Edmund Ironside Depicted In Vikings Valhalla Season 1(his only season)
Edmund II of England, commonly referred to as Edmund Ironside (c.990-30 November 1016) was King of England for the majority of the year 1016, ruling from April to The last day of November 1016.He was brave and courageous , unlike his father, Æthelred The Unready(c.966/968-1016) who was disastrously fought against the Vikings.Edmund managed to hold a brief, but proper defense against King Cnut The Great(c.994-1035), earning the nickname ‘Ironside’.He died 7 months within his reign In November 1016, probably assasinated.He was succeeded by Cnut which would start a 26 year era of Danish Rule in England, until Edward The Confessor(c.1003-1066).
Biography[]
Edmund Ironside was born around 990 in England to King Æthelred II ‘The Unready’ and his first wife, Ælfgifu of York, being the 3rd son of King Æthelred who had began his rule in 978.He was not expected for the throne as the throne was intended to pass to Prince Æthelstan( late 980s-1014).Ælfgifu would die in 1002 and Æthelred would marry Emma of Normandy(980-1050), which bore Prince Edward(c.1003-1066) and Prince Alfred in 1003 and 1012.
Æthelred the Unready was a bad King, losing several battles to Danish Vikings led by King Sweyn Forkbeard(963-1014), especially the Battle of Maldon in 991.In 1002, Æthelred ordered the St. Brice’s Day Massacre which led to the executions of 1,000s of Danish settlers in England.This culminated in Sweyn’s Invasion of England in 1013