This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (March 2012)

Edward
King of Wessex
Tenure	26 October 899 – 17 July 924
Coronation	8 June 900, Kingston upon Thames
Predecessor	Alfred
Successor	Æthelstan and/or Ælfweard
Spouse	Ecgwynn Ælfflæd Eadgifu of Kent
Issue
Æthelstan, King of Wessex Edith, Queen of Dublin Eadgifu, Queen of France Ælfweard, King of Wessex Eadgyth, Holy Roman Empress Eadhild, Duchess of the Franks Ælfgifu of Wessex Eadflæd of Wessex Eadhild of Wessex Edwin of Wessex Edmund, King of Wessex Eadred, King of Wessex Saint Eadburh of Winchester
House	House of Wessex
Father	Alfred, King of Wessex
Mother	Ealhswith
Born	c.874-77 Wantage, Wessex, England
Died	17 July 924(924-07-17) Farndon-on-Dee, Cheshire England
Burial	New Minster, Winchester, later translated to Hyde Abbey

Edward the Elder (Old English: Ēadweard se Ieldra; c. 874–877^[1] – 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 Æthelflæd, his sister.

All but two of his charters give his title as "king of the Anglo-Saxons" (Anglorum Saxonum rex).^[2] He was the second king of the Anglo-Saxons as this title was created by Alfred.^[2] Edward's coinage reads "EADVVEARD REX."^[3] The chroniclers record that all England "accepted Edward as lord" in 920.^[4] But the fact that York continued to produce its own coinage suggests that Edward's authority was not accepted in Viking-ruled Northumbria.^[5] Edward's eponym "the Elder" was first used in Wulfstan's Life of St Æthelwold (tenth century) to distinguish him from the later King Edward the Martyr.

Ætheling[link]

Edward was the second surviving child and elder son born to Alfred the Great and his Mercian queen, Ealhswith. Edward's birth cannot be dated with certainty. His parents married in 868 and his eldest sibling Æthelflæd was born soon afterwards as she was herself married in 883. Edward was probably born rather later, in the 870s, and probably between 874 and 877.^[6]

Asser's Life of King Alfred reports that Edward was educated at court together with his youngest sister Ælfthryth. His second sister, Æthelgifu, was intended for a life in religion from an early age, perhaps due to ill health, and was later abbess of Shaftesbury. The youngest sibling, Æthelweard, was educated at a court school where he learned Latin, which suggests that he too was intended for a religious life. Edward and Ælfthryth, however, while they learned the English of the day, received a courtly education, and Asser refers to their taking part in the "pursuits of this present life which are appropriate to the nobility".^[7]

The first appearance of Edward in the sources is in 892, in a charter granting land at North Newnton, near Pewsey in Wiltshire, to ealdorman Æthelhelm, where he is called filius regis, the king's son.^[8] Although he was the reigning king's elder son, Edward was not certain to succeed his father. Until the 890s, the obvious heirs to the throne were Edward's cousins Æthelwold and Æthelhelm, sons of Æthelred, Alfred's older brother and predecessor as king. Æthelwold and Æthelhelm were around ten years older than Edward. Æthelhelm disappears from view in the 890s, seemingly dead, but a charter probably from that decade shows Æthelwold witnessing before Edward, and the order of witnesses is generally believed to relate to their status.^[9] As well as his greater age and experience, Æthelwold may have had another advantage over Edward where the succession was concerned. While Alfred's wife Ealhswith is never described as queen and was never crowned, Æthelwold and Æthelhelm's mother Wulfthryth was called queen.^[10]

Succession and early reign[link]

Silver brooch imitating a coin of Edward the Elder, c. 920, found in Rome, Italy. British Museum.

When Alfred died, Edward's cousin Æthelwold, the son of King Æthelred of Wessex, rose up to claim the throne and began Æthelwold's Revolt. He seized Wimborne, in Dorset, where his father was buried, and Christchurch (then in Hampshire, now in Dorset). Edward marched to Badbury and offered battle, but Æthelwold refused to leave Wimborne. Just when it looked as if Edward was going to attack Wimborne, Æthelwold left in the night, and joined the Danes in Northumbria, where he was announced as King. In the meantime, Edward is alleged to have been crowned at Kingston upon Thames on 8 June 900 ^[11]

In 901, Æthelwold came with a fleet to Essex, and encouraged the Danes in East Anglia to rise up. In the following year he attacked English Mercia and northern Wessex. Edward retaliated by ravaging East Anglia, but when he retreated south the men of Kent disobeyed the order to retire, and were intercepted by the Danish army. The two sides met at the Battle of the Holme on 13 December 902. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Danes "kept the place of slaughter", but they suffered heavy losses, including Æthelwold and a King Eohric, possibly of the East Anglian Danes.^[12]

Relations with the North proved problematic for Edward for several more years. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions that he made peace with the East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes "of necessity". There is also a mention of the regaining of Chester in 907, which may be an indication that the city was taken in battle.^[13]

In 909, Edward sent an army to harass Northumbria. In the following year, the Northumbrians retaliated by attacking Mercia, but they were met by the combined Mercian and West Saxon army at the Battle of Tettenhall, where the Northumbrian Danes were destroyed. From that point, they never raided south of the River Humber.

Edward then began the construction of a number of fortresses (burhs), at Hertford, Witham and Bridgnorth. He is also said to have built a fortress at Scergeat, but that location has not been identified. This series of fortresses kept the Danes at bay. Other forts were built at Tamworth, Stafford, Eddisbury and Warwick. These burhs were built to the same specifications (within centimetres) as those within the territory that his father had controlled; it has been suggested on this basis that Edward actually built them all.^[14]

Achievements[link]

Edward extended the control of Wessex over the whole of Mercia, East Anglia and Essex, conquering lands occupied by the Danes and bringing the residual autonomy of Mercia to an end in 918, after the death of his sister, Æthelflæd. Æthelflæd's daughter, Ælfwynn, was named as her successor, but Edward deposed her, bringing Mercia under his direct control. He had already annexed the cities of London and Oxford and the surrounding lands of Oxfordshire and Middlesex in 911. By 918, all of the Danes south of the Humber had submitted to him. By the end of his reign, the Norse, the Scots and the Welsh had acknowledged him as "father and lord".^[15] This recognition of Edward's overlordship in Scotland led to his successors' claims of suzerainty over that Kingdom.

Edward reorganized the Church in Wessex, creating new bishoprics at Ramsbury and Sonning, Wells and Crediton. Despite this, there is little indication that Edward was particularly religious. In fact, the Pope delivered a reprimand to him to pay more attention to his religious responsibilities.^[16]

He died leading an army against a Welsh-Mercian rebellion, on 17 July 924 at Farndon-Upon-Dee and was buried in the New Minster in Winchester, Hampshire, which he himself had established in 901. After the Norman Conquest, the minster was replaced by Hyde Abbey to the north of the city and Edward's body was transferred there. His last resting place is currently marked by a cross-inscribed stone slab within the outline of the old abbey marked out in a public park.

The portrait included here is imaginary and was drawn together with portraits of other Anglo-Saxon era monarchs by an unknown artist in the 18th century. Edward's eponym the Elder was first used in the 10th century, in Wulfstan's Life of St Æthelwold, to distinguish him from the later King Edward the Martyr.

Family[link]

Edward had four siblings, including Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, and Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders.

King Edward had about fourteen children from three marriages (or according to some sources, an extramarital relationship and two marriages).

Edward first married Ecgwynn around 893. Conflicting information is given about her by different sources, none of which pre-date the Conquest.^[17][18] Their children were

• The future King Athelstan (c.893 – 939)
• (perhaps, else by Ælfflæd) a daughter (named Eadgyth (St. Edith) by some chroniclers) who married Sihtric Cáech and later became a nun.

In 899, Edward married Ælfflæd, a daughter of Æthelhelm, the ealdorman of Wiltshire.^[19] Their children were

• Eadgifu (902 – after 955), who married Charles the Simple
• Ælfweard of Wessex (904–924), whose death occurred 16 days after Edward's. Later sources sometimes portray him as Edward's successor, at least in part of the kingdom.^[20]
• Eadgyth (910–946), who married Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
• Eadhild, who married Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris
• Ælfgifu who married "a prince near the Alps", sometimes identified with Conrad of Burgundy or Boleslaus II of Bohemia
• Eadflæd, who became a nun
• Eadhild, who also became a nun
• Edwin of Wessex

Edward married for a third time, about 919, to Eadgifu,^[19] the daughter of Sigehelm, the ealdorman of Kent. Their children were

• The future king Edmund (922–946)
• The future king Eadred (died 955)
• Saint Edburga of Winchester (died 960)
• Eadgifu, married "Louis, Prince of Aquitaine", whose identity is disputed, as is the very existence if this daughter.

Eadgifu outlived her husband and her sons, and was alive during the reign of her grandson, King Edgar. William of Malmsbury's history De antiquitate Glastonie ecclesiae claims that Edward's second wife, Ælfflæd, was also alive after Edward's death, but this is the only known source for that claim.

Genealogy[link]

Diagram based on the information found on Wikipedia

Ancestry[link]

References[link]

• Higham, N.J.; Hill, D.H., eds. (2001). Edward the Elder, 899–924. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21497-1. 
• Lappenberg, Johann; Benjamin Thorpe, translator (1845). A History of England Under the Anglo-Saxon Kings. J. Murray. 

Further reading[link]

• Smyth, Alfred P. (1996-03-14). King Alfred the Great. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822989-6. 

External links[link]

• The Laws of King Edward the Elder
• Edward the Elder Coinage Regulations
• Find A Grave: Edward the Elder

Edward Christian (3 March 1758 – 29 March 1823) was an English judge and law professor, and the older brother of Fletcher Christian, leader of the Mutiny on the Bounty.

Christian went up to Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1775, but migrated to St John's College in 1777, graduating as third wrangler in 1779.^[1] While at Cambridge he forged a friendship with William Wilberforce.^[2] He was admitted to Gray's Inn on 5 July 1782.^[3] In 1788 Christian was appointed Downing Professor of the Laws of England, although the chair was only founded along with Downing College in 1800. He held the professorship in conjunction with a fellowship of Downing until his death in 1823.^[1][3]

In 1794, Stephen Barney, counsel to Mutineer William Muspratt, at the urging of Edward Christian, published his version of the Minutes of the Bounty Court-Martial which included an 'Appendix' written by Edward Christian. In the Appendix, Edward did not try to excuse his brother Fletcher's conduct, but citing his interviews with several of the people involved (none directly), and listing the names and addresses of several prominent people as witnesses to these interviews, he recounted several of the excesses of William Bligh, Commander of the Bounty. At the time of the publication of the Minutes and Appendix, the public's only published source of information about the mutiny were Bligh's own 'A Narrative of the Mutiny on the Bounty,' published in 1790, and 'A Voyage to the South Sea,' published in 1792. With the publication of the 'Appendix,' the tide of public opinion began to turn against Bligh. Indeed, Bligh responded by publishing 'An Answer to Certain Assertions Contained in The Appendix to a Pamphlet, entitled...' etc., etc., to which, Edward Christian promptly published "A Short Reply to Capt. William Bligh's Answer,' which only served to fan the flames.

Christian was Chief Justice of the Isle of Ely and was one of the preciding judges at the Ely and Littleport riot Special Commission assizes at Ely in 1816.^[4]

The process was aided by the efforts of the family of Peter Heywood, a Midshipman on the Bounty, and others, but many attribute the source of William Bligh's bad reputation, to this day, to Edward Christian's 'Appendix.' It is believed by many that Edward Christian's impetus for both the 'Minutes' and the 'Appendix,' were a letter from, and a subsequent meeting with, Peter Heywood, after the latter's pardon.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Edward Christian's Appendix.
• William Bligh's Answer.
• Edward Christian's Reply to Bligh's Answer.
• Peter Heywood's letter to Edward Christian.
• Papers of Sir Joseph Banks "Newscutting concerning Fletcher Christian, November 1792 (Series 46.35)" State Library of New South Wales. Accessed March 12, 2008.

Edward Long (23 August 1734 – 13 March 1813) was a British colonial administrator and historian, and author of an influential work, The History of Jamaica (1774).

Life[link]

Long's family had been long associated with Jamaica - descended from the Long family of Wiltshire, his great-great-grandfather, Samuel Long, had arrived on the island in 1655 as a lieutenant in the English army of conquest - and the family established itself as part of the island's governing planter elite.^[1] His sister, Catherine Maria Long, had married Sir Henry Moore, 1st Baronet (Governor of Jamaica), and it is believed that Edward went to Jamaica to become private secretary to Sir Henry.

Long was born 23 August 1734 at St. Blazey, in Cornwall. He became a law student in 1752 at Gray's Inn, and from 1757 until 1769 he was resident in Jamaica, during which period he explored inside the Riverhead Cave, the Runaway Bay Caves and the Green Grotto.^[2] He became Lieutenant-governor, and later a judge in the local vice admiralty court. He was an influential and wealthy member of British society, as well as an established Jamaican planter and slaver. In 1758, he married Mary, the daughter of Thomas Beckford, widow of John Palmer of ‘Springvale’ in Jamaica. After the birth of their fourth child in 1769, the family returned to England due to Long's poor health.^[3] Twin sons (the elder of whom was Robert Ballard Long) were born in 1771 at Chichester. Edward Long died in 1813 at Arundel Park, Sussex, the seat of his son-in-law, Henry Molyneux-Howard, Esq., M.P.

Long was a polygenist who claimed that the White race was a different species to the Black race.^[4]

[edit] History of Jamaica

Long's History of Jamaica, first published in 1774 in three volumes but again in the 1970s,^[5] was his greatest work. This book gives a political, social, and economic history with a survey of the island, parish by parish from 1665 to 1774.^[6] It is a classic in its field and, even today it contains what is still one of the best and most complete accounts of colonial government in existence. The work is also important, because it presents a clear picture of conditions in the island on the eve of the American revolution which was destined to bring ruin to so many planters and slavers.^[7]

The book also contains a racist yet influential description of American Negro slaves during the Age of Enlightenment. Long's description of race discussed it as a more natural state compared to the Romantic period.^[8] Long argues that American Negroes are characterised by the same "bestial manners, stupidity and vices which debase their brethren" in Africa. This race of people is distinguishable from the rest of mankind in that they embody "every species of inherent turpitude" and imperfection that can be found dispersed among all other races of men. Unlike the most "abandoned villain" to be found in civilisation, these peoples have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He echoes Hume and Kant and finds it astonishing that despite being subject to colonisation and integration into European society for hundreds of years, the Negroes have failed to demonstrate any appreciation for the arts or any inventive ability. He observes that throughout the entirety of Africa, there are few natives who "comprehend anything of mechanic arts or manufacture", and those who do, perform their work in the manner of some under-evolved ape. This is due to them being "void of genius".^[9] The book also contains descriptions of interracial marriage.^[10] In the book he included a poem by Francis Williams.^[11]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Inquisition Post Mortem: An Adventurous Jaunt Through a 500 Year History of the Courtiers, Clothiers and Parliamentarians of the Long Family of Wiltshire; Cheryl Nicol

Commander Edward Terry
Born	(1839-01-24)January 24, 1839 Hartford, Connecticut
Died	June 2, 1882(1882-06-02) (aged 43) Manitou Springs, Colorado
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1853–1881
Rank	Commander
Commands held	USS Saco
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Edward A. Terry (January 24, 1839 – June 1, 1882) was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. Following the war, he served several tours of duty at the United States Naval Academy, including a tour in the 1870s as Commandant of Cadets.

Early life and career[link]

Born at Hartford, Connecticut, Terry entered the United States Naval Academy on September 21, 1853 and graduated on June 10, 1857. He served as a midshipman in the sloop Germantown, attached to the East India Squadron, from 1857 to 1859.

Civil War[link]

In 1861 he was assigned to the steam sloop Richmond and served in her with the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron throughout the Civil War. He participated in the engagement with the Confederate ram CSS Manassas during the Battle of the Head of Passes on October 12, 1861, the artillery duel with Fort McRee and other shore batteries in Pensacola Bay on 22 November, the passage of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, and the capture of New Orleans in late April 1862.

After New Orleans, David Farragut's force moved up the Mississippi, and Terry was present when the salt water fleet ran the gauntlet at Vicksburg and joined Flag Officer Charles Henry Davis' riverine fleet above the Confederate stronghold. In January 1863, Terry was promoted to lieutenant commander. On March 14, his ship joined others of the fleet in bombarding the batteries surrounding Port Hudson so that Farragut could dash past them and establish a blockade cutting the Confederacy's Red River supply line. In his last major engagement, the Battle of Mobile Bay on August 5, 1864, Terry helped to close the last major Confederate port on the Gulf of Mexico.

Post-war assignments[link]

Following the Civil War, Terry alternated between sea duty and a series of shore assignments at the Naval Academy. In 1866-67, he served in the Pacific Squadron in the steam frigate Powhatan.

His first tour of duty at the Naval Academy followed in 1868-69. He assumed his first command, Saco, in 1870 and cruised with the Asiatic Fleet until 1872. During that assignment, on October 30, 1871, he was promoted to commander. Terry returned to the Naval Academy in 1873, and in 1875 was appointed Commandant of Midshipmen, a post he held until 1878.

Terry was then ordered to the Pacific Squadron to serve as Flag Captain in Pensacola; first to Rear Admiral C. R. Perry Rodgers, then in 1880-81 to Rear Admiral Thomas H. Stevens.

In 1881, he went on leave due to illness. On June 1, 1882, Commander Terry died at Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Namesake[link]

Two ships in the United States Navy have been named USS Terry for him.

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	American Civil War portal
	United States Navy portal

References[link]

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.