Edward the Elder Edward the Elder Edward the Elder (c. 874 – 17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin Æthelwold, who had a strong claim to the throne as the son of Alfred's elder brother and predecessor, Æthelred. Alfred had succeeded Æthelred as king of Wessex in 871, and almost faced defeat against the Danish Vikings until his decisive victory at the Battle of Edington in 878. After the
Great King Great King Great King and the equivalent in many languages is a semantic title for historical titles of monarchs, suggesting an elevated status among the host of Kings and Princes. This title is most usually associated with the shahanshah (Shah of shahs, i.e. king of kings, indeed translated in Greek "Basileus tōn basileōn", later adopted by the Byzantine emperors) of Persia under the Achaemenid dynasty whose vast empire in Asia lasted for 200 years up to the year 330 BC, and later adopted by successors of the Achaemenid empire whose monarchial names were also succeeded by "the Great". In comparison,