Edgar the Atheling

Edgar the Atheling, grandson of Edmund Ironside, was born probably about 1057 in Hungary. His life may be epitomised as a series of abortive attempts. Selected by Edward the Confessor as his prospective heir, he was kept out of the throne by William the Conqueror (1066); having twice engaged in the northern revolts against the Norman, he was twice compelled to take refuge in Scotland, with Malcolm Canmore, who married Edgar's sister Margaret; then, embracing the cause of Robert, Duke of Normandy, against William Rufus, he was driven away (1091) from the duchy to Scotland; then he embarked (1099) in a bootless crusading expedition to the East; and finally was taken prisoner at Tenchebrai (1106) fighting for Duke Robert against his brother Henry I. Almost the only successful achievement of his life seems to have been that of reseating his nephew Edgar on the throne of Scotland (1097), which had been usurped by Donald Bane. His last days were spent in obscurity; the date of his death is not precisely known.