Edmund I. (England)

Edmund I of England

The Midlands in the first half of the 10th century

Edmund I. ( Old English Ēadmund ), also Edmund the Magnificent , (* around 922 - † May 26, 946 in Pucklechurch ) was an Anglo-Saxon King of England (939-946), the fourth son of King Edward the Elder and his wife Eadgifu and Successor to his half-brother Æthelstan .

Life

Even before his accession Edmund took with his brother King Athelstan at the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle praised Battle of Brunanburh in part, in an alliance of Scots under Constantine II. , Britons of the Kingdom of Strathclyde under I. Eogan and Vikings from Dublin under Olaf Guthfrithsson existed, was defeated by an Anglo-Saxon army.

At the time of his accession to the throne in 939, Edmund was the first Anglo-Saxon monarch whose dominion extended over all of England including Northumbria . Taking advantage of the turmoil surrounding the successor to Æthelstan, Olaf Guthfrithsson conquered York back at the end of 939 without significant resistance and in the following year fell deep into the Midlands , so that at the end of the first year of his rule Edmund had not only lost Northumbria to Olaf Guthfrithsson of Dublin, but also the part of Mercia that was north of Watling Street . In 940 Edmund besieged Olaf, with whom Wulfstan , Archbishop of York , was staying, in Leicester . In the same year Wulfstan and Odo of Canterbury , the future Archbishop of Canterbury , brokered a peace treaty between Edmund and Olaf, with the old Roman road Watling Street being established as the border between the two kingdoms.

Olaf died in 941 during a raid in Northumbria. His successor, Olaf Sihtricson, was unable to hold the conquered territories, so Edmund was able to regain the Five Boroughs and Mercia in 942 . The retaking of the Eastern Midlands was celebrated in a short poem in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle . In 942 he also put down a revolt in Wales led by Idwal Foel .

In 944 Edmund turned again to the north, and was able to drive both Olaf Sihtricson and his rival Ragnald from York and recapture Northumbria. During his reign it became clear that Northumbria, although conquered by Æthelstan, was still not an integral part of a unified England.

Edmund devastated the Kingdom of Strathclyde in 945, which he ceded to the Scottish King Malcolm I , on the condition that he would ally himself with him. This assignment shows that Edmund viewed Northumbria as the northernmost frontier of Anglo-Saxon England. According to legend, King Dunmail , the last ruler of Cumbria, also fell in this war .

In 946 Edmund sent an embassy to the west of France to achieve the liberation and reinstatement of King Ludwig IV. , Who had grown up at the court of elstthelstan and had now been captured by Hugo the Great during the power struggle with Hugo the Great . Due to the death of Edmund in the same year, however, this mission could not have any influence on the events in western France. Edmund's successor, Eadred , took all his energy to put down another revolt in Northumbria, and it is not known whether he pursued the matter further.

Edmund was responsible for appointing Dunstan abbot of Glastonbury monastery , and granted him land in Wiltshire, and for Glastonbury monastery. Although Edmund did not advocate monastic reform as firmly as his son and later successor Edgar was supposed to do in the second half of the 10th century, the introduction of the Regula Benedicti in Glastonbury Monastery was an important step towards the reforms that would come later should take place in the 10th century.

Edmund's legislation was characterized by the fact that it tried to stem the blood revenge. His laws also contained an important decree on the oath of allegiance .

King Edmund I was murdered on May 26, 946 while trying to save one of his officials during a scuffle by a certain Leofa, a criminal who had returned from exile. Since none of his sons were old enough at that time to be considered as successors, his brother Eadred became king.

family

• Wife 1: (around 940) St. Elfgiva († around 944 Shaftesbury Abbey), origin unclear; Children:
  • Eadwig (Edwy) , the Fair , King of England.
  • Edgar , King of England.
• Wife 2: (around 946) Ethelfleda († after 975, as a nun in Shaftesbury), daughter of Count Alfgar von Wilsaetas. The second marriage was childless.

See also

• Family table of English kings

swell

• Anglo-Saxon Charters: An Annotated List and Bibliography, Peter Hayes Sawyer (Ed.), Royal Historical Society, London 1968, ISBN 0-901050-18-0 .
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: MS A v. 3 , Janet Bately (Ed.), Brewer, Rochester (NY) 1986, ISBN 0-85991-103-9 .
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: MS D v. 6 , GP Cubbin (Ed.), Brewer, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-85991-467-4 .
• Annales Cambriae , John Williams (Ed.), London 1860
• Flodoard of Reims, Annales, Philippe Lauer (Ed.), 1905
• Matthew Paris, Flores Historiarum , Henry Richards Luard (eds.), Eyre and Spottiswoode, London 1890
• Symeonis Dunelmensis opera et collectanea , John Hodgson-Hinde (Ed.), Andrews, Durham 1868

literature

• A. Campbell: The End of the Kingdom of Northumbria , in: English Historical Review lvii (1942), pp. 91-97
• James Campbell et al. (Ed.): The Anglo-Saxons , Phaidon, London 1982, ISBN 0-7148-2149-7 .
• Robin Fleming: Kings and Lords in Conquest England , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1991, ISBN 0-521-39309-4 .
• Eugene Green: Anglo-Saxon Audiences , P. Lang, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-8204-4550-9 .
• Nicholas J. Higham: The Kingdom of Northumbria AD 350-1000 , Sutton, Stroud 1993, ISBN 0-86299-730-5 .
• Gwyn Jones : A History of the Vikings , Oxford University Press, Oxford 1984, ISBN 0-19-215882-1 .
• Thomas Downing Kendrick: A History of the Vikings , (Neudr.), Frank Cass & Co., London 1968.
• DP Kirby: The Making of Early England , BT Batsford, London 1967.
• Michael Lapidge: Anglo-Latin Literature, 900-1066 , Hambledon, London 1985, ISBN 1-85285-012-4 .
• Pauline Stafford: The East Midlands in the Early Middle Ages , Leicester University Press, Leicester 1985, ISBN 0-7185-1198-0 .
• Pauline Stafford (Ed.): A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland c. 500 - c. 1100 , Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford 2009, ISBN 1-4051-0628-X .
• Frank M. Stenton: Anglo-Saxon England , 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford 1971, ISBN 0-19-280139-2 .
• Ian W. Walker: Mercia and the Making of England , Sutton, Stroud 2000 ISBN 0-7509-2131-5 .
• Barbara Yorke : Wessex in the Early Middle Ages , Leicester University Press, London 1995, ISBN 0-7185-1314-2 .

Web links

Commons : Edmund I. (England)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ↑ ASC A , see 937
2. ^ FM Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 356
3. ^ B. Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages , p. 96
4. ^ TD Kendrick, A History of the Vikings , p. 254
5. ^ FM Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England , p. 357
6. ^ P. Stafford, The East Midlands in the Early Middle Ages , p. 115
7. ↑ , Symeonis Dunelmensis opera , p. 65
8. ^ FM Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England , p. 358
9. ↑ ASC A , see 942
10. ↑ JR Davies: Wales and West Britain in: P. Stafford (ed.): A Companion to the Early Middle Ages , p. 343
11. ^ FM Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England , p. 358
12. ^ G. Jones, A History of the Vikings , p. 239
13. ↑ ASC D , see 941
14. ↑ Annales Cambriae , sa 946 (945)
15. ^ FM Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England , p. 359
16. ^ FM Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England , p. 360
17. ^ A. Campbell, The End of the Kingdom of Northumbria , p. 95
18. ^ PH Sawyer, Anglo-Saxon Charters , no. 466
19. ^ PH Sawyer, Anglo-Saxon Charters , no. 499
20. ^ DP Kirby, The Making of Early England , p. 103
21. ^ R. Fleming, Kings and Lords in Conquest England , p. 31
22. ^ E. Green, Anglo-Saxon Audiences , p. 21
23. ↑ Flores Historiarum , v.1, p. 398
24. ↑ Flodoard of Reims, Annales , p. 101

predecessor	Office	successor
Æthelstan	King of England 939–946	Eadred

predecessor	Office	successor
Olaf II.	King of Jórvík 944–946	Eadred