EDWARD THE ELDER

Edward the Elder succeeded his father, Alfred the Great, to the kingdom of Wessex, yet was largely overlooked by his contemporaries and by later historians. Edward was a ruthlessly efficient military strategist and commander, a strong and stable ruler and administrator, and the most powerful figure during the early decades of the tenth century. He proved equal to the task of cementing and extending the advances made by his father and paved the way for the eventual unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the nation-state of England.