Colin Crosby Heritage Tours

Who Are All These Kings?: Edmund I

Edmund was one of a number of 9th and 10th century Kings who had regrettably short reigns.

He was born in 921, the son of Edward the Elder and his third wife Edgiva.

Brought up in the household of his half-brother King Athelstan, Edmund accompanied him on a number of military campaigns, and distinguished himself at the famous Battle of Brunanburgh, which is believed to have been fought somewhere in Nottinghamshire.

When Athelstan died unmarried and childless in 939, the 18-year-old Edmund succeeded him as King, being crowned at Kingston-on-Thames.

His reign, however, started most inauspiciously. Olaf Gothfrithson, the Norse King of Dublin, correctly surmised that there would be a concentration of English nobles at Kingston, and crossed over to claim the Kingdom of York, regarding Edmund as an opponent of little worth.

Olaf’s army marched South into Mercia, laying waste to the countryside and several towns, including Tamworth and Northampton, eventually arriving at Leicester.

Edmund, acting more positively than Olaf had expected, laid siege to Leicester. Olaf escaped, together with Wulfstan, the Archbishop of York, whose political ideas included a separate state in the North, whoever was in charge of it.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York together convinced Edmund to withdraw, and a settlement was agreed, whereby Olaf would continue as King of York, and also control the territories settled by the former Danish invaders, namely the Five Boroughs and East Anglia.

All this was humiliating for the young Edmund and the English, and also annoying for the Danes, who had little love for the Norse.

Edmund, however, proceeded to build up his army, and when Olaf died and was succeeded by the weaker Olaf Sihtricsson, he struck with great force and regained the Danish territories which he had previously lost.

He drove Olaf out of York, and agreed terms with his successor Ragnall Gothfrithsson. But Olaf moved to Strathclyde, where he continued to be a thorn in Edmund’s flesh.

Edmund marched North, Ragnall was killed in battle, Edmund took direct control of York, and Olaf was driven back to Ireland. Edmund conquered Strathclyde and ceded it to Malcolm, King of Scotland, on the understanding that Malcolm would be a faithful ally.

So Edmund, after a difficult start, had proved himself to be a mighty warrior King in the best traditions of his family. It looked as if he would be destined for a glorious reign.

That reign was tragically cut short, though. In 946, he was celebrating the feast of St. Augustine at Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire, a few miles from Bath, and recognised a notorious thief named Leoda, whom he had exiled when first becoming King.

He asked his steward to arrest Leoda. When the steward tried to do this, Leoda resisted violently. Edmund went to the steward’s aid, and was fatally stabbed.

Edmund was buried at Glastonbury Abbey.

Edmund had married twice. He married St. Elgiva in 940, and she died in 946 at Shaftesbury Abbey, where she was buried. Soon after, he married again. His second wife was Ethelfleda, the daughter of Alfgar, Ealdorman of Wiltshire. She later became a nun at Shaftesbury.

There were three children from Edmund’s first marriage. Edwy and Edgar were very small boys when he died, and although they both later became Kings, it was Edmund’s brother Edred who succeeded him. There was also a daughter, whose name is not known, who later married Baldwin, the Count of Hesdin.

Edmund was known to chroniclers as Edmund the Magnificent, and later acquired the name Edmund the Elder, to distinguish him from Edmund Ironside.

He was loved by his people (both English and Danish) for his bravery, for his part in the glorious victory at Brunanburgh, for the energy which he put into reclaiming the Danish lands, and also for the honourable manner of his death, coming to the aid of his servant.

He was also a clever politician, securing for example a long peace with Scotland by the masterstroke of giving Strathclyde to the Scottish King. And he was a good judge of character and ability. It was Edmund who set the great St. Dunstan on his career, when appointing him Abbot of Glastonbury.