, Edgar “The Peaceable”

Edgar, king in Mercia and the Danelaw from 957, succeeded his brother asking of the English on Edwy''s death in 959. His death probably preventedcivil war breaking out between the two brothers. Edgar was a firm andcapable ruler whose power was acknowledged by other rulers in Britain, aswell as by Welsh and Scottish kings. Edgar''s late coronation in 973 atBath was the first to be recorded in some detail; his queen Aelfthrythwas the first consort to be crowned queen of England.Edgar was thepatron of a great monastic revival which owed much to his associationwith Archbishop Dunstan. New bishoprics were created, Benedictinemonasteries were reformed and old monastic sites were re-endowed withroyal grants, some of which were of land recovered from the Vikings.
In the 970s and in the absence of Viking attacks, Edgar - a stern judge -issued laws which for the first time dealt with Northumbria (parts ofwhich were in the Danelaw) as well as Wessex and Mercia. Edgar''s coinagewas uniform throughout the kingdom. A more united kingdom based on royaljustice and order was emerging.
The Monastic Agreement (c.970) praised Edgar as ''the glorious, by thegrace of Christ illustrious king of the English and of the other peoplesdwelling within the bounds of the island of Britain''. After his deathon 8 July 975, Edgar was buried at Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset. [Royal]