Edward the Elder Edward the Elder ( Old English " " ; c . 874 – 877 – 17 July 924 ) was an English king . He became king in 899 upon the death of his father , Alfred the Great . His court was at Winchester , previously the capital of Wessex . He captured the eastern Midlands and East Anglia from the Danes in 917 and became 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 was 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 . Ætheling . Edward was the second surviving child and elder son born to Alfred the Great and his Mercian queen , Ealhswith . Edward ' s birth cannot be dated with certainty . His parents married in 868 and his eldest sibling Æthelflæd was born soon afterwards as she was herself married in 883 . Edward was probably born rather later , in the 870s , and probably between 874 and 877 . The chronicle of Peter of Langtoft ( died c . 1308 , and hence writing several centuries later ) called him , " [ v ] ery strong and handsome , and of great intelligence . " Asser ' s " Life of King Alfred " reports that Edward was educated at court together with his youngest sister Ælfthryth . His second sister , Æthelgifu , was intended for a life in religion from an early age , perhaps due to ill health , and was later abbess of Shaftesbury . The youngest sibling , Æthelweard , was educated at a court school where he learned Latin , which suggests that he too was intended for a religious life . Edward and Ælfthryth , however , while they learned the English of the day , received a courtly education , and Asser refers to their taking part in the " pursuits of this present life which are appropriate to the nobility " . The first appearance of Edward in the sources is in 892 , in a charter granting land at North Newnton , near Pewsey in Wiltshire , to ealdorman Æthelhelm , where he is called " filius regis " , the king ' s son . Although he was the reigning king ' s elder son , Edward was not certain to succeed his father . Until the 890s , the obvious heirs to the throne were Edward ' s cousins Æthelwold and Æthelhelm , sons of Æthelred , Alfred ' s older brother and predecessor as king . Æthelwold and Æthelhelm were around ten years older than Edward . Æthelhelm disappears from view in the 890s , seemingly dead , but a charter probably from that decade shows Æthelwold witnessing before Edward , and the order of witnesses is generally believed to relate to their status . As well as his greater age and experience , Æthelwold may have had another advantage over Edward where the succession was concerned . While Alfred ' s wife Ealhswith is never described as queen and was never crowned , Æthelwold and Æthelhelm ' s mother Wulfthryth was called queen . Succession and early reign . When Alfred died , Edward ' s cousin Æthelwold , the son of King Æthelred of Wessex , rose up to claim the throne and began Æthelwold ' s Revolt . He seized Wimborne , in Dorset , where his father was buried , and Christchurch ( then in Hampshire , now in Dorset ) . Edward marched to Badbury and offered battle , but Æthelwold refused to leave Wimborne . Just when it looked as if Edward was going to attack Wimborne , Æthelwold left in the night , and joined the Danes in Northumbria , where he was announced as King . In the meantime , Edward was crowned on 8 June 900 , possibly at Kingston upon Thames . In 901 , Æthelwold came with a fleet to Essex , and encouraged the Danes in East Anglia to rise up . In the following year he attacked English Mercia and northern Wessex . Edward retaliated by ravaging East Anglia , but when he retreated south the men of Kent disobeyed the order to retire , and were intercepted by the Danish army . The two sides met at the Battle of the Holme on 13 December 902 . According to the Anglo - Saxon Chronicle , the Danes " kept the place of slaughter " , but they suffered heavy losses , including Æthelwold and a King Eohric , possibly of the East Anglian Danes . Relations with the North proved problematic for Edward for several more years . The " Anglo - Saxon Chronicle " mentions that he made peace with the East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes " of necessity " . There is also a mention of the regaining of Chester in 907 , which may be an indication that the city was taken in battle . In 909 , Edward sent an army to harass Northumbria . In the following year , the Northumbrians retaliated by attacking Mercia , but they were met by the combined Mercian and West Saxon army at the Battle of Tettenhall , where the Northumbrian Danes were destroyed . From that point , they never raided south of the River Humber . Edward then began the construction of a number of fortresses ( " burh s " ) , at Hertford , Witham and Bridgnorth . He is also said to have built a fortress at Scergeat , but that location has not been identified . This series of fortresses kept the Danes at bay . Other forts were built at Tamworth , Stafford , Eddisbury and Warwick . These burhs were built to the same specifications ( within centimetres ) as those within the territory that his father had controlled ; it has been suggested on this basis that Edward actually built them all . Achievements . Edward extended the control of Wessex over the whole of Mercia , East Anglia and Essex , conquering lands occupied by the Danes and bringing the residual autonomy of Mercia to an end in 918 , after the death of his sister , Æthelflæd . Æthelflæd ' s daughter , Ælfwynn , was named as her successor , but Edward deposed her , bringing Mercia under his direct control . He had already annexed the cities of London and Oxford and the surrounding lands of Oxfordshire and Middlesex in 911 . The first half of the tenth century was critical in the development of the shire as principal administrative unit in England , and Edward was probably responsible for shiring Mercia and the eastern Danelaw . By 918 , all of the Danes south of the Humber had submitted to him . By the end of his reign , the Norse , the Scots and the Welsh had acknowledged him as " father and lord " . This recognition of Edward ' s overlordship in Scotland led to his successors ' claims of suzerainty over that Kingdom . Edward reorganized the Church in Wessex , creating new bishoprics at Ramsbury and Sonning , Wells and Crediton . Despite this , there is little indication that Edward was particularly religious . In fact , the Pope delivered a reprimand to him to pay more attention to his religious responsibilities . He died leading an army against a Welsh - Mercian rebellion , on 17 July 924 at Farndon - Upon - Dee and was buried in the New Minster in Winchester , Hampshire , which he himself had established in 901 . After the Norman Conquest , the minster was replaced by Hyde Abbey to the north of the city and Edward ' s body was transferred there . His last resting place is currently marked by a cross - inscribed stone slab within the outline of the old abbey marked out in a public park . Edward ' s eponym " the Elder " was first used in the 10th century , in Wulfstan ' s " Life of St Æthelwold " , to distinguish him from the later King Edward the Martyr . Family . Edward had four siblings , including Æthelflæd , Lady of the Mercians , and Ælfthryth , Countess of Flanders . King Edward had about fourteen children from three marriages ( or according to some sources , an extramarital relationship and two marriages ) . Edward first married Ecgwynn around 893 . Conflicting information is given about her by different sources , none of which pre - date the Conquest . Their children were In 899 , Edward married Ælfflæd , a daughter of Æthelhelm , the ealdorman of Wiltshire . Their children were Edward married for a third time , about 919 , to Eadgifu , the daughter of Sigehelm , the ealdorman of Kent . Their children were Eadgifu outlived her husband and her sons , and was alive during the reign of her grandson , King Edgar . William of Malmsbury ' s history " De antiquitate Glastonie ecclesiae " claims that Edward ' s second wife , Ælfflæd , was also alive after Edward ' s death , but this is the only known source for that claim .