General Notes

[from Ancestry.com 81120.GED, references the Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy, p49]

Edward the Elder (899-924), king of the West Saxons. Though overshadowed by his father Alfred and upstaged by his son Athelstan, it was Edward who reconquered much of England from the Danes (909-919), permanently united Mercia with Wessex (918-919), established an administration for the kingdom of England, and secured the allegiance of the Danes, Scots, Britons, and English. Well educated and well trained by Alfred, he nevertheless had to oversome a rival for the throne (899-903).

Using Alfred's methods and in an alliance with Mercia, he spread English influence and control. The Danes of Northumbria were defeated (910) at Tettenhall, Staffordshire, the Viking kingdom of York acknowledged his power (918), and most Welsh kings submitted to him. In 921 the submission not only of Viking York and Northumbria but also of the kings of Strathclyde and the Scots gave his kingdom primacy in the British Isles. Edward was a patient planner and systematic organizer, as well as a bold soldier. By the time he died, he had completed the New Minster at Winchester, where he himself was buried. Though twice married, his eldest son and successor, Athelstan, was the son of a mistress.

[from Ancestry.com 139798.GED]

Edward I, "The Elder", "The Unconquered King", was born about 870 and died about 924. He reighed 24 years. He was not, like his father, a legislator or a scholar, although it is said that he founded the University of Cambridge, but he was a great warrior, He gradually extended his sway over the whole island, in which project he was assisted by his sister the "Lacy of Mercia" who headed her own troops and gained victories over both the Danes and Britons. Tradition assigns to Edward an even wider rule shortly before his death. In the middle of the ninth century the Picts and the Scots had been amalgamated under Kenneth MacAlpin, the King of the Scots, just as Mercia and Wessex were being welded together by the attacks of the Danes. It is said that in 925 the King of the Scots, together with other northern rulers, chose Edward "to father and lord". Probably this statement only covers some act of alliance formed by the English King wight the King of Scots and other lesser rulers. Nothing was more natural than that of the Scottish King, Constantine, should wish to obtain the support of Edward against his enemies; and it is natural that if Edward agreed to support him he would require some acknoweldgement of the superiority of the English King. After a prosperous reign, Edward died in Forndon, Northamptonshire in 925.