EDGAR, King I

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Some see Edgar's death as the beginning of the end of Anglo-Saxon England, followed as it was by three successful 11th century conquests — two Danish and one Norman.
• Relation to Me: 33 GGF
• Name: Edgar the Peaceful or the Peaceable
• Royalty & Nobility: Between 959 and 975; King of England

Notes:

Edgar was crowned at Bath and anointed with his wife Ælfthryth, setting a precedent for a coronation of a queen in England itself. Edgar's coronation did not happen until 973, in an imperial ceremony planned not as the initiation, but as the culmination of his reign (a move that must have taken a great deal of preliminary diplomacy). This service, devised by Dunstan himself and celebrated with a poem in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, forms the basis of the present-day British coronation ceremony.

Known as a reformer. Edgar oversaw realignment of county boundaries that woudl endure for more than 1000 years (until 1974) and also reformed weights and measures and the coinage.

Family/Spouse: AELFTHRYTH. (daughter of ORDGAR) was born in 945; died in 1000. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. AETHELRED, II was born in 966; died on 23 Apr 1016 in London, England.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Relation to Me: 34 GGF
• Name: Called the Elder, the Deed-doer, the Just, or the Magnificent
• Royalty & Nobility: Between 27 Oct 939 and 26 May 946; King of the English

Notes:

Shortly after his proclamation as king, he had to face several military threats. King Olaf III Guthfrithson conquered Northumbria and invaded the Midlands; when Olaf died in 942, Edmund reconquered the Midlands.[2] In 943, Edmund became the god-father of King Olaf of York. In 944, Edmund was successful in reconquering Northumbria.[3] In the same year, his ally Olaf of York lost his throne and left for Dublin in Ireland. Olaf became the king of Dublin as Amlaíb Cuarán and continued to be allied to his god-father. In 945, Edmund conquered Strathclyde but ceded the territory to King Malcolm I of Scotland in exchange for a treaty of mutual military support.[3] Edmund thus established a policy of safe borders and peaceful relationships with Scotland. During his reign, the revival of monasteries in England began.

Died at age 25 in a skirmish while attempting to defend his steward from a thief named Leofa.

Died:
Edmund was murdered by Leofa, an exiled thief, while attending St Augustine's Day mass in Pucklechurch (South Gloucestershire)

I + AELFGIFU. (daughter of Living) died in 944; was buried . [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Ælfgifu was venerated as a saint soon after her burial at Shaftesbury. Æthelweard reports that many miracles had taken place at her tomb up to his day,
• Relation to Me: 34 GGM
• Royalty & Nobility: Queen Consort of England
• Name: Saint Elgiva, Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury

Notes:

Saint Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, also known as Saint Elgiva was the first wife of Edmund I (r. 939-946), by whom she bore two future kings, Eadwig (r. 955-959) and Edgar (r. 959-975). Like her mother Wynflaed, she had a close and special if unknown connection with the royal nunnery of Shaftesbury (Dorset), founded by King Alfred, where she was buried and soon revered as a saint. According to a pre-Conquest tradition from Winchester, her feast day is 18 May. According to William of Malmesbury, Ælfgifu would secretly redeem those who were publicly condemned to severe judgment, she gave expensive clothes to the poor, and she also had prophetic powers as well as powers of healing.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: He was the second king of the Anglo-Saxons as this title was created by his father Alfred the Great.
• Relation to Me: 35 GGF
• Name: Edward the Elder
• Royalty & Nobility: Between 899 and 924; King of the Anglo-Saxons

Notes:

Edward is highly regarded by historians. 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 achivements have been all but forgotten." In the view of F. T. Wainwright: "Without detracting from the achievements of Alfred, it is well to remember that it was Edward who reconquered the Danish Midlands and gave England nearly a century of respite from serious Danish attacks.

+ EADGIFU. (daughter of SIGEHELM) was born about 901; died in 966. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: She was known as a supporter of saintly churchmen and a benefactor of churches.
• Relation to Me: 35 GGM
• Royalty & Nobility: Queen Consort of the Angle-Saxons
• Name: also Edgiva or Ediva, Eadgifu of Kent

Notes:

Third wife of Edward the Elder, Eadgifu became the mother of two sons, Edmund I of England, later King Edmund I, and Eadred of England, later King Eadred, and two daughters, Saint Eadburh of Winchester and Eadgifu. She survived Edward by many years, dying in the reign of her grandson Edgar.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: He is one of only two English monarchs to be given the epithet "the Great", the other being the Scandinavian Cnut the Great. He was also the first King of the West Saxons to style himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons".
• Relation to Me: 36 GGF
• Name: Alfred the Great aka King Alfred and Alfred I
• Religion: Roman Catholic
• Royalty & Nobility: Between 23 Apr 871 and 26 Oct 899, Wessex, England; King of the Anglo-Saxons

Notes:

Alfred is venerated as a saint by some Christian traditions, but an attempt by Henry VI of England in 1441 to have him canonized by the pope was unsuccessful. The Anglican Communion venerates him as a Christian hero, with a feast day or commemoration on 26 October, and he may often be found depicted in stained glass in Church of England parish churches.

Alfred commissioned Bishop Asser to write his biography, which inevitably emphasised Alfred's positive aspects. Later medieval historians, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth also reinforced Alfred's favourable image. By the time of the Reformation Alfred was seen as being a pious Christian ruler, who promoted the use of English rather than Latin, and so the translations that he commissioned were viewed as untainted by the later Roman Catholic influences of the Normans. Consequently, it was writers of the sixteenth century who gave Alfred his epithet as 'the Great', rather than any of Alfred's contemporaries.The epithet was retained by succeeding generations of Parliamentarians and empire-builders who saw Alfred's patriotism, success against barbarism, promotion of education and establishment of the rule of law as supporting their own ideals.

Alfred successfully defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest, and by the time of his death had become the dominant ruler in England. Alfred had a reputation as a learned and merciful man of a gracious and level-headed nature who encouraged education, proposing that primary education be taught in English, and improved his kingdom's legal system, military structure and his people's quality of life. In 2002, Alfred was ranked number 14 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.

Alfred married EALHSWITH in 868. (daughter of MUCEL, Aethelred and Living) died on 5 Dec 902. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Relation to Me: 36 GGM
• Royalty & Nobility: Queen Consort of the Anglo-Saxons

Other Events and Attributes:

• Relation to Me: 36 GGF
• Royalty & Nobility: Ealdorman of Kent

Notes:

Died:
Died at the Battle of the Holme