2 – Edmund I – (946)
Also known as Edmund the Just or Edmund the Magnificent, he became King of the English in 939. He was the son of Edward the Elder and assumed power when his half-brother, Athelstan, died. Edmund had fought alongside Athelstan in 937 when the reigning king removed the Norse from Northern England by winning at the Battle of Brunanburgh. Therefore, when Athelstan died two years later, Edmund was the first monarch to take over a united England, but he was forced to fight hard to keep it that way.
He had to face numerous military threats throughout his reign including an attack from a Viking King, Olaf III, who conquered Northumbria and invaded the Midlands. However, when Olaf died in 941, Edmund was able to take advantage by reclaiming the Midlands from Olaf Sigtryggson and also crushed a Welsh uprising. The English king continued to press his advantage and took York while expelling his rivals in 944.
The English King was clearly keen to restore some order to his kingdom because, in 945, he conquered but then ceded Strathclyde to the Scottish King, Malcolm I. Edmund hoped to establish a peaceful relationship and safe borders with Scotland, but he didn’t get the opportunity to see things unfold. One of his last important acts was to get involved in the attempted restoration of Louis IV to the French crown in 946.
Edmund was murdered on May 26, 946 in an assassination that shocked the kingdom. The king was in Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire and bled to death after being stabbed in the stomach by a thief named Leofa; the assassin was killed before he could flee the scene. According to one report, Leofa had been exiled by the king and Edmund spotted him in the crowd. The king attacked the thief but was killed in a struggle. This detail was added by chroniclers a few centuries later. In reality, Edmund was probably the victim of a political assassination.