The Youth of King Edmund the Magnificent

Background

King Edmund I was the son of Edward the Elder and Eadgifu of Kent. The couple married in 919. Edmund was their first child, born in either 920 or 921, although Edward already had about ten children from his previous two marriages.

Edmund was born in the powerful, expansionary and aggressive Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons. Edward, having recently acquired direct rule over Mercia in 918 and conquering the Kingdom of East Anglia in the same year, adding to his West Saxon inheritance, was now likely the most powerful Anglo-Saxon king there had ever been. However, his kingdom was staring now the barrel of a succession crisis between:

Æthelstan, his eldest son, was supported by the Mercians and likely held a leadership role in Mercia from 919–924.

Ælfweard was supported by the West Saxons and was the son of Ælflæd, Edward’s second and more prestigious wife.

However, around Edward’s death, Ælfweard died, and Æthelstan succeeded to the whole of his father’s kingdom. Yet, Ælflæd had another son by Edward, named Edwin, who had close ties with the Bishop of Winchester, and an Ealdormen named Alfred, who both opposed Æthelstan’s succession.

Some historians think Æthelstan came to terms with Edmund’s mother, Eadgifu of Kent. She would back him for the throne, and in exchange, Æthelstan would agree that her son, Edmund, would be his heir, despite being younger than Edwin.

Youth

Æthelstan likely brought up Edmund as his own son. By the time of his accession, he was about 30 years old and Edmund was about 3–4 years old. The potential agreement he made with Eadgifu that Edmund would be his heir is possibly a reason why Æthelstan never got married, as having sons of his own would only cause a succession crisis. Æthelstan himself had witnessed the potential dangers of succession crisis after the death of his grandfather Alfred when Edward fought his cousin, Æthelwold, over the West Saxon throne from 899 – 902 and his own stand-off with his brother, Ælfweard in 924

Being brought at Æthelstan’s court, Edmund was not the only prince there. He had a younger brother Eadred, who would go on to rule as King of England, his cousin, Louis, who would go on to be Louis IV of France, a future king of Norway and a future Duke of Brittany, were also brought up with Edmund at the royal court.

Edmund in the late thirteenth-century Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings

Apprenticeship

We first see evidence of Edmund attending his brother’s Witan in 931, when he was about 11 years old, he is recorded alongside, his younger brother Eadred and signing only second to the King:

• I Æthelstan, king of all Britain, confirmed the aforementioned gift with the seal of the holy cross.
• I, Edmund, brother of the same king
• I, Eadred, brother of the same king

In total, he was recorded 12 times at his brother’s court, always being placed in the as signing charters only second to the King and referring to himself as ‘brother of the King’ or ‘Clito’ is a pretty clear sign that he was considered to be Æthelstan’s heir. A status that would have been strengthened by the events of 933, recounted in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

“This year died Bishop Frithestan; and Edwin the atheling was drowned in the sea.”

Edwin being Edmund’s older brother and Bishop Frithestan, being the Bishop of Winchester, who was Edwin’s greatest ally.

By 927, Æthelstan’s realm had encompassed the whole of England, and as suggested by how Æthelstan signed the charter above, he held imperial pretensions to be the King or Emperor of ‘all Britain’. Edmund, who would later share his brother’s ambitions, would also spend much of his youth helping Æthelstan’s pursuit of British dominance. At 13, he joined his brother’s campaign to Scotland in 934. He was also a victorious commander at the Battle of Brunanburh 937, potentially the largest battle of the Anglo-Saxon period. His success in battle, despite his youth, likely proved to the English nobility that he would be the ideal heir to Æthelstan.

Despite only being about 16 years old, the poem known now as ‘Brunanburh’ in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle highlights Edmund’s role in the battle:

Æthelstan king,

of earls the lord,

rewarder of heroes,

and his brother eke,

Edmund atheling,

elder of ancient race,

slew in the fight,

with the edge of their swords,

the foe at Brumby!

The sons of Edward

their board-walls clove,

and hewed their banners,

with the wrecks of their hammers.

Edmund would shortly after succeed his brother in 939, at the age of 18. He would go on to be one of England’s better kings, and is probably ranked a level below the elite Kings of England or ‘English’ Kings of the Anglo-Saxon period, such as Offa, Alfred, Æthelstan, Edgar and Cnut. He is however not a unreasonable candidate as one of the top 10 Kings of England.