As King of England from 939 to 946 Edmund I (also spelled EADMUND) re-captured areas of northern England that had been occupied by the Vikings.
He was the son of the West Saxon king Edward the Elder (ruled 899 to 924) and the half brother of King Athelstan (ruled 924 to 939), under whom the political unification of England had been accomplished. On Athelstan's death (939), Olaf Guthfrithson, the Norse king of Dublin, occupied Northumbria and raided the Midlands. Edmund recovered the Midlands after Olaf died in 942, and in 944 he regained Northumbria, driving out the Norse kings Olaf Sihtricson and Raegnald. He captured Strathclyde in 945 and entrusted it to Malcolm I, king of Scots, in return for a promise of military support. Thus Edmund inaugurated a policy of establishing a secure frontier and peaceful relations with Scotland. In addition, his reign marks the beginning of the 10th-century monastic revival in England.
The King was killed in his palace at a banquet by an exiled robber, Leolf, and was succeeded by his brother, Eadred (ruled 946 to 955); Edmund's sons eventually acceded to power as kings Eadwig (ruled 957 to 959) and Edgar (ruled 959 to 975). |