Edward the Elder
King of Wessex
Years: 874 - 924
Edward the Elder (c. 874–877 – 17 July 924) is an English king of Wessex.
He becomes king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great.
His court is at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex.
He capturex the eastern Midlands and East Anglia from the Danes in 917 and become ruler of Mercia in 918 upon the death of Æthelflæd, his sister.
All but two of his charters give his title as "Anglorum Saxonum rex" or "king of the Anglo-Saxons".
He is the second king of the Anglo-Saxons as this title was created by Alfred.
Edward's coinage reads "EADVVEARD REX."
The chroniclers record that all England "accepted Edward as lord" in 920, but the fact that York continued to produce its own coinage suggests that Edward's authority was not accepted in Viking-ruled Northumbria.
Edward's eponym "the Elder" was first used in Wulfstan's Life of St Æthelwold (c. 996) to distinguish him from the later King Edward the Martyr.
