Edmund

Related Category: British and Irish History: Biographies

921–46, king of Wessex (939–46), half brother and successor of Athelstan. Immediately after his accession he had to face an invasion of Irish vikings led by Olaf Guthfrithson. He was forced to cede to them the territory between Watling Street and the Northumbrian border (already occupied partly by Danes), and he succeeded in recapturing it in 944 only because of the quarrels among the Norse leaders. In 945 he invaded Strathclyde, which he then turned over to the Scottish king Malcolm I. Edmund was killed in a brawl and was succeeded by his brother Edred.