In 959 A.D.

In 959 A.D. Edgar, son of Edmund I, ascended to the throne of England at age 16 following the death of his brother King Eadwig. He is known by history as Edgar the Peaceful, not because he had a particularly pacific personality, but rather because things in England were relatively peaceful during his 15-year reign.

After becoming king, one of the first things Edgar did was recall Dunstan to England. Dunstan, who had been the Abbot of Glastonbury, had fled the country after creating a scene at Eadwig’s coronation. After Eadwig failed to show up for a meeting with some nobles, Dunstan went searching for him and found the young king “cavorting” with a noblewoman and her mother, “as if they were wallowing in a revolting pigsty.” Dunstan denounced the women and dragged Eadwig back to the ceremony. After he settled down, Dunstan realized that Eadwig would likely have him executed, so he fled to Flanders. Upon his return to England, Edgar had him made a bishop and an advisor to the king. Dunstan was a popular cleric, who would go on to become the Archbishop of Canterbury and after his death would be canonized. The rest of St. Dunstan’s story will be the subject of a future Dose.

Edgar, with Dunstan as an advisor, acted to consolidate the English kingdom and he substantially increased the number of English ships protecting the kingdom’s shores from the Vikings.

Although a small man (less than five feet tall), Edgar was reported to have been handsome and to have had an affinity for the ladies. He was married two or three times (accounts vary) and had many mistresses. His first wife Æthelflæd bore him a son who would become King Edward the Martyr. His second wife (or consort) was Wulfthryth, who he evidently had abducted from Wilton Abbey. A couple of years later Edgar returned Wulfthryth to the abbey, along with their daughter Edith. Both Wulfthryth and Edith were eventually canonized.

Edgar’s final wife was Ælfthryth. According to a story whose historicity is disputed, when Edgar was told about Ælfthryth and her great beauty, he sent a nobleman named Æthelwald to fetch the young woman so he could marry her. But when Æthelwald found her, he was so entranced by her beauty that he married her himself and falsely reported to King Edgar that the woman’s beauty had been exaggerated and that she was unsuitable to be queen. After Edgar learned that he had been deceived, he killed Æthelwald on a hunting trip and (belatedly) married the now widowed Ælfthryth. Their son Æthelred (remembered in history as Æthelred the Unready) would become king after the death of Edward the Martyr.

Thirteen years into his reign, Edgar and Ælfthryth were crowned in Bath in 973 — the first time in history a couple had been officially proclaimed King and Queen of England. The coronation ceremony was the first to be described in detail in historical accounts and has served as the basis for all future coronations of English monarchs to the present day.

On July 8, 975, one thousand fifty-one years ago today, King Edgar the Peaceful of England died in Winchester at age 33. His cause of death is unknown.

The image of Edgar is from the New Minster Charter, an illuminated manuscript created by monks at New Minster Abbey in 966, during the seventh year of Edgar’s reign.