Eadred

Penny Eadreds

Eadred (also Eadredus, Eadræd, Ædred, Adred, Adredus, Eaðredus etc .; * around 924 - 23 November 955 ) was King of England from 946 until his death .

Life

Family and youth

Eadred was from the House of Wessex . He was the youngest son of King Edward the Elder (899-924) and his third wife Eadgifu († 966/967), a daughter of Ealdorman Sigehelm († 903) from Kent. His predecessor King Edmund I (936-946) was his older brother. His son Eadwig (955–959) was his successor.

Eadred appeared already during the reign of his half-brother Æthelstan (924-939) and his brother Edmund I (936-946), whose documents he signed as a regis frater ("brother of the king") as a witness. He was not married and left no offspring.

Domination

Succession to the throne

After King Edmund I (936-946) was murdered on May 26, 946, Eadred succeeded him. He was crowned on August 16, 946 in Kingston upon Thames by Archbishop Odo of Canterbury . The coronation was attended by numerous bishops, the South Welsh King Hwyel Dda with his brothers Morgan and Cadwgan, and four Earls with the Scandinavian names Orm, Morcar, Grim and Coll.

Government and Administration

Eadred took over numerous advisers from his brother and predecessor Edmund, some of whom had already stood by his predecessor, his half-brother Æthelstan (924-939). This gave English politics a certain consistency. The most important advisors included the clergy Archbishop Odo of Canterbury (941-958), Bishop Ælfsige of Winchester (951-959), Abbot Dunstan of Glastonbury (945-956) and Bishop Cenwald of Worcester (929-957). Æthelstan Half-King , the Ealdorman of East Anglia, was Eadred's chief secular advisor. His mother Eadgifu, who appears in charters as a witness or beneficiary, also played a major role. But Eadred also accepted new people, such as Ælfhere, who later became Ealdorman of Mercia , among his confidants. Towards the end of his reign, Eadred Æthelwald set up as Abbot of Abingdon (around 954–963) and converted the dilapidated secular monastery into a Benedictine monastery .

Eadred's will shows the hierarchy of counselors and the composition of the royal household. He bequeathed 240 gold mancuses to Archbishop Odo of Canterbury, 120 to each bishop and Ealdorman. His discþegn (Latin dapifer , Seneschall , Truchsess ), his hræglþegn (also burþegn , Latin camerarius , chamberlain ) and his biriele (Latin pincerna , cupbearer ) each received 80 mancusa .

Conquest of the Kingdom of Jórvík

Eadred was highly regarded, but his hegemonic supremacy in England was not unchallenged. The sources make it difficult to reconstruct the events. Chronicles that deal with this period were created clearly after the events and often contradict each other, as well as contemporary charters .

The kingdom of Jórvík (Northumbria) had already submitted to Eadred's half-brother Æthelstan (924-939) in 927. Under Olaf Cuaran (927, 941-944, 947-949 / 952) and Erik Blutaxt (950-952 / 954) the Northumbrians strived for autonomy and were supported by Archbishop Wulfstan I of York (931-956). The opportunistic Earl Osulf von Bamburgh (930–963), however, was temporarily allied with Eadred.

Olaf Cuaran seems to have asserted himself as king in 947 with Eadred's approval or tolerance. Olaf was close to the English kings: King Edmund was his godfather and his coins resembled English models. His pagan rival Erik Blutaxt, however, had coins minted with traditional "Viking motifs". The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , according to Olaf was sold in the year 952 of the Northumbriern; However, the year 949 is more likely. The submission of Archbishop Wulfstan and the Northumbrian nobility, which has been handed down for the year 947, probably took place in 949. In the years that followed, Eadred appears to have ruled York himself. He chartered several charters in 949 and 950 and carried the title "King of the English, Northumbrians, Gentiles and British".

Then the Northumbrians broke their oath of allegiance to Eadred and chose Erik Bloodaxe as their king. Eadred responded to this insubordination with a punitive expedition during which the important monastery in Ripon was burned to the ground . On the march back, Eadred's rearguard was attacked and gutted at Castleford . When Eadred threatened to invade Northumbria again with his entire force and "completely destroy" the country, said the Northumbrians, or at least the circle around Archbishop Wulfstan, rid themselves of Erik and paid Eadred Wergeld for his losses. Probably in this context Eadred appropriated the relics of Saint Wilfrid († 709) resting in Ripon and brought them to Canterbury. The dating of these events is the subject of controversial discussions: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle names the year 948, the Historia Regum 950. Archbishop Wulfstan, who was close to the destroyed monastery in Ripon, was deposed by Eadred in 952, imprisoned in Juthanbyrig (Jedburgh in Roxburghshire ), soon after but reinstated.

The Northumbrian kingdom became extinct when Erik Blutaxt was driven out in 952 , as the Historia Regum tells us. Osulf of Bamburgh was installed by Eadred as the first Earl of Northumbria . When Erik Blutaxt was murdered at Stainmore ( Eden district in Cumbria) in 954 at the instigation of Osulf , the reconquest of Northumbria was complete.

Coffin Eadreds in Winchester Cathedral

Death and succession

Towards the end of his life, Eadred's health deteriorated dramatically. He was no longer able to chew and could only slurp his food. In addition, he suffered from walking difficulties or paralysis. In his final years he appears to have delegated royal powers to Dunstan and other dignitaries: he signed less than a third of the charters himself between 953 and 955. He finally succumbed to his illness on November 23, at the age of just over 30 955 in Frome (Somerset). Eadred was buried in Winchester Cathedral.

King Eadred died unmarried and without leaving any descendants. He was succeeded as king by his nephew Eadwig , the older son of his brother Edmund.

See also

• Family table of English kings

swell

• anonymous: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Online in Project Gutenberg (English)
• Symeon of Durham : Historia ecclesiae Dunelmensis (History of the Church of Durham)
• Symeon of Durham: De Gestis Regum Anglorum (Deeds of the English Kings)
• Æthelweard : Chronica
• Ælfric Grammaticus : Vita Æthelwoldi
• B .: Vita Dunstani
• Eadred's charters

literature

• Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 .
• John Mitchell Kemble : Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-108-03586-6 .
• Dorothy Whitelock (Ed.): English Historical Documents, vol. lc 500-1042 , 2nd ed., Routledge, London 1996, ISBN 0-415-14366-7 .
• Michael Lapidge, Malcolm Godden, Simon Keynes (Eds.): Anglo-Saxon England Volume 34, Cambridge University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-03848-5 .
• John Hudson (Ed.): Historia Ecclesie Abbendonensis Volume 1. Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-929937-9 .
• Alex Woolf : From Pictland to Alba: 789-1070 Volume 2. Edinburgh University Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7486-1234-5 .
• Nicholas Brooks : Anglo-Saxon Myths: State and Church 400-1066 , Continuum, 2000, ISBN 978-1-85285-154-5 .
• James P. Carley, David Townsend (Eds.): Chronicle of Glastonbury Abbey. An Edition, Translation And Study of John of Glastonbury's Cronica Sive Antiquitates . Boydell & Brewer, 2009, ISBN 978-0-85115-859-4 .

Web links

Commons : Eadred of England  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Ann Williams: Eadred (paid registration required). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved February 15, 2012
• Eadred 16 in Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE)
• Eadred in Foundation for Medieval Genealogy

Individual evidence

1. ^ Pauline Stafford: Eadgifu . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 , p. 149.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Ann Williams: Eadred (paid registration required). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved February 15, 2012
3. ^ John Mitchell Kemble: Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-108-03586-6 , passim.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Sean Miller: Eadred . In: Lapidge et al. (Ed.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England . Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford et al. a. 2001, ISBN 978-0-631-22492-1 , p. 150.
5. ↑ Charter S520  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ z. B. Charter S1511  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Charter S562  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Charter S1515  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ^ Symeon of Durham: De Gestis Regum Anglorum for the year 952
10. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 955

predecessor	Office	successor
Edmund I.	King of England 946–955	Forever

predecessor	Office	successor
Edmund I.	King of Jórvík 946–948	Erik blood ax