aka Eadward, aka Eadweard. Chosen king by the witan, 901. Defeated and slew his rival, Aethelwald, 905. Obtained cooperation of Guthrum Eohricsson, Danish under-king of East Anglia, in promoting a code which recognised Danish customs. Defeated Danish forces at Tettenhall, 910, and at Wodensfeld, 911. Received the submission of the Danes of East Anglia, Essex, and Oambridge, 918. Annexed Mercia after the death of his sister, Aethelflaed, "Lady of the Mercians" in 919. Subdued the Welsh, who were abetting Danish inroads, 921. Extended his dominion to the Huber. Introduced the West-Saxon shire-division into Mercia. Increased the number of sees in southern England (The concise dictionary of national biography. Part 1 : from the beginnings till 1900. London : Oxford University Press, 1969, pg. 386).
Athelstan may have been the son of Edward and a mistress of noble birth (The concise dictionary of national biography. Part 1 : from the beginnings till 1900. London : Oxford University Press, 1969, pg. 37).
Edward the Elder (Old English Eadweard cyning; c. 874?877 ? 17 July 924) was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex. He captured the eastern Midlands and East Anglia from the Danes in 917 and became ruler of Mercia in 918 upon the death of Ęthelflęd, his sister.
All but two of his charters give his title as "Anglorum Saxonum rex" or "king of the Anglo-Saxons".[1] He was the second king of the Anglo-Saxons as this title was created by Alfred.[1] Edward's coinage reads "EADVVEARD REX."[2] The chroniclers record that all England "accepted Edward as lord" in 920.[3] But the fact that York continued to produce its own coinage suggests that Edward's authority was not accepted in Viking-ruled Northumbria.[4] Edward's eponym "the Elder" was first used in Wulfstan's Life of St Ęthelwold (c. 996) to distinguish him from the later King Edward the Martyr (wikipedia.com)