Editing Edmund I (section)

== Assessment ==
Historians' views of Edmund's character and record differ widely. The historian [[Barbara Yorke]] comments that when substantial powers were delegated there was a danger that subjects would become over-powerful: the kings following Æthelstan came to the throne young and had short reigns, and the families of Æthelstan 'Half-King' and [[Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia]],{{efn|Ælfhere's career post-dates Edmund's reign, but his father Ealhhelm was a leading ealdorman between 940 and 951.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=1982|1pp=144–147|2a1=Trousdale|2y=2007|2pp=89, 100–104, 108–110, 136–140, 143, 161–162, 262–263}} }} developed unassailable positions.{{sfn|Yorke|1995|p=580}} In the view of Cyril Hart: "For the whole of his brief reign, the young king Edmund remained strongly under the influence of his mother Eadgifu and the "Half King", who between them must have decided much of the national policy."{{sfn|Hart|1992|p=580}} In contrast, Williams describes Edmund as "an energetic and forceful ruler"{{sfn|Williams|2004}} and Stenton commented that "he proved himself to be both warlike and politically effective",{{sfn|Stenton|1971|pp=356–357}} while in Dumville's view, but for his early death "he might yet have been remembered as one of the more remarkable of Anglo-Saxon kings".{{sfn|Dumville|1992|p=184}}

The historian Ryan Lavelle comments that "a case can be made, as Alaric Trousdale has recently done [in his PhD thesis on Edmund's reign], for assigning Edmund a central role to the achievements of the tenth century English state".{{sfnm|1a1=Lavelle|1y=2010|1pp=300, 358|2a1=Trousdale|2y=2007}}{{efn|A version of chapter V of Trousdale's thesis was published in ''Kingship, Legislation and Power in Anglo-Saxon England'', edited by Gale Owen-Crocker and Brian Schneider.{{sfnm|1a1=Trousdale|1y=2007|1p=164, n. 1|2a1=Trousdale|2y=2013}} }} Trousdale comments that the period between the reigns of Æthelstan and Edgar has been comparatively neglected by historians: the reigns of Edmund, Eadred and Eadwig "are often lumped together as a sort of interim period between the much more interesting reigns of Æthelstan and Edgar".{{sfn|Trousdale|2007|p=1}} He argues that "King Edmund's legislation shows an ambition towards tighter control of the localities through increased cooperation between all levels of government, and that king and archbishop were working closely together in restructuring the English administrative framework". Trousdale sees a transition which "was marked in part by a small yet significant shift away from a reliance on traditional West Saxon administrative structures and the power blocs that had enjoyed influence under King Æthelstan, towards increased cooperation with interests and families from Mercia and East Anglia".{{sfn|Trousdale|2007|pp=20–21}} He also sees Edmund as moving away from Æthelstan's centralisation of power to a more collegial relationship with local secular and ecclesiastical authorities.{{sfn|Trousdale|2007|pp=266–267}} Trousdale's picture contrasts with that of other historians such as Sarah Foot, who emphasises the achievements of Æthelstan,{{sfn|Foot|2011b|p=10}} and George Molyneaux in his study of the formation of the late Anglo-Saxon state in the reign of Edgar.{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|p=231}}