• General Notes

  TITLE:  King of ENGLAND
  BURIAL:  Winchester Catherdral, ENGLAND
  NOTE:
  Born: c 871 or 872. son of Alfred.
  Titles: King of the West Saxons.
  Crowned: Kingston-upon-Thames, 8 June 900.
  Ruled: 26 October 899-17 July 924. 26 years.
  Married: (1) c894 (though date unknown), Egwina (d. c9Ol) "a noblewoman": 3 children; (2) c9Ol/2, Elfleda (d. 920), dau. ealdorman Athelhelm: 10 children; (3) c920 Edgiva (905-968), dau.Sigehelm, ealdorman of Kent. 5 children. Edward may also have had an illegitimate child.
  Died: Farndon-on-Dee, 17 July 924, aged about 52.
  Buried: Winchester Cathedral.
  Edward the Elder was the second son of Alfred the Great and was born about 871. His elder brother, Edmund, apparently died in infancy, though one tradition asserts he lived long enough to be crowned as heir apparent. In any case, the choice of his first two sons' names demonstrate Alfred's hopes for them. Both names mean  "protector" (mund) or "guardian" (ward) of "riches", showing that Alfred hoped his sons would guard the prosperity of the nation for the future. Edward grew up firmly believing this. He was a soldier from childhood, not a scholar like his father and grandfather, and he knew, once his brother died, that it was in his hands that the future of the nation rested. He was a child throughout the wars that his father waged with the Danes, and they would have left a vivid impression on his mind. When the Danish problems arose again in 892 and 893 he commanded part of the army that captured the raiders. The Saxons were therefore already accustomed to him as their leader. However, after his father's death his succession did not go unchallenged. His nephew, Athelwold, the son of Athelred, was dissatisfied with the terms of Alfred's will and felt dispossessed. He seized Wimborne manor and, though he was soon chased out of Wessex, he was accepted by the Danes and Angles of York as their leader and subsequently led a revolt amongst the Danes of East Anglia. He remained a thorn in Edward's side until he was defeated and killed in 902, after which Edward was able to seal a peace treaty with the Danes of the east. However the Danes of the north still defied Edward's sovereignty, ruling jorvik as a separate Danish kingdom. Throughout 909 the Danes tested Edward's resolve with a number of border raids and skirmishes, and eventually Edward moved against them, raising a vast army. Edward harried Northumbria with little result.The following year he was tricked by the Danish fleet moving down the east coast, while the main Danish army moved across Northumbria and down into Mercia. Edward realised his error and chased the Danes, catching them at Tettenhall in August 910, where he inflicted upon them one of their most crushing defeats, resulting in the deaths of the two Danish kings Halfdan and Eowils. It was the end of the Danish hold on Jorvik, although soon after the Norse under Ragnall moved in.
  BIOGRAPHY: The Norse had been expelled from Dublin in 902 and were now landless. They first caused a nuisance in Wales and Scotland, but by 910 had become bold enough to enter Northumbria, and no sooner had Edward defeated one foe than another arrived. Rather than take them on instantly, Edward decided to work on one plan at a time. Since 905 Edward had been refortifying England. He rebuilt Chester and, along with his sister, Athelfled of Mercia, established a chain of fortified towns along the border with the Danelaw, includingRuncorn, Tamworth, Stafford, Warwick, down to Hertford and over to Witham in Essex. Even before these forts were finished Edward was able to use them as a base to defeat a major Danish army which moved across England into Wales in 914, but no matter where the army tried to inflict major destruction, Edward was there, and the army eventually moved out of Britain at the end of the year. Most of the forts were completed by 915, and Edward progressively advanced into Danish territory.

Details of (King) Edward I's family