the son of Edward and Ecgwynn.)
Perhaps the Mercians chose Æthelstan as king immediately after Ælfweard's death in August 924, and the West Saxons chose Edwin, and it was the resolution of this conflict that delayed the coronation. (The only document of Æthelstan's reign witnessed by Edwin is a charter of the New Minster of Winchester, S 1417, which may strengthen the case that support for Ælfweard and Edwin was based at Winchester.) Edwin lived on until 933, when he was driven abroad by troubles in the kingdom and died at sea; later legend (perhaps inevitably) suggested that Æthelstan was somehow to blame.
D. Dumville, "The West Saxon Genealogical Regnal List: Manuscripts and Texts", Anglia 104 (1986), pp.1-32 [for Ælfweard see p.29]
M. Gelling, The West Midlands in the Early Middle Ages (Leicester: 1992)
B. Yorke, "Æthelwold and the Politics of the Tenth Century", Bishop Æthelwold: His Career and Influence (Woodbridge: 1988), pp.65-88
January 30, 926. Æthelstan and Sihtric of Northumbria meet at Tamworth
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes this meeting, and states that Æthelstan gave Sihtric his sister in marriage. This attempt to ensure peace with Northumbria came to nothing because Sihtric died the following year.
927. Sihtric of Northumbria dies
Guthfrith succeeds to Northumbria, but is driven out by Æthelstan
Sihtric's death is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. One manuscript goes on to say that Æthelstan succeded him without mentioning any other claimants, while another notes that Æthelstan drove out a King Guthfrith. Sihtric left a son, Olaf Cuaran, who would return to seize York after Æthelstan's death in 939. Guthfrith was Sihtric's brother and Olaf's uncle, and after being expelled from York by Æthelstan went back to being king of Dublin.
R. Mynors and others, William of Malmesbury: Gesta Regum Anglorum (Oxford: 1998)
A. Smyth, Scandinavian York and Dublin (Dublin: 1975-8)
July 12, 927. Æthelstan's great meeting at Eamont
Æthelstan's title becomes Rex Anglorum, King of the English
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that in this year Æthelstan succeeded to Northumbria, and that he brought under his rule all the kings of the island, Hywel of the West Welsh, Constantine of the Scots, Owain of Gwent, and Ealdred, son of Eadwulf of Bamburgh. At a meeting at Eamont (in Cumbria) on 12 July they made peace with pledge and oaths. William of Malmesbury in the 12th century mentions a meeting at Dacre where Constantine of the Scots and Owain of Strathclylde pledged peace to Æthelstan, so it may be that Owain of Strathclyde should be added to the Eamont list (GRA, ii.134.2).
Michael Lapidge has demonstrated that a Latin poem about Æthelstan, the Carta Dirige Gressus, was composed in the immediate aftermath of the council at Eamont (see Lapidge, pp. 90-93). The poem agrees with the triumphal tone of the Chronicle entry, noting that England was now "made whole" (perfecta Saxonia), and there are other indications that the victory of 927 was seen as a turning point. Æthelstan's coins after 927 often bear an abbreviation of the style Rex Totius Britanniae, "King of the Whole of Britain", and coins in Æthelstan's name are minted all over the country, including Northumbria. Charters also show the change to the perfecta Saxonia: the king's style changed from the Rex Angul-Saxonum, "King of the Anglo-Saxons", used by Alfred and Edward and Æthelstan in his earliest years and implying rule over the West Saxons and the Mercians, to the simpler Rex Anglorum, "King of [all] the English". In the early 930s, the style expanded to "King of the English and by Grace of God Leader of all Britain". The witness-lists of some charters from 928 to 935 include the attestations of Welsh and Scottish rulers (Hywel Dda of Dyfed, Idwal of Gwynedd, Constantine of the Scots), who appear as sub-kings (subreguli) of Æthelstan.
C. Blunt, "The coinage of Athelstan, 924-939", British Numismatic Journal 42 (special vol., 1974), pp.35-160
M. Lapidge, "Some Latin poems as evidence for the reign of Athelstan", Anglo-Saxon England 9 (1981), pp.61-98
R. Mynors and others, William of Malmesbury: Gesta Regum Anglorum (Oxford: 1998)
933. Edwin, Edward the Elder's son, dies at sea
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes only that the ætheling Edwin was drowned at sea. The Acts of the Abbots of St Bertin's, written by Folcuin in the mid-10th century (extract at EHD 26), note that King Edwin, driven by a disturbance in his kingdom, took ship to the Continent but the ship was wrecked by a storm, and the body was washed ashore and brought to the monastery of St Bertin's for burial.
No contemporary English source explains the disturbance in the kingdom that caused Edwin to flee the country. William of Malmesbury in the 12th century hesitantly advances the theory that Edwin was accused of plotting against Æthelstan, and though Edwin denied the charges under oath he was driven into exile. Moreover, Æthelstan compelled Edwin to go to sea with only a single companion in a boat without oars or oarsmen and rotten with age, as if to make assurance double sure (GRA, ii.139.3-4; 140).
William's account of the basic situation (if not perhaps his description of the boat) seems plausible enough. If there had been even the rumour of a faction at Winchester that favoured the accession of Edwin (Ælfflæd's son) rather than Æthelstan (Ecgwynn's son) after Ælfweard's death in 924, then wily courtiers could use such rumours to their own advantage. It will probably never be clear whether there was a pro-Edwin party in Winchester early in Æthelstan's reign, though the fact that the near-contemporary Folcuin calls Edwin a king rather than a prince may suggest that he got his information from such a supporter of Edwin.
R. Mynors and others, William of Malmesbury: Gesta Regum Anglorum (Oxford: 1998)
934. Constantine of Scotland rebels
Æthelstan's Scottish campaign
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes that Æthelstan went to Scotland with both a land force and a naval force, and ravaged much of it. Presumably Constantine had rebelled; William of Malmesbury in the 12th century, describing the run-up to Brunanburh in 937, notes that Constantine was rebelling "for the second time" (GRA, ii.131.4). Because Æthelstan's charters for the period give unusually precise dating information, we can follow Æthelstan's movements. On May 28 he was in Winchester (S 425), on June 7 he had moved up to Nottingham (S 407), and on September 12 he was back in Buckingham (S 426). Since the Buckingham charter was witnessed by Constantine, it is likely that Æthelstan broke the rebellion over the summer and brought Constantine back into line.
R. Mynors and others, William of Malmesbury: Gesta Regum Anglorum (Oxford: 1998)
937. Battle of Brunanburh
The battle of Brunanburh is commemorated in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle by an Old English poem. From that poem we learn that Æthelstan and his brother Edmund won a victory at Brunanburh (unidentified), against Constantine of Scotland and Olaf, that they slew five young kings and seven of Olaf's earls, and a numberless host of seamen and Scots. The prince of the Norsemen was driven back to Dublin, and Constantine also returned to his own land.
The Olaf who was defeated at Brunanburh was not the Olaf Cuaran (son of Sihtric) whom Guthfrith came to York to support in 927, but Guthfrith's own son, somewhat confusingly also called Olaf. This Olaf Guthfrithsson became king of Dublin in 934, when his father died, and so appropriately is driven back to Dublin at battle's end (see Stenton, pp.342-3).
F. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd edn (Oxford: 1971)
October 27, 939. Æthelstan dies
Edmund, Edward the Elder's son, succeeds to England
c. November 29, 939. Edmund consecrated king
Edmund was the son of Eadgifu and Edward the Elder, and half-brother to Æthelstan. He was the first king to succeed to all of England, including Northumbria, but he soon lost Northumbria and most of Mercia; he spent a good part of his reign recovering them (see entries on 939, 942, 944). He also faced down a Welsh revolt in the process (942), and went on to ravage Strathclyde when he was done (see entry on 945). He died in 946.
Edmund was twice married. By his first wife, Ælfgifu (who died in 944) he had two sons, Eadwig and Edgar. She was a benefactress of Shaftesbury, where a cult of St Ælfgifu developed. Edmund's second wife was Æthelflæd of Damerham.
939. Olaf Guthfrithsson becomes king in York
939/40. Olaf expands southwards, takes Five Boroughs, to Watling Street
Olaf Guthfrithsson, who was defeated by Æthelstan at Brunanburh in 937, returned from Dublin to England in the two months between Æthelstan's death and the end of 939 (see Beaven, p.2, drawing on Irish chronicles), and had probably occupied York by the end of 939. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes that the Northumbrians were false to their pledges and chose Olaf from Ireland as their king, which suggests there was no resistance.
The Chronicle notes that Olaf next took Tamworth by storm, and carried away much plunder from there. Then King Edmund besieged King Olaf and Archbishop Wulfstan at Leicester, and could have taken them if they had not escaped by night. Simeon of Durham, writing in the 12th century, adds some details, noting that Olaf marched south from York to Northampton, and when that siege failed he went on to Tamworth, and ravaged the area. On his return to Leicester and meeting with Edmund, serious fighting was averted by the two archbishops, Oda and Wulfstan, who reconciled the kings and helped conclude a truce. By the terms of the truce, Watling Street became the boundary between Edmund's kingdom and Olaf's.
Since Oda was not transferred from Ramsbury to Canterbury until 941 (see S 475 and 476), it may be that his presence at Leicester as archbishop in 940 is a literary embellishment of Simeon's to balance the other archbishop. But that the boundary was returned to Watling street is shown independently from Edmund's reconquests of 942 and 944.
The return of the border to Watling Street meant that in a single year Olaf Guthfrithsson had reversed the reconquest of the Danelaw which Edward and Æthelflæd had managed in the 910s, and Æthelstan had apparently sealed in the 920s and 930s. It is also worth noting that Wulfstan, archbishop of York, was acting on behalf of the Norse king: his taking of sides here makes it easier to understand why King Eadred would order Wulfstan's arrest in 952 when another Norse king was in charge of York (q.v.).
M. Beaven, "King Edmund I and the Danes of York", English Historical Review 139 (1918), pp.1-9
c.940?946. Edmund makes Dunstan abbot of Glastonbury
N. Brooks, "The Career of St Dunstan", in N. Ramsay and others (edd.), St Dunstan: His Life, Times and Cult (Woodbridge, 1992), pp.1-23
941. Olaf Guthfrithsson raids Bernicia; dies shortly afterwards
Olaf Sihtricsson succeeds
Simeon of Durham in the 12th century records that Olaf ravaged the church of St Bealdhere and burnt Tyninghame, and perished shortly afterwards, that the men of York laid waste Lindisfarne in revenge and killed many people, and that Olaf Sihtricsson succeeded to the Northumbrians.
One manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records King Olaf's death in 942, but this is contradicted by Celtic chronicles, which support the 941 date (see Beaven, p.5). Tyninghame is on the south coast of the Firth of Forth, and so it seems that Olaf, having been checked by the king of the English to the south, turned around to see how far he could get against the Bernicians. Celtic annals suggest that Olaf Sihtricsson came to York late in 940 at Olaf Guthfrithsson's invitation (see Beaven, p.6), and it may be that Sihtricsson's succession on Guthfrithsson's death was helped by the fact that his father Sihtric had previously ruled in York (920-7).
M. Beaven, "King Edmund I and the Danes of York", English Historical Review 139 (1918), pp.1-9
942. Edmund defeats Idwal of Gwynedd
The Annales Cambriae record that Idwal and his brother Eliseg were killed by the Saxons in 943. (For the re-dating of this annal to 942, and the ordering of the revolt of the Welsh and the retaking of the Five Boroughs, see Beaven, p.7.) The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle makes no mention of this incident, but since Idwal was the king of Gwynedd this must have been a major uprising and Edmund was presumably responsible for crushing it.
M. Beaven, "King Edmund I and the Danes of York", English Historical Review 139 (1918), pp.1-9
942. Edmund recaptures the Five Boroughs
Edmund's recapture of the Five Boroughs, which removed the border with the Vikings back to the Humber, is celebrated by a short and triumphal poem in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
943. Edmund stands sponsor to King Olaf, and much later to King Ragnall
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that Edmund stood sponsor to King Olaf at baptism, and then much later the same year to King Ragnall at confirmation. The next annal calls Ragnall a son of Guthfrith, and if he is the brother of Olaf Guthfrithsson he was presumably claiming to be king of York: contemporary coins of York in Ragnall's name support this claim (see Grierson and Blackburn, p.324, which also mentions an otherwise unknown king Sihtric striking coins at York in this period). It is uncertain how King Ragnall's reign related to King Olaf's, though Simeon of Durham's 12th-century note that the Northumbrians drove out Olaf in 943 may suggest that Ragnall took over for 943-4. Since Olaf was still in Northumbria to be driven out by Edmund in 944, it may be that the two kings were fighting over the leadership when the English invaded, much as the (English) Northumbrians had done when faced with Viking attack in 866.
P. Grierson and M. Blackburn, Medieval European Coinage, 1: The Early Middle Ages (5th-10th centuries) (Cambridge: 1986)
944. Edmund recaptures Northumbria
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes that Edmund reduced all Northumbria under his rule, and drove out both kings, Olaf Sihtricsson and Ragnall Guthfrithsson.
945. Edmund ravages Strathclyde, and grants it to Malcolm, king of the Scots
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes that Edmund ravaged all Cumberland (i.e., the British kingdom of Strathclyde), and granted it to Malcolm, king of the Scots, in return for his alliance. (The identification of the Chronicle's Cumberland with Strathclyde is confirmed by the Annales Cambriae, which note the devastation of Strathclyde by the Saxons.) The new lines drawn were not permanent, as Dunmail was shortly ruling in Strathclyde once more, but it does show Edmund's recognition that Northumbria was the most northerly part of the kingdom of England (see Stenton, p.359). Edmund may also have been trying to cut the link between Scandinavian York and Dublin.
F. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd edn (Oxford: 1971)
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]
947-54. Eadred and the Northumbrians
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in 947 Eadred came to Tanshelf, where Wulfstan, archbishop of York, and all the councillors of the Northumbrians pledged themselves to the king. Very shortly afterwards, they betrayed their oaths, and took the Norwegian Erik Bloodaxe as their king. In 948 Eadred ravaged Northumbria, and burnt down St Wilfrid's minster at Ripon. While Eadred was on his way home, the army of York overtook him at Castleford and inflicted heavy losses. This so enraged Eadred that he threatened to march back into Northumbria and destroy it utterly, at which point the Northumbrians deserted Erik and paid Eadred compensation. In 949 Olaf Cuaran came back to Northumbria, and the implication seems to be that he was accepted as king, because in 952 the Northumbrians drove out King Olaf and took back Erik. Also in 952 Eadred ordered the imprisonment of Archbishop Wulfstan of York. In 954 the Northumbrians drove out Erik, and Eadred finally succeeded to Northumbria. Contemporary sources do not record what happened to Erik, but Roger of Wendover in the 13th century records that he was betrayed by Earl Oswulf and treacherously killed by Earl Maccus at Stainmore.
The information of the Chronicle is contradicted on one point by the evidence of contemporary charters, some of which (the so-called "alliterative" charters) include very detailed royal titles. Such charters survive for the years 946 (S 520), 949 (S 544, 548-50), 950 (S 552a), 951 (S 556-7), and 955 (S 566, 569), and Eadred is specifically called king of the Northumbrians in charters for 946, 949, 950, and 955. (The fact that he is not called king of Northumbria in 951 may well be a tacit admission that he had lost the province by that time, but the charters give no evidence on the control of Northumbria between 946-9 and 951-5.) Since Eadred was in control of Northumbria in 950, either Olaf's arrival should be moved from 949 to 950 or at least some part of Northumbria remained loyal to Eadred in the first year of Olaf's presence.
A second point of apparent contradiction between the Chronicle and the charters comes in the note in the Chronicle under 954 that Wulfstan received a bishopric again, in Dorchester. This has been taken to mean that Wulfstan was incarcerated from 952-4, which would be contradicted by the fact that he witnesses a charter in 953 (S 560). However, Eadred may well have preferred to have the treacherous archbishop of York under house arrest at his own court rather than up in Northumbria consorting with foreign kings, which would account for Wulfstan's arrest in 952, his witnessing of a charter in 953, and his restoration to his bishopric in 954 after Erik had been exiled for the last time and the crisis was over.
952. Eadred orders slaughter in Thetford
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes this slaughter in the borough of Thetford was made in vengeance for the abbot Eadhelm, who had been slain in Thetford.
November 23, 955. Eadred dies
Eadwig, Edmund's son, succeeds to England
c. January 26, 956. Eadwig consecrated king
Eadwig dispossesses Eadgifu, exiles Dunstan
Eadwig was the son of King Edmund and Ælfflæd (q.v.), and the nephew of King Eadred. His reign looks like an energetic attempt to distance himself from the advisors of the previous generation, and set up a new group of advisors who were loyal to him; the attempt failed, and history has judged him somewhat harshly as a result.
The tension in Eadwig's reign is apparent from the beginning. Eadred's will has survived (S 1515), and granted large sums of money as well as estates to several religious houses and to his mother Eadgifu. The money cannot be traced, but there is no evidence that any of the religious houses held the estates they were bequeathed, and more positive proof that the will was disregarded comes from a charter of Eadgifu's issued in 959 (S 1211), in which she notes that when Eadred died she was robbed of all her property, and it was only returned on King Edgar's accession in 959. It also seems from the wording of his will that Eadred intended his body to rest somewhere other than the Old Minster at Winchester, where he was buried. (The will mentions, but does not name, the place where he intended to be buried, and seems to distinguish it from Winchester which he mentions in another context.)
Within months of his accession Eadwig had also quarrelled with Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury, who had been a favourite of Eadred's and may have taken on some of the production of charters in Eadred's illness in 953-5 (q.v.). Dunstan witnesses only a handful of Eadwig's charters, from early in 956 (see Keynes, pp.49 and 59). The earliest Life of St Dunstan explains the exile with a story that Eadwig left his coronation feast to pursue his own pleasures, and was dragged back by St Dunstan, as a result of which Dunstan won the enmity both of the young king and of the two noblewomen who were his companions, and had his possessions seized and was exiled shortly thereafter (chapters 21-3; extracts in EHD 234, p.901). While there is nothing inherently unlikely in this account, it must be remembered that since Eadwig exiled the protagonist of his story, the author of the Life of St Dunstan would be duty-bound to show him in the worst light possible. (For a different light on the coronation feast, see the account in J. K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat.) One wonders, for instance, if some of the treasures of Dunstan that were seized according to the Life were in fact treasures of King Eadred which Dunstan had failed to return to Eadred's successor Eadwig, or if Dunstan and Eadwig fought over the overturning of Eadred's will (especially if Eadred had originally intended to be buried at Dunstan's Glastonbury).
With the possessions of Dunstan and Eadgifu (and quite possibly other important courtiers of previous administrations) in hand, Eadwig was in a position to benefit new followers. There are an unprecedented sixty or so charters from 956 (for most years, five or fewer charters survive), and the most likely explanation is that Eadwig, having dispossessed the old guard, was trying to create a group of followers whose first loyalty was to him. A less flattering explanation would be that Eadwig was being manipulated by courtiers who had not advanced under Edmund and Eadred in a settling of old scores. The Life of St Dunstan (chapter 24; EHD 234, p.901) is predictably dismissive, saying that Eadwig acted foolishly, getting rid of wise and cunning counsellors and replacing them with the ignorant and those like himself. Æthelwold, in his account of King Edgar's establishment of monasteries (EHD 238), suggests that Eadwig had through the ignorance of childhood dispersed the kingdom and divided its unity, and distributed the lands of churches to rapacious strangers.
Barbara Yorke has demonstrated that some of the people favoured by Eadwig, his wife Ælfgifu among them, were a close-knit family descended from Alfred's older brother Æthelred, and suggested that the older established families, such as those of Æthelstan "Half King" (chief ealdorman in Eadwig's time and foster-father of Edgar) and Dunstan himself, were alarmed by these developments and moved to stop them (Yorke, pp.75-7). If Ælfgifu is correctly identified as a descendent of King Æthelred (q.v.), Edgar himself might have been still more alarmed, as a child born of two royal parents might have been seen as more throne-worthy than Edgar himself. This was probably part of the reason for Æthelbald's revolt when Æthelwulf came back with a Frankish princess as a bride in 856, and it is unlikely that Edgar was any happier with the situation a hundred years later.
However and by whomever they were put in motion, moves to stop Eadwig were forthcoming. In 957, Eadwig's brother Edgar was given enhanced power as the king of the Mercians, though the evidence of charters and coins suggest that Eadwig was still in overall charge of the kingdom. Also in that year or the next (q.v.), Eadwig was divorced from his wife Ælfgifu, ostensibly because they were too closely related. It is unlikely that the relationship was suddenly discovered in 957, so "consanguinity" was probably a cover for more pragmatic motives. Eadwig died without issue in 959, and his brother Edgar succeeded to the whole kingdom.
Æthelweard in his version of the Chronicle notes that Eadwig was called "All-Fair" by the common people on account of his great beauty, and that he ruled for four years and deserved to be loved. However, since Æthelweard may have been the brother of Eadwig's wife Ælfgifu (q.v.), his comments should probably command as much caution as those of the Life of St Dunstan.
A. Campbell (ed.), The Chronicle of Æthelweard (London: 1962)
S. Keynes, The Diplomas of King Æthelred "The Unready" 978-1016: A Study in their Use as Historical Evidence (Cambridge: 1980)
B. Yorke, "Æthelwold and the Politics of the Tenth Century", Bishop Æthelwold: His Career and Influence (Woodbridge: 1988), pp.65-88
957. Edgar becomes king of the Mercians
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that the ætheling Edgar succeeded to the kingdom of the Mercians. The earliest Life of St Dunstan portrays this division as a result of Eadwig's misgovernment, and notes that the river Thames formed the boundary between the two kingdoms (chapter 24). Contemporary charters confirm this line of division, as bishops and ealdormen with responsibilities south of the Thames remained at Eadwig's court, while those with sees or territory north of the Thames moved to Edgar's court (see Keynes). This division seems too neat geographically to be the result of the popular uprising suggested in Dunstan's Life. On Eadwig's death in 959, the two courts recombined as if the division had never happened.
Charters suggest that Eadwig was still considered to be the king of the English: while his royal style avoids the flourishes seen in his earlier charters, where he may be "King of the English and of the other surrounding peoples" (e.g. S 588 of 956), he remains solidly rex Anglorum, with its implication "King of [all of] the English" (e.g. S 660 of 959). Further support for this is seen in the coins, which seem to have been issued in Eadwig's name over the whole country in 955-9, even in those parts ruled by Edgar after 957 (see CTCE, pp.278-80).
It is an interesting coincidence that Æthelstan "Half King", chief ealdorman of Eadred's reign and also in the first part of Eadwig's, and incidentally Edgar's foster-father, continued to witness charters until the division in 957, at which point he retired to become a monk at Glastonbury. (The nickname "Half King" is first reported in Byrhtferth's Life of St Oswald of the end of the 10th century. That Æthelstan was Edgar's foster-father is noted in the Ramsey Chronicle; see Hart, p.579.) It is tempting to wonder whether Æthelstan was looking after Edgar's interests at court, and deliberately stayed on until Edgar was safely enthroned in Mercia and Northumbria, at which point he felt his work was done and he could retire.
C. Blunt, I. Stewart, S. Lyon, Coinage in Tenth-Century England (Oxford: 1989)
N. Brooks, "The Career of St Dunstan", in N. Ramsay and others (edd.), St Dunstan: His Life, Times and Cult (Woodbridge: 1992), pp.1-23
C. Hart, "Athelstan 'Half King' and his Family", The Danelaw (London: 1992), pp.569-604
S. Keynes, "England 900-1016", in T. Reuter (ed.), The New Cambridge Medieval History III (Cambridge: forthcoming)
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]
B. Yorke, "Æthelwold and the Politics of the Tenth Century", Bishop Æthelwold: His Career and Influence (Woodbridge: 1988), pp.65-88
957/8. Archbishop Oda divorces Eadwig from Ælfgifu
One version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes that Archbishop Oda separated King Eadwig and Ælfgifu, because they were too closely related. (The date given is 958, but since the previous annal, dated "957", gives events of 956, and the following annal, dated "959", gives events of 959, it is not clear whether the divorce actually took place in 957 or 958.) Since the relationship between them was most likely known when they were married (and indeed, one would expect that Oda of Canterbury performed the marriage), it seems more likely that this divorce stemmed from political reasons than religious ones. It may even be that Eadwig and Ælfgifu were not in fact too closely related by the church definition.
There is no other information on the kinship of Eadwig and Ælfgifu in Eadwig's reign. In Edgar's reign, a woman called Ælfgifu who is described as a matrona (i.e., a married woman) and a kinswoman of Edgar (as Eadwig's queen would be, by marriage) receives two estates in 966 (S 737 and 738), and her will also survives, though unusually it mentions no living husband or descendents (S 1484). If it is assumed that this Ælfgifu was Eadwig's queen, then we can determine precisely how closely related Eadwig and Ælfgifu were, because the Ælfgifu of the will was the sister of Æthelweard the Chronicler, who records that he was the great-grandson of King Æthelred (865-71). This would make Ælfgifu the great-granddaughter of Æthelred, and since Eadwig was the great-grandson of Æthelred's brother Alfred, the two would fall within eight "degrees of propinquity".
This gets a bit technical. The old Roman system recognized a cognatio, or kindred, as people within seven "degrees of propinquity". To find out the number of degrees, one counts up to the nearest common ancestor and then back down again. Pope Gregory II, in the 721 Synod of Rome, stated simply that marriage was forbidden within the cognatio, or within seven degrees of propinquity: on which basis Eadwig and Ælfgifu would be perfectly legitimate.
The Germanic system, in contrast, counted the number of generations from the common ancestor: on that basis, Ælfgifu and Eadwig, sharing a great-great-grandfather, would be in the fourth generation. Synods in the second half of the 8th century (e.g. Compi?gne and Verberie) translate Gregory's ruling by declaring marriage null and void within the first three generations.
The crux comes with the first Anglo-Saxon legislation on the subject, in a code of Æthelred from 1008, which states that marriage is forbidden "within six degrees, that is to say, four generations" (VI Æthelred 12). This is not in fact the same thing: six degrees would be three generations. The distinction only matters to people within the fourth generation, but unfortunately for them, Eadwig and Ælfgifu fell into that category. If a similar law had been in place in the 950s when Eadwig and Ælfgifu got married, one might imagine that they were given the benefit of the doubt as not being within six degrees. And perhaps it was only when Eadwig began making changes and antagonizing people (q.v.) that people remembered, and chose to apply, the stricter interpretation of the letter of the law.
M. Deanesly and P. Grosjean, "The Canterbury Edition of the Answers of pope Gregory I to St Augustine", The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 10 (1959), pp.1-49
N. Brooks, The Early History of the Church of Canterbury (Leicester: 1984), pp.225-6
October 1, 959. Eadwig dies
Edgar, Eadwig's brother, succeeds to all England
Dunstan becomes archbishop of Canterbury
On Eadwig's death, divorced from his wife and with no heirs, his brother Edgar succeeded to all England, which reunited as if the split of 957 had never been. Unusually for the 10th century there is no record of Edgar's consecration a few months after his accession, but this is probably because he sacked the archbishop of Canterbury who had been elected in Eadwig's reign and installed Dunstan instead. Dunstan went to Rome to get his pallium, perhaps to cover his entirely uncanonical transfer to Canterbury from another see (in fact, from two other sees, Worcester and London, which he had received from Edgar in 957-9; see Brooks, p.21), and the papal privilege for Dunstan survives and is dated 21 September 960 (Whitelock, Councils & Synods, no. 25). So Edgar may not have been consecrated king before Dunstan's return in late 960 or early 961, years for which the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is blank. Given the excellent relations between Edgar and the English church, and the fact that consecration strengthened the position of the king, it is most unlikely that Edgar would have remained unconsecrated for long after Dunstan's return (see Nelson, pp.297-300).
John of Worcester in the 12th century regularly calls Edgar Rex Anglorum pacificus (in annals for 964, 967, 969, 972, 973). If John is recording a nickname Edgar bore in his lifetime, it is much more likely pacificus meant "the Peace-making" than "the Peaceable": the ravaging of Thanet on the king's orders in 969, and the violent reaction after his death in 975, both suggest that the peace of Edgar's reign came from strict control backed by military force, not serenity of character.
The show of violence probably helped to keep the country free of Viking activity, which seems to have ceased between 954, when Erik Bloodaxe finally left York, and 980, when the Vikings returned in Æthelred's reign. It is probably also the case that Edgar worked to keep the Northumbrians happy, so that they would be less eager to welcome Scandinavian adventurers: one of his law codes recognizes that the Danes can make their own laws (IV Edgar 2.1; see EHD 41), and his ravaging of Thanet in 969 may have been because the people of Thanet had robbed some merchants from York. That the rest of the country may have been less than happy with this approach is suggested by a note in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under 959, which in the midst of a general panegyric on Edgar's reign notes that he did one misdeed too greatly: he loved unseemly foreign manners, and brought heathen customs into the land too firmly (a possible reference to IV Edgar?), and brought foreigners and harmful people into the country.
Edgar is remembered as the champion of the monastic reform movement. The most dramatic act was probably the move in 964 spearheaded by Edgar and Æthelwold to oust (perhaps forcibly) the priests from the Old Minster and the New Minster in Winchester, and from Chertsey and Milton Abbas, and have them replaced with monks. There were many more monasteries founded or refounded in Edgar's reign, and Æthelwold offers enthusiastic praise in his account of Edgar's establishment of monasteries (EHD 238). The king's position is put uncompromisingly in the splendid gold-lettered refoundation charter for the New Minster at Winchester, probably also drafted by Æthelwold (S 745, issued in 966 to commemorate and reinforce the installation of monks in 964). While the charter is partly for the New Minster, it is also a general statement that Edgar expelled clerics and installed monks in monasteries throughout his kingdom, for the pragmatic reason that the prayers of the monks were effective while those of the secular clerics were not.
Edgar's family relations are complicated, as he was twice or perhaps three times married. He was involved with (perhaps not married to) Wulfthryth, who later became a nun and abbess of Wilton: their daughter was St Edith (see Ridyard, pp.42-3). He was (first?) married to Æthelflæd, and with her or by Wulfthryth had a son Edward. In 964/5 he married Ælfthryth, and with her had two sons, Edmund (who died in 971) and Æthelred. The New Minster refoundation charter of 966 (S 745) makes quite clear that Ælfthryth's children would be preferred over Æthelflæd's (in the witness-list, Edward is called clito, "ætheling", but his younger half-brother Edmund witnesses above him as legitimus clito, "legitimate ætheling"), but it is not surprising that a conflict broke out on Edgar's death in 975. Edward the Elder, who had also had three wives and sons by different mothers, left a similar problem at his death in 924. (For more on Ælfthryth and Æthelflæd, see Yorke, p.81.)