Mediaeval History
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘Mediaeval History’
After the death of King Edgar, powerful court factions struggled for power by hiding behind his two sons, twelve-year-old Edward and his younger step-brother Ethelred.
Edward became King of England in 975, aged twelve. His stepmother Ælfthryth at once sidelined him, and sought to rule through her own boy Ethelred, barely eight. Edward’s party supported the revival of England’s monasteries whereas Ælfthryth campaigned to dissolve them, and in 978 his principles cost Edward his life. Roger of Wendover (?-1236) accused Ælfthryth of the murder, but there was a twist in the tale.
In 978, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan, was being battered in a stormy meeting when he — along with England’s rich monastic heritage — had a miraculous escape.
In 975, King Edgar died and left the country to his son Edward, aged twelve. At once Edward’s stepmother Ælfthryth moved to promote the interests of her own son Ethelred, just eight. As her flagship policy, she chose to defy her late husband’s wishes and close down the monasteries recently revived by the Bishop of Winchester, Æthelwold. Dunstan, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was forced to back his man.
Following a very grand coronation at Bath in 973, King Edgar travelled to Chester and showed his people that he had become a mighty lord indeed.
King Edgar (r. 959-975) was crowned at Bath in 973 after a frustrating delay while St Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, satisfied himself that Edgar, a tearaway in his youth, had acquired sufficient maturity. That Edgar had now grown to be a king of great power and glory would have been acknowledged even by Kenneth II, King of Scots — through gritted teeth.
Kenneth II, tenth-century King of Scots, once cracked a joke about Edgar, King of England, being on the short side. He very soon wished he hadn’t.
King Edgar, who ruled England from 959-975, was a mighty lord and warrior. Every year he patrolled the coastline of Great Britain in three large fleets, and travelled through the land to hear grievances and mete out justice to evil-doers. He garnered the nickname ‘the Peaceful’ from a grateful public, but there was one sure way to get him all worked up: call him Shorty.
Edgar, King of England from 959 to 975, was surnamed ‘The Peaceful’ by a grateful public because of the care he took to defend person and property.
King Edgar ruled England from 959-975, following his uncle Edred and his brother Edwy. Edgar styled himself ‘Sovereign of all Albion, and of the Sea or Island kings dwelling around the same’; from his people he earned the nickname ‘the Peaceful’ for securing the borders of his kingdom, striking terror into evildoers, and bringing harmony between Englishman and Dane.
After Mr Fitzwarren took away Dick’s cat, even the charms of Alice Fitzwarren were not enough to keep him in that house another day.
What follows is a paraphrase of the famous story of Dick Whittington and His Cat as told in verse by Richard Johnson in his Crowne Garland of Goulden Roses (1612), and in prose by Thomas Heywood in The Famous and Remarkable History of Sir Richard Whittington (1659). Sir Richard Whittington (?1354-1423) was a real historical person, so some notes are added to help separate fact from fiction.