King Edmund I Family Tree & Biography (921-946)

 

King Edmund I was a member of the House of Wessex. He was the eldest son of King Edward the Elder by his third wife Eadgifu of Kent. He was King of Wessex from 924 to 939.

Contents

King Edmund I Family Tree Image
King Edmund I Family Tree in Table Form
King Edmund I Short Biography

 

King Edmund I Family Tree Image showing:

grandparents, parents, siblings, half-siblings, wives, children and grandchildren

 

King Edmund I Family Tree in Table Form showing:

grandparents, parents, siblings, half-siblings, wives, children and grandchildren

 

 

King Edmund I Short Biography

Early Years

King Edmund was born in the year 921 (exact date not known), the eldest son of King Edward the Elder by his third wife, Eadgifu of Kent. His younger brother, Eadred was born in 923.

Edward the Elder also had a son, Aethelstan by his first wife, Ecgwynn and two sons – Edwin and Aelfweard and four daughters by his second wife, Aelfflaed.

Edmund’s father died on 17th July 924, when Edmund was three years old. Edmund’s half-brother, Aelfweard, is thought to have succeeded to the throne, but died after a short while. Aethelstan, aged 29 years, then became King.

King Aethelstan ruled England for the next 15 years until his death on 27th October 939. During Aethelstan’s reign, Edmund fought alongside his half-brother as he sought to unite England under one King. Aethelstan had not married and had no children so when he died the throne passed to Edmund.

King of England

During Edmund’s reign, the Viking, Olaf III Guthfrithson succeeded in re-taking Northumbria and invading Mercia. After Guthfrithson’s death in 941, Edmund invaded and took back control of Mercia.

In 944, Edmund re-took Northumbria and the following year conquered Strathclyde and made an alliance with Malcolm I of Scotland. The alliance ceded Scottish land to England.

Marriage and Family

Edmund married Aelfgifu, who had a close connection with Shaftesbury Abbey, in 940. They had two sons:
Eadwig, born in 941
Edgar born in 943.

When Aelfgifu died in 944, Edmund married Aethelflaed of Damerham, daughter of the Ealdorman of Essex.

Death and Succession

King Edmund was murdered at Pucklechurch, Dorset on 26th May 946 by Leofa, a thief he had exiled. He was buried in Glastonbury Abbey. Edmund was succeeded by his brother, Eadred because his own sons were too young to rule.

 

Published Apr 14 2022 @ 8:08 pm – Updated – [last-modified]