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Overtime the medieval kingdom of England grew out of Alfred's Wessex. Alfred founded the House of Wessex which managed that evolution. Alfred managed to restore Anglo-Saxon power, but he could not totally defeat and expel the Danes. A compromised was reached. The Danes were allowed to settle in the area to the north and east of a line between London and Chester. This was the old Roman Watling Street. The area conceded became known as the Danelaw. The Danes in the Danelaw continued to compete for power. And the Danes in Denmark were a continuing threat. Today Denmark is a small, peaceful country. At the time of England's emergence it was a major European country and a constant threat to Anglo-Saxon England. Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians (c870 – 918) was Alfred's eldest daughter. It is not entirely clear if Mercia was a revived independent kingdom or a vassal kingdom of Wessex. Gradually member's of the House of Wessex began referring to themselves as Kings of England. There were quite a number of uneven capability. Some reigned only brief periods. Others faced family challenges. Others served only brief periods. All had the Danisg threast from the east to contend with. There greatest threat was Cnut the Great, but finally they would be brought down by the Normans in the south. In the End it was Alfred's succes that would be paramount. He confirmed the Anglo-Saxon character of the population which only grew the reign of the House of Wessex despite the Danish challenge.
Few of the Anglo-Saxon kings were of major historical importance. One was, however, central to English history. Alfred of Wessex is the only English soverign with the title of Great and some consider him the first actual English king. We know a great deal about King Alfred as a result of a chronicle written by Asser, Bishop of Sherborne (about 888). Only one of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms, Wessex under Alfred managed to resist the Danes. Alfred is a pivotal figure in English history. Without him the history of England would have been very different. Under Alfred the small independent kingdom of Wessex would provide the Anglo-Saxon kernal for modern England. Alfrd was a scholar-philosopher in a time in which often naer barabric war lords ruled. He was also a devoted Christian. The Danish armies had snashed Mercia, Northumbria, and East Anglia and almost succeeded in conquering Wessex as well. Alfred's military camapaigns are the source of epic legends, but theu laid the foundation for today's England. He was much more than a war lord. He also intriduced codified law to a largely barbaric and deeply framented people. Given the importance of English law in history, not the least to the United States, this can be a seminal step.
Upon Alfred's death (899), Edward the Elder (c874 – 924) succeed his father as King of Wessex, often described as King of the Anglo-Saxons (899-924). He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a strong challenge from his cousin Æthelwold, who was the son of Alfred's elder brother and predecessor, Æthelred I.
Edward was suceeded by Æthelstan (894 –939). He became King of the Anglo-Saxons (924 -27 and King of the English (927-39.) He was the son of King Edward and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Most modern historians recognize him as the first King of England and one of the most important Anglo-Saxon kings". He however never married leaving no heirs.
Æthelstan was thus succeeded by his half-brother, Edmund I. Edmund (920/921 – 946) was King of England (939-46). He was the elder son of King Edward the Elder and his third wife, Queen Eadgifu. Edmund had two sons, Eadwig and Edgar, both by his first wife Ælfgifu. There were none by his second wife Æthelflæd. Edmund was killed attempting to his seneschal (court official) who was being attacked by an outlaw. The incident is also described as a brawl. It occurred at Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire.
As Edmund's sons were very young, he was succeeded by younger brother Eadred (946). During his reign, the boys became teenagers. He died (955) and was followed by Edmund's sons in succession, both still young teenagers.
Eadwig (c940 – 59), became King of the English (955-59). He was the elder son of Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu. Eadwig and his younger brother Edgar were still children when their father was killed. As the boys were too young to rule, Edmund was succeeded by his brother Eadred. Eadred was not healthy and died after only a few years. Prince Eadwig became king (955). He was still very young, only bout 15 years old. He has serious problems with Dunstan, the influential Abbot of Glastonbury and future Archbishop of Canterbury. Eadwig exiled him to Flanders. As as a result he came to be depicted as opposed to monasteries probably unfairly. Soon after becoming king, Eadwig issued more thab 60 charters transferring land 956). That was more in a single year than of any other European monarch before the 12th century. This is generally seen as young king seated precariously in the throne and attempting to buy support. He was apparently threatened by an established old guard and the Church. Soon after the kingdom was divided (957). Eadwig, who kept the land south of the Thames, and Edgar, his younger brother became king of the land to the north. It is unknown if this had been previously planned or moire probably the result of a revolt organized by Eadwig's enemies who were manipulating the still young Edgar. Problems with priests continued. Oda, Archbishop of Canterbury, ordered Eadwig to separate from his wife Ælfgifu on the ground that they were too closely related (958). This was an unusual circumstance. And it could not have been engineered by so young a boy. The split in the kingdom became moot when Eadwig unexpectedly died (959).
Edgar (943 – 75) upon his brother's death succeeded to the throne of a now united England after the brief split with his brother. He became known as the Peaceful. He had a more successful reign than his brother, in part because he made peace with the Church. He was the younger son of King Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury. Like his brother, he came to the throne as a teenager. His closest advisor was Dunstan, the powerful abbot whom his brother had exiled. Edgar recalled him from exile and appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury. He was crowned in Bath (973). The ceremony was organized by Dunstan and became the the basis for future English coronation ceremonies.
Edgar was succeeded by his son Edward (962–78) who was crowned (975). While Edward was the eldest son of King Edgar, but he was not his father's acknowledged heir. As a result the Edward's kingship was contested. The country was split between Edward's supporters and those of his younger half-brother Æthelred. Edward was chosen as king and chiefly because of clerical supporters, led by Archbishops Dunstan of Canterbury and Oswald of York. Edward's reign was short. He was murdered (978).
Æthelred II (c966 – 1016) has become known as Æthelred the Unready. He was crowned after his brother's murder. He was King of England (978 to 1013) and again for a second period (1014-16). Historians point out that 'unready' is a poor translation of the Old English 'unræd' which meant 'poorly advised'. It was a pun on his name which meant 'well advised'. Æthelred was the younger son of King Edgar and his wife Ælfthryth. He became king when he was only about 12 years old after his older brother's murder. Æthelred had a long, but not uneventful rule. The primarily problem was the Danes, at the time a major European power. After an era of relative peace following Alfred the Great, Danish Viking raids on England began to become a serious problem again (980s), soon after Aethelred became king. Æthelred attempted to organize defenses. This resulted in the Battle of Maldon (991).
The battle has eerie similarities to Hastings several decades later, only it seems a relatively even engagement. Even so, Æthelred after the batte began paying tribute (Danegeld) to the Danes. A decade later, tiring of the costly tribute, Æthelred ordered what is now known as the St. Brice's Day massacre of the Danish settlers in England (1002). King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark invaded England (1013). Æthelred fled to Normandy beginning an unfortunate relationship with the Duchy which at the time was essentially an independent kingdom. This was possible because his second wife Emma of Normandy. He was briefly replaced by Sweyn as king of England. When Sweyn died Æthelred returned to England and briefly regained the crown (1014), but he died only 2 years later. Æthelred ruled England for 37-years, the longest of any Anglo-Saxon king and almost all English kings, only surpassed by Henry II (13th century). Æthelred had several sons, including quite a few who became kings of Engand, although many only briefly. This included most prominently Harthacnut and Edward the confessor who were half brothers, Cnut having married Æthelred's second wife, Emma of Normandy, certainly a calculated step in seeking legitimacy.
Æthelred was succeeded by his son, Edmund Ironside (1016). Edmund's reign despite his epitaph proved short. He inherited the war with the Danes from his father. He valiantly carried on that war. There were several major battles with both Cnut and Edward winning some. The ferocity ss of Edmund's struggle with Cnut is accofrding to some historians only matched by Alfred the Great's and is in sharp contrasts to his father's ineffectual efforts. Cnut is considered a great warrior, but he was matched by Edmund. In the end Cunut and Edmund agreed to divide England. Edmund's death is disputed. It might have been the result of festering wounds from the battles with Cnut. Or he may have been murdered or killed by disease. The actual circumstance are lost to history. Edmund had two children by Ealdgyth (Edward the Exile and Edmund Ætheling). Apparently, Cnut after Edmund's deasth sent the boys to Sweden not wanting to be held responsible for their murder. He did clearly want them out of the way. Presumably he hoped they would be murdered there and disappeared from history. King Olof of Sweden instead sent them on to Kiev and fascinatingly they and not the victorious Cnut entered into the bloodline of the current British monarchy.
Sweyn's son is know as Cnut the Great. Cnut of course was not part of the House of Essex, but the dynasty's hitorry can not be told without including him and his sons. Cnut did not defeat Edmund Ironside, but outlived him, gaining control of England. Cnut (? - 1035) was King of England from (1016), King of Denmark (1018), and King of Norway from (1028). He attempted to unite his three kingdoms under what is called, the North Sea Empire. As a Danish prince, Cnut won the English crown by a combination of battle and the death of Edmund Ironsides. He later ascended to the Danish throne (1018). Cnut sought to build his power-base by uniting Danes and English under cultural bonds of wealth and custom, but by this time, England was overwhelmingly Saxon. After a decade of conflict, Cnut claimed the crown of Norway in Trondheim (1028). He also claimed Sweden, but made no effort to occupy it other than Sigtuna. Finally Malcolm II of Scotland also submitted to him (1031), although his military capability was beyond actual control. Cnut's control of the North Sea and English dioceses was a matter of some prestige. One important historian calls him 'the most effective king in Anglo-Saxon history'. [Cantor, p. 166.] Cnut did not attack the Saxon people as Æthelred had the Danish people in England. He married Emma of Normandy
and had four children: Svein Knutsson, Harold Harefoot, Harthacnut and Gunhilda, Queen of the Germans.
Here the succession gets complicated. Cnut died (1035). He was succeeded by Harthacnut who reigning as Cnut III Harthacnut had to fight a war with Magnus I of Norway. His English subjects decided his focus was on Scandinavia, not England. Apparently Cnut's other son with Ælfgifu of Northampton, Harold Harefoot, a half brother, saw an opportunity to be king. He drove Harold's mother Queen Emma from England. She fled to Bruges in Flanders.
Cnut today has largely disappeared from history, except for serious scholars, but he could have been a major figure if his sons had not all passed away within a decade of his death. And if his only known daughter, Cunigund, who was to marry Emperor Conrad II's son Henry III only eight months after his death, had not died in Italy before she became empress consort. All of this would have entrenched Cnut's blood deeply into the body European royalty. Cnut could also have laid the foundation for an actual political union of England and Scandinavia--a powerful North Sea Empire with blood ties to the Holy Roman Empire (medieval Germany). [Lawson]
With his younger half brother busy in Sandanaviza , Harold became regent in England (1035–37). He then claimed the crown for himself (1037). He reigned only shortly, dying (1040).
The death of Harold and peace in Scandinavia left Harthacnut free to claim the English throne himself and to regain his mother's home (1040). He brought the crowns of Denmark and England together again, but died soon after (1042). Denmark fell into chaos with a power struggle between the pretender to the throne Sweyn Estridsson, son of Ulf, and the Norwegian king, until the death of Magnus (1047). Surprisingly, this paved the way for the English crown to return to the House of the Anglo-Saxon Wessex--albeit briefly.
The House of Wessex regained the English throne after the death of Harthacnut. It was part of a deal arranged between half-brothers Edward the Confessor and Harthacnut who had made a similar arrangement with was Magnus. Edward (1003-66) would be given the crown if Harthacnut died with no legitimate male heir. Unexpectedly, Harthacnut died (1042). Edward became king. Often not explained, as he had grown up in Normandy, that his is reign brought Norman influence in the English court, several decades before William invaded. And it would be Edward's blood line, not that of Cnut, that would appear in that of the modern British bloodline. Edward the last king of the House of Wessex and the last Anglo-Saxon king (Harold was more a Viking than Anglo-Saxon, although Edward also had Viking blood. Edward was a younger son of Æthelred and his second wife, Emma of Normandy. He succeeded Cnut the Great's son and his half-brother -– Harthacnut. He restored the rule of the House of Wessex after Cnut's 1016 victories. Edward and Emma had no children. Historians debate the reason. The epitaph 'confessor' suggests that Edward was fundamentally a religious man. Some regarded him as a saint. This probably was nt the case, but a man who lost interest in secular matters when he could not control his wife's powerful family and with William just across the Channel. This may have been why Edward fathered no heirs. When Edward died (1066), there were three major claimants to the English throne. Edward's estranged wife was past of Godwinson clan. And her brother was Harold Godwinson who was basically a Viking, but was the Anglo-Saxon standard bearer. He was strongest claimant because he was in England and had the support of the Anglo-Saxon nobility. As history would show, invading England was no easy feat.
Harold Godwinson/Harold II (1022-66) was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, although Harold was in fact more of a Viking himself. The Godwinsons were the most powerful nibel family in Englabnd, more powerful than King Edward. Harold was probably the first English monarch to be crowned in Westminster Abbey. Harald Hardrada of Norway, invaded and seized York with the aid Tosig, Hasrold's brotyher. Harald was a mighty warrior, but did not have a dynastic claim to the throne. He did have a mighty army and connections to Harold's brother Tostig Godwinson. Harald dreamed of reviving Cnut's North Sea Empire. Harold only months after his coronation marched his army north and defeated Harald and Tosig at Stamford Bridg near York. Given Harald's military achievements, this was a stunning success and showed Harold's military prowess. Duke William of Normandy was the other powerful claimant to the English crown. William insisted insisted that both Edward and Harold had promised him the crown which was probably true. . Learning of William's invasion, Harold marched back south two weeks later. Harold and William fought it out at Hastings (1066). William's victory gained him the English Crown and the title William the Conqueror. This was the end of Anglo-Saxon England and the beginning of Norman England. Edward's young great-nephew Edgar the Ætheling was proclaimed king after the Battle of Hastings, but was never crowned. William peacefully deposed him as he rapidly spread his power over Saxon England.
The House of Wessex essentially ended wuith the death of Harold. William had no substantial dynastic claim on the English crown. King Edward the Confessor and Edward were, however, distant cousins. Edward after a Danish invasion was an exile fleeing to Normandy and living there at the the court in Normandy. Cnut rule England. William claims that not only had Edward promised him the throne but so had Harold Godwinson while a guest/prisoner. Such an offer had no standing under English law. Edward regained the crown after Cnut's death. In England a king could recomend his successior, but it did not have the same wight as in France. Either was being the eldest son a determinent. Thuis was a feudal tennet. France had a fedudal system. The anglo-Saxins un England dud nit. It was intriduced to England by William. Under English law, the King's Council, or Witanagemot made the fuinal decuision. And inheritnce was only one factor. Thery consider all factors before making their choice. Scotland adopted a similar system. Thus William had no legal claim to the throne under English law, but seized it by right of conquest.
Cantor, Norman. The Civilisation of the Middle Ages (1995).
Lawson, M. K. (2004), Cnut: England's Viking King 2nd ed. (Stroud: Tempus: 2004)
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