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
The King of England and his Three Sons The King of England and his Three Sons The King of England and his Three Sons is a Gypsy fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in "More English Fairy Tales". He listed as his source Francis Hindes Groome's "In Gypsy Tents", where the informant was John Roberts, a Welsh gypsy. A version of this tale appears in by Ruth Manning-Sanders, under the title "An Old King and His Three Sons of England". An old king could be cured only by golden apples from a far country. His three sons set out to find them, and parted ways at a crossroads.