also spelled Aelfred, byname Alfred The Greatking of Wessex (871-899), a Saxon kingdom in southwestern England. He prevented England from falling to the Danes and promoted learning and literacy. Compilation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle began during his reign, c. 890.

When he was born, it must have seemed unlikely that Alfred would become king, since he had four older brothers; he said that he never desired royal power. Perhaps a scholar's life would have contented him. His mother early aroused his interest in English poetry, and from his boyhood he also hankered after Latin learning, possibly stimulated by visits to Rome in 853 and 855. It is possible also that he was aware of and admired the great Frankish king Charlemagne, who had at the beginning of the century revived learning in his realm. Alfred had no opportunity to acquire the education he sought, however, until much later in life.

He probably received the education in military arts normal for a young man of rank. He first appeared on active service in 868, when he and his brother, King Aethelred (Ethelred) I, went to help Burgred of Mercia (the kingdom between the Thames and the Humber) against a great Danish army that had landed in East Anglia in 865 and taken possession of Northumbria in 867. The Danes refused to give battle, and peace was made. In this year Alfred married Ealhswith, descended through her mother from Mercian kings. Late in 871, the Danes invaded Wessex, and Aethelred and Alfred fought several battles with them. Aethelred died in 871 and Alfred succeeded him. After an unsuccessful battle at Wilton he made peace. It was probably the quality of the West Saxon resistance that discouraged Danish attacks for five years.

byname Edward The Elder Anglo-Saxon king in England, the son of Alfred the Great. As ruler of the West Saxons, or Wessex, from 899 to 924, Edward extended his authority over almost all of England by conquering areas that previously had been held by Danish invaders.

Edward ascended the throne upon his father's death in October 899, and in a battle in 902 his forces killed a rival claimant, Aethelwald, who had allied with the Danes. After defeating the Northumbrian Danes at Tettenhall, he set out in August 912 to subdue the Danes of the eastern Midlands and East Anglia. From 910 to 916 he constructed a series of fortified enclosures around his Kingdom of Wessex.

At the same time, his sister, the Mercian ruler Aethelflaed, constructed a complementary series of fortresses in the northwest Midlands. In 917 Edward and Aethelflaed launched a massive offensive, quickly overwhelming the entire Danish army of East Anglia. Upon Aethelflaed's death in June 918, Edward assumed control of Mercia, and by the end of the year the last Danish armies in the Midlands had submitted. By that time Edward's kingdom included all the land south of the Humber estuary; in 920 he pacified Northumbria. Complete political unification of England was achieved during the reign of his son and successor, Athelstan (reigned 924-939).

byname Edmund The Deed-doer, Latin Edmundus Magnificusking of the English (939-946), who recaptured areas of northern England that had been occupied by the Vikings.

He was the son of the West Saxon king Edward the Elder (reigned 899-924) and the half brother of King Athelstan (reigned 924-939), under whom the political unification of England had been accomplished. On Athelstan's death (939), Olaf Guthfrithson, the Norse king of Dublin, occupied Northumbria and raided the Midlands.

Edmund recovered the Midlands after Olaf died in 942, and in 944 he regained Northumbria, driving out the Norse kings Olaf Sihtricson and Raegnald. He captured Strathclyde in 945 and entrusted it to Malcolm I, king of Scots, in return for a promise of military support. Thus, Edmund inaugurated a policy of establishing a secure frontier and peaceful relations with Scotland. In addition, his reign marks the beginning of the 10th-century monastic revival in England. The king was killed in his palace by an exiled robber and was succeeded by his brother, Eadred (reigned 946-955); Edmund's sons eventually acceded to power as kings Eadwig (reigned 957-959) and Edgar (reigned 959-975).

king of the Mercians and Northumbrians from 957 who became king of the West Saxons, or Wessex, in 959 and is reckoned as king of all England from that year. He was efficient and tolerant of local customs, and his reign was peaceful. He was most important as a patron of the English monastic revival.

The younger son of Edmund I, king of the English, Edgar was made king of the Mercians and Northumbrians in place of Eadwig, his brother, who was deposed. On Eadwig's death (Oct. 1, 959), Edgar succeeded to the West Saxon throne. His ecclesiastical policy was also that of the archbishop of Canterbury, St. Dunstan, who insisted on strict observance of the Benedictine Rule. The king supported Archbishop Oswald of York and Bishop Aethelwold of Winchester in founding abbeys. Edgar's laws were the first in England to prescribe penalties for nonpayment of tithes and Peter's pence, the annual contribution made by Roman Catholics for support of the Holy See.

king of the English from 978 to 1013 and from 1014 to 1016. He was an ineffectual ruler who failed to prevent the Danes from overrunning England. The epithet "unready" is derived from unraed, meaning "evil counsel."

The son of King Edgar (ruled 959-975), Ethelred ascended the throne upon the assassination of his half brother King Edward the Martyr in March 978. Widespread suspicion that Ethelred may have had a part in the murder created much of the distrust and disloyalty that undermined his authority. Hence, there was no unified defense when the Danish invasions resumed in 980.

Nearly all of the country was ravaged, and Ethelred's efforts to buy peace only made the invaders more rapacious. When they did begin to settle down in towns, Ethelred provoked further invasions by launching a massacre of Danish settlers (Nov. 13, 1002). By the end of 1013 the Danish king Sweyn I had been accepted as king in England, and Ethelred had fled to Normandy.

After Sweyn died in February 1014, Ethelred's council of advisers invited him to return to the throne on condition that he agree to satisfy their grievances. At the time of Ethelred's death in 1016, Sweyn's son Canute was ravaging England. Ethelred was succeeded by his son Edmund II Ironside (ruled 1016); one of his other sons ruled England as Edward the Confessor from 1042 to 1066.

byname Edmund Ironside king of the English from April 23 to Nov. 30, 1016, surnamed "Ironside" for his staunch resistance to a massive invasion led by the Danish king Canute.

The son of King Ethelred II the Unready (reigned 978-1016), Edmund defied his father's orders by marrying (1015) the widow of one of the Danish lords then occupying English territory. Nevertheless, when Canute invaded England later in 1015, Edmund raised an army in northern England and ravaged regions that would not rally to his cause.

Upon Ethelred's death (April 1016), a small number of councillors and citizens of London proclaimed Edmund as their ruler, but a larger body of nobles at Southampton declared for Canute. Edmund then launched a series of offensives against his rival. He recovered Wessex and relieved London of a siege before being decisively defeated by Canute at Ashington, Essex, on October 18. In the ensuing peace settlement, Edmund retained Wessex, while Canute held the lands north of the River Thames. After Edmund died (probably of natural causes), Canute became sole ruler of England.