Eadgar the Peaceable, from what knowledge we have of him, was a very strong king. By the time of his brother Eadwig’s death in 959, he already was king north of the Thames at the age of sixteen. Little did he know his coronation would be the last uncontested succession to the English throne until the coronation of Henry II in 1154.
At that coronation, he was given homage by six lesser kings, including the King of Scots and the King of Strathclyde, and recalled Saint Dunstan from the exile enforced by Eadwig.
In his reign, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of England was at its height. The Benedictine rule was restored to the English monasteries. The combination of Anglo-Saxon and Romano-Briton culture was budding, and would soon mature.
But before that flowering could take place, it was cut short by an invader’s axe. A cutting that could largely be traced back to Eadgar’s death aged 32 in 975 without an adult heir.
With the King dead in his prime, a civil war, draining England’s resources for the coming war against the Vikings, was almost inevitable. His reforms had dispossessed many of the monks and nobility. A war now raged between the King’s elder son, Saint Eadweard the Martyr, and his younger son, Aethelred Unraed. Eadweard won for the time being, but soon lay dead at his stepmother’s hand.
Aethelred’s weakness led to a return of Viking rule, and, combined with his alliance with the Normans, ultimately to the Norman Conquest.
All this is history, where the last strong Anglo-Saxon monarch to reign more than a few months died in his prime in 975.
But in a certain alternate history, things were very different…..
At that coronation, he was given homage by six lesser kings, including the King of Scots and the King of Strathclyde, and recalled Saint Dunstan from the exile enforced by Eadwig.
In his reign, the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of England was at its height. The Benedictine rule was restored to the English monasteries. The combination of Anglo-Saxon and Romano-Briton culture was budding, and would soon mature.
But before that flowering could take place, it was cut short by an invader’s axe. A cutting that could largely be traced back to Eadgar’s death aged 32 in 975 without an adult heir.
With the King dead in his prime, a civil war, draining England’s resources for the coming war against the Vikings, was almost inevitable. His reforms had dispossessed many of the monks and nobility. A war now raged between the King’s elder son, Saint Eadweard the Martyr, and his younger son, Aethelred Unraed. Eadweard won for the time being, but soon lay dead at his stepmother’s hand.
Aethelred’s weakness led to a return of Viking rule, and, combined with his alliance with the Normans, ultimately to the Norman Conquest.
All this is history, where the last strong Anglo-Saxon monarch to reign more than a few months died in his prime in 975.
But in a certain alternate history, things were very different…..