Character transition for Clash of Kings, a blog post by MJ Porter.
Edmund, ætheling, and then king of the English
Edmund, of the House of Wessex, was the second-youngest half-brother of King Athelstan. His
date of birth is unknown, but it’s believed to have been in about 921, as he’s said to have been 18
when he became king on Athelstan’s death in October 939. His mother was Lady Eadgifu, the
third wife of Edward the Elder. He had a full brother, Eadred, even younger than him by
perhaps two years. We first meet Edmund in King of Kings, but he becomes ever more
important throughout Clash of Kings.
As a character, we’ve been following Edmund since he was no more than four or five, and
indeed, in one poignant scene in Clash of Kings, he reflects on how he felt watching his half-
brother being consecrated as England’s king.
‘The church is the same one within which my brother held his coronation. Nothing has changed
in the few short winters that have passed, only the man who sits on the royal throne and who’ll
have England’s crown placed upon his head. When Athelstan was consecrated, I was a small
child, bored with the length of the service and unsure why my father was no longer proclaimed
as Wessex’s king. I didn’t know Athelstan as more than the distant half-brother that few
mentioned in the presence of my father or mother.’
Edmund is a young man, and when creating his character, I tried to imagine how I might have
felt at 18 to become king of England suddenly. Despite his many successes, it’s quite another
thing to be king alone, unlike being the king’s brother, knowing there’s someone else who has to
make the difficult decisions of commanding men to their possible death fighting the enemy, as
well as imposing his will over unruly subjects.
Athelstan was no regular ‘run of the mill’ king. He accomplished a great deal that his
predecessors never managed – being crowned the king of the English as opposed to the king of
Wessex or the king of Mercia – and overwhelming the traditional enemies of the Saxons, the
Viking raiders.
I feel Edmund is a young man with much to prove, daunted by the example of his older half-
brother, whom I imagine he would have very much respected. It’s doubtful that Edmund had
any recollections of his long-dead father. Athelstan would have filled that space in his life. How,
then, will he fare now that Athelstan is no longer there? Read Clash of Kings to find out.