Edward the Elder - One Step Closer to a Unified England

today's video is brought to you by Squarespace the all-in-one platform for building your brand and growing your business more on them in a bit compared to his father Alfred the Great Edward the Elder was described by medieval Chronicles as much inferior in literature but greatly excelled in extent of power and it was true Alfred played a pivotal role in the history of England when he became the only Anglo-Saxon King to successfully fight off the Viking Invasion he then spent the rest of his Reign fortifying his kingdom to ensure that Wessex would never face a similar threat again but now was time for Edward to take off the kid clubs and go on the offensive Edward like his father had a vision of a unified England under his rule of course but he had a tough task ahead of him with enemies to the north and east across the channel and even within his own kingdom but he overcame obstacles and vanquished his foes as best he could ensuring that the kingdom of England became a reality even though it was not the one to wear the crown foreign early years Edward's early years are surprisingly obscured even though his dad was Alfred the Great the self-proclaimed King of the Anglo-Saxons who had his own chronicler on stand by it seems that details such as the birds of his children were just too minor to bother to ride down so we're not really sure when or where Edward was born an educated guess however would suggest Circa mid-870s somewhere in Wessex it could be worse we suppose when it came to Edward's mother and Alfred's wife the aforementioned chronic color Assa did not even mention her by name we do now however from other sources that her name oh is arswiss she was the daughter of a mercy and no woman named Ethel redmusel not to be confused with Alfred's older brother ethelrid the first who served as king before him who in turn should not be confused with Ethel read the unready the more famous King who came about a century later earlsworth and Alfred got married in 868 A.D back when he was still Prince and heir to the Kingdom of Wessex they had five children together who survived to adulthood ever played uh the oldest sibling and she married a mercian lord whose name was yes you guessed it Ethel red Edward was the oldest son of Alfred but he did not become known as Edward the Elder to distinguish himself from a younger brother nor did he ever have a son by that name in fact he was never called Edward the Elder in his own lifetime this Monica was applied retroactively to separate him from the next Edward who came to Rule the Kingdom a hundred years later Edward the Martyr succession always another murky topic back in the 19th century one uh which had evolved over time as the eldest son of King Alfred Edward was in a prime position to inherit his kingdom but it wasn't exactly a done deal Primo genitour or the right of the firstborn to inherit had not yet become the norm although Alfred had named Edward as his successor a council known as the witan still had a say in the matter especially in circumstances where there was more than one strong claim into the throne and as it happened Edward faced some stiff competition remember that Alfred's older brother Ethel red was king of Wessex before him and Alfred only Rose the throne after his brother's desk but Ethel red also had two sons Ethel Helm and Ethel world at the time of their father's death both were infants which was oh why they were passed over in favor of Alfred but that did not mean that they gave up their rights forever as the sons of the king of Wessex their claim was just as strong as Edwards Ethel Helm did not prove to be a problem the only trace of his existence was a mention of him and his brother contesting Alfred's will after that he completely vanished from the historical record so presumably he died sometime before the matter of succession ever came up ethelworld on the other hand had no intention of going out without a fight so if Edward wanted to become the new king of wessigs and maybe one day unite all of England he would have to go through him first so are you looking to build your brand and grow your business online well I have got the perfect sponsor for you it's Square sway Squarespace is the all-in-one platform for building your brand and growing your business online look I've been using Squarespace for years and it completely revolutionized the way that I made a website it's so easy to use and and customize and the best part is that it is super affordable one of their best relatively new features is member areas it's perfect for creators and Educators who want to monetize their content and expertise by selling access to gated content like classes online courses or even newsletters I mean who wouldn't want to unlock a new Revenue stream for their business am I right and let's not forget about squarespace's email campaigns with this feature you could easily collect email subscribers and convert them into law customers start with an 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clear in an earlier Charter he had Edward recorded as king alongside himself it was obvious that he wanted Edward to succeed him on the throne but it seems that not everyone was on board with that idea ASA Walt had surprisingly strong support made even more surprising by the fact that Alfred was supposed to be the savior of the Anglo-Saxons the king who stopped the Vikings from taking over all of England it had been over a decade since Alfred decisively defeated guthrum at the Battle of erdington and pushed back the Viking Invasion so maybe people had short Memories Back Then or maybe Alfred did something to damage his popularity in the meantime by name we only know of an elder man named wolf here from Wiltshire who had some of his land confiscated by Alfred as punishment for the exertion it's not hard to imagine that there were other Nobles who harbored grudges against Alfred they would not dare to go against him while he was alive but now that the King was dead they were Keen to ensure that his dynasty got snapped out alongside him as the world wasted no time in acting as soon as wood reached him that Alfred had chopped off his mortal call he gathered his army and rode to Dorset where he captured the settlements of Christchurch and wimborne Christchurch was a fortified encampment called a bird Alfred had built dozens of them all over his kingdom so his men could guard themselves against surprise Viking raids it was nice to have but it wasn't crucial winborne was the true prize besides its strategic position roughly straddling the border between the eastern and western halves of the kingdom it also had great symbolic value for aetherwald for starters his father Ethel red the first was buried there but he may have also wanted to take part in a Royal Anglo-Saxon tradition known as the farm of one night every year in late Autumn after the Harvest was finished a royal tribute was gathered several important Estates in the Kingdom and the King rode around to collect them some speculate that aetherwald wanted to be there in person when the tribute arrived and claimed the tribute as the rightful recipient for his part Edward knew that trouble was brewing an expected aetherwald to make a move against him he reacted swiftly once he heard that his rival had taken over wimborne Edward gathered his own Army and headed to Dorset camping in the Old Iron Age Fort of badbury rings this too was a place of symbolic power as the nearby town of badbury was used for political assemblies but it also blocked aetherwald's path should he get any funny ideas about traveling East and trying to capture Winchester the capital of the Kingdom of Wessex but it's simply Edward deftly outmaneuvered his rival but aselwald was not down for the count just yet he saw an all-out battle with Edward as a sure-fire loss so instead he crossed Murcia and retreated to northumbria the northernmost Anglo-Saxon Kingdom which was firmly controlled by the Danes what kind of support eighthaward expected to find there oh he cannot say but the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle claims that the Danes received him as their King there are even coins from that area that mention a king named waldus and historians Molly but that was probably a Thor world how he managed it what he promised them will never know but now aetherwald had some Viking muscle as backup and he was ready for round two in 901 A.D aetherworld launched the second part of his Rebellion he sailed with a fleet from northumbria to East Anglia the other Kingdom in the hands of the Danes and once again he made them a counter offer that they couldn't refuse and gain their allegiance he then traveled North into Mercier and secured even more support there back before Alfred the Great Mercier was its own kingdom it was actually the biggest and most powerful at one point but the Viking raids left it in a severely weakened state so that when Alfred and Gotham reached a peace between the Danes and the Anglo-Saxons the two divided Mercier and each one added half to their own domains in Edward's time Mercier was governed by his older sister the aforementioned eighth or flayed and her husband Ethel red although how much autonomy they really had is upper debate anyway the pointers that Mercier had no shortage of royal families that might have wanted to extinguish Alfred's bloodline for a chance of Reviving The Old Glory Days it had become clear that aetherwald was doing the rounds through England trying to unite all those who opposed England under his Banner he did a pretty good job of it too so once his army was raring to go he ventured into Edward's side of Mercia and let his Vikings do what they did best Loot and pillage after that aetherworld crossed the Thames into Wessex itself capturing the Fortified Burr of quick blade while all of this was going on Edward sent his army into East Anglia to responding kind this prompted an immediate reaction from aetherwall who followed Edward's troops perhaps hoping to trap them and crush them between two armies as you might expect this was something that Edward was eager to avoid so he sent word to retreat for reasons lost to history as kentich contingent did not withdraw from the action despite Edward sending messages to them on several occasions What followed next or was the Battle of the home where after prolonged delays and raids the two sides finally clashed Shields wielded swords and shook greatly the spear in either hand that's about all we know about this poorly document of battle we're not even really sure where the home was but we can say that the engagement proved disastrous for both sides for Wessex it was bad because the kentish forces were almost entirely obliterated the leader of the kentish army elderman serial wolf was killed in battle that was almost every other kentish Lord the Vikings on the other hand suffered much fewer losses but among the dead was none other than etherwald himself with the leaders of the Revolt slain in battle the Rebellion lost all its steam now there was nobody left who could legitimately challenge Edward's claim to the throne the Danes from East Anglia and northumbria kept fighting for a while but their hearts were clearly not in it anymore eventually they struck peace and went back to binding their own kingdoms while Edward was now free to rule over Wessex uncontested following years of dealing with a dangerous thorn in his side Edward decided that it was time for a much deserved break so the next few years were pretty quiet with no events of note being mentioned in the medieval Chronicles or maybe he simply needed more time to prepare for his true ambition the unification of England ever since his great grandfather Ackman conquered the kingdoms of Essex Sussex and Kent and placed them under the Aegis of Wessex Edward's family wanted to bring all of England together under their rule by thwarting the Viking Invasion and building a strong Kingdom his father Alfred was in the best position to do it but he died before he got his chance however he set the table nicely for Edward to continue where he left off and he intended to make full use of the opportunity in 909 A.D Edward gathered Army of West Saxons and mercians and marched into northumbria Barry embarked on a five-week long campaign of murder and Mayhem that saw his army pillage every Danish Town Village and Hamlet that had the misfortune of getting in their way this included at one point raiding the final resting place of Saint Oswald of northumbria bard in the Abbey collecting his holy relics and moving them to Mercier unsurprisingly the Danes didn't just take this lying down instead they also mustered an army and marched South into Mercia looking to do a little plundering of their own however Edward knew this would happen and was ready for them the two sides fought on August 5th 910 A.D at the Battle of Tatton Hall where the Anglo-Saxon forces delivered a crushing defeat to the Vikings again no specifics but the Danes suffered heavy losses that numbered in the many thousands which included two kings Aerials and half Dan two Earls and many other Lords following this damn good wall of in the northern Danes talk tales and ran back to northumbria and spent the rest of Edward's Reign licking their wounds no longer a threat this allowed the king of Wessex to turn his attention to his enemies to the east unfortunately for Edward the victory up north was soon followed by a setback in 911 A.D he lost one of his strongest allies his brother-in-law Ethel red who had been the nominal ruler of the angdos acts inside of Mercia however his widow Ed Edward's sister eighth or fled was already and willing to pick up the slack Edward assumed Direct Control of some major cities such as London and Oxford but the rest of the territory was placed in Aether fled's hands who took the title of a lady of the mercians taking a page out of their father's book the brother and sister combo spent the next five years Shoring up their defenses by building new birds and fortresses throughout Their Kingdoms this strategy paid off it was not as flashy or thrilling as riding into battle with raised swords glinting in the Sun but it was effective and took advantage of the fact that the Viking power was decentralized and disseminated among all the major cities under their control the Danes from York weren't on the same page as the Danes in Essex or Cambridge and Edward understood that a display of overwhelming power would have been enough to persuade most of them to submit to him and he was right for the most part the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that many settlements both in East Anglia and Mercia showed submission to King Edward rather than fighting him we can't tell you what this submission really meant were they officially part of his kingdom were they vassals did they pay tribute or send him a Christmas card it's all pretty murky but it is highly likely that some of the more powerful Viking leaders retained a significant degree of autonomy it's not like the Agreements are a set in stone or anything Edward knew that whenever Vikings got the itch they would go out plundering treaties be damned in 917 A.D right after Easter an army of Danes out of Northampton and Leicester broke the truce and sacked the town of hookton such raids were always going to happen but thanks to Edward's network of Burrs none of them got the chance to develop into a more serious threat then a show of force was usually enough to get everyone to settle down like in 919 when Edward marched with his army and conquered Bedford prompting all of the nearby settlements to reaffirm their allegiance to him [Music] after a few years like this Edward the Elder held a tenuous grip over most of England he didn't have the money soldiers or resources to outright capture and incorporate all of the territories under a single Kingdom but is slowly but surely approach saw his sphere of influence get larger and larger it seemed like all he needed was time up in the north atherflight was doing Herbert to help out the family Legacy it was said that by 918 A.D all of the Danish settlement south of the Humber had offered their submission although to who exactly they submitted is another matter of contention it's pretty clear that Edward and etherflight acted in tandem when it came to fortifying Their Kingdoms but that could not prevent a little sibling rivalry from developing the mercy and register for example was careful to specify that the Danish Army submitted to eighth or float with no kind of submission towards Edward indicated or implied the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle however which was basically his side of the story only mentioned Edward and not Aether flight it is possible that the big sis was no longer content City in her little brother's Shadow when she was doing half the work but fate decided to put an end to their issues before any simmering resentments had a chance to boil over into an all-out sibling squabble in 900 1880 Ethel fled died and she was buried at Gloucester she didn't have any sons so she was succeeded by her daughter Athen Flynn but not for long just a few months after Aether Blade's death Edward decided to take Direct Control of Mercia while his niece was deprived of all dominion over the mercians and carried into Wessex three weeks before midwinter this was probably another sign that things had not been completely cool between brother and sister or perhaps it was just simply a precautionary step from Edward after what had happened with his cousin aetherwald he may have decided that it was safer not to let his close blood relatives roam free and unchecked just in case one of them might try to stay who claim for the throne later on this is all just pure guesswork by the way some scholars believe that athewin was eventually married off to a nobleman While others think it's more likely that she joined the church ultimately her fate remains a mystery once the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were under Edward's influence to varying degrees the king of Wessex turned his attention to Wales and Scotland Wales didn't proved too difficult it was already under Edward's auspices ever since he came to their rescue in 918 when a powerful Viking Fleet held from Britain he led by two Earls ocher enrolled they plundered North Wales and took the bishop of arch and field hostage however King Edward paid his Ransom and then raised an army from Hartford and Gloucester and defeated the Invaders killing role and sending the Vikings back to their shores as thanks for his assistance in 920 A.D the kings of North Wales Hal the good and clydork both recognized Edward as their Overlord more interesting and mysterious was Edward's status in Scotland we're going by the chronicle again here which wrote that the king of the Scots sent all the people of the Scots and ragnalds and other sons of Eid wolf and all those who live in northumbria both English and danish Norsemen and other and also the king of the Straz Clyde Welsh and all the Clyde Welsh chose him as father and Lord how and why this Arrangement came about is Up For Debate no contemporary sources present any valid reasons why ragnald an independent and powerful King who ruled over parts of Scotland northumbria and the Isle of Man Would count her before Edward at least not without a little scrap first and modern historians think it's more likely that their agreement was more of a peace treaty between equal Nations instead of oh one submitting to the other but as we said the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was Edward's version of events we've all lied on our resumes on occasion and being chosen as father-in-lawed sounds a lot more impressive than simply negotiating a peace treaty the last few years of Edward's Reign were a bit dull but practical once more he mirrored his father's approach who spent his waning years building fortifications and tried to improve his Kingdom's literacy appears but Edward traveled from town to town helping to rebuild and improve them some of the locations mentioned by name include Nottingham Stanford towerchester again just like Alfred the Great Edward might have felt that his time was coming to an end even though he still had unfinished work to do but he would not give up either and instead he strengthened his kingdom as much as possible so that his own son could take up the family Quest and he was right in 924 A.D Edward the Elder died and was buried in Winchester he passed the Baton to his son ethelstan who succeeded him and brought his father and grandfather's ambition to fruition by becoming the first king of England but that's a story that will cover another time foreign [Music]