Edmund

Edmund, St, the last king of the East Angles, was born in 841, and reigned from 855 to 870. The son of King Alkmund of Saxony, he was adopted by Offa, king of the East Angles, as his heir. Scarcely anything is recorded of his reign until the Danish invasion of 866-870. The accounts of these years in the chroniclers are discrepant; but it would seem that, after his men had been defeated by the Danes, he conceived that the welfare of his people would be best furthered if he sacrificed himself to his enemies. At all events, he was seized by the Danes, and slain because he refused to abjure his faith. Thirty-three years after, his remains were translated from Hoxne to Bury St Edmunds. See Life by Thompson (1891).