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Edward the Elder (870s? – 17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith.When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin Æthelwold, who had a strong claim to the throne as the son of Alfred's elder brother and predecessor, Æthelred I.
Alfred was a son of Æthelwulf, king of Wessex, and his wife Osburh. [5] According to his biographer, Asser, writing in 893, "In the year of our Lord's Incarnation 849 Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons", was born at the royal estate called Wantage, in the district known as Berkshire [a] ("which is so called from Berroc Wood, where the box tree grows very abundantly").
This descent from Mercian Kings was what drew Alfred to Ealhswith, making her an attractive candidate for marriage. During the time of King Alfred’s reign, he inherited Wessex through his late father, King Æthelwulf, and the genealogies of both Aethelwulf, and Alfred’s mother, Osburh, were used to justify his rule over England. [3]
Alfred the Great. Reign: April, 23 871 – October 26, 899 (28 years, 187 days) Alfred is the only British king that’s called “The Great.” All four of his brothers were also kings before his ...
Osburh's existence is known only from Asser's Life of King Alfred.She is not named as witness to any charters, nor is her death reported in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.So far as is known, she was the mother of all Æthelwulf's children, his five sons Æthelstan, Æthelbald, Æthelberht, Æthelred and Alfred, and his daughter Æthelswith, wife of King Burgred of Mercia.
In the 890s, renewed Viking attacks were successfully fought off by Alfred, assisted by his son (and Æthelstan's father) Edward and Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians. Æthelred ruled English Mercia under Alfred and was married to his daughter Æthelflæd. Alfred died in 899 and was succeeded by Edward.
Æthelred had two sons, and if he had lived until they were adults it is unlikely that Alfred would ever have become king, but as they were still young children, Alfred succeeded. [61] Æthelhelm died before Alfred, and Æthelwold unsuccessfully disputed the throne with Edward the Elder after Alfred's death in 899. [62]
Æthelwold and his brother Æthelhelm were still infants when their father the king died while fighting a Danish Viking invasion. The throne passed to the king's younger brother (Æthelwold's uncle) Alfred the Great , who carried on the war against the Vikings and won a crucial victory at the Battle of Edington in 878.