Saxon Kings Flashcards
Aethelwulf
House of Wessex
839 - 856
King of Wessex, son of Egbert and father of Aethelbald, Aethelbert, Aethelred I and Alfred the Great.
A highly religious man, he travelled to Rome with his son Alfred to see the Pope in 855.
Aethelbald
House of Wessex
856 - 860
Eldest son and successor to Aethelwulf.
He forced his father to abdicate.
Following his father’s death, he married his widowed stepmother, but under pressure from the church the marriage was annulled after only one year.
Aethelbert
House of Wessex
860 - 866
Second son of Aethelwulf and successor to his own brother Aethelbald.
Shortly after his succession a Danish army landed and sacked Winchester before being defeated by the Saxons.
In 865 the Viking Great Heathen Army landed in East Anglia and swept across England.
Aethelred I
House of Wessex
866 - 871
Third son of Aethelwulf and successor to his own brother Aethelbert.
His reign was one long struggle with the Danes who had occupied York in 866, establishing the Viking Kingdom of Yorvik.
He fought several battles with his younger brother Alfred against the Vikings who threatened Wessex.
He died of battle wounds.
Alfred the Great
House of Wessex
871 - 899
Fourth son of Aethelwulf and successor to his own brother Aethelred I.
He defended England against Danish invasion and founded the English navy as well as a permanent army.
He began the Anglo-Saxon chronicles.
Edward (The Elder)
House of Wessex
899 - 924
Son of and successor to Alfred the Great, and father of Aethelstan, Edmund I and Eadred.
He retook Southeast England and the Midlands from the Danes.
He united the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia.
He was killed in battle against the Welsh.
Aethelstan
House of Wessex
924 - 939
Son of and successor to Edward the Elder.
He extended the boundaries of his kingdom and claimed the title ‘King of all Britain’ after defeating a combined army of Scots, Celts, Danes and Vikings at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937, one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on British soil.
Under him, individual Anglo-Saxon kingdoms came in together for the first time to create a unified England.
Edmund I
House of Wessex
939 - 946
Son of Edward the Elder, successor to his own brother Athelstan, and father of Eadwig and Edgar.
Crowned at age 18, having already fought alongside him at the battle of Brunanburh two years earlier.
Re-established Anglo-Saxon control over northern England, which had fallen back under Scandinavian rule after the death of his brother.
Was stabbed by a robber during a feast at age 25.
Eadred
House of Wessex
946 - 955
Son of Edward the Elder by his third marriage and successor to his own brother Edmund.
He expelled the last Scandinavian King of York, Eric Bloodaxe, in 954.
He died in his early 30s of a stomach ailment.
Eadwig
House of Wessex
955 - 959
Son of and successor to Edmund I.
He was crowned king at age 16, and died at age 20 of unknown reasons.
Legend has it that on the day of his coronation he had to be prised by Bishop Dunston from his bed and ‘strumpet’.
Perhaps unimpressed with the interruption, he had Dunstan exiled to France.
Edgar
House of Wessex
959 - 975
Youngest son of Edmund I. successor to his own brother Eadwig and father to Edward the Martyr and Aethelred II the Unready.
Following Eadwig’s mysterious death, he immediately recalled Dunstan from exile, making him Archbishop of Canterbury as well as his personal advisor.
Following his coronation, he marched his army to Chester, to be met by six kings of Britain, who are said to have signalled their allegiance to him by rowing him in his state barge across the River Dee.
Edward the Martyr
House of Wessex
975 - 978
Son of and successor to Edgar.
He was crowned at age 12.
He was supported by Archbishop Dunstan, but contested by supporters of his much younger half brother Aethelred.
The resulting dispute between factions almost led to a civil war in England.
His short reign ended with his murder by followers of Aethelred, hence the title of ‘martyr’.
Aethelred II The Unready
House Wessex
978 - 1016
Son of Edgar, successor to his own brother Edward the Martyr at age 10, and father of Edmund II Ironside and Edward the Confessor.
He was unable to organise resistance against the Danes, earning him the nickname ‘unready’.
He fled to Normandy in 1013 when Sweyn Forkbeard, King of the Danes, invaded England.
He returned in 1014 after Sweyn was killed following a fall from his horse.
The remainder of his reign was spent in a state a war against Sweyn’s son Canute.
Edmund II Ironside
House of Wessex
1016 - 1016
Son of and successor to Aethelred II the Unready.
He had led the resistance to Canute’s invasion of England since 1015.
Following the death of his father, he was chosen king by the good folk of London. The Witan (the king’s council) however elected Canute.
After being defeated he made a pact with him to divide the kingdom between them, but was assassinated later that year.
Canute (Cnut The Great) The Dane
House of Denmark
1016 - 1035
Son of Sweyn Forkbeard, he became king of England after defeating Edmund II.
He ruled well and gained favour from his subjects by sending most of his army back to Denmark.
In 1017 he married Emma of Normandy, widow of Aethelred II, and divided England into the four earldoms of East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria and Wessex.
