Edgar the Peaceful
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| Edgar the Peaceful | |
|---|---|
| King of the English | |
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| Reign | 1 October 959 – 8 July 975 |
| Predecessor | Eadwig |
| Successor | Edward the Martyr |
| Spouse | Ælfthryth |
| Issue | |
| Edward the Martyr Æthelred the Unready Eadgyth |
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| Father | Edmund I |
| Mother | Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury |
| Born | 943/944 Wessex, England |
| Died | July 8, 975 Winchester, Wessex, England |
| Burial | Glastonbury Abbey |
Edgar I the Peaceful (Old English: Ēadgār; c. 7 August 943 – 8 July 975), also called the Peaceable, was a king of England (r. 959–75). Edgar was the younger son of Edmund I of England.
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[edit] Accession
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 older brother, Eadwig, in 958.[citation needed] A conclave of nobles held Edgar to be king north of the Thames, and Edgar aspired to succeed to the English throne.[citation needed]
[edit] Government
Though Edgar was not a particularly peaceable man, his reign was a peaceful one. The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England was at its height. Edgar consolidated the political unity achieved by his predecessors. By the end of Edgar's reign, England was sufficiently unified that it was unlikely to regress back to a state of division among rival kingships.
[edit] Edgar and Dunstan
Upon Eadwig's death in October 959, Edgar immediately recalled Dunstan (eventually canonised as St. Dunstan) from exile to have him made Bishop of Worcester (and subsequently Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury). The allegation Dunstan at first refused to crown Edgar because of disapproval for his way of life is a discreet reference in popular histories to Edgar's abduction of[citation needed] Wulfthryth, a nun at Wilton, who bore him a daughter Eadgyth. Dunstan remained Edgar's advisor throughout his reign.
[edit] Benedictine Reform
The Monastic Reform Movement that restored the Benedictine Rule to England's undisciplined monastic communities peaked during the era of Dunstan, Æthelwold, and Oswald. (Historians continue to debate the extent and significance of this movement.)
[edit] Coronation at Bath (AD 973)
Edgar was crowned at Bath, but not 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 kings of Scotland and 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. Such embellishments may not be factual, but the main outlines of the "submission at Chester" appear true. (See History of Chester.)
[edit] Death (AD 975)
Edgar died on 8 July 975 at Winchester, and was buried at Glastonbury Abbey. He left two sons, the elder named 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's illegitimate daughter Eadgyth became a nun at Wilton and was eventually canonised as St. Edith.
From Edgar’s death to 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.
[edit] Genealogy
For a more complete genealogy including ancestors and descendants, see House of Wessex family tree.
[edit] Further reading
- Scragg, Donald (ed.). Edgar, King of the English, 959–975: New Interpretations. Publications of the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies. Manchester: Boydell Press, 2008. ISBN 1843833999. Contents (external link).
- Williams, Ann. "Edgar (943/4–975)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004.
- Keynes, Simon. "England, c. 900–1016." In The New Cambridge Medieval History III. c.900–c.1024, ed. Timothy Reuter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 456-84.
[edit] External links
- Medieval Sourcebook: Anglo-Saxon Dooms: laws of King Edgar, a fragment
- Edgar of England At Find A Grave
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry
| Preceded by Eadwig |
King of the English 959–975 |
Succeeded by Edward the Martyr |
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