Edward the Elder

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{{Infobox Monarch Basic | name=Edward the Elder | title=King of England | image=Image:Ed Elder.jpg | rank=7th | reign=October 26,899 - July 17,924 | date of birth=c.869-877 | place of birth=Wessex, England | date of death=July 17, 924 | place of death=Farndon-on-Dee, Mercia | place of burial=Winchester Cathedral | married=Egwina, Elfleda, and Edgiva | father=Alfred the Great | mother=Ealhswith }}

Edward the Elder (Old English: Ēadweard) (c.874-877 – July 17, 924) was King of England (899 – 924). He was the son of Alfred the Great and became King of Wessex upon his father's death in 899.

Edward arguably exceeded Alfred's military achievements, restoring the Danelaw to Saxon rule and reigning in Mercia from 918, after the death of his sister, Æðelfleda. He spent his early reign fighting his cousin Æðelwald, son of Æðelræd I. He had about eighteen children from his three marriages, and may have had an illegitimate child, too. He died in 924 and was buried at Winchester. Eadmund I, or Edmund the Deed-Doer (921–May 26, 946) who was King of England from 939 was a son of Edward the Elder, and a half-brother to Æðelstan.

Athelstan died on October 27, 939, and Edmund succeeded him as King. The portrait included here is imaginary and was drawn together with portraits of other Anglo-Saxon monarchs by an unknown artist in the 18th century.

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Family

Edward married Ecgwynn around 893, and they became the parents of Æðelstan and a daughter who married King Sihtric of York, but Ecgwynn's status was considered too lowly. When he became king in 899, Edward set Ecgwynn aside and married Ælffæd , a daughter of the ealdorman of Wiltshire. Their son was the future king Æðelweard, and their daughter Eadgyth married Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. Their other Daughter Eadgifu married Charles the Simple.

Edward married for a third time, about 919, to Eadgifu, the daughter of the ealdorman of Kent. They had two sons, Eadmund and Eadred, and one daughter Eadburh.

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