Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is episode 258, the

Rise of King Edward I of Wessex. This show is ad-free due to member support and as a way

of thanking members for keeping the show independent, I offer members only content including

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On October 26th, 899, Alfred the Great died. He left behind his wife,

Ailswitha, as well as his grown children. I imagine that the loss of Alfred was quite difficult

on all of them. It's always hard to lose a family member. But for Edward, the designated

heir, what must have that been like? I mean, look at it from Edward's perspective. Edward was

probably somewhere in his 20s at this point. He was an athlete and he was the heir to the throne,

at least as far as Alfred was concerned. His whole life had been in preparation for this moment.

All the tasks and responsibilities handed down to him, all the charters and meetings with

Elder Men, all the military appointments and time in the field. It was all building to this.

But despite all that work, despite the backing of his father, despite doing everything that was

required of him, Edward's succession wasn't guaranteed because he wasn't the only claimant

to the throne. His cousin, Atholwald Athling, also had a claim. Atholwald was older than Edward

by about 20 years. Furthermore, he was the eldest son of King Athol Red, Alfred's older brother.

By the rules of primogeniture, he had a legitimate claim, and you could argue that his claim was

higher on the line of succession. This whole thing had trouble written all over it. And ultimately,

everything would rest on what the Witan chose to do. Would the Witan look for who held the

eldest line of the House of Wessex and select Atholwald? Or would it select the heir to the most

...