Eadred of England

Eadred
King of the English
Mortuary chest in Winchester Cathedral that purports to contain Eadred's bones.
Reign	26 May 946 – 23 November 955
Predecessor	Edmund I
Successor	Eadwig
Father	Edward the Elder
Mother	Eadgifu
Born	923 Wessex, England
Died	23 November 955(955-11-23) Frome, Somerset
Burial	Old Minster, Winchester. Bones now in Winchester Cathedral

Eadred (also Edred, Aedred, etc.) was the King of England from 946 until his death in 955. He was a son of Edward the Elder by his third marriage, to Eadgifu, daughter of Sigehelm, ealdorman of Kent.

He succeeded his elder brother King Edmund I, who was stabbed to death at Pucklechurch (Gloucestershire), on St Augustine’s Day, 26 May 946. The same year, on 16 August, Eadred was consecrated by Archbishop Oda of Canterbury at Kingston upon Thames (Surrey, now Greater London), where he appears to have received the submission of Welsh rulers and northern earls.^[1]

Trouble in Northumbria

Under the entry for the year 946, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Eadred “reduced all the land of Northumbria to his control; and the Scots granted him oaths that they would do all that he wanted.”^[2] Nevertheless, Eadred soon faced a number of political challenges to the West-Saxon hegemony in the north. Unfortunately, there are some notorious difficulties with the chronology of the events described in the historical sources, but it is clear that there were two Scandinavian princes who set themselves up as kings of Northumbria.

Olaf Sihtricson, otherwise known as Amlaíb Cuarán (‘Sandal’), had been king of York (Jórvik) in the early 940’s, when he became Edmund’s godson and client king, but he was later driven out. He then succeeded his cousin as King of Dublin, but after a heavy defeat in battle in 947, was once again forced to try his luck elsewhere.^[3] Shortly after this, Olaf was back in business, having regained the kingdom of York.^[4] What Eadred thought of the matter or how much sympathy he bore for his brother’s godson, remains anyone’s guess, but it seems that he at least tolerated Olaf’s presence. In any event, Olaf was ousted from the kingship a second time by the Northumbrians, this time in favour of Eric son of Harald, according to MS E of the Chronicle.^[5]

This other player in the game was Eric ‘Bloodaxe’, previously king of Norway (r. 930-4). After a number of successful operations elsewhere, he came to Northumbria and appears at some point to have set himself up as king. King Eadred responded harshly to the northern defectors by launching a destructive raid on Northumbria, which notably included burning the Ripon minster founded by St Wilfrid. Although his forces had to sustain heavy losses in the Battle of Castleford (as he returned home), Eadred managed to check his rival by promising the latter’s supporters even greater havoc if they did not desert the foreign prince. The Northumbrians did indeed appease the English king in this way and paid compensation.^[6]

The Historia Regum suggests that the threat of an independent Northumbrian king had come to an end in 952, when earls finally took over the helm.^[7]

Health conditions and death

Towards the end of his life, Eadred suffered from a digestive malady which would prove fatal. 'Author B', the biographer and former apprentice of St Dunstan, described with vivid memory how the king sucked out the juices of his food, chewed on what was left and spat it out.^[8] Eadred died on 23 November (St. Clement's Day), 955, at Frome (Somerset), and was buried in the Old Minster at Winchester.^[9] As he died a bachelor and thus had no children, he was succeeded by Edmund's son Eadwig.

Ancestry

References

Primary sources

• Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. Edition available online.
• Chronicle of Æthelweard, ed. and tr. Alistair Campbell, The Chronicle of Æthelweard. London, 1961.
• Historia Regum, ed. T. Arnold, Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia. 2 vols: 2. London, 1885.
• John of Worcester, Chronicon ex Chronicis, ed. Benjamin Thorpe, Florentii Wigorniensis monachi chronicon ex chronicis. 2 vols: vol 1. London, 1848-9.
• Like his grandfather King Alfred, Eadred left a written record of his will: Sawyer no. 1515 (AD 951 x 955). Text available from Anglo-Saxons.net
• Anglo-Saxon Charters, Sawyer nos. 515–580 (including S 552a, 522a, 517a-b), 1211-2, 1511.
• Vita S. Dunstani ('Life of St. Dunstan'), ed. W. Stubbs, Memorials of St Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. Rolls Series. London, 1874. 3-52. Available as PDF from Google Books (or from the Internet Archive here or here) and from Gallica.
• Vita S. Æthelwoldi ('Life of St. Æthelwold'), ed. and tr. Michael Lapidge and Michael Winterbottom, Wulfstan of Winchester. The Life of St Æthelwold. OMT. Oxford, 1991.

Secondary sources

• Gough, Harold. "Eadred's Charter of AD 949 and the Extent of the Monastic Estate of Reculver, Kent." St Dunstan: His Life, Times and Cult, ed. Nigel Ramsay and Margaret Sparks. Woodbridge and Rochester, NY: Boydell, 1992. 89-10.
• Sawyer, P. “The last Scandinavian rulers of York.” Northern History 31 (1995): 39-44.
• Stenton, Frank Merry. Anglo-Saxon England. 3d ed. Oxford, 1971. 360-3.

External links

• Coins issued by King Eadred at Early Medieval Corpus of Coin Finds
• More images are available on the web, such as here and here

Monarchs of Northumbria Æthelfrith (Bernicia and Deira) · Edwin (Deira and Bernicia) · Eanfrith (Bernicia) · Osric (Deira) · Oswald · Oswine (Deira) · Oswiu · Œthelwald (Deira) · Alhfrith (Deira) · Ælfwine (Deira) · Ecgfrith · Aldfrith · Eadwulf I · Osred I · Coenred · Osric · Ceolwulf · Eadberht · Oswulf · Æthelwald Moll · Alhred · Æthelred I · Ælfwald I · Osred II · Æthelred I (again) · Osbald · Eardwulf · Ælfwald II · Eardwulf (again) · Eanred · Æthelred II · Rædwulf · Æthelred II (again) · Osberht · Ælla · Ecgberht I · Ricsige · Ecgberht II · Guðroðr · Sigfroðr · Knútr · Æthelwold · Hálfdan and Eowils · Eadwulf II · Ealdred · Ragnall ua Ímair · Sihtric Cáech · Æthelstan of Wessex · Amlaíb mac Gofraid · Amlaíb Cuarán · Ragnall mac Gofraid · Eadmund of Wessex · Eric · Amlaíb Cuarán (again) · Eric (again) · Eadred of Wessex