Edmund

Edmund, for his bravery surnamed IRONSIDE, king of the English for seven months of 1016, was son of Ethelred the Unready, and half-brother of Edward the Confessor, and is said to have been born in 981. He was chosen king by the Londoners on his father's death (April 1016), while Canute was chosen king at Southampton by the Witan generally. Edmund threw himself into the struggle with characteristic energy, hastily levied an army in the western shires, and defeated Canute, first at Pen (Selwood), in Somersetshire, and again at Sherston, in Wiltshire, after a desperately fought battle, which the king's gigantic strength and courage did much to win. He next raised the siege of London, crossed the Thames at Brentford, and again routed the Danes. Levying a fresh army, he followed them into Kent, and defeated them at Otford—his last victory. At Assandn (Ashington, in Essex), after a desperate battle that raged all day, he was defeated, and, says the Chronicle, 'all the flower of the English race' perished. This disaster compelled him to a compromise with his adversaries. An arrangement was entered into in a conference held on Olney, an island in the Severn, by which England was divided between the two kings, Canute obtaining possession of Mercia and Northumbria, while all the south and the headship fell to the share of Edmund. It was also agreed that on the death of either, the survivor was to succeed him. A few weeks after this agreement Edmund died, November 30, 1016, it has often been asserted through foul play, but Mr Freeman's conclusion is that this was not the case.