Edmund I was King of the English from 939 until his death. His epithets include the Elder, the Deed-doer, the Just, and the Magnificent. Edmund was the son of Edward the Elder and his third wife Eadgifu of Kent, and a grandson of Alfred the Great. Edmund was a young child when his father died in 924, and was succeeded by his eldest son and Edmund's half-brother Æthelstan, who died in 939. Edmund then became king. His reign was marked by almost constant warfare, including conquests or reconquests of the Midlands, Northumbria, and Strathclyde. Edmund was killed in a brawl with an outlaw at Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire after six-and-a-half years as king. He was succeeded by his brother Eadred, who was succeeded by Edmund's sons Eadwig and then Edgar the Peaceful.
Early life and military threats
Edmund lost his father whilst a toddler, in 924 and his 30-year-old half-brother Athelstan came to the throne. Edmund grew up during the reign of Athelstan, participating in the Battle of Brunanburh in 937. Athelstan died in 939, and Edmund became king. Shortly after his proclamation, he had to face several military threats. King Olaf III Guthfrithson conquered Northumbria and invaded the Midlands. Edmund encountered him at Leicester, but Olaf escaped and a peace was brokered by Oda of Canterbury and Wulfstan I of York. When Olaf died in 942, Edmund reconquered the Midlands. In 943, Edmund became the godfather of King Olaf of York. In 944, Edmund reconquered Northumbria. In the same year, his ally Olaf of York lost his throne and left for Dublin. Olaf became the king of Dublin as Amlaíb Cuarán, still allied to his godfather. In 945, Edmund conquered Strathclyde but ceded the territory to King Malcolm I of Scotland in exchange for a treaty of mutual military support. Edmund thus established a policy of safe borders and peaceful relationships with Scotland. During his reign, the revival of monasteries in England began.
One of Edmund's last known political efforts was his role in the restoration of his nephew Louis IV of France. Louis, son of Charles the Simple and Edmund's half-sister Eadgifu, had resided at the West-Saxon court for some time until 936, when he returned to be crowned King of France. In the summer of 945, he was captured by the Normans and subsequently released to Duke Hugh the Great, who held him in custody. The chronicler Richerus claims that Eadgifu wrote letters both to Edmund and to Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor in which she requested support for her son. Edmund responded to her plea by sending angry threats to Hugh. Flodoard's Annales, one of Richerus' sources, report:
On 26 May 946, St Augustine's Day, Edmund was murdered by Leofa, a convicted outlaw, at Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire. According to the post-Conquest chronicler, John of Worcester, Leofa attacked Edmund's seneschal, and Edmund was stabbed when he intervened to protect his servant. A 2015 article re-examines Edmund's death and dismisses the later chronicle accounts as fiction. It suggests the king was the victim of a political assassination. Edmund's sister Eadgyth, the wife of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, died earlier the same year, as Flodoard's Annales for 946 report. Edmund was buried at Glastonbury Abbey, and was succeeded as king by his brother Eadred, king from 946 until 955.
