Murder, Treachery, Love Children... Oh My!

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.

Once Upon a Time... Part I

Once upon a time there were two very young people living in a dilapidated hovel in an area that would some day be called East Wellow. Their names were Edwy and Luba. They were brother and sister, as well as husband and wife. One day when Luba was very near her time to birth their first child, Edwy left her alone to hunt for food and a fur to warm their little baby.

He never came back.

Our Character Panel Reports Some Research

Pictured: Leofwen

Leofwen bustled about the alehouse preparing the potage for the day's guests. At one long table near a narrow window whose shutters were open, ;Rory and Aedan sat with their heads together. Rory looked at her with admiration as she pored over a strip of parchment, reading aloud what was scratched there. Rory had never learned to read.

"There doesn't seem to be anything certain about the date of King AEthelraed's first wedding. The Author can probably choose any year in the early 980s."

Rory nodded. "When was their first child born?" He watched as Aedan drew her finger down a column of text

"Ummm, it doesn't say. AEthelstan was the first. The seond is Edmund Ironsides. It says he was born around 988. They aren't sure though." She looked up into the clear blue eyes that always took her breath away.

"Och, then I imagine the marriage was no more than two years prior. D'ye think we could say 986?"

Aedan considered, her lower lip thrust up against her upper, and nodded. "I think we can say that. The queen's name was AElfgifu." She looked down at the parchment again. "So Sean's mystery would be from about the early to mid-960s..."

Rory admired the way her soft brown hair waved wher it ecaped from her headdress. He knew she had been wed briefly, that her first husband died and there were no children. That was why she wore the headdress. Her sister Ystradwel, unmarried and a maiden, need not cover her hair. He wished Aedan left her hair flowing as well. He longed to touch... "So who was king then?" he quickly censored his own thoughts.

"Oh!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Rory asked, leaning over as if he could see and read what surprised her. Leofwen heard the the exchange and came to stand by them , her broom clutched in two hands.

"Edgar! Edgar the Peaceable." Aedan read.

Leofwen chuckled. "AEthelred's and Edward's father. None too peaceable, though he put an end to the heptarchy peaceably enough."

Rory looked up puzzled. "Wasn't he the one who...?" he began.

Leofwen replied, "Kidnapped the nun? Oh aye. Wulfthryth, she was, a nun at Wilton. St. Edith was their daughter. Got himself in hot water with St. Dunstan, but that didn't stop the old man from letting himself be made Bishop of this and that and finally Archbishop of Canterbrigge.""

"So what was going on in Wessex in say, 960-965? Rory prompted.

"Not a lot of information here..." Aedan began. She looked up at Leofwen. "My family came from Cumbria, but you lived here all your life, didn't you?"

Leofwen leaned her broom against the wall and took a seat next to her. "After I was teleported from Lincolnshire in the lat 8th century, after the first novel, aye."

"Do you remember what went on after 960 here?"

Leofwen reached for Rory's bowl of ale and took a sip before answering. "Hmm, I know Edgar stuck around for another ten year's or so. He got Edward the Martyr on his wife, AEthelflaed, then our noble AEthelraed on his second or third wife, Ælfthryth, depending on who's counting." Rory raised an eyebrow at the mocking tone she used on the word "noble". "Then later on there was a comet and a famine and the Danes came and..."

Aedan interrupted. "Sounds like we need to do more research and another blog post."