King Edmund ENGLAND, II

   Other names for Edmund were "Ironside", ENGLAND King and Eadmund.

   Ancestral File Number: 8HS0-F1. User ID: 605111836.

   General Notes:

"Ironside", Illegitimate, King of ENGLAND Reigned 23 Apr-30 Nov 1016.

BOOKS
Battle 1066, Brigadier C.N.Barclay, D Van Nostrand Co Inc, Princeton, NJ, 1966
p17: "Edward the Confessor was born at Islip in Oxfordshire about 1005. He was the son of Ethelred the Unready and Emma, daughter of Richard I, Duke of Normandy. According to modern laws of heredity his claim was indisputable: there was no successor to the throne to follow Hardicanute in the Danish line. The only possible rival was Edward, the son of Edmund Ironside; but this was an illegitimate line, as Ironside was only a natural son of their common father Ethelred. Although illegitimacy was not a fatal bar to succession in those days it did have some bearing on the matter. Moreover the rival Edward was far away in Hungary; whereas the Confessor had been established in England for some little time, having been brought over from exile in Normandy in Hardicanute, who treated him with generosity and respect..."

Kings and Queens of Europe, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, Taute, 1989: "Eadmund II Ironside, Son of Aethelred II and Aelfgifu, King of England Apr- Nov 1016, Died 1016."

Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, Taute, 1990: "Edmund II Ironside King of England Apr-Nov 1016 Son of Aethelred II King of England and Aelfgifu, Mar = (2) Ealdgyth widow of Sigeferth Died Nov 1016."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol II, The Magnificent Century, Thomas B Cos- tain, 1964, Doubleday & Co, p152:
"On June 18 of that year [1239] a healthy male child was born at Westminster...As soon as a loud clangor of bells conveyed the intelligence that the child was a boy, the city was illuminated and the streets filled with excited people. Already the descent of the royal infant had been traced back from Matilda, the Saxon wife of Henry I; to Margaret, her mother, who had been Queen of Scotland; to Edward the Exile,Edmund Ironsides, Ethelred, Edgar, Edward, Alfred. There it was to con, to talk over, the proof of descent from Alfred the Great, Alfred of glorious memory! For the first time in many years Henry [III] had succeeded in making his people happy.For days later the child was baptized and given the name of Edward, which again delighted the people because it was so completely English..."

The Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes, Elizabeth Longford, 1991, Oxford Univ Press, pxviii: "Saxons andDanes Genealogy: Edmund II Ironside, mar Algitha, died 1016."

A History of the English Speaking People Winston S Churchill Vol I The Birth of Britain Dodd Mead & Co p138:
"But soon the young Danish prince, Canute, set forth to claim the English crown. At this moment the flame of Alfred's line rose again in Ethelred's son, Edmund- Edmund Ironside, as he soon was called. At twenty he was famous. Although declared a rebel by his father, and acting in complete disobedience to him,hw gathered forces, and in a brilliant campaign struck a succession of heavy blows. He gained battles, he relieved London, he contended with every form of treachery; the hearts of all men went out to him. New forces sprang from the ruined land.Ethelred died, and Edmund, last hope of the English, was acclaimed King. In spite of all ods and a heavy defeat he was strong enough to make a partition of the realm, and then set himself to rally his forces for the renewal of the struggle; but in 1016, at twenty-two years of age, Edmund Ironside died, and the whole realm abandoned itself to despair."

The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England, Antonia Fraser, 1975, Alfred Knopf, p24: "Edmund Ironside, died 1016..."

The Story ofCivilization, Will Durant, Vol IV, The Age of Faith, Bk IV, The Dark Ages, Ch XX, The Rise of the North, Sec I, England, p485: "Ethelred died in besieged London; his son Edmund "Ironside" fought bravely, but was overwhelmed by Cnut at Assandun(1016). Cnut was now accepted by all England as its king, and the Danish Conquest was complete...p492: His early reign was tarnished with cruelty: he banished the children of Edmund Ironsides, and had Edmund's brother murdered to forestall anAnglo-Saxon restoration..."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1981, Micropaedia, Vol III, p792, Edmund II Ironside: "Born Abt 993, Died 30 Nov 1016, King of the English from 23 Apr to 30 Nov 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 (ruled 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 (Apr 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 atAshington, Essex, on October 18. In the ensuing peace settlement, Edmund retained Wessex, while Canute held the lands north of the River Thames. Edmund probably died of natural causes, although later authorities claim he was murdered. Canute then became the sole ruler of England."

Macropaedia, Vol III, p203, Britain and Ireland History of: "...Sweyn's son Canute (Cnut) renewed the invasions and, in spite of valiant resistance by Ethelred's son and successor, Edmund, obtained half of England after a victory at Ashingdon in October 1016 and the rest after Edmund's death that November."
"Canute rewarded some of his followers with English lands, and he made the Viking leader Eric of Hlathir Earl of Northumbria and Thorkell the Tall Earl of East Anglia. He ruthlessly got rid of some prominent Englishmen, among them Edmund's brother Edwy, but Edmund's infant sons were carried away to safety in Hungary..."

New Columbia Encyclopedia, 1975, p833, Edmund Ironside:"Died 1016, King of the English (1016), son of Aethelred the Unready. Contrary to the wishes of his father, he married (1015) the widow of Siferth, a Danish thane, and was accepted as ruler of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw. When Canute invaded England in 1015, Edmund led the fighting against him. However, the people apparently felt that he was a rebel against his father, for he found it hard to gain a following without his father's aid. At Aethelred's death (April 1016) Edmund was proclaimed king in London, but most of the nobles gave their support to Canute. Edmund continued the struggle with great courage (which earned him the appellation Ironside) and considerable success until he was defeated in the disastrous battle of Assandun (18 Oct 1016). He and Canute agreed to aprtition the country, but Edmund died the following month."

From Alfred to Henry III 871-1272, Christopher Brooke, 1961, Norton Library History of England, p60-65: "...The period between the death of Swein and the final acknowledgment of his son, Cnut, as king, at the end of 1016 is exceedingly confusing. At the time of his father's death Cnut was about eighteen, and the sudden access of responsibility was evidently too much for him. He withdrew hastily from England; and when he returned, he was supported by three great Viking leaders: his elder brother, Harold, King of Denmark; Eric, the Rengent of Norway; and Thorkell the Tall, who had returned to his old allegiance. At one point Cnut held Wessex and Mercia, while Edmund `Ironside', Ethelred's son, held the northern Danelaw- both in defiance of King Ethelred, who was still holding out in the south-east. It was Cnut's unheralded withdrawal which had alienated the Danelaw and made Edmund's intrusion there possible; while in spite of the momentary recovery of Ethelred in 1014 and 1015, there was treachery in the English court, which aided Cnut to overrun Wessex and Mercia. Ethelred died in April 1016; a few months later Edmund was decisively beaten by Cnut, and the uneasy truce which followed was quickly ended by Edmund's sudden death. The events of the civil war had shown that there was no simple division of loyalty between English andDanes..."

The Wall Chart of World History, Edward Hull, 1988, Studio Editions, England 1016: "Edmund II, King of England 1016..."

INTERNET
Draper Gedcom
http://www.my-ged.com/db/page/draper/01444
Edmund II., Ironsides, was born in 989 and succeeded his father in April1016. In this year he fought six battles, but through treachery he wascompletely overthrown at Assandun, in Essex.He and Canute the Dane agreed to divide the kingdom. He was chosen kingof England by the Londoners on his father's death, April, 1016, whileCanute was elected at Southampton by the Witan.Edmund hastily levied an army in the west, defeated Canute twice, raisedthe siege of London, and again routed the Danes. Levying a fresh army,he defeated them at Otford, his last victory. At Ashingdon in Essex,after a desperate fight, he was routed. By compromise with Canute, thelatter retained Mercia and Northumbria, Edmund all the south and theheadship, the survivor to succeed to the whole. A few weeks later Edmunddied, in 1016, and Canute became King of England without a rival.It is said that the traitorous Edric Streona perhaps murdered Edmund onNovember 30, 1016, shortly after peace was made.Edmund II. married Ealgyth (Algitha), widow of Sigefrith the Dane.("The Genealogy of Homer Beers James", V1, JANDA Consultants, © 1993Homer James)

ANCESTRAL FILE
EBMicro & Ancestral File Ver 4.10 8HS0-F1 Also Eadmund Born Abt 993, 915X-LT Born Abt 984, 9HMF-D5 Edmund ENGLAND Prince, B19R-1N Bur Glastonbury Somerset England, 9G85-DT & 9L82-H7 Born Bef 1016.

   Marriage Information:

Edmund married Queen Ealdgyth ENGLAND, daughter of Morcar ENGLAND and Edgitha ENGLAND, about Aug 1015 in London, Middlesex, England. (Queen Ealdgyth ENGLAND was born about 986-995 in , Wessex, England.)