English Benedictine Reform acceptance of Benedictinism, and that the movement's greatest benefactor, King Edgar, had played a major role in the unification by his demands for adherence to the Benedictine Rule. Æthelwold probably tutored Edgar as a boy, and was very close to him; it is likely that Æthelwold was influential in persuading the king to carry through his reforms and support Benedictine monasticism. Monks became dominant on the bishops' bench during his reign. Æthelwold was close to Queen Ælfthryth and supported the claim of her son Æthelred (978–1016) to be king against his elder half-brother, Edward (975–978). Dunstan supported Edward, who succeeded
Edgar Ætheling Edgar Ætheling Edgar Ætheling (also spelt Æþeling, Aetheling, Atheling or Etheling) or Edgar II (c. 1051 – c. 1126) was the last male member of the royal house of Cerdic of Wessex (see House of Wessex family tree). He was elected King of England by the Witenagemot in 1066, but never crowned. Edgar was born in the Kingdom of Hungary, where his father Edward the Exile, son of King Edmund II Ironside, had spent most of his life, having been sent into exile after Edmund's death and the conquest of England by the Danish king Cnut the Great in 1016.