Editing Edward the Martyr (section)

== Disputed succession ==
Edward is first recorded as a witness to the [[New Minster Charter|Winchester New Minster Charter]] in 966.{{sfn|Hart|2007}} Ælfthryth attested as the "legitimate wife" of the King and Edmund as his "legitimate son", whereas Edward was described as "begotten by the same king". It is uncertain whether this was on the King's instruction, which would indicate that he wished to cut Edward out of the succession, or was ordered by Bishop Æthelwold, who was a friend and ally of Ælfthryth.{{sfnm|1a1=Yorke|1y=2008|1pp=148–149|2a1=Rumble|2y=2002|2pp=93–94|3a1=Charter S 745}} The historian [[Barbara Yorke]] sees the denial of Edward's legitimacy as "opportunist special pleading" by Æthelwold.{{sfn|Yorke|1988|p=86}} A genealogy created at Dunstan's Glastonbury Abbey around 969 gives Edward precedence over Edmund and Æthelred.{{sfn|Yorke|2008|p=149}} When Edgar died on 8 July 975 there was a dispute over the succession, but as Edward was around thirteen and Æthelred six to nine, the historian Sean Miller observes that "they were surely figureheads rather than active participants".{{sfnm|1a1=Hart|1y=2007|2a1=Miller|2y=2014c|2p=167}}

Some historians have seen Edward's supporters as defenders of monastic reform and Æthelred's as its opponents, but there were supporters on both sides, and this view is now generally rejected. The real reasons for choosing between them probably lay in family alliances. Bishop Æthelwold backed his friend Ælfthryth, who naturally put forward the claim of her son Æthelred, while Archbishop Dunstan was Edward's chief supporter.{{sfnm|1a1=Fisher|1y=1952|1pp=254–255|2a1=Miller|2y=2014c|2p=167|3a1=Williams|3y=2003|3p=9}} According to John of Worcester, Archbishop Oswald also supported Edward.{{sfn|Darlington|McGurk|1995|pp=426–427}} Oswald was at odds with Ealdorman Ælfhere, who probably supported Æthelred,{{efn|In his will, Ælfhere's brother Ælfheah described Ælfthryth as his ''gefædera'', a word which denotes the relationship between a parent and a godparent or godparents of the same child. He made bequests to Ælfthryth and her sons, "the elder ætheling" and "the younger ætheling". Edward is not mentioned.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2003|1pp=2, 9|2a1=Whitelock|2y=1930|2pp=22–23}} }} together with his brother-in-law [[Ælfric Cild]], while Ælfhere's enemy [[Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia|Æthelwine]] (son of Æthelstan Half-King) probably backed Edward.{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=9}}

Byrhtferth's life of Oswald portrays Edward as an unstable and violent young man:{{blockquote|Now certain of the magnates of this realm wished to elect the elder son of King Edgar, named Edward, as king; some of the ealdormen wanted the younger son, because he seemed more gentle to everyone in word and deed. But the elder son struck not only fear but even terror into everyone; he hounded them not only with tongue-lashings but even with cruel beatings – and most of all those who were members of his own household."{{sfnm|1a1=Watson|1y=2021|1p=2|2a1=Lapidge|2y=2009|2pp=136–139}}}}

The historian [[Frank Stenton]] comments in his "magisterial and massively authoritative" ''Anglo-Saxon England'':{{sfn|Keynes|2003|p=xxi}}
"Long after [Edward] had passed into veneration as a saint it was remembered that his outbursts of rage had alarmed all who knew him{{nbsp}} ... It may have been partly for this reason that a large number of nobles resolved to promote the election of Æthelred, the younger brother."{{sfn|Stenton|1971|p=372}}

The Benedictine monk [[Eadmer of Canterbury]] wrote in his [[hagiographical]] life of Dunstan:{{blockquote|When this Edward ought to have been consecrated as king, many of the princes of the land sought to oppose that he should be made king, on the one hand, because they were wary of the severity of his character with which he had customarily criticized the excesses of his men fiercely and on the other because they knew that his mother, though legally married, had not, however, been consecrated to the kingdom – just as his father had not – when she gave birth to him.{{sfn|Turner|Muir|2006|pp=144–145}}}}

The historian [[Ann Williams (historian)|Ann Williams]] is sceptical of the last point, commenting that while it is possible that consecration of the king's wife before she gave birth may have been an issue in the tenth century, Eadmer was writing in the early twelfth century when it was an argument raised in favour of King [[Henry I of England|Henry I]] against his elder brother, and this may have influenced his interpretation. In addition, as Eadmer says that Edgar was not crowned until two years before his death, the same argument applied to Æthelred.{{sfn|Williams|2003|p=9}}

The dispute was soon settled. A [[Calendar of saints|calendar]] entry in a manuscript dating to the late tenth or early eleventh century gives the date of Edward's election as king as 19 July, less than a fortnight after Edgar's death.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=2012b|1pp=136–137|2a1=Keynes|2y=1980|2p=239 n. 22|3a1=Keynes|3y=2013|3p=150}} A charter probably dating to 999 states that Edward was unanimously chosen as king by the leading men of both orders. Æthelred was given the lands traditionally held by the king's sons, including some which had been granted by Edgar to [[Abingdon Abbey]], and which were now forcibly repossessed by the order of all the leading nobles. Æthelred commented in the charter that "whether they did this thing justly or unjustly, they themselves may know", and he granted other lands to Abingdon in compensation. The charter probably reflects a settlement under which Æthelred's supporters agreed to Edward's succession in return for the land grant.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2003|1p=10|2a1=Charter S 937|3a1=Whitelock|3y=1979|3pp=582–584 (no. 123)}} He was crowned by Archbishop Dunstan at [[Kingston upon Thames]], possibly on the same day he was elected.{{sfn|Keynes|2013|pp=148, 150}}

The post-Conquest ''Passio'' gives a different account, claiming that Dunstan forced through the coronation of Edward as king: "But when, at the time of [Edward's] consecration, some of the leading men of the nation had wished to oppose [it], St Dunstan persevered single-mindedly in his election, and, taking hold of the banner of the holy cross which was customarily carried before him, he fixed it upright in the middle, and with the remaining pious bishops consecrated him king."{{sfn|Cubitt|2008|p=145}}