Editing Edgar, King of England (section)

== Background ==
In the ninth century, [[Anglo-Saxon England]] came under increasing attack from [[Viking]] raids, culminating in invasion by the Viking [[Great Heathen Army]] in 865. By 878, the Vikings had overrun the kingdoms of [[Northumbria]], [[Kingdom of East Anglia|East Anglia]], and [[Mercia]], and nearly conquered [[Wessex]], but in that year the West Saxons achieved a decisive victory at the [[Battle of Edington]] under King [[Alfred the Great]]. By 883, [[Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians]], had accepted Alfred's overlordship, and in the 880s and 890s the Anglo-Saxons ruled Wessex and western Mercia, but the rest of England remained under Viking rule.{{sfn|Keynes|Lapidge|1983|pp=9, 12–13, 23, 37–38}} Alfred died in 899, and in the 910s his son King [[Edward the Elder]] and daughter [[Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians]], who was Æthelred's widow, conquered Viking-ruled eastern Mercia and East Anglia. Æthelflæd died in 918 and the Mercians installed her daughter [[Ælfwynn]] as the second Lady of the Mercians, but Edward seized her and established full control over Mercia.{{sfn|Miller|2011}}

Edward died in 924 and was succeeded by his eldest son [[Æthelstan]], who may have been king only of Mercia at first, but ruled the whole of his father's realm by the next year. In 927, he conquered Northumbria, and thus became the first king of all England.{{sfn|Foot|2011}} He died in October 939 and was succeeded by his half-brother and Edgar's father, [[Edmund I|Edmund]], who almost immediately lost control of the north to the Vikings, but recovered full control of England by 944. In May 946, he was stabbed to death trying to protect his [[Dish-bearers and butlers in Anglo-Saxon England|seneschal]] from attack by a convicted outlaw, and as his sons [[Eadwig]] and Edgar were infants, their uncle [[Eadred]] became king.{{sfn|Williams|2004a}} Like Edmund, Eadred inherited the kingship of the whole of England and soon lost it when [[Scandinavian York|York]] (southern Northumbria) accepted a Viking king, but he recovered it when the York magnates expelled [[Erik Bloodaxe]] in 954.{{sfn|Williams|2004b}}

Eadred was very close to Edmund and inherited his leading counsellors, which resulted in a high degree of continuity of government when he became king. These counsellors included their mother, [[Eadgifu of Kent|Eadgifu]]; [[Oda, Archbishop of Canterbury]]; [[Ælfsige]], [[Bishop of Winchester]]; and [[Æthelstan Half-King|Æthelstan]], [[ealdorman]]{{efn|Ealdorman was the second rank of the lay aristocracy below the king. They governed large areas as the king's local representatives and led local levies in battle.{{sfn|Stafford|2014|pp=156–157}} }} of East Anglia, who was known as the Half-King because it was believed that kings depended on his advice.{{sfnm|1a1= Williams|1y=2004b|2a1=Lapidge|2y=2009|2p=85|3a1=Stafford|3y=1981|3p=25}} Another key adviser was [[Dunstan]], [[Glastonbury Abbey|Abbot of Glastonbury]] and future [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. Eadred suffered from ill health, which became much worse towards the end of his reign. Most surviving [[Anglo-Saxon charters|charters]] of the last two years of his reign were produced by an agency associated with Glastonbury Abbey, and almost all of these were not [[Anglo-Saxon charters#Charter forms|attested]] by the king, suggesting that Dunstan was authorised to issue charters in Eadred's name when he was too ill to carry out his duties.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1994|1pp=185–186|2a1=Keynes|2y=2002|2loc=table XXXIa (6 of 6)}} Eadred was in his early thirties when he died on 23 November 955, and Eadwig succeeded at the age of around fifteen.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2004b|2a1=Keynes|2y=2004}} He was the first king since the early ninth century not to face the threat of imminent foreign invasion, and England remained free from Viking attacks until 980.{{sfn|Stenton|1971|p=364}}