Historical timeline pursuant to writing my next novel. Corrections welcome!
954 Eric Bloodaxe driven out of Northumbria, his death, end of Danelaw.
King of England: Eadred
957 Edgar crowned King of all lands north of the Thames.
King of England: Edwy/Eadweg
Bishop of Winchester: Aelfsige
958 Aelfsige translated to Archbishop of Canterbury
1 October 959 Edgar becomes King of England at death of his older brother, Edwy.
Edgar recalls Dunstan from Flanders?
King of England: Edgar
Bishop of Winchester: Beorhthelm
960 Dunstan created Archbishop of Canterbury
962 Son Edward born to Edgar and Æthelflæd Eneda.
963 Bishop of Winchester: Aethelwold (to 984)964
Edgar marries Ælfthryth, the daughter of Ordgar, ealdorman of Devon, and widow of Æthelwold, Ealdorman of East Anglia.
965 Birth of Ethelraed – earliest likely date.
973 Actual coronation of Edgar. Cool Fact: Ritual used is essentially the one still used today.
Six Kings submit to his rule.
8 July 975 Death of King Edgar.
975 Edward the Martyr becomes King of England.
Comet followed by famine.
King of England: Edward II
975-978 Unrest as nobles wrested control of lands taken from them and given to monasteries by Edgar.
March 978 Edward murdered at Corfe Castle in Dorset. He was buried at Shaftsbury Abbey in 980.
978 Ethelraed becomes King of England
King of England: Ethelraed
980 Viking raiders attacked Hampshire, Thanet, and Cheshire.
981 Viking raids on Devon and Cornwall
982 Viking raids on Dorset.
Tensions growing between English and Norman courts due to Norman support of Danes.
984 Death of Bishop Aethelwold on 1 August 984, with whom Ethelraed was very close.
Bishop of Winchester: Aelfheah II (to 1006)985
Ethelraed marries Aelfgifu, daughter of Thored, earl of Northumbria.
Our story begins.
986-1002 Ethelraed and Aelfgifu have ten children between 986 and 1002, including Edmund Ironside between 988-93.
988 Battle with Vikings in southwest.
10 August 991 Battle of Maldon in Essex. Vikings win.
991 Pope John XV forces peace treaty between England and Normandy, ratified in Rouen.
Ethelraed agrees to pay 10,000 pounds to Vikings to secure peace in southeast.
Viking raids continue.
993 Danish raiders burn Romsey and Romsey Abbey to the ground.
994 Ethelraed meets with Viking leader, Olaf Tryggvason, to arrange another peace. Pays 22,000 pounds more for peace.Olaf Tryggvason formally becomes Christian with Ethelraed as his sponsor. Agrees to permanent peace, which he keeps.Former Viking raiders become mercenaries for England.
997-1000 Escalation of Danish raids, very likely mercenaries turning on their employer.
1000 Danes leave for Normandy.
1002 Aelfgifu dies February 1002.
Ethelraed marries Emma of Normandy, sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy
1009-121014? Sweyn takes over England and Danish rule begins
More to come.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Murder, Treachery, Love Children... Oh My!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Eadred's half-sister Editha (Eadgyth) married Otto I of the House Liudolfing, Duke of Saxony, King of Germany and later Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The marriage took place in 930 and Editha got the income from the bishopric of Magdeburg as morning gift. Her tomb may have been discovered in the cathedral (final examinations of the finds have yet to be done) in November 2008.
ReplyDeleteTheir daughter Liutgard married Konrad of Lotharingia, the ancestor of the Salian Royal House - he was the great grandfather of Konrad II, the first Salian Emperor. Konrad II in his turn was grandfather of Heinrich IV, the one who got into so much trouble with the popes in Rome. His son Heinrich V was married to Maud (Mathilda), daughter of Henry I of England who later married Geoffrey of Anjou.
Her granddaughter from the marriage of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, another Mathilda, would later marry Heinrich the Lion Duke of Saxony who got on the wrong side of the Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa and spend the years of his exile in England.
Those connections are a lot of fun. *grin*