Edmund

views updated May 29 2018

Edmund, son of Malcolm Canmore by Margaret, daughter of Edward the Atheling, is said to have shared the throne of Scotland with his uncle Donald III from 1094 to 1097, taking the southern part. They were then ousted by Edmund's brother Edgar, supported by William Rufus. Edmund is reported to have become a monk in England, where his sister Matilda was queen to Henry I, and to have died in the Cluniac priory at Montacute in Somerset.

J. A. Cannon

Edmund

views updated May 09 2018

Edmund (d. 870), king of East Anglia, known as ‘the Martyr’. More famous in legend and because of the grotesque method of his martyrdom than in his life and works, Edmund, the last effective king of the East Angles of native stock, was killed by the Danes, probably under their leaders, Ingware and Ubba, on 20 November 870. Stories quickly grew concerning his sanctity, his refusal to forswear Christianity, and the nature of his death (tied to a tree and shot to death by Danish arrows). His burial place at Bury St Edmunds became a shrine of special veneration, and the great abbey founded there helped to perpetuate his memory. Even in Scandinavia his memory was later held in great esteem.

Henry Loyn

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Edmund

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