X-Nico

unusual facts about Edward the Elder


Waytemore Castle

Some historians believe the mound began as a Celtic barrow, or grave mound, while others think it was a Saxon ‘buhr’ i.e. a moated and stockaded fortress adapted early in the 10th century by Edward the Elder as a defence against the invading Danes.


Anglo-Saxon law

Practically the entire code of Æthelberht, for instance, is a tariff of fines for crimes, and the same subject continues to occupy a great place in the laws of Hlothhere and Eadric, Ine and Alfred, whereas it appears only occasionally in the treaties with the Danes, the laws of Withraed, Edward the Elder, Æthelstan, Edgar, Edmund I and Æthelred.

Hyde Abbey

In 1109 Henry I ordered the New Minster to be removed to the suburb of Hyde Mead, to the north of the city walls, just outside the gate; when the new abbey church of Hyde was consecrated in 1110, the bodies of Alfred, his wife Ealhswith, and his son Edward the Elder were carried in state through Winchester to be interred once more before the high altar.


see also

Guthrum II

In his translation of Johann Martin Lappenberg's History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings, Benjamin Thorpe refers to King Guthrum II as having led the East Anglians in 906 when peace was made with Edward the Elder.