On this day in history, the death of King Edward (the Elder), 17th July 924

17th July sees the anniversary of the death of Edward the Elder. We have no image of Edward the Elder. The first image of a Saxon king is that of his oldest son, Athelstan.

Edward was in the Saxon kingdom Mercia at the time of his death, although we don't know why. This information is only recorded in the C and D versions of the Anglo Saxon Chronicles, always deemed to be more Mercian in their outlook by scholars of the era, than other surviving versions. (I highly recommend Pauline Stafford’s book on the writing of the ASC, and you can read more about the ASC recensions here.)

We don’t know why Edward died, although it was potentially quite sudden. Was he wounded in battle? Was he unwell – the fact that his oldest son with his second wife dies only 16 days later (the 16 days is provided by the D version of the ASC) at Oxford might suggest a contagion. Admittedly, it might also suggest Ælfweard was murdered by those loyal to Athelstan, to enable him to also claim Wessex, but there is no mention of this in any surviving source material. Alternatively, it might point to a deadly war with ‘someone.’

Britain in the 10th century (map by Flintlock Covers)

Who was Edward the Elder (899-924)

So, who was Edward the Elder? He was the younger brother of Æthelflæd, famously known as the Lady of Mercia, as well as the son of King Alfred. He seems to have ‘stolen’ the kingdom of Mercia from his niece Ælfwynn, who was intended to rule there after her mother’s death in June 918.

Perhaps Edward was an unwelcome presence in Mercia. It’s been suggested he might have been putting down either a Mercian rebellion at the time of his death, perhaps orchestrated by his oldest son, Athelstan, or that Edward was fighting the enemies of the Saxons – no doubt the Viking raiders.

Despite very popular portrayals of England at this time, we are still very much looking at the kingdoms of Mercia, Wessex and Northumbria, (and of course Jorvik), so not ‘England’ at all. Edward the Elder attempted to rule both Mercia and Wessex after his sister’s death. How successful he was at that is very much open to debate. Certainly, he has been very much relegated behind the achievements of his father and his son (and his sister). It’s not always that easy to study his reign in depth due to the lack of surviving charter evidence for a large part of it. There is also a debate about how ‘much’ ruling Æthelflæd and her husband, Æthelred did in Mercia? Was their kingship under a Wessex banner?

You can read my fictional recreation of what happened after the death of Edward the Elder in A Conspiracy of Kings (you might want to start with The Lady of Mercia's Daughter) and Kingmaker. And The Royal Women Who Made England also covers Edward's death.

The Royal Women Who Made England: The Tenth Century in Saxon England