Kings and Queens

England's Third King: King Eadred

King Eadred succeeded his older brother King Edmund I in 946.

King Edmund I's death

King Edmund I was murdered in a brawl in Gloucestershire on May 26th 946. This left his younger brother, Eadred, to succeed to him as king, and continue defending it against Viking ambitions.

The Witan chose Eadred as king above Edmund’s own children, as they were still in really young to inherit the throne.

King Eadred

Edared becams king in his early 20's and whilst he suffered from ill-health which ultimately ended up cutting  his life short, he had proved himself to be a worthy leader, who defended his kingdom.

He was born around the year 923, he was the son of King Edward the Elder and his third wife Lady Eadgifu, making him the grandson of the famous King Alfred the Great.

When his elder half-brother Aethelstan had become king after their father, King Edward the Elder’s death in the year 924, he had inherited a kingdom with territory extending south of the Humber River. During his kingship however, King Athelstan was able to conquer the northern Viking stronghold of York, making him the first ever king of a united England, and thus pass on a whole kingdom to his younger brothers, Edmund and later Eadred.

When Eadred became king in the year 946 he had the responsibility of retaining these conquered lands and fending off all of the Viking threats to reclaim the territory which they had lost.

On August 16th 946,  Eadred was crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames. To assist him in his new role as king, several of those who had been close to his older brother King Edmund, also remained as close royal advisors for Eadred’s kingship. This included Lady Eadgifu, Eadred’s mother, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Athelstan, ealdorman of East Anglia (familiarly known as Half-King) as well as Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury. With his reliable retinue at his side, King Eadred would trust those around him to support him and later in life, even transferred the responsibility of charters to those of whom he was close to in court.

Meanwhile, as soon as Eadred had became king he had received the submission of northern earls as well as the Welsh rulers. Whilst this did bolster his position, King Eadred had inherited a fragile powerbase which could have easily been toppled over if he did not assert control over all the areas of his domain. This would include, as stipulated by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the region of Northumbria of which he took control in the year 947, and received the submission of various sub-kings all across England.

Whilst King Eadred received submission from Northumbria, Welsh and Scottish nobility, sadly for Eadred's kingship, this would have proved to have been merely temporary.

Almost as soon as King Eadred had established control over Northumbria, it had fallen back into the hands of the Viking ruler and former King of Norway, Lord Eric Bloodaxe.

Eric had been invited by the Northumbrians as well as the duplicitous Archbishop Wulfstan of York, as they had switched their allegiance to the Vikings thus forcing King Eadred to react accordingly.

The king was quite quick to respond and soon King Eadred was marching north with his large army in tow, where they had burned Ripon and ravaged the regional area of Northumbria.

King Eadred meant business and had made it very clear to all those who had been doubting their allegiances, that they would face further threats to their homes and to their lives if they did not distance themselves from, and end their support for the Viking ruler, Eric Bloodaxe.

This forceful comeback by King Eadred and his army of men had appeared to do the trick as Eric Bloodaxe fled, whilst those around him had renounced their support for the Scandinavian king.

Next on the agenda for King Eadred, was tackling the source of such treachery by the Archbishop Wulfstan of York who had encouraged the change in allegiances.

Eventually in 952, King Eadred captured the Archbishop of York and imprisioned him due to his collaboration with the Vikings.

Meanwhile, with King Eadred had occupied with the Archbishop of York, in the year 950 Olaf Sihtricsson had established himself as the new King of Northumbria, outsted later by Eric Bloodaxe who had held the position for a further two years.

Eric Bloodaxe would, establish himself as the new King of York, however unbeknown to him, he was to be the last ever Viking King of York as he was eventually, and moreover finally, expelled from the land and killed in an ambush by supporters of King Eadred, which allowed the Anglo-Saxon King of England to reassert his authority over the entire kingdom. King Eadred would retain Northumbria for the remainder of his reign as the Anglo-Saxon King of England, ensuring the lands that which he had inherited were forever safe from future Viking attacks.

By the year 954, the kingdom of Northumbria was now in the safe hands of Lord Osullf, the first ealdorman of Northumbria, who was previously the ruler of Bamburgh, as appointed by the king, Eadred, himself.

With his power successfully restored in the north, this warrior king defended his territory, his inheritance and powerbase with resilience, ensuring its security for the next generation.

Away from non military matters, King Eadred had contributed to further developments, which included in the monastic reform movement which was still in it's infancy. In large part, the English Benedictine Reform had owed a lot to the influence of Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury who had developed a close bond with King Eadred during his reign. Dunstan and Aethelwold, Abbot of Abingdon, were both key figures in this movement.

King Eadred’s support of Dunstan would have contributed to this revival and had demonstrated his trust in those of whom were around him.

In the latter portion of his reign, Dunstan would be called on by King Eadred to take more responsibility, which had given him the authority to issue out charters. Previously, in his reign, he had trusted his mother Lady Eadgifu with such a task, allowing the king’s mother to give grants to many institutions and figures.

Sadly for King Eadred, who had always been a man of quite a small stature, his continuous health problems had begun to have had a large effect on his ability to govern the country. Whilst he was suffering with different health conditions for many of his years, he would eventually begin to, slowly, deteriorate, considerably, which forced him to hand over many of the responsibilities to his close confidante Lord Dunstan.

Unfortunately, in his early thirties, on November 23rd in 955 King Eadred had passed away and was buried in Old Minster in Winchester.

Upon King Eadred's death, unmarried and without heirs, the throne had passed to his nephew, and eldest son of King Edmund I. King Eadred had maintained his grip on the Anglo-Saxon lands against the Viking threats and thus this left a large amount of responsibility for the next generation of kings and/or queens to come.

(this information was adapted from an article written by Jessica Brain on November 2nd 2022).