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Edward the Elder: King of the Anglo-Saxons, Forgotten Son of Alfred
New in paperback - The first biography of Alfred the Great's son, the forgotten king who was crucial to uniting England.
Edward the Elder succeeded his father Alfred the Great to the kingdom of Wessex, but was largely overlooked by his contemporaries (at least in terms of the historical record) and to a greater or lesser extent by later historians. He is the forgotten son of Alfred. Edward deserves to be recognised for his contribution to Anglo-Saxon history and a new assessment of his reign is overdue. He proved equal to the task of cementing and extending the advances made by his father, and paved the way for the eventual unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the nation-state of England. The course of English medieval history after his death was a direct outcome of military successes during his reign.
Edward was a ruthlessly efficient military strategist and commander, a strong and stable ruler and administrator, and the most powerful figure during the early decades of the tenth century. He and his famous sister Æthelflæd constructed fortresses to guard against Viking attacks and Edward conquered the southern Danelaw. He should be acknowledged as a great Anglo-Saxon king in his own right, and is entitled to stand comparison with every English monarch in the millennium that has passed since his reign.
Edward the Elder succeeded his father Alfred the Great to the kingdom of Wessex, but was largely overlooked by his contemporaries (at least in terms of the historical record) and to a greater or lesser extent by later historians. He is the forgotten son of Alfred. Edward deserves to be recognised for his contribution to Anglo-Saxon history and a new assessment of his reign is overdue. He proved equal to the task of cementing and extending the advances made by his father, and paved the way for the eventual unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the nation-state of England. The course of English medieval history after his death was a direct outcome of military successes during his reign.
Edward was a ruthlessly efficient military strategist and commander, a strong and stable ruler and administrator, and the most powerful figure during the early decades of the tenth century. He and his famous sister Æthelflæd constructed fortresses to guard against Viking attacks and Edward conquered the southern Danelaw. He should be acknowledged as a great Anglo-Saxon king in his own right, and is entitled to stand comparison with every English monarch in the millennium that has passed since his reign.
320 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 20, 2020
”Representations of Edward are in short supply, stylised or otherwise, and there have been no popular myths to support his legacy. As mentioned right at the beginning of his story, Edward’s legacy looks pale in the shadow of his father and to a lesser extent that of his son Aethelstan. Furthermore, the romantic perception of Edward’s elder sister Aethelflaed, the warrior queen, as a beacon for medieval women capable of strong leadership has similarly overshadowed attention from Edward’s reign and his achievements. Medieval and modern writers have been so in awe of Alfred, so captivated by Aethelflaed, and so respectful of Aethelstan that Edward’s reputation has suffered in comparison against the three.”
Edward the Elder
Alfred the Great was simply a better promotor than his heir and son Edward the Elder. He wrote/guided the Anglo Saxon Chronicles into Old English, and the adage is probably true in this case that the victors wrote the history. I don’t in any way mean to take anything away from Alfred. Without him, England may have never been England, but some form of Daneland. Under an onslaught of Scandinavian invasions, he managed to hang onto Wessex, and from Wessex he and his descendents were able to make territorial gains that eventually united England under Anglo Saxon control.
What is impressive to me is that, with the death of Alfred in 899, the transition of power to his eldest son Edward was relatively seamless. Edward might have eventually elevated his own favorites into positions of power in his court, but the changes that Alfred had instituted to make Wessex stronger were upheld. Edward was well prepared by his father to pick up the reins of power and obviously had been allowed, unlike many heirs at other points in history, to be involved in the policy and decision making of the kingdom.
Alfred was a Christian, a fervent Christian, and though it pains me to say this, it was a brilliant strategy on his part to unite his people under a Christian banner. This was a stronger uniting influence on the Anglo Saxons than any concept of country. Edward continued this practice, and slowly but surely, they convinced Danes to put aside their pagan ways and embrace Christianity. The best way to prove that your God was more powerful was to defeat the Danes in battle, and both father and son managed to do that time and time again.
Edward expanded the empire, and we cannot ignore the contributions of his sister Aethelflaed in accomplishing this feat. She was simply amazing. She married the king of neighboring Mercia, who frankly at times was an uncertain ally, and when her husband died, there was no question that she would be named Queen of Mercia. The siblings forever united the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex, and they worked together to take over the surrounding Scandinavian settlements and fortifications, in many cases bloodlessly. She proved as capable as Edward in fulfilling the wishes of their father to bring all of England under Anglo Saxon control.
Another interesting wrinkle in the Edward and Aethelflaed relationship is that Edward’s son by his first wife Aethelstan was sent to Mercia to be raised by his aunt. Edward set his first wife aside to make a more advantageous, aristocratic alliance marriage. We can speculate that Aethelstan was originally sent to Mercia to eventually be named Aethelflaed’s heir, but in the end, despite his father having other “legitimate” sons by his other wives, Aethelstan emerged as the next king of Wessex. The story of Aethelstan is a fascinating one, and I have a biography of him enroute so I can continue my education regarding these early kings of England.
Three of Edward’s sons and two of his grandsons become king. The transition of power between Edward and Aethelstan was as seamless as it was from Alfred to Edward. Again, Edward had Aethelstan, even though he did spend a lot of time in Mercia, sign numerous charters that would indicate that Edward was preparing Aethelstan to ascend to the throne. Aethelstan would eventually conquer enough territory to refer to himself as the first king of England. He couldn’t have done that without his grandfather, father, and aunt paving the way for him. This family was just so impressive.
So even though Edward was overlooked historically, even to the point that another Edward came along in 1272 and declared himself Edward Ist, his contribution to English history should be as celebrated as the accomplishments of his father, sister, and son. Unfortunately, less is known about Edward than what we know of Alfred. He didn’t write a chronicle of his life. He might have simply been too distracted, or book learning might not have been as important to him. Maybe he just didn’t see himself in the same immortal way that Alfred did? Alfred knew and promoted his greatness, and maybe that was because he was the baby of the family and with four older brothers should have never even sniffed the throne, but once he had it, by God, he was going to keep it. Michael John Key relied on the ASC for much of his information, but he also pulled together some other reasonably reliable sources to give us the most accurate view of Edward the Elder available today. There are no statues of Edward in England or anywhere, but there really should be.
Alfred the Great review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The next book I’ll be reading based on the life of Aethelstan
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
Edward the Elder
Alfred the Great was simply a better promotor than his heir and son Edward the Elder. He wrote/guided the Anglo Saxon Chronicles into Old English, and the adage is probably true in this case that the victors wrote the history. I don’t in any way mean to take anything away from Alfred. Without him, England may have never been England, but some form of Daneland. Under an onslaught of Scandinavian invasions, he managed to hang onto Wessex, and from Wessex he and his descendents were able to make territorial gains that eventually united England under Anglo Saxon control.
What is impressive to me is that, with the death of Alfred in 899, the transition of power to his eldest son Edward was relatively seamless. Edward might have eventually elevated his own favorites into positions of power in his court, but the changes that Alfred had instituted to make Wessex stronger were upheld. Edward was well prepared by his father to pick up the reins of power and obviously had been allowed, unlike many heirs at other points in history, to be involved in the policy and decision making of the kingdom.
Alfred was a Christian, a fervent Christian, and though it pains me to say this, it was a brilliant strategy on his part to unite his people under a Christian banner. This was a stronger uniting influence on the Anglo Saxons than any concept of country. Edward continued this practice, and slowly but surely, they convinced Danes to put aside their pagan ways and embrace Christianity. The best way to prove that your God was more powerful was to defeat the Danes in battle, and both father and son managed to do that time and time again.
Edward expanded the empire, and we cannot ignore the contributions of his sister Aethelflaed in accomplishing this feat. She was simply amazing. She married the king of neighboring Mercia, who frankly at times was an uncertain ally, and when her husband died, there was no question that she would be named Queen of Mercia. The siblings forever united the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex, and they worked together to take over the surrounding Scandinavian settlements and fortifications, in many cases bloodlessly. She proved as capable as Edward in fulfilling the wishes of their father to bring all of England under Anglo Saxon control.
Another interesting wrinkle in the Edward and Aethelflaed relationship is that Edward’s son by his first wife Aethelstan was sent to Mercia to be raised by his aunt. Edward set his first wife aside to make a more advantageous, aristocratic alliance marriage. We can speculate that Aethelstan was originally sent to Mercia to eventually be named Aethelflaed’s heir, but in the end, despite his father having other “legitimate” sons by his other wives, Aethelstan emerged as the next king of Wessex. The story of Aethelstan is a fascinating one, and I have a biography of him enroute so I can continue my education regarding these early kings of England.
Three of Edward’s sons and two of his grandsons become king. The transition of power between Edward and Aethelstan was as seamless as it was from Alfred to Edward. Again, Edward had Aethelstan, even though he did spend a lot of time in Mercia, sign numerous charters that would indicate that Edward was preparing Aethelstan to ascend to the throne. Aethelstan would eventually conquer enough territory to refer to himself as the first king of England. He couldn’t have done that without his grandfather, father, and aunt paving the way for him. This family was just so impressive.
So even though Edward was overlooked historically, even to the point that another Edward came along in 1272 and declared himself Edward Ist, his contribution to English history should be as celebrated as the accomplishments of his father, sister, and son. Unfortunately, less is known about Edward than what we know of Alfred. He didn’t write a chronicle of his life. He might have simply been too distracted, or book learning might not have been as important to him. Maybe he just didn’t see himself in the same immortal way that Alfred did? Alfred knew and promoted his greatness, and maybe that was because he was the baby of the family and with four older brothers should have never even sniffed the throne, but once he had it, by God, he was going to keep it. Michael John Key relied on the ASC for much of his information, but he also pulled together some other reasonably reliable sources to give us the most accurate view of Edward the Elder available today. There are no statues of Edward in England or anywhere, but there really should be.
Alfred the Great review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The next book I’ll be reading based on the life of Aethelstan
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
December 16, 2024
DNF. I was going in to enjoy this book. Even deal with some dry material for some good gems. But this is too tedious to get through. He has this habit of wondering where some battle site or location was. Fair enough but since this is the 9th Century that is pretty much everything so he constantly stops the narrative to speculate on whether a Viking skirmish happened here or there, or maybe over there. It got annoying.
January 14, 2024
Edward the Elder was the son of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex. Alfred is justly celebrated for resisting Viking incursions into the territory of Wessex, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom that covered most of southern England, and reaching a long-lasting peace treaty with the Vikings, albeit one that recognised a split between the Anglo-Saxon part of England (Wessex and half of Mercia, the kingdom in the Midlands, against the Welsh border) and the Viking part (called the Danelaw). But Edward was the King who, with his sister Aethelflaed who was Queen of Mercia) took the fight to the Vikings, retrieving the Midlands and East Anglia. Edward's son Aethlestan was to continue the fight, liberating almost all of what is now England, and creating the unified country that we now have.
So Edward (called the Elder by later generations to distinguish him from Edward the Confessor) is a very important figure in English history and one who has been unjustly overlooked, overshadowed, perhaps, by his father. This biography puts Edward back in the limelight.
It also tells his story remarkably well. My only quibble is that the writer frequently tells you the same thing twice, for example, when he describes the boundary between Wessex-Mercia and the Danelaw, the second time in slightly more detail. But if this is the price to pay for a complicated tale to be told with clarity, so be it, although it does make the book longer (and the print is quite small so my ageing eyes found it sometimes wearisome).
It is a complicated tale. A patchwork of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms battled against a miscellany of Scandinavian marauders. The situation was rarely coherent. Given that all this happened over a thousand years ago, the sources are often either missing, possibly inaccurate or incomplete. The author does a great job or pinpointing dates and places without being overly nit-picking (for example, he tends to summarise scholarly opinion without going into the details). The result is a readable history for the general reader.
I loved it. So many of the places that appear are places I have known, such as Kingston-on-Thames were Edward (probably) and Aethelstan (definitely) had their coronations, sitting on a block of sarsen stone. And Bedford, a frontier town, whose Viking stronghold on the northern bank of the River Great Ouse surrendered to Edward, at which point he built a neighbouring fortified burh on the southern bank. And London where, the Roman city having been abandoned, the Vikings ruled Lundenwic before the Saxons retook the city moving the centre (around 883) back to the Roman ruins as Lundenburh.
But it's not all warfare. There are lots of other interesting tales and mysteries, such as: Why did Edward ditch his first wife Ecgwyn and send his son by that relationship to be brought up by his sister in Mercia? Was she a concubine as was hinted? And why did Edward's first heir die only fourteen days after Edward; was he assassinated by his half-brother? And who was the nun abducted from Wimborne Minster by Edward's cousin Aethelwold during his first rebellion; was she Edward's sister Aethelgifu and did Aethelwold marry her and if so was it consensual?
This is the story of a critical period in the founding of the country we now know as England and this great book rescues Edward from the neglect of history.
So Edward (called the Elder by later generations to distinguish him from Edward the Confessor) is a very important figure in English history and one who has been unjustly overlooked, overshadowed, perhaps, by his father. This biography puts Edward back in the limelight.
It also tells his story remarkably well. My only quibble is that the writer frequently tells you the same thing twice, for example, when he describes the boundary between Wessex-Mercia and the Danelaw, the second time in slightly more detail. But if this is the price to pay for a complicated tale to be told with clarity, so be it, although it does make the book longer (and the print is quite small so my ageing eyes found it sometimes wearisome).
It is a complicated tale. A patchwork of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms battled against a miscellany of Scandinavian marauders. The situation was rarely coherent. Given that all this happened over a thousand years ago, the sources are often either missing, possibly inaccurate or incomplete. The author does a great job or pinpointing dates and places without being overly nit-picking (for example, he tends to summarise scholarly opinion without going into the details). The result is a readable history for the general reader.
I loved it. So many of the places that appear are places I have known, such as Kingston-on-Thames were Edward (probably) and Aethelstan (definitely) had their coronations, sitting on a block of sarsen stone. And Bedford, a frontier town, whose Viking stronghold on the northern bank of the River Great Ouse surrendered to Edward, at which point he built a neighbouring fortified burh on the southern bank. And London where, the Roman city having been abandoned, the Vikings ruled Lundenwic before the Saxons retook the city moving the centre (around 883) back to the Roman ruins as Lundenburh.
But it's not all warfare. There are lots of other interesting tales and mysteries, such as: Why did Edward ditch his first wife Ecgwyn and send his son by that relationship to be brought up by his sister in Mercia? Was she a concubine as was hinted? And why did Edward's first heir die only fourteen days after Edward; was he assassinated by his half-brother? And who was the nun abducted from Wimborne Minster by Edward's cousin Aethelwold during his first rebellion; was she Edward's sister Aethelgifu and did Aethelwold marry her and if so was it consensual?
This is the story of a critical period in the founding of the country we now know as England and this great book rescues Edward from the neglect of history.
Read
June 25, 2021I took a chance on this despite not knowing the author and the cover looking more like an Ellis Peters' Cadfael novel than a serious work... and I am pleased I did. Key writes in an easy style, offering ideas and rational thoughts rather than trying to pass everything off as fact. Key opens up Edward as best as he can, looking at his problems with a rival claimant, relations with Mercia (and Aethelflaed) and the reduction of Scandinavian influence. Yes, Edward suffers from a lack of source material and so seems to be 'forgotten', but it is more that, in there is a lack in the teaching of Saxon history in general and, never mind Edward, but most people's knowledge of Alfred is half-baked at best - unlike his cakes. Key will help fill a gap in the bookshelves of those that study or are interested in the period, and what is more is that he deserves to in my opinion.
April 4, 2024
This book fills the gap between Alfred's idea of England and Aethelstan's achievement in creating it. The achievements of Edward have long be overlooked in conjuction with his sister Aethelflaed's achievements. This isn't light reading, it's a thorough and well written narrative essay that charts the rise of Edward and the Alfredian dynasty. I've loved getting to know this underrated king and can finally draw proper conclusions on the events between Alfred and Aethelstan. It was the missing piece for me. I'd read this if you have a good background knowledge in events prior to Edward's reign, while Key does explain it prior knowledge definitely helped me enjoy this book more. A wonderful read and I will be advocating strongly got Edward from here on out.
February 5, 2025
I’m so pleased I found this book, this part of history seems to centre on Alfred the Great and His grandson Athelstan. The book brings to life the achievements of Edward the Elder and his sister in the unified quest to curtail the Viking invasion of England. It takes nothing away from Alfred but fills in the gaps that modern history teaching do not.
Lots to take in and it certainly gives a more rounded detail of the events and strategies that shape English history.
Lots to take in and it certainly gives a more rounded detail of the events and strategies that shape English history.
February 11, 2023
very interesting enjoyable read
March 21, 2025
My review can be found here:
https://rulersconquerorsandbastards.w...
https://rulersconquerorsandbastards.w...
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews