Edgar "the Peaceful" (d 975) Bio Sketch

Edgar "the Peaceful" (d 975) Bio Sketch

BIO: from http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLAND,%20AngloSaxon%20&%20Danish%20Kings.htm#EadgythMSihtricYorkdied927, as of 10/24/2014

EDGAR, son of EDMUND King of Wessex & his first wife Ælfgifu --- ([943]-Winchester 8 Jul 975, bur Glastonbury Abbey[1725]). Florence of Worcester records the birth of "filium…Eadgarum" to "regi Eadmundo…sua regina sancta Ælfgiva", undated but dateable to [943] from the context[1726]. "Adgar clito" subscribed a charter of King Eadred dated 953[1727], and "Eadgar frater regis" subscribed charters of King Eadwig in 955 and 956[1728]. He was elected king in 957 by the people of Mercia and Northumbria[1729], apparently supported by his grandmother and by Dunstan abbot of Glastonbury. Reuniting the kingdom on his brother's death, he succeeded in 959 as EDGAR "the Peaceable" King of England. He supervised the revival of Benedictine monasticism and the reform of the English church. He was crowned in Bath Abbey 11 May 973, followed by the ceremonial submission to his rule by six British kings[1730] at Chester. The ceremony resulted in no change in the title used in charters when naming the king, who was referred to indiscriminately as "rex Anglorum", "totius Britannie telluris dominus", "totie Britannice insule basileus" or "rex totius Albionis". The reform of the coinage took place in the same year, including the introduction of a system of coin management which involved regular recall and reissue of coins usually every six years, operated through a network of 40 mint towns. The administrative sub-divisions of the shires, hundreds and wapentakes, date from Edgar's reign. King Edgar granted autonomy to the Danish eastern part of England, which came to be known as the Danelaw, with recognition of its legal and social customs. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the death on 8 Jul 975 of King Edgar[1731]. Simeon of Durham records the death "VIII Id Jul" in 975 of "King Eadgar" and his burial at Glastonbury[1732]. The Libellus de Anniversariis of Ramsey Monastery records the death “VIII Id Jul” of “Edgarus rex Anglie…qui dedit…terræ in Burewelle et ecclesiam de Gomicestre”[1733].

[m] firstly ([963], maybe repudiated[1734]) ÆTHELFLÆD, daughter of ORDMÆR Ealdorman of Devon & his wife Ealda (bur Wilton Abbey, Wiltshire). Simeon of Durham names "Egelfled the Fair daughter of duke Ordmer" as the mother of King Eadgar's son "Eadward"[1735]. Roger of Hoveden names her "Egelfleda" and names her father[1736]. Florence of Worcester records that "Ægelfleda Candida, cognomento Eneda, Ordmæri ducis filia" was the mother of King Eadgar’s son "Eadwardum, postea regem et martyrem"[1737]. This union of King Edgar’s may have been less formal than implied by the word "marriage". This is suggested by the contrast between the epithets applied to the king's sons in a charter subscribed by two of them dated 966: Edward (presumably born from this first marriage) is described as "Eadweard eodem rege clito procreatus", while Edmund (presumably born from the king's second marriage) was "Edmundus clito legitimus prefati regis filius"[1738]. Æthelflæd was surnamed "Eneda" according to Florence of Worcester[1739].

m secondly (965) as her second husband, ÆLFTHRYTH, widow of ÆTHELWOLD Ealdorman of the East Angles, daughter of ORDGAR Ealdorman of Devon & his wife --- (Lydford Castle, Devon ([945]-Wherwell Abbey, Hampshire [999/1002], bur Wherwell Abbey). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the marriage in 965 of King Edgar and Ælfthryth, stating that she was the daughter of ealdorman Ordgar[1740]. Simeon of Durham records the marriage of King Eadgar and "the daughter of Ordgar duke of Devonshire after the death of her husband Elfwold…duke of the East Angles" in 964[1741]. Roger of Hoveden names her, her father and her first husband, when recording her second marriage[1742]. Geoffrey Gaimar records a lengthy account of King Edgar having sent "Edelwoth" to woo "Estrueth la fille Orgar" on his behalf, and Æthelwold having married her without the king’s knowledge[1743]. King Edgar granted land in Buckinghamshire to "Ælfgifu que mihi afinitate mundialis cruoris coniuncta" in 966[1744]. "Ælfthryth regina" subscribed charters of King Edgar dated between 964 and 974[1745]. William of Malmesbury recounts that King Edgar killed Ælfthryth's first husband to enable him to marry her[1746]. She was crowned queen with her husband in 973, which was the first instance of the coronation of a queen in England. It was alleged that she was involved in the plot to kill her stepson so her own son could succeed as King[1747]. "Ælfthryth regina" subscribed charters of King Æthelred II between 979 and 983[1748], and "Ælfthryth regis mater" between 981 and 999[1749]. She became a nun at Wherwell Abbey, Hampshire in [985]. Her son King Æthelred II granted privileges to Wherwell Abbey in 1002 for the benefit of her soul[1750].

Mistress (1): WULFTHRYTH, daughter of --- ([945]-1000). Simeon of Durham names "the holy Wlthirtha" as the mother of King Eadgar's daughter "Eagitha"[1751]. Roger of Hoveden names her "Sancta Elfthritha"[1752]. Florence of Worcester records that "sancta Wlfthrytha" was the mother of King Eadgar’s daughter "Eadgitham"[1753]. Abbess of Wilton. King Edgar granted "Wulfthryth abbess" land at Chalke, Wiltshire by charter dated 974[1754].

King Edgar & his first [wife] had one child:

1. EADWARD ([963]-murdered Corfe, Dorset 18 Mar 978, bur Wareham Abbey, Dorset, transferred 979[1755] to Shaftesbury Abbey, Dorset). He succeeded his father in 975 as EDWARD "the Martyr" King of England, crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames 975.

King Edgar & his second wife had two children:

2. EADMUND (-970, bur Romsey Abbey[1765]).

3. ÆTHELRED ([966]-London 23 Apr 1016, bur Old St Paul's Cathedral).

King Edgar had one illegitimate daughter by Mistress (1):

4. EADGIFU (Kemsing [961]-Wilton 984, bur Wilton Abbey[1773]).

** from http://sbaldw.home.mindspring.com/hproject/prov/edgar000.htm

Eadgar

King of Mercia and Northumbria, 957-975.

King of England, 959-975.

In 957, the Mercians and Northumbrians renounced their allegiance to king Eadwig, and chose his brother Eadgar as king ["Her Eadgar æþeling feng to Myrcna rice." ASC(B,C) s.a. 957 ("Here the ætheling Edgar succeeded to the kingdom of Mercia." ASC(Eng), 113); ASC(D) s.a. 955 (incorrectly); "Rex Anglorum Eadwius, quoniam in commisso regimine insipienter egit, a Mercensibus et Northhymbrensibus contemptus relinquitur, et suus germanus, clito Eadgarus, ab eis rex eligitur" John Worc., s.a. 957 (1: 137)]. When Eadwig died in 959, Eadgar succeeded to the entire kingdom at the age of sixteen ["Her forðferde Eadwig cing. & Eadgar his broðor feng to ríce. ægðer ge on Westseaxum. ge on Myrcum. ge on Norðhymbrum. & he wæs þa .xvi. wintre." ASC(B,C) s.a. 959 ("Here King Eadwig passed away, and Edgar, his brother, succeeded to the kingdom both in Wessex and in Mercia and in Northumbria, and he was then 16 years old." ASC(Eng), 113); ASC(E) s.a 959; ASC(A) s.a. 958; "Rex West-Saxonum Eadwius ... defunctus ...; cujus regnum suus germanus, rex Mercensium Eadgarus, ab omni Anglorum populo electus, anno ætatis suæ XVIº." John Worc., s.a. 959 (1: 138)]. He was succeeded in 975 by his son Eadweard [see below].

Date of birth: ca. 943.

Place of birth: Unknown.

["Magnifico regi Eadmundo cum sua regina sancta Ælfgiva filium peperisset Eadgarum, ..." John Worc., s.a. 943 (1: 133); "Eadgarus anno ætatis suæ XVIº. successit." ibid. 1: 274; "Decessit autem anno ætatis XXXIIº., regni vero XVIº." ibid., 274-5]

Date of death: 8 July 975.

Place of burial: Glastonbury.

["... rex Eadgarus, ... anno ætatis suæ XXXIIº., regni autem illius in Mercia et Northhymbria XIXº., ex quo vero per totam Angliam regnavit XVIº., indictione tertia, VIII. idus Julii [8 Jul.], feria quinta, ex hac vita transivit, filiumque suum Eadwardum et regni et morum hæredem reliquit: corpus vero illius Glæstoniam delatum, regio more est tumulatum." John Worc. s.a. 975 (1: 143); ASC s.a. 975: long poem in versions A, B, C, shorter poem in versions D, E; "8. [July] Obitus Eadgari regis." Lib. Vit. Hyde, 271]

Father: Eadmund I, d. 26 May 946, king of Wessex, 939-946.

Mother: St. Ælfgifu, d. 18 May ca. 944.

Spouses:

John of Worcester and William of Malmesbury name all three wives ["Rex Anglorum pacificus Eadgarus Ordgari ducis Domnaniæ filiam, Ælfthrytham nomine, post mortem viri sui Æthelwoldi, gloriosi ducis Orientalium Anglorum, in matrimonium accepit; ex qua duos filios, Eadmundum et Æthelredum, suscepit. Habuit etiam prius ex Ægelfleda Candida, cognomento Eneda, Ordmæri ducis filia, Eadwardum, postea regem et martyrem; et de sancta Wlfthrytha, virginem Deo devotissimam Eadgitham." John Worc. s.a. 964 (1: 140); "Hic habuit ex Eneda, foemina generossima, sanctum Eadwardum, et de sancta Wulfthrytha sanctam Eadgitham; ex regina vero Ælfthrytha, Eadmundum et Ægelredum filios suscepit" ibid., 1: 274; "... legitimam uxorem accepit Elfridam filiam Orgari. De qua Edmundum ... et ... Egelredum, tulit. Nam de Egelfleda, cognomento Candida, filia Ordmeri ducis potentissimi, Edwardum genuit; et sanctum Edgitham de Wulfrida, ..." Wm. Malmes., Gesta Regum, c. 159 (1: 180)]. A letter written ca. 1120 by Nicholas, a monk at Worcester, mentions Æthelflæd and Ælfthryth ["Hic in principio regni sui filiam Ordmari ducis Orientalium Anglorum conjugem legitimam accepit, nomine Æthelfledam, cognomine Candidam, ex qua filium, sanctum videlicet Edwardum, procreavit. ... rex aliam accepit conjugem, Ælftritham nomine, filiam Ordgari ducis Occidentalium Saxonum; ex qua filium Æthelredum habuit." Mem. Dunstan, xxxvi, 423]. The Vita Sancti Oswaldi, perhaps confused by the similar names Ordmær and Ordgar, has mistakenly combined Æthelflæd and Ælfthryth into a single person ["Athelwoldus vero satis digniter principatum Orientalis regni acquisivit a rege, tenuitque magna virtute; qui accipiens filiam Ormeri ducis Occidentalium Anglorum, perduxit secum ad suum regnum, quæ vocitata erat Ælfritha; quam post mortem ejus rex Eadgar præpotentissimus accepit, ex qua duos habuit filios, quorum unus Eadwerd est dictus, alter vero Æthelredus." Vita Sancti Oswaldi, Hist. Ch. York, 1: 428-9; see Stubbs's notes in the Introduction to Mem. Dunstan, xcix-ci].

(1) Æthelflæd, alias Candida or Eneda, daughter of ealdorman Ordmær.

(2) Wulfthryth, nun, bur. Wilton.

["Jacet in eadem ecclesia mater ejus Wlfrid, ..." Wm. Malmes., Gesta Pont., c. 87 (p. 190)] Roger of Wendover states that she was not a nun at the time of her marriage [Rog. Wendover, s.a. 963 (1: 410)]

(3) 965, Ælfthryth, daughter of Ordgar, ealdorman, dux of Devon, widow of Æthelweald/Æthelwold, ealdorman of East Anglia.

["Her on þissum geare Eadgar cyning genam Ælf[ðr]yðe him to cwene, heo wæs Ordgares dohtor ealdormannes." ASC(D)].

Children:

["Eadweard & Eadmund & Æðelred æðelingas syndon Eadgares suna cyninges." Dumville (1976), 43, quoting genealogical material apparently composed in the reign of Edgar; see also above under spouses]

** from The World of the Middle Ages (John L. LaMonte) p 198--

At the death of Edred, the throne passed to the two sons of Edmund, Edwig (955-959) and Edgar (959-975).

During this period considerable progress was made in fusing Saxons and Danes into a single people; Danish revolts were suppressed when they arose, Strathclyde was ceded to Malcolm of Scotland, and a better frontier was established on the north. So successful was this assimilation that Edgar's reign of sixteen years is unmarked by any wars and he is known as Edgar the Pacific. Much of the credit for this policy must be given to Dunstan, bishop of London and later archbishop of Cantebury, who was the chief advisor of Edred and Edgar. Church and state were reorganized, new bishoprics and monasteries established, ecclesiastical reforms introduced, a stronger royal administration effected and the local courts strengthened. Commerce was fostered, laws were recodified, and England seemed about to enter a period of great prosperity under a strong monarchy. This hope was to prove illusory, and the years following the death of Edgar in 975 were filled not only with renewed Danish invasions, but with civil war and the breakdown of the royal power.

**from British Kings and Queens (Mike Ashley) p 478+

King of he English , 1 Oct 959 - 8 July 975; he was appointed king of Mercia and Northumbria from 957. Crowned: Bath Abbey, 11 May 973.

The Saxon name Eadgar means "rich in spears", which was undoubtedly a recognition of his inheritance of military power. When Edgar's uncle Eadred died in 955, his brother Edwy became king in Wessex whilst Edgar was appointed to the kingship of Mercia and Northumbria. He was only 12 at the time and did not assume full authority until he was about 15, by which time he was welcomed, as Edwy was a weak and unpopular king. Edgar had been raised in East Anglia in the household of Athelstan, the ealdorman of the old territory of the Danelaw which coverd all of east Anglia and Danish Mercia. As such Edgar was already a popular prince amongst the middle-English and Danes and was readily accepted as king, whereas Edwy was seen as a weak and troublesome youth. By November 957 the Mercians and Northumbrians had renounced their allegiance to Edwy. Both kings were advised (or controlled) by a strong council which had led to conflict with Edwy who had expelled bishop Dunstan. When Edgar came of age he recalled Dunstan and was enthusiastic about his ideas for reforming the English church. When Edwy died in October 959, Edgar also became king of Wessex and as the archbishopric of Canterbury was vacant with the recent death of Oda, Dunstan was appointed to that see. With the support of the king, Dunstan introduced a major programme of monastic reform, not all of which was happily accepted at the time, but which brought Saxon England in line with developments on the continent. All secular clergy were ejected, and the church officials wre granted considerable independence from the crown. The most extreme of these was the creation of the soke of Peterborough, where the abbot of St. Peters had almost total independence. Many of the monasteries that had been destroyed during the Danish invasions were restored. It was only a period of peace that could allow such rebuilding and change. Edgar, for all that he was not a soldier or strategist to match his father or grandfather, was able to work alongside strong and well organized ealdormen in governing the kingdom and in ensuring its safety. All the time England seemed in capable hands, the Norse and Danes bided their time.

In 973 Edgar gave a demonstration of authority. Although he probably had a formal coronation when he became king of Wessex, Dunstan believed there was a need for a major ceremony similar to those of the Kings of the Franks and the German Emperor. The ceremony was delayed for some years because Dunstan was not a particularly religious man. There were rumours about his private life, which may have some base of truth. He had married a childhood friend, Athelfleda, early in life, but it seems that either she died in childbirth around the year 961 or the two became separted because of Edgar's amorous adventures with Wulfryth. Stories were later attached to the episode that Edgar had seduced a nun, but although Wulfryth later became a nun, the real story seems to be that he fell in love with a lady who bore him a child, but she either chose to enter (or was banished to) a nunnery and they probably never married. Edgar then became romantically entangled with Elfrida, who was already married, and again the scandalmongers hinted that the two might have planned the murder of her husband, Edgar's one-time foster-brother Athelwald in 964, in order to marry. Elfrida later came to epitomise the image of the wicked stepmother in her relationship with Edgar's youngest child, Edward (the Martyr). All of these shenanigans caused Dunstan to counsel Edgar to change his ways. Perhaps as he passed from youth into adulthood he became less reckss, and in 973 Dunstan agreed to a major ceremony at Bath The coronation had double significance. For the first time a Saxon king was crowned as king of all the English, a title used by previous monarchs but never as part of their coronation. Edgar was thus the first genuine king of England. At the same time Elfrida was also crowned, the first queen of the English. This ceremony has remained essentially the same in content ever since. Following the coronation, Edgar put on a display of force. His army marched along the Welsh border from Bath to Chester, showing his authority of the Welsh, whilst his fleet sailed through the Irish Sea, also demonstrating his subjugation of the Norse who still held power in that area at Dublin and on Man. At Chester eight kings of Wales and the north assembled to make their submission to him. A later chronicler suggested that these eight kings then rowed Edgar along the river Dee with him at the helm. Strong though that image is, it is unlikely. It is more probable that there was a ceremonial voyage along the Dee with Edgar at the helm, and the other kings in sumission. The coronation and ceremony were immensely significant. Although Edgar's position hd been achieved by his predecessors, he was able to capitalise on it and demonstrate his authoirty over all of Britain with the exception of Orkney. Not all monarchs were present, the most noticeable absentee being Owain ap Hywel of Deheubarth, though his absence was due to domestic strife rather than lack of respect. Thorfinn Skull-Splitter was not present, but as he owed his allegiance to the Norwegian crown, he might be excused--although, interestingly, Magnus Haraldsson of Man and the Isles was present.

The ceremony marked the end of a peaceful and prosperous reign, and it was fortunate that the English could not see ahead as Edgar's was the last reign of peace and harmony. The Saxon world would thereafter start to disintegrate and within less than a century be almost wiped away.

** from Wikipedia listing for Edgar the Peaceful, as of 10/24/2014

Edgar the Peaceful, or Edgar I (Old English: Ēadgār; c. 7 August 943 – 8 July 975), also called the Peaceable, was king of England from 959 to 975. Edgar was the younger son of Edmund I.

Accession

Edgar was the son of Edmund I and Elfgiva, thus making him the grandson of Edward the Elder, great-grandson of Alfred the Great, great-great grandson of Æthelwulf of Wessex, great-great-great grandson of Egbert of Wessex. Upon the death of King Edmund in 946, Edgar's uncle, King Edred ruled until 955. Edred, in turn was succeeded by his nephew, Edmund's son and Edgar's older brother Eadwig.

Eadwig was not a popular king and his reign was marked by conflict with the nobles and the Church - chiefly St Dunstan and Archbishop Odo. In 957 the thanes of Mercia and Northumbria switched their allegiance to Edgar.[3] His cognomen, "The Peaceable", was not necessarily a comment on the deeds of his life, for he was a strong leader, shown by his seizure of the Northumbrian and Mercian kingdoms from his brother in 958. A conclave of nobles held Edgar to be king north of the Thames.[4] With the death of Eadwig in October 959, Edgar consolidated his holdings with Wessex, previously held by his brother.

Government

One of Edgar's first actions was to recall Dunstan from exile and have him made Bishop of Worcester (and subsequently Bishop of London and later, Archbishop of Canterbury). Dunstan remained Edgar's advisor throughout his reign. While Edgar may not have been a particularly peaceable man, his reign was peaceful. The Kingdom of England was well established, and Edgar consolidated the political unity achieved by his predecessors. By the end of his reign, England was sufficiently unified in that it was unlikely to regress back to a state of division among rival kingships, as it had to an extent under the reign of Eadred. Blackstone mentions that King Edgar standardised measure throughout the realm.[5]

Benedictine reform

The Monastic Reform Movement that introduced the Benedictine Rule to England's monastic communities peaked during the era of Dunstan, Æthelwold, and Oswald (historians continue to debate the extent and significance of this movement).[6]

Dead Man's Plack

In 963 he reputedly killed his rival in love, Earl Æthelwald, near present-day Longparish, Hampshire,[7] an event commemorated in 1825 by the erection of Dead Man's Plack.[7] In 1875, Edward Augustus Freeman debunked the Æthelwald story as a "tissue of romance" in his Historic Essays,[8] but his arguments were rebutted by the naturalist William Henry Hudson in his 1920 book Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn.[4]

Coronation at Bath (973)

Edgar was crowned at Bath and anointed with his wife Ælfthryth, setting a precedent for a coronation of a queen in England itself.[9] 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.

The symbolic coronation was an important step; other kings of Britain came and gave their allegiance to Edgar shortly afterwards at Chester. Six kings in Britain, including the King of Scots and the King of Strathclyde, pledged their faith that they would be the king's liege-men on sea and land. Later chroniclers made the kings into eight, all plying the oars of Edgar's state barge on the River Dee.[10] Such embellishments may not be factual, and what actually happened is unclear.[11]

Death (975)

Edgar died[why?] on 8 July 975 at Winchester, Hampshire. He left behind Edward, who was probably his illegitimate son by Æthelflæd (not to be confused with the Lady of the Mercians), and Æthelred, the younger, the child of his wife Ælfthryth. He was succeeded by Edward. Edgar also had a possibly illegitimate daughter by Wulfthryth, who later became abbess of Wilton. She was joined there by her daughter, Edith of Wilton, who lived there as a nun until her death. Both women were later regarded as saints.[12][13]

From Edgar's death until the Norman Conquest, there was not a single succession to the throne that was not contested. 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.

Appearance

"[H]e was extremely small both in stature and bulk..."[14]

Notes

Pauline Stafford, Queen Emma & Queen Edith, Blackwell 2001, pp. 324-325

Stafford, op. cit., p. 91

"Edgar the Peaceful (c943 - 975) - King of England", BBC, January 13, 2005

Hudson, William Henry (1920). Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn.

Blackstone, "Of the King's Prerogative" Bk. 1, Ch. 7

Lehmberg, Stanford (2013). A History of the Peoples of the British Isles: From Prehistoric Times to 1688. Routledge. p. 29. ISBN 1134415281.

"Deadman's Plack Monument - Longparish - Hampshire - England". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 8 September 2011.

Freeman, Edward Augustus (1875). Historic Essays. MacMillan & Co. pp. 10–25.

Honeycutt, Lois (2003). Matilda of Scotland: a Study in Medieval Queenship. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. p. 35.

Huscroft, R (2013). The Norman Conquest: A New Introduction. Routledge. p. 21. ISBN 1317866274.

Scragg, D. G. (2008), Edgar, King of the English, 959-975: New Interpretations, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, p. 121, ISBN 1843833999, "Precisely what happened at Chester has been irretrievably obscured by the embellishments of twelfth-century historians"

Yorke, Barbara (2004). "Wulfthryth (St Wulfthryth) (d. c.1000), abbess of Wilton". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49423. Retrieved 17 November 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)

Williams, Ann (2004). "Edgar (called Edgar Pacificus) (943/4–975)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8463. Retrieved 16 May 2012.(subscription or UK public library membership required)

From the Gesta Regum Anglorum of William of Malmesbury (c.1080–1143)