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Birth:           875 Wessex
Death:          Jul  924 Farrington, Berkshire, England
Farrington, Berkshire, England

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_the_Elder
Edward the Elder (Old English: Eadweard cyning; c. 874–877 – 17 July 924) was King 
of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death. He became king in 899 upon the death 
of his father, Alfred the Great. He captured the eastern Midlands and East Anglia from 
the Danes in 917 and became ruler of Mercia in 918 upon the death of Æthelflæd, his 
sister.

All but two of his charters give his title as "Anglorum Saxonum rex" ("king of the 
Anglo-Saxons"), a title first used by his father, Alfred.[1] According to the Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle the Kings of Scotland and Strathclyde and the rulers of Northumbria "chose 
[Edward] as father and lord" in 920, a claim dismissed by most modern historians.[2] 
Edward's cognomen "the Elder" was first used in Wulfstan's Life of St Æthelwold (c. 
996) to distinguish him from the later King Edward the Martyr.
Background
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.[3] 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 buy peace and the following year the Vikings 
invaded Northumbria, where they appointed a puppet king in 867. They 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.[4]
Childhood
Alfred the Great married his Mercian queen 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. 
Their first child 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 youngest child, 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.[5]

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 marriagable age in that year as his oldest son 
Æthelstan was born about 894, so Edward was probably born in the mid-870s.[6] 
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.[7]

Ætheling
As a son of a king, Edward was an ætheling, a prince of the royal house who was 
eligible for kingship. However, 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. 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 this may have been 
due to Alfred's efforts to portray his son as the most throneworthy ætheling.[8]

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, only 
left a handful of estates to his brother's sons, and the bulk of his property to Edward, 
including all his booklands in Kent. 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 declaring him King of Kent.[9] 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, his son-in-law Æthelred, and a relative called 
Osferth, who may have been Alfred's illegitimate son. Once Edward grew up Alfred 
was able to give him military commands and experience of royal business. Edward 
frequently witnessed Alfred's charters, suggesting that he often accompanied his 
father on royal peregrinations.[10]

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 and expired and he had to 
release them. The situation was saved by the arrival of troops from London led by his 
brother-in-law, Æthelred. The English defeated renewed Viking attacks in 893 to 896, 
and in Richard Abels' view, the glory belonged to Æthelred and Edward.[11] 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 dispayed his fitness for kingship.[12] However, 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 
Æthelflæd and Æthelred, but it is not knwon whether this was Alfred's idea or 
Edward's. Alfred's wife Ealhswith is ignored in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in her 
husband's lifetime, but emerges from obscurity when her son accedes. This may be 
because she supported her son against her husband.[13]

In about 893 Edward had married Ecgwynn, who bore him two children, the future King 
Æthelstan and a daughter who married Sitric, a Viking King of York. An opponent of 
Æthelstan claimed that his mother was a concubine of low birth, but the earliest life of 
the nobly born Saint Dunstan suggests that he was a relative of hers, and William of 
Malmesbury described her as an illustris femina. She may have died by 899, as around 
the time of Alfred's death Edward took Ælfflæd as his second wife. She was the 
daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire.[14]

Æthelwold's revolt
Alfred died on 26 October 899 and Edward succeeded to the throne, but Æthelwold 
immediately disputed the succession.[15] He seized the royal estates of Wimborne, 
symbolically important as the place where his father was buried, and Christchurch. 
Edward marched with his army to the nearby Iron Age hillfort at Badbury Rings. 
Æthelwold declared that he would live or die at Wimborne, but then left in the night 
and rode to Northumbria, where the Danes accepted him as king.[16] Edward was 
crowned on 8 June 900 at Kingston upon Thames or Winchester.[a]

In 901, Æthelwold came with a fleet to Essex, and the following year he persuaded the 
East Anglian Danes to invade and harry English Mercia and northern Wessex. Edward 
retaliated by ravaging East Anglia, but when he retreated the men of Kent disobeyed 
the order to retire, and were intercepted by the Danish army. The two sides met at the 
Battle of the Holme (perhaps Holme in Huntingdonshire) on 13 December 902. 
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Danes "kept the place of slaughter", 
meaning that they won the battle, but they suffered heavy losses, including Æthelwold 
and a King Eohric, possibly of the East Anglian Danes. Kentish losses included 
Sigehelm, ealdorman of Kent and father of Edward's third wife, Eadgifu. Æthelwold's 
death ended the threat to Edward's throne.[18]

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 
"King of the Anglo-Saxons". This is seen by Simon 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 three charters at a meeting attended by the Mercian leaders and their daughter 
Ælfwynn. The charters all contain a statement that Æthelred and Æthelflæd "then held 
rulership and power over the race of the Mercians, under the aforesaid king".[19] 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.[20] Other historians disagree. Pauline Stafford describes Æthelflæd as 
"the last Mercian queen",[21] while in Charles Insley's view Mercia kept its 
independence until Æthelflæd's death in 918.[22] 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."[23] 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'".[24] However, some versions of the Chronicle 
incorporate part of a lost Mercian Register, which gives a Mercian perspective and 
details of Æthelfæd's campaign against the Vikings.[20]

The standard of Anglo-Saxon learning declined severely in the ninth century, 
particularly in Wessex, and Mercian scholars such as Plegmund played a prominent 
part in the revival of learning initiated by Alfred. Mercians were prominent at the 
courts of Alfred and Edward, and the Mercian dialect and scholarship commanded 
West Saxon respect.[25] The only large scale embroideries which were certainly made 
in Anglo-Saxon England date to Edward's reign. They are a stole, a maniple and a 
possible girdle found in the tomb of St Cuthbert. They were donated by Æthelstan in 
934, but inscriptions on the embroideries show that they were commissioned by 
Edward's second wife, Ælflæd, as a gift to Frithestan, Bishop of Winchester. They 
probably did not reach their intended destination because Æthelstan was on bad terms 
with Winchester.[26]

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.[27]

Conquest of the southern Danelaw
No battles are recorded between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danish Vikings for several 
years after the Battle of the Holme, but in 906 Edward agreed peace with the East 
Anglian and Northumbrian Danes, suggesting that there had been conflict. According 
to one version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle he made peace "of necessity", 
suggesting he was forced to buy them off.[15] He encouraged Englishmen to purchase 
land in Danish territory, and two charters survive relating to estates in Bedfordshire 
and Derbyshire.[28] In 909, Edward sent an army to harass Northumbria. In the 
following year, the Northumbrian Vikings retaliated by raiding Mercia, but on their way 
home they were met by a combined Mercian and West Saxon army at the Battle of 
Tettenhall, where the Northumbrians suffered a disastrous defeat. From that point, 
they never ventured south of the River Humber, and Edward and his Mercian allies 
were able to concentrate on conquering the southern Danelaw in East Anglia and the 
Five Boroughs of Viking east Mercia: Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and 
Stamford.[15] In 911 Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, died, and Edward took control of 
the Mercian lands around London and Oxford. Æthelred was succeeded as ruler by his 
widow Æthelflæd as Lady of the Mercians, and she had probably been acting as ruler 
for several years as Æthelred seems to have been incapacitated in later life.[29]

Edward and Æthelflæd then began the construction of fortresses to guard against 
Viking attacks and protect territory captured from them. In November 911 he 
constructed a fort on the north bank of the River Lea at Hertford to guard against 
attack by the Danes of Bedford and Cambridge. In 912 he marched with his army to 
Maldon in Essex, and ordered the building of an earth fortification, and this together 
with another fort south of the Lea at Hertford protected London from attack, and 
encouraged many English living under Danish rule in Essex to submit to him instead. In 
913 there was a pause in his activities, although Æthelflæd continued her fortress 
building in Mercia. In 914 a Viking army sailed from Brittany and ravaged the Severn 
estuary. It was defeated by a Mercian army, and Edward kept an army on the south 
side of the estuary which twice repelled attempts to invade Wessex. In the autumn the 
Vikings moved on to Ireland. In November 914 Edward built two forts at Buckingham, 
and many Danes at Bedford and Northampton submitted to him, while others left 
England with Earl Thurketil, reducing the number of Viking armies in the midlands. In 
916 Edward built a fortress at Maldon as another defence against the Danes of 
Colchester.[30]

The decisive year in the war was 917. In April Edward built a fort at Towcester as a 
defence against the Danes of Northampton, and another at an unidentified place 
called Wigingamere. The Danes launched unsuccessful attacks on Towcester, 
Bedford and Wigingamere, while Æthelflæd captured Derby, showing the value of the 
English defensive measures, which was aided by disunity and a lack of coordination 
amoung the Viking armies. The Danes had built their own fortress at Tempsford, but at 
the end of the summer the English stormed it and killed the last Danish king of East 
Anglia. The English then took Colchester, although they did not try to hold it. The 
Danes retaliated by sending a large army to lay siege to Maldon, but the garrison held 
out until it was relieved and the retreating army was heavily defeated. Edward then 
returned to Towcester and reinforced its fort with a stone wall, and the Danes of 
nearby Northampton submitted to him. The armies of Cambridge and East Anglia also 
submitted, and by the end of the year the only Danish armies still holding out were 
those of four of the Five Boroughs, Leicester, Stamford, Nottingham, and Lincoln.[31]

In early 918, Æthelflæd secured the submission of Leicester without a fight, and the 
Danes of Northumbrian York offered her their allegiance, probably for protection 
against Norse (Norwegian) Vikings who had invaded Northumbria from Ireland, but she 
died on 12 June before she could take up the proposal. The same offer is not known 
to have been made to Edward, and the Norse Vikings took York in 919. Æthelflæd 
was succeeded by her daughter Ælfwynn, but the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 
December 918 she "was deprived of all authority in Mercia and taken into Wessex". 
Mercia then came under Edward's direct rule. Stamford had surrendered to Edward 
before Æthelflæd's death, and Nottingham did the same shortly afterwards. According 
to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 918, "all the people who had settled in Mercia, both 
Danish and English, submitted to him". This would mean that he ruled all England 
south of the Humber, but it is not clear whether Lincoln was an exception, as coins of 
Viking York in the early 920s were probably minted at Lincoln.[32] Some Danish jarls 
were allowed to keep their estates, although Edward probably also rewarded his 
supporters with land, and some he kept in his own hands. Coin evidence suggests that 
his authority was stronger in the East Midlands than in East Anglia.[33]

Coinage
The principal currency was the silver penny, some of which had a stylised portrait of 
the king. Royal coins had "EADVVEARD REX" on the obverse and the name of the 
moneyer of the reverse. The place of issue is not shown, but in Æthelstan's reign the 
location was shown, allowing the location of many moneyers of Edward's reign to be 
established. There were mints in Bath, Canterbury, Chester, Chichester, Derby, Exeter, 
Hereford, London, Oxford, Shaftesbury, Shrewsbury, Southampton, Stafford, 
Wallingford, Wareham, Winchester and probably other towns. No coins were struck in 
the name of Æthelred or Æthelflæd, but from around 910 mints in English Mercia 
produced coins with an unusual decorative design on the reverse. This ceased before 
920, and probably represents Æthelflæd's way of distinguishing her coinage from that 
of her brother. There was also a minor issue of coins in the name of Plegmund, 
Archbishop of Canterbury. There was a dramatic increase in the number of moneyers 
over Edward's reign, with less than 25 in the south in the first ten years rising to 67 in 
the last ten years, around 5 in English Mercia rising to 23, plus 27 in the re-conquered 
Danelaw.[34]

Church
In 908, Plegmund conveyed the alms of the English king and people to the Pope, the 
first visit to Rome by an Archbishop of Canterbury for almost a century, and the 
journey may have been to seek papal approval for a proposed re-organisation of the 
West Saxon sees.[35] When Edward came to the throne Wessex had two dioceses, 
Winchester, held by Denewulf, and Sherborne, held by Asser.[36] In 908 Denewulf 
died and was replaced the following year by Frithestan; soon afterwards Winchester 
was divided into two sees, with the creation of the diocese of Ramsbury covering 
Wiltshire and Berkshire, while Winchester was left with Hampshire and Surrrey. Forged 
charters date the division to 909, but this may not be correct. Asser died in the same 
year, and at some date between 909 and 918 Sherborne was divided into three sees, 
with Crediton covering Devon and Cornwall, and Wells covering Somerset, while 
Sherborne was left with Dorset.[37] The effect of the changes were to strengthen the 
status of Canterbury compared with Winchester and Sherborne, but the division may 
have been related to a change in the function of West Saxon bishops, to become 
agents of royal government in shires rather than provinces, assisting in defence and 
taking part in shire courts.[38]

At the beginning of Edward's reign his mother, Ealhswith, founded the abbey of St 
Mary for nuns, known as the Nunnaminster, in Winchester.[39] Edward's daughter 
Eadburh became a nun there, and she was venerated as a saint and the subject of a 
hagiography by Osbert of Clare in the twelfth century.[40] In 901 Edward started 
building a major monastery for men, probably in accordance of his father's wishes. The 
monastery was next to Winchester Cathedral, which became known as the Old 
Minster, while Edward's foundation was called the New Minster. It was much larger 
than the Old Minster, and was probably intended as a royal mausoleum.[41] It acquired 
relics of the Breton Saint Judoc, which probably arrived in England from Ponthieu in 
901, and the body of one of Alfred's closest advisers, Grimbald, who died in the same 
year and who was soon venerated as a saint. Edward's mother died in 902, and he 
buried her and Alfred there, moving his father's body from the Old Minster. Burials in 
the early 920s included Edward himself, his brother Æthelweard, and his son 
Ælfweard. However, when Æthelstan became king in 924, he did not show any favour 
to his father's foundation, probably because Winchester sided against him when the 
throne was disputed after Edward's death. The only later royal burial at the New 
Minster was that of King Eadwig in 959.[42]

Edward's decision not to expand the Old Minster, but rather to overshadow it with a 
much larger building, suggests animosity towards Bishop Denewulf, and this was 
compounded by forcing the Old Minster to cede both land for the new site, and an 
estate of 70 hides at Beddington to provide an income for the New Minster. Edward 
was remembered by the New Minster as a benefactor, and at the Old Minster as rex 
avidus (greedy king).[43] Alan Thacker comments:
Edward's method of endowing New Minster was of a piece with his ecclesiastical 
policy in general. Like his father he gave little to the church — indeed, judging by the 
dearth of charters for much of his reign he seems to have given away little at 
all...More than any other, Edward's kingship seems to epitomise the new hard-nosed 
monarchy of Wessex, determined to exploit all its resources, lay and ecclesiastical, for 
its own benefit.[44]
Patrick Wormald observes: "The thought occurs that neither Alfred nor Edward was 
greatly beloved at Winchester Cathedral; and one reason for Edward's moving his 
father's body into the new family shrine next door was that he was surer of sincere 
prayers there."[45]

Law and administration

The only surviving original charter from Edward's reign is a grant by Æthelred and 
Æthelflæd in 901, and is not a charter of Edward himself.[47] In the same year a 
meeting at Southampton was attended by his brother and sons, his household thegns 
and nearly all bishops, but no ealdormen. It was on this occasion that the king 
acquired land from the Bishop of Winchester for the foundation of the New Minster, 
Winchester. No charters survive for the period from 910 to the king's death in 924, 
much to the puzzlement and distress of historians. Charters were usually issued when 
the king made grants of land, and it is possible that Edward followed a policy of 
retaining property which came into his hands in order to help finance his campaigns 
against the Vikings.[48]

Clause 3 of the law code called I Edward provides that people convincingly charged 
with perjury shall not be allowed to clear themselves by oath, but only by ordeal. This 
is the start of the continuous history in England of trial by ordeal; it is probably 
mentioned in the laws of King Ine (688 to 726), but not in later codes such as those of 
Alfred.[49] The administrative and legal system in Edward's reign may have depended 
extensively on written records, almost none of which survive.[50] Edward was one of 
the few Anglo-Saxon kings to issue laws about bookland (landed vested in a charter 
which could be alienated by the holder, as opposed to folkland, which had to pass to 
heirs of the body). There was increasing confusion in the period as to what was really 
bookland, and Edward urged prompt settlement in bookland/folkland disputes, and 
laid down that juriscdiction belonged to the king and his offices.[51]

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.
[52]
This passage was regarded as a straightforward report by most historians until the late 
twentieth century,[53] 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".[54] Since the 1980s the '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 of 927, for which there is independent support 
from literary sources and coins.[55] 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 argued that the Chronicle presented a treaty 
between kings as a submission to Wessex.[56] Pauline 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.[57] 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 possiblity, 
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.[58]
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.[59]

No charters of Edward dated after 909 have survived, and 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.[60]
Marriages and children[edit]

Edward had about fourteen children from three marriages.[b]

He first married Ecgwynn around 893.[66] Their children were:
Æthelstan, King of England 924-939[15]
A daughter, perhaps called Edith, married Sihtric Cáech, Viking King of York in 926, 
who died in 927. Possibly Saint Edith of Polesworth[67]

In c. 900, Edward married Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of 
Wiltshire.[68] Their children were:
Ælfweard, died August 924, a month after his father; possibly King of Wessex for that 
month[69]
Edwin, drowned at sea 933[70]
Æthelhild, lay sister at Wilton Abbey[71]
Eadgifu (died in or after 951), married Charles the Simple, King of the West Franks, c. 
918[72]
Eadflæd, nun at Wilton Abbey[71]
Eadhild, married Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks in 926[73]
Eadgyth (died 946), in 929/30 married Otto I, future King of the East Franks, and 
(after Eadgyth's death) Holy Roman Emperor[74]
Ælfgifu, married "a prince near the Alps", perhaps Louis, brother of King Rudolph II of 
Burgundy[75]

Edward married for a third time, about 919, Eadgifu, the daughter of Sigehelm, 
Ealdorman of Kent.[76] Their children were
Edmund, King of England 939-946[65]
Eadred, King of England 946-955[65]
Eadburh (died c. 952), Benedictine nun at Nunnaminster, Winchester, and saint[77]
Eadgifu, existence uncertain, possibly the same person as Ælfgifu[78]

Parents
____ Alfred "the Great" ( 849 - 26 Oct  899)
OF MERCIA Ealhswith (ABT  852 - 5 Dec  902)

Siblings
____ Ethelfleda (ABT  869 - 12 Jun  918)
____ Edward I "the Elder" ( 875 - Jul  924)
OF THE SAXONS (OF WESSEX) Alfthryth (Aelfthryth) (Elfleda) ( 877 - 7 Jun  929)

Marriage To OF KENT Edgiva (ABT  896 -  961)
    m.  919 Berkshire, England

Notes
his third

Parents
____ Sigehelm (ABT  871 - )
----- ----- ()

Children by OF KENT Edgiva ABT  896 -  961
____ Edmund I "the Magnificent" "the Deed Doer" (ABT  922 - 26 May  946)

Marriage To ____ Aelflaed (Elfleda) (Ethelfleda) (ABT  878 - ABT  919)
    m.  

Notes

Parents
____ Aethelhelm (ABT  859 - ABT  898)
____ Aethelgyth (ABT  860 - )

Children by ____ Aelflaed (Elfleda) (Ethelfleda) ABT  878 - ABT  919
____ Elgiva (Emiliane) (Emilienne) (ABT  895 - )
OF FRANCE Edgiva (Ogive) (Eadgifu) (ABT  904 - AFT  951)
____ Eadgyth (Editha) (ABT  914 - 21 Jan  947)

Produced by Fzip 1.7 6/20/2017