Introduction

Summary

Over the past twenty years, Æthelstan (r. 924–939) and Æthelred (r. 978– 1016), respectively the kings who first unified what came to be known as ‘England’ and then lost it to the Danish conquest of Sweyn Forkbeard, have been the subject of no fewer than eight full-length biographies. A further two volumes have been dedicated to King Edgar (r. 959–975), arguably the most avid patron of the cultural flowering known today as the monastic (or Benedictine) reform movement that occupies much of tenth-century scholarship. However, about Kings Edmund, Eadred, and Eadwig – whose reigns collectively take up the twenty years between the end of Æthelstan's reign and the beginning of Edgar's – the scholarship is virtually silent.

This neglect is surprising, considering that the patronage of these three kings allowed the reform to thrive and their efficacy as rulers prevented England's semi-autonomous north from regaining permanent independence, preserving the new kingdom their immediate predecessors had built but whose unity was far from inevitable. This tacit acceptance of Edmund (r. 939–946), Eadred (r. 946–955), and Eadwig (r. 955–959) as unimportant players allows them to be easily eclipsed by rulers often perceived as worthier subjects. Indeed, a quick search of the International Medieval Bibliography reveals the historical imbalance between studies dedicated to Æthelstan, Edgar, and Æthelred and those examining the kings whose reigns seemingly provided little more than intervening ‘filler’. While Æthelstan, Edgar and Æthelred were critical figures (and reigns) to tenth-century England, the purpose of this volume is to highlight the importance of Edmund, Eadred, and Eadwig for our understanding of the tenth century as a whole.

The essays gathered here demonstrate that these reigns were a crucial period that secured the growth and drive of the previous three kings and in the process laid the groundwork for the ‘golden age’ that followed. This volume does not aim to undercut everything that occurred during Edgar's rule, but many of the key players were already in important positions and set up to be promoted even higher to create the events and developments at the height of the reform in the 960s and 970s.