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'Edmund II' or ''Eadmund II'' (c. 988/993 – November 30, 1016), King of England from April 23 to November 30, 1016, was surnamed "Ironside" for his efforts to fend off the Danish invasion led by King Canute.

Contents

Family

Royal and military history

Death

Heirs

Shakespearean play?

See also

Sources

References

External links

Family

Edmund was the second son of King Æthelred II (also known as Ethelred the Unready) and his first wife, Ælflaed of Northumbria. He had three brothers, the elder being Æthelstan, and the younger two being Ædred and Ecgbert. His mother was dead by 996, and his father remarried twice.
Æthelstan died in 1014, leaving Edmund as heir. A power-struggle began between Edmund and his father, and in 1015 King Æthelred had two of Edmund's allies, Sigeferth and Morcar, executed. Edmund then took Sigeferth's widow, Ældgyth, from the nunnery where she had been imprisoned and married her in defiance of his father. During this time, Canute the Great attacked England with his forces.

Royal and military history

Æthelred II, who had earlier been stricken ill, died on April 23, 1016. Edmund succeeded to the throne. When Edmund forcefully recovered Wessex from Canute’s previous invasion in 1015, Canute responded by laying siege to London; however, Edmund’s defence was successful. Despite the victory, conflict continued until Edmund was defeated, but not killed, on October 18 by Canute at Ashingdon in Essex. (See Battle of Ashingdon). After the battle the two kings negotiated a peace in which Edmund kept Wessex while Canute held the lands north of the River Thames. In addition, they agreed that if one of them should perish, territories belonging to the deceased would be ceded to the living.

Death

On November 30, 1016, King Edmund II died in Oxford or London, and his territories were ceded to Canute who then became king of England. A popular story has it that soldiers acting in favor of Canute hid in a lavatory and stabbed Edmund in the bowels when he sat down to relieve himself, though this has never been proven. Edmund was buried at Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset. His burial site is now lost. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries any remains of a monument or crypt were destroyed and the location of his body is unknown.

Heirs

Edmund had two children by Ældgyth: Edward the Exile and Edmund, who both were sent by Canute the Great to Sweden, and were sent from there to Kiev, ending up in Hungary.

Shakespearean play?

''Edmund Ironside'' is also the name of an anonymous play in the Shakespeare Apocrypha, which has been attributed to Shakespeare on stylistic grounds.^[1] Plays in the Shakespeare Apocrypha are not generally accepted as Shakespearean.^[2]

See also

★ House of Wessex family tree

Sources

★ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

★ Clemoes, Peter. ''The Anglo-Saxons: Studies Presented to Bruce Dickins'', 1959

References

1. Eric Sams. (1986). ''Shakespeare's "Edmund Ironside": The Lost Play''. Wildwood Ho. ISBN 0-7045-0547-9
2. Two Tough Nuts to Crack: Did Shakespeare Write the ''Shakespeare'' Portions of Sir Thomas More and Edward III? By Ward E. Y. Elliott and Robert J. Valenza, Claremont McKenna College.

External links

★ Genealogy for Edmund Ironside