Edward the Elder

Edward the Elder
Portrait miniaturefrom a thirteenth-century genealogical scroll depicting Edward
King of the Anglo-Saxons
Reign	26 October 899 – 17 July 924
Coronation	8 June 900 Kingston upon Thames
Predecessor	Alfred the Great
Successor	Æthelstan(orÆlfweard,disputed)
Born	870s?
Died	(924-07-17)17 July 924 Farndon,Cheshire,Mercia
Burial	New Minster, Winchester,later translated toHyde Abbey
Spouses	Ecgwynn Ælfflæd Eadgifu
Issue more...	Æthelstan, King of the English A daughter who was Queen of York (possiblyEdith of Polesworth) Ælfweard Edwin Eadgifu, Queen of the West Franks Eadhild, Duchess of the Franks Eadgyth, Queen of the East Franks Edmund I, King of the English Eadred, King of the English Eadburh
House	Wessex
Father	Alfred the Great
Mother	Ealhswith

Edward the Elder(870s? – 17 July 924) wasKing of the Anglo-Saxonsfrom 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son ofAlfred the Greatand his wifeEalhswith.When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousinÆthelwold,who had a strong claim to the throne as the son of Alfred's elder brother and predecessor,Æthelred I.

Alfred had succeeded Æthelred as king ofWessexin 871, and almost faced defeat against the DanishVikingsuntil his decisive victory at theBattle of Edingtonin 878. After the battle, the Vikings still ruledNorthumbria,East Angliaand easternMercia,leaving only Wessex and western Mercia under Anglo-Saxon control. In the early 880sÆthelred, Lord of the Mercians,the ruler of western Mercia, accepted Alfred's lordship and married his daughterÆthelflæd,and around 886 Alfred adopted the new title King of the Anglo-Saxons as the ruler of all Anglo-Saxons not subject to Danish rule. Edward inherited the new title when Alfred died in 899.

In 910, a Mercian and West Saxon army inflicted adecisive defeaton an invading Northumbrian army, ending the threat from the northern Vikings. In the decade that followed, Edward conquered Viking-ruled southern England in partnership with his sister Æthelflæd, who had succeeded as Lady of the Mercians following the death of her husband in 911. Historians dispute how far Mercia was dominated by Wessex during this period, and after Æthelflæd's death in June 918, her daughterÆlfwynnbriefly became second Lady of the Mercians, but in December Edward took her into Wessex and imposed direct rule on Mercia. By the end of the 910s he ruled Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia, and only Northumbria remained under Viking rule. In 924 he faced a Mercian and Welsh revolt atChester,and after putting it down he died atFarndonin Cheshire on 17 July 924. He was succeeded by his eldest son,Æthelstan.Edward's two youngest sons later reigned as kingsEdmund IandEadred.

Edward was admired by medieval chroniclers, and in the view ofWilliam of Malmesbury,he was "much inferior to his father in the cultivation of letters" but "incomparably more glorious in the power of his rule". He was largely ignored by modern historians until the 1990s, andNick Highamdescribed him as "perhaps the most neglected of English kings", partly because few primary sources for his reign survive. His reputation rose in the late twentieth century and he is now seen as destroying the power of the Vikings in southern England while laying the foundations for a south-centred united English kingdom.

Background

Merciawas the dominant kingdom in southern England in the eighth century and maintained its position until it suffered a decisive defeat byWessexat theBattle of Ellandunin 825. Thereafter the two kingdoms became allies, which was to be an important factor in English resistance to the Vikings.In 865, the Danish VikingGreat Heathen Armylanded inEast Angliaand used this as a starting point for an invasion. The East Anglians were forced to pay off the Vikings, who invadedNorthumbriathe following year. They appointed a puppet king in 867, and then moved on Mercia, where they spent the winter of 867–868. KingBurgredof Mercia was joined by KingÆthelred of Wessexand his brother, the futureKing Alfred,for a combined attack on the Vikings, who refused an engagement; in the end the Mercians bought peace with them. The following year, the Danes conquered East Anglia, and in 874 they expelled King Burgred and, with their support,Ceolwulfbecame the last King of Mercia. In 877 the Vikings partitioned Mercia, taking the eastern regions for themselves and allowing Ceolwulf to keep the western ones. In early 878 they invaded Wessex, and many West Saxons submitted to them. Alfred, who was now king, was reduced to a remote base in theIsle of AthelneyinSomerset,but the situation was transformed when he won a decisive victory at theBattle of Edington.He was thus able to prevent the Vikings from taking Wessex and western Mercia, although they still occupied Northumbria, East Anglia and eastern Mercia.

Childhood

A page from the will ofAlfred the Great,headedTestamentumin a later hand, which left the bulk of his estate to Edward

Edward's parents, Alfred andEalhswith,married in 868. Ealhswith's father wasÆthelred Mucel,Ealdormanof theGaini,and her mother, Eadburh, was a member of the Mercian royal family. Alfred and Ealhswith had five children who survived childhood. The oldest wasÆthelflæd,who marriedÆthelred, Lord of the Mercians,and ruled as Lady of the Mercians after his death. Edward was next, and the second daughter,Æthelgifu,becameabbess of Shaftesbury.The third daughter,Ælfthryth,marriedBaldwin, Count of Flanders,and the younger son,Æthelweard,was given a scholarly education, including learning Latin. This would usually suggest that he was intended for the church, but it is unlikely in Æthelweard's case as he later had sons. There were also an unknown number of children who died young. Neither part of Edward's name, which means "protector of wealth", had been used previously by the West Saxon royal house, andBarbara Yorkesuggests that he may have been named after his maternal grandmother Eadburh, reflecting the West Saxon policy of strengthening links with Mercia.

Historians estimate that Edward was probably born in the mid-870s. His eldest sister, Æthelflæd, was probably born about a year after her parents' marriage, and Edward was brought up with his youngest sister, Ælfthryth; Yorke argues that he was therefore probably nearer in age to Ælfthryth than Æthelflæd. Edward led troops in battle in 893, and must have been of marriageable age in that year as his oldest son Æthelstan was born about 894.According toAsserin hisLife of King Alfred,Edward and Ælfthryth were educated at court by male and female tutors, and read ecclesiastical and secular works in English, such as thePsalmsandOld English poems.They were taught the courtly qualities of gentleness and humility, and Asser wrote that they were obedient to their father and friendly to visitors. This is the only known case of an Anglo-Saxon prince and princess receiving the same upbringing.

Ætheling

As a son of a king, Edward was anætheling,a prince of the royal house who was eligible for kingship. Even though he had the advantage of being the eldest son of the reigning king, his accession was not assured as he had cousins who had a strong claim to the throne.ÆthelhelmandÆthelwoldwere sons of Æthelred, Alfred's older brother and predecessor as king, but they had been passed over because they were infants when their father died. Asser gives more information about Edward's childhood and youth than is known about other Anglo-Saxon princes, providing details about the training of a prince in a period ofCarolingianinfluence, and Yorke suggests that we may know so much due to Alfred's efforts to portray his son as the most throneworthy ætheling.

Æthelhelm is recorded only in Alfred's will of the mid-880s, and probably died at some time in the next decade, but Æthelwold is listed above Edward in the onlycharterwhere he appears, probably indicating a higher status. Æthelwold may also have had an advantage because his mother Wulfthryth witnessed a charter as queen, whereas Edward's mother Ealhswith never had a higher status than king's wife.However, Alfred was in a position to give his own son considerable advantages. In his will, he left only a handful of estates to his brother's sons, and the bulk of his property to Edward, including all hisbooklands(land vested in a charter which could be alienated by the holder, as opposed to folkland, which had to pass toheirs of the body) inKent.Alfred also advanced men who could be depended on to support his plans for his succession, such as his brother-in-law, a Mercian ealdorman called Æthelwulf, and his son-in-law Æthelred. Edward witnessed several of his father's charters, and often accompanied him on royal peregrinations.In a Kentish charter of 898 Edward witnessed asrex Saxonum,suggesting that Alfred may have followed the strategy adopted by his grandfatherEgbertof strengthening his son's claim to succeed to the West Saxon throne by making him sub-king of Kent.

Once Edward grew up, Alfred was able to give him military commands and experience in royal administration.The English defeated renewed Viking attacks in 893 to 896, and inRichard Abels' view, the glory belonged to Æthelred and Edward rather than Alfred himself. In 893, Edward defeated the Vikings in theBattle of Farnhamalthough he was unable to follow up his victory as his troops' period of service had expired and he had to release them. The situation was saved by the arrival of troops from London led by Æthelred.Yorke argues that although Alfred packed thewitanwith members whose interests lay in the continuation of Alfred's line, that may not have been sufficient to ensure Edward's accession if he had not displayed his fitness for kingship.

In about 893, Edward probably marriedEcgwynn,who bore him two children, the future King Æthelstan and a daughter who marriedSitric Cáech,a Viking King of York. The twelfth-century chroniclerWilliam of Malmesburydescribed Ecgwynn as anillustris femina(noble lady), and stated that Edward chose Æthelstan as his heir as king. She may have been related to StDunstan,the aristocratic tenth-centuryArchbishop of Canterbury.But William of Malmesbury also stated that Æthelstan's accession in 924 was opposed by a nobleman who claimed that his mother was a concubine of low birth.The suggestion that Ecgwynn was Edward's mistress is accepted by some historians such asSimon Keynesand Richard Abels,but Yorke and Æthelstan's biographer,Sarah Foot,disagree, arguing that the allegations should be seen in the context of the disputed succession in 924, and were not an issue in the 890s.Ecgwynn probably died by 899, as around the time of Alfred's death Edward marriedÆlfflæd,the daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably ofWiltshire.

Janet Nelsonsuggests that there was conflict between Alfred and Edward in the 890s. She points out that the contemporaryAnglo-Saxon Chronicle,produced under court auspices in the 890s, does not mention Edward's military successes. These are known only from the late tenth century chronicle ofÆthelweard,such as his account of the Battle of Farnham, in which in Nelson's view "Edward's military prowess, and popularity with a following of young warriors, are highlighted." Towards the end of his life Alfred invested his young grandson Æthelstan in a ceremony which historians see as designation as eventual successor to the kingship. Nelson argues that while this may have been proposed by Edward to support the accession of his own son, on the other hand it may have been intended by Alfred as part of a scheme to divide the kingdom between his son and grandson. Æthelstan was sent to be brought up in Mercia by Æthelflæd and Æthelred, but it is not known whether this was Alfred's idea or Edward's. Alfred's wife Ealhswith was ignored in theAnglo-Saxon Chroniclein her husband's lifetime, but emerged from obscurity when her son acceded. This may be because she supported her son against her husband.

Æthelwold's revolt

Main article:Æthelwold's Revolt

Alfred died on 26 October 899 and Edward succeeded to the throne, but Æthelwold disputed the succession.He seized the royal estates ofWimborne,symbolically important as the place where his father was buried, andChristchurch,both inDorset.Edward marched with his army to the nearbyIron Agehillfort atBadbury Rings.Æthelwold declared that he would live or die at Wimborne, but then left in the night and rode to Northumbria, where the Danes accepted him as king.Edward was crowned on 8 June 900 atKingston upon Thames.

In 901, Æthelwold came with a fleet toEssex,and the following year he persuaded the East Anglian Danes to invade English Mercia and northern Wessex, where his army looted and then returned home. Edward retaliated by ravaging East Anglia, but when he retreated the men of Kent disobeyed the order to retire, and were intercepted by the Danish army. The two sides met at theBattle of the Holme(perhapsHolmeinHuntingdonshire) on 13 December 902. According to theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle,the Danes "kept the place of slaughter", meaning that they won the battle, but they suffered heavy losses, including Æthelwold and a King Eohric, possibly of the East Anglian Danes. Kentish losses included Sigehelm, ealdorman of Kent and father of Edward's third wife, Eadgifu. Æthelwold's death ended the threat to Edward's throne.

King of the Anglo-Saxons

Silver pseudo-coin brooch found at theVilla Wolkonskyin Rome. It is based on a coin of Edward the Elder and is probably contemporary.

In London in 886, Alfred had received the formal submission of "all the English people that were not under subjection to the Danes", and thereafter he adopted the titleAnglorum Saxonum rex(King of the Anglo-Saxons), which is used in his later charters and all but two of Edward's. This is seen by Keynes as "the invention of a wholly new and distinctive polity", covering both West Saxons and Mercians, which was inherited by Edward with the support of Mercians at the West Saxon court, of whom the most important wasPlegmund,Archbishop of Canterbury. In 903 Edward issued several charters concerning land in Mercia. Three of them are witnessed by the Mercian leaders and their daughterÆlfwynn,and they all contain a statement that Æthelred and Æthelflæd "then held rulership and power over the race of the Mercians, under the aforesaid king". Other charters were issued by the Mercian leaders which did not contain any acknowledgment of Edward's authority, but they did not issue their own coinage.This view of Edward's status is accepted by Martin Ryan, who states that Æthelred and Æthelflæd had "a considerable but ultimately subordinate share of royal authority" in English Mercia.

Other historians disagree.Pauline Stafforddescribes Æthelflæd as "the last Mercian queen",while in Charles Insley's view Mercia kept its independence until Æthelflæd's death in 918.Michael Davidson contrasts the 903 charters with one of 901 in which the Mercian rulers were "by grace of God, holding, governing and defending the monarchy of the Mercians". Davidson comments that "the evidence for Mercian subordination is decidedly mixed. Ultimately, the ideology of the 'Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons' may have been less successful in achieving the absorption of Mercia and more something which I would see as a murky political coup." TheAnglo-Saxon Chroniclewas compiled at the West Saxon court from the 890s, and the entries for the late ninth and early tenth centuries are seen by historians as reflecting the West Saxon viewpoint; Davidson observes: "Alfred and Edward possessed skilled" spin doctors "."Some versions of theChronicleincorporate part of a lostMercian Register,which gives a Mercian perspective and details of Æthelflæd's campaign against the Vikings.

In the late ninth and early tenth centuries, connection by marriage with the West Saxon royal house was seen as prestigious by continental rulers. In the mid-890s Alfred had married his daughter Ælfthryth to Baldwin II of Flanders, and in 919 Edward married his daughterEadgifutoCharles the Simple,King ofWest Francia.In 925, after Edward's death, another daughterEadgythmarriedOtto,the futureKing of Germanyand (after Eadgyth's death)Holy Roman Emperor.

Conquest of the southern Danelaw

No battles are recorded between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danish Vikings for several years after theBattle of the Holme,but in 906, Edward agreed to peace with the East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes, suggesting that there had been conflict. According to one version of theAnglo-Saxon Chroniclehe made peace "of necessity", which implies that he was forced to buy them off.He encouraged Englishmen to purchase land in Danish territory, and two charters survive relating to estates inBedfordshireandDerbyshire.In 909, Edward sent a combined West Saxon and Mercian army which harassed the Northumbrian Danes, and seized the bones of the Northumbrian royal saintOswaldfromBardney AbbeyinLincolnshire.Oswald wastranslatedtoa new Mercian minsterestablished by Æthelred and Æthelflæd inGloucesterand the Danes were compelled to accept peace on Edward's terms.In the following year, the Northumbrian Danes retaliated by raiding Mercia, but on their way home they were met by a combined Mercian and West Saxon army at theBattle of Tettenhall,where the Vikings suffered a disastrous defeat. After that, the Northumbrian Danes did not venture south of the RiverHumberduring Edward's reign, and he and his Mercian allies were able to concentrate on conquering the southern Danelaw in East Anglia and theFive Boroughsof Viking east Mercia:Derby,Leicester,Lincoln,NottinghamandStamford.

In 911, Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, died, and Edward took control of the Mercian lands around London andOxford.Æthelred was succeeded as ruler by his widow Æthelflæd (Edward's sister) as Lady of the Mercians, and she had probably been acting as ruler for several years as Æthelred seems to have been incapacitated in later life.

Edward and Æthelflæd then began the construction of fortresses to guard against Viking attacks and protect territory captured from them. In November 911, he constructed a fort on the north bank of theRiver LeaatHertfordto guard against attack by the Danes ofBedfordandCambridge.In 912, he marched with his army toMaldonin Essex, and ordered the building of a fort atWithamand a second fort at Hertford, which protected London from attack and encouraged many English living under Danish rule in Essex to submit to him. In 913, there was a pause in his activities, although Æthelflæd continued her fortress building in Mercia.In 914, a Viking army sailed fromBrittanyand ravaged theSevernestuary. It then attackedErgyngin south-east Wales (nowArchenfieldinHerefordshire) and capturedCyfeilliog,Bishop of Ergyng.Edward ransomed him for the large sum of forty pounds of silver. The Vikings were defeated by the armies of Hereford and Gloucester, and gave hostages and oaths to keep the peace. Edward kept an army on the south side of the estuary in case the Vikings broke their promises, and he twice had to repel attacks. In the autumn the Vikings moved on to Ireland. The episode suggests that south-east Wales fell within the West Saxon sphere of power, unlikeBrycheiniogjust to the north, where Mercia was dominant.In late 914 Edward built two forts atBuckingham,and Earl Thurketil, the leader of the Danish army at Bedford submitted to him. The following year Edward occupied Bedford, and constructed another fortification on the south bank of theRiver Great Ouseagainst a Viking one on the north bank. In 916, he returned to Essex and built a fort at Maldon to bolster the defence of Witham. He also helped Earl Thurketil and his followers to leave England, reducing the number of Viking armies in the Midlands.

The decisive year in the war was 917. In April, Edward built a fort atTowcesterinNorthamptonshireas a defence against the Danes ofNorthampton,and another at an unidentified place called Wigingamere. The Danes launched unsuccessful attacks on Towcester, Bedford and Wigingamere, while Æthelflæd captured Derby, showing the value of the English defensive measures, which were aided by disunity and a lack of coordination among the Viking armies. The Danes had built their own fortress atTempsfordin Bedfordshire, but at the end of the summer the English stormed it and killed the last Danish king of East Anglia. The English then tookColchester,although they did not try to hold it. The Danes retaliated by sending a large army to lay siege to Maldon, but the garrison held out until it was relieved and the retreating army was heavily defeated. Edward then returned to Towcester and reinforced its fort with a stone wall, and the Danes of nearby Northampton submitted to him. The armies of Cambridge and East Anglia also submitted, and by the end of the year the only Danish armies still holding out were those of four of the Five Boroughs, Leicester, Stamford, Nottingham, and Lincoln.

In early 918, Æthelflæd secured the submission of Leicester without a fight, and the Danes of Northumbrian York offered her their allegiance, probably for protection againstNorse(Norwegian) Vikings who had invaded Northumbria from Ireland, but she died on 12 June before she could take up the proposal. The same offer is not known to have been made to Edward, and the Norse Vikings took York in 919. According to the main West Saxon version of theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle,after Æthelflæd's death the Mercians submitted to Edward, but the Mercian version (theMercian Register) states that in December 918 her daughter Ælfwynn "was deprived of all authority in Mercia and taken into Wessex". Mercia may have made a bid for continued semi-independence which was suppressed by Edward, and it then came under his direct rule. Stamford had surrendered to Edward before Æthelflæd's death, and Nottingham did the same shortly afterwards. According to theAnglo-Saxon Chroniclefor 918, "All the people who had settled in Mercia, both Danish and English, submitted to him." This would mean that he ruled all England south of the Humber, but it is not clear whether Lincoln was an exception, as coins of Viking York in the early 920s were probably minted at Lincoln.Some Danishjarlswere allowed to keep their estates, although Edward probably also rewarded his supporters with land, and some he kept in his own hands. Coin evidence suggests that his authority was stronger in the East Midlands than in East Anglia.Three Welsh kings,Hywel Dda,Clydog andIdwal Foel,who had previously been subject to Æthelflæd, now gave their allegiance to Edward.

Coinage

Silver penny of Edward the Elder

The principal currency in later Anglo-Saxon England was thesilver penny,and some coins carried a stylised portrait of the king. Edward's coins had "EADVVEARD REX" on theobverseand the name of themoneyeron the reverse. The places of issue were not shown in his reign, but they were in that of his son Æthelstan, allowing the location of many moneyers of Edward's reign to be established. There were mints inBath,Canterbury,Chester,Chichester,Derby,Exeter,Hereford,London, Oxford,Shaftesbury,Shrewsbury,Southampton,Stafford,Wallingford,Wareham,Winchester and probably other towns. No coins were struck in the name of Æthelred or Æthelflæd, but from around 910 mints in English Mercia produced coins with an unusual decorative design on the reverse. This ceased before 920, and probably represents Æthelflæd's way of distinguishing her coinage from that of her brother. There was also a minor issue of coins in the name of Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury. There was a dramatic increase in the number of moneyers over Edward's reign, fewer than 25 in the south in the first ten years rising to 67 in the last ten years, around five in English Mercia rising to 23, plus 27 in the conqueredDanelaw.

Church

In 908, Plegmund conveyed the alms of the English king and people to the Pope, the first visit to Rome by an Archbishop of Canterbury for almost a century, and the journey may have been to seek papal approval for a proposed re-organisation of the West Saxon sees.When Edward came to the throne Wessex had two dioceses,Winchester,held byDenewulf,andSherborne,held by Asser.In 908, Denewulf died and was replaced the following year byFrithestan;soon afterwards Winchester was divided into two sees, with the creation of thediocese of Ramsburycovering Wiltshire andBerkshire,while Winchester was left withHampshireandSurrey.Forged charters date the division to 909, but this may not be correct. Asser died in the same year, and at some date between 909 and 918 Sherborne was divided into three sees,CreditoncoveringDevonandCornwall,andWellscovering Somerset, leaving Sherborne with Dorset.The effect of the changes was to strengthen the status of Canterbury compared with Winchester and Sherborne, but the division may have been related to a change in the secular functions of West Saxon bishops, to become agents of royal government in shires rather than provinces, assisting in defence and taking part in shire courts.

At the beginning of Edward's reign, his mother Ealhswith founded the abbey of St Mary for nuns, known as theNunnaminster,in Winchester.Edward's daughterEadburhbecame a nun there, and she was venerated as a saint and the subject of a hagiography byOsbert of Clarein the twelfth century.In 901, Edward started building a major religious community for men, possibly in accordance with his father's wishes. The monastery was next to Winchester Cathedral, which became known as theOld Minsterwhile Edward's foundation was called theNew Minster.It was much larger than the Old Minster, and was probably intended as a royal mausoleum.It acquired relics of the BretonSaint Judoc,which probably arrived in England fromPonthieuin 901, and the body of one of Alfred's closest advisers,Grimbald,who died in the same year and who was soon venerated as a saint. Edward's mother died in 902, and he buried her and Alfred there, moving his father's body from the Old Minster. Burials in the early 920s included Edward himself, his brother Æthelweard, and his sonÆlfweard.On the other hand, when Æthelstan became king in 924, he did not show any favour to his father's foundation, probably because Winchester sided against him when the throne was disputed after Edward's death. The only other king buried at the New Minster wasEadwig,in 959.

Edward's decision not to expand the Old Minster, but rather to overshadow it with a much larger building, suggests animosity towards Bishop Denewulf, and this was compounded by forcing the Old Minster to cede both land for the new site, and an estate of seventyhidesatBeddingtonto provide an income for the New Minster. Edward was remembered by the New Minster as a benefactor, but at the Old Minster asrex avidus(greedy king).He may have built the new church because he did not think that the Old Minster was grand enough to be the royal mausoleum for kings of the Anglo-Saxons, not just the West Saxons like their predecessors.Alan Thacker comments:

Edward's method of endowing New Minster was of a piece with his ecclesiastical policy in general. Like his father he gave little to the church indeed, judging by the dearth of charters for much of his reign he seems to have given away little at all... More than any other, Edward's kingship seems to epitomise the new hard-nosed monarchy of Wessex, determined to exploit all its resources, lay and ecclesiastical, for its own benefit.

Patrick Wormaldobserves: "The thought occurs that neither Alfred nor Edward was greatly beloved at Winchester Cathedral; and one reason for Edward's moving his father's body into the new family shrine next door was that he was surer of sincere prayers there."

Learning and culture

The standard of Anglo-Saxon learning declined severely in the ninth century, particularly in Wessex, and Mercian scholars such as Plegmund played a major part in the revival of learning initiated by Alfred. Mercians were prominent at the courts of Alfred and Edward, and the Mercian dialect and scholarship commanded West Saxon respect.It is uncertain how far Alfred's programmes continued during his son's reign. English translations of works in Latin made during Alfred's reign continued to be copied, but few original works are known. The script known as Anglo-Saxon Squareminusculereached maturity in the 930s, and its earliest phases date to Edward's reign. The main scholarly and scriptorial centres were the cathedral centres of Canterbury, Winchester and Worcester; monasteries did not make a significant contribution until Æthelstan's reign.Very little survives of the manuscript production of Edward's reign.

Theonly surviving large-scale embroiderieswhich were certainly made in Anglo-Saxon England date to Edward's reign. They are astole,a maniple and a possiblegirdleremoved from the coffin ofSt CuthbertinDurham Cathedralin the nineteenth century. They were donated to the shrine by Æthelstan in 934, but inscriptions on the embroideries show that they were commissioned by Edward's second wife, Ælfflæd, as a gift to Frithestan,Bishop of Winchester.They probably did not reach their intended destination because Æthelstan was on bad terms with Winchester.

Law and administration

In 901 a meeting at Southampton was attended by Edward's brother and sons, his householdthegnsand nearly all bishops, but no ealdormen. It was on this occasion that the king acquired land from the Bishop of Winchester for the foundation of the New Minster, Winchester. No charters survive for the period from 910 to the king's death in 924, much to the puzzlement and distress of historians. Charters were usually issued when the king made grants of land, and it is possible that Edward followed a policy of retaining property which came into his hands to help finance his campaigns against the Vikings.Charters rarely survive unless they concerned property which passed to the church and were preserved in their archives, and another possibility is that Edward was making grants of property only on terms which ensured that they returned to male members of the royal house; such charters would not be found in church archives.

Clause 3 of the law code calledI Edwardprovides that people convincingly charged with perjury shall not be allowed to clear themselves by oath, but only byordeal.This is the start of the continuous history in England oftrial by ordeal;it is probably mentioned in the laws of KingIne(688 to 726),but not in later codes such as those of Alfred.The administrative and legal system in Edward's reign may have depended extensively on written records, almost none of which survive.Edward was one of the few Anglo-Saxon kings to issue laws about bookland. There was increasing confusion in the period as to what was really bookland; Edward urged prompt settlement in bookland and folkland disputes, and his legislation established that jurisdiction belonged to the king and his officers.

Later life

According to theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle,there was a general submission of rulers in Britain to Edward in 920:

Then [Edward] went from there into thePeak DistricttoBakewelland ordered a borough to be built in the neighbourhood and manned. And then the king of the Scots and all the people of the Scots, andRægnaldand the sons ofEadwulfand all who live in Northumbria, both English and Danish, Norsemen and others, and also the king of theStrathclydeWelsh and all the Strathclyde Welsh, chose him as father and lord.

This passage was regarded as a straightforward report by most historians until the late twentieth century,andFrank Stentonobserved that "each of the rulers named in this list had something definite to gain from an acknowledgement of Edward's overlordship."Since the 1980s this submission has been viewed with increasing scepticism, particularly as the passage in theChronicleis the only evidence for it, unlike other submissions such as that one in 927 to Æthelstan, for which there is independent support from literary sources and coins.Alfred Smythpoints out that Edward was not in a position to impose the same conditions on the Scots and the Northumbrians as he could on conquered Vikings, and argues that theChroniclepresented a treaty between kings as a submission to Wessex.Stafford observes that the rulers had met atBakewellon the border between Mercia and Northumbria, and that meetings on borders were generally considered to avoid any implication of submission by either side.Davidson points out that the wording "chosen as father and lord" applied to conquered army groups and burhs, not relations with other kings. In his view:

The idea that this meeting represented a "submission", while it must remain a possibility, does however seem unlikely. The textual context of the chronicler's passage makes his interpretation of the meeting suspect, and ultimately, Edward was in no position to force the subordination of, or dictate terms to, his fellow kings in Britain.

Edward continued Æthelflæd's policy of founding burhs in the north-west, atThelwallandManchesterin 919, andCledematha(Rhuddlan) at the mouth of theRiver Clwydin North Wales in 921.

Nothing is known of his relations with the Mercians between 919 and the last year of his life, when he put down a Mercian and Welsh revolt at Chester. Mercia and the eastern Danelaw were organised into shires at an unknown date in the tenth century, ignoring traditional boundaries, and historians such as Sean Miller and David Griffiths suggest that Edward's imposition of direct control from 919 is a likely context for a change which ignored Mercian sensibilities. Resentment at the changes, at the imposition of rule by distant Wessex, and at fiscal demands by Edward's reeves, may have provoked the revolt at Chester. He died at the royal estate of Farndon, twelve miles south of Chester, on 17 July 924, shortly after putting down the revolt, and was buried in the New Minster, Winchester.In 1109, the New Minster was moved outside the city walls to becomeHyde Abbey,and the following year the remains of Edward and his parents were translated to the new church.

Reputation

According to William of Malmesbury, Edward was "much inferior to his father in the cultivation of letters", but "incomparably more glorious in the power of his rule". Other medieval chroniclers expressed similar views, and he was generally seen as inferior in book learning, but superior in military success.John of Worcesterdescribed him as "the most invincible King Edward the Elder". However, even as war leader he was only one of a succession of successful kings; his achievements were overshadowed because he did not have a famous victory like Alfred's at Edington and Æthelstan's atBrunanburh,and William of Malmesbury qualified his praise of Edward by saying, "The chief prize of victory, in my judgment, is due to his father."Edward has also been overshadowed by chroniclers' admiration for his highly regarded sister, Æthelflæd.

A principal reason for the neglect of Edward is that very few primary sources for his reign survive, whereas there are many for Alfred. He was largely ignored by historians until the late twentieth century, but he is now highly regarded. He is described by Keynes as "far more than the bellicose bit between Alfred and Æthelstan",and according to Nick Higham: "Edward the Elder is perhaps the most neglected of English kings. He ruled an expanding realm for twenty-five years and arguably did as much as any other individual to construct a single, south-centred, Anglo-Saxon kingdom, yet posthumously his achievements have been all but forgotten." In 1999 a conference on his reign was held at theUniversity of Manchester,and the papers given on this occasion were published as a book in 2001. Prior to this conference, no monographs had been published on Edward's reign, whereas his father has been the subject of numerous biographies and other studies.

Higham summarises Edward's legacy as follows:

Under Edward's leadership, the scale of alternative centres of power diminished markedly: the separate court of Mercia was dissolved; the Danish leaders were in large part brought to heel or expelled; the Welsh princes were constrained from aggression on the borders and even the West Saxon bishoprics divided. Late Anglo-Saxon England is often described as the most centralised polity in western Europe at the time, with its shires, its shire-reeves and its systems of regional courts and royal taxation. If so – and the matter remains debatable – much of that centrality derives from Edward's activities, and he has as good a claim as any other to be considered the architect of medieval England.

Edward'scognomen'the Elder' was first used inWulfstan'sLife of St Æthelwoldat the end of the tenth century, to distinguish him from KingEdward the Martyr.

Marriages and children

Edward had about fourteen children from three marriages.

Edward first marriedEcgwynnaround 893.Their children were:

• Æthelstan,King of England 924–939;
• A daughter, perhaps called Edith, marriedSihtric,Viking King of York in 926, who died in 927. Possibly SaintEdith of Polesworth

Around 900, he marriedÆlfflæd,daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably ofWiltshire.Their children were:

• Ælfweard,died August 924, a month after his father; possibly King of Wessex for that month;
• Edwin,drowned at sea 933;
• Æthelhild,lay sisteratWilton Abbey;
• Eadgifu(died in or after 951), marriedCharles the Simple,King of theWest Franks,c. 918;
• Eadflæd, nun at Wilton Abbey;
• Eadhild,marriedHugh the Great,Duke of the Franks in 926;
• Eadgyth(died 946), in 929/30 marriedOtto I,future King of the East Franks, and (after Eadgyth's death)Holy Roman Emperor;
• Ælfgifu or Edgiva, married "a prince near theAlps",perhaps Louis, brother of KingRudolph II of Burgundy.

Edward married for a third time, around 919,Eadgifu,the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman ofKent.Their children were:

• Edmund I,King of England 939–946
• Eadred,King of England 946–955
• Eadburh(died c. 952), Benedictine nun atNunnaminster, Winchester,and saint
• Eadgifu, existence uncertain, possibly the same person as Ælfgifu

Genealogy

Ancestors of Edward the Elder
8.Ecgberht 4.Æthelwulf 2.Alfred the Great 10. Oslac 5.Osburga 1. Edward the Elder 6.Æthelred Mucel 3.Ealhswith 7. Eadburh

References

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External links

• Edward the Elderat the official website of the British monarchy
• Edward 2atProsopography of Anglo-Saxon England
• The Laws of King Edward the Elder
• Edward the Elder Coinage Regulations
• Portraits of Edward 'the Elder'at theNational Portrait Gallery, London