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Edward the Elder or Eadweard I (c.874-877 – July 17, 924) was King of England (899 – 924). He was the son of Alfred the Great and became King of Wessex upon his father's death in 899.

Edward arguably exceeded Alfred's military achievements, restoring the Danelaw to Saxon rule and reigning in Mercia from 918, after the death of his sister, Ethelfleda. He spent his early reign fighting his cousin Aethelwald, son of Ethelred I. He had about eighteen children from his three marriages, and may have had an illegitimate child, too. He died in 924 and was buried at Winchester. Edmund I, or Edmund the Deed-Doer (921–May 26, 946) who was King of England from 939 was a son of Edward the Elder, and a half-brother to Athelstan.

Athelstan died on October 27, 939, and Edmund succeeded him as King. The portrait included here is imaginary and was drawn together with portraits of other Anglo-Saxon monarchs by an unknown artist in the 18th century.

Family

Edward married Ecgwynn around 893, and they became the parents of Æthelstan and a daughter who married King Sihtric of York, but Ecgwynn's status was considered too lowly. When he became king in 899, Edward set Ecgwynn aside and married Ælffaed, a daughter of the ealdorman of Wiltshire. Their son was the future king Æthelweard, and their daughter Eadgyth married Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Edward married for a third time, about 919, to Eadgifu, the daughter of the ealdorman of Kent. They had two sons, Edmund and Eadred, and two daughters, Eadburh and Eadgifu.

His daughter, Eadgifu married King Charles III of France. Her son became King Louis IV of France.

Sources

• Higham, N.J. Edward the Elder, 2001

• 870s births
• 924 deaths
• Anglo-Saxon monarchs
• Mercian monarchs