Edward the Martyr Edward the Martyr Edward the Martyr (, pronounced ; 18 March 978) was King of England from 975 until he was murdered in 978. Edward was the eldest son of King Edgar the Peaceful but was not his father's acknowledged heir. On Edgar's death, the leadership of England was contested, with some supporting Edward's claim to be king and others supporting his younger half-brother Æthelred the Unready, recognized as a legitimate son of Edgar. Edward was chosen as king and was crowned by his main clerical supporters, the archbishops Dunstan of Canterbury and Oswald of Worcester. The great nobles of
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.