Eadwig
Sign in to saveEadwig (also Edwy or Eadwig All-Fair, 1 October 959) was King of England from 23 November 955 until his death in 959. He was the elder son of Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu, who died in 944. Eadwig and his brother Edgar were young children when their father was killed trying to rescue his seneschal from attack by an outlawed thief on 26 May 946. As Edmund's sons were too young to rule he was succeeded by his brother Eadred, who suffered from ill health and died unmarried in his early 30s.
AI overview
Eadwig was King of England for about four years in the mid-10th century, ruling from 955 until his death in 959 at a young age. He became king after his uncle Eadred died, following the earlier death of their father Edmund I when Eadwig was still a child.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Person
- Born
- 0940-00-00
- Died
- 0959-10-01
via Open Library + Wikidata
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 33
- Total plays
- 66
<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Eadwig">Read more on Last.fm</a>
via Last.fm · Eadwig
Key facts
- Royalty.succession
- King of the English
- Royalty.image
- Eadwig - MS Royal 14 B VI.jpg
- Royalty.caption
- Eadwig in the early fourteenth-century
- Royalty.alt
- Early fourteenth-century portrait of Eadwig
- Royalty.reign
- 23 November 955 – 1 October 959
Article
17 sectionsContents
- Background
- Family and early life
- Reign
- Eadwig's marriage
- Early reign 955–957
- Division of the kingdom 957–959
- Charters
- Coinage
- Religion
- Death
- Reputation
- In art and literature
- Notes
- References
- Sources
- Further reading
- External links
Eadwig (also Edwy or Eadwig All-Fair, 1 October 959) was King of England from 23 November 955 until his death in 959. He was the elder son of Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu, who died in 944. Eadwig and his brother Edgar were young children when their father was killed trying to rescue his seneschal from attack by an outlawed thief on 26 May 946. As Edmund's sons were too young to rule he was succeeded by his brother Eadred, who suffered from ill health and died unmarried in his early 30s.
Eadwig became king in 955 aged about fifteen and was no more than twenty when he died in 959. He clashed at the beginning of his reign with Dunstan, the powerful Abbot of Glastonbury and future Archbishop of Canterbury, and exiled him to Flanders. He later came to be seen as an enemy of monasteries, but most historians think that this reputation is unfair. In 956, he issued more than sixty charters transferring land, a yearly total unmatched by any other European king before the twelfth century, and this is seen by some historians as either an attempt to buy support or rewarding his favourites at the expense of the powerful old guard of the previous reign.