* Eadwig becomes King of England.

* October 1 – King Eadwig of England dies, and is succeeded by his brother Edgar, who effectively completes the unification of England when Northumbria finally submits to his rule.

* October 1 – King Eadwig of England

Michael Evans points out that Harold was only one of several kings of pre-Conquest England to die following short reigns, and lives, including Edmund I ( reigned 939 – 946 ), Eadred ( reigned 946 – 955 ), Eadwig ( reigned 955 – 959 ), Edmund Ironside ( reigned 1016 ), and Harthacnut ( reigned 1040 – 1042 ).

This had not previously been an insurmountable obstacle: the earlier kings of England Eadwig, Edgar the Peaceful and Edward the Martyr had all come to the throne at a similar age, while Æthelred the Unready had been significantly younger at his accession.

* Ælfgifu, wife of Eadwig, king of England

Ælfgifu was the consort of King Eadwig of England ( r. 955 – 59 ) for a brief period of time until 957 or 958.

Author ' B ' presents this as the outcome of a northern revolt against Eadwig, whereby he lost control north of the Thames ( Mercia and Northumbria ) and Edgar was set up as king over that part of England.

No less important than the circumstances of her married life is the way Ælfgifu may have pushed on since the break-up of her marriage and more especially since the autumn of 959, when Eadwig died ( 1 October 959 ) and was succeeded by his brother Edgar as king of all England.

The eldest son of King Edmund and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury, Eadwig was chosen by the nobility to succeed his uncle Eadred as King.

Æthelweard describes himself as the " grandson's grandson " of King Æthelred I. Eadwig was the son of King Edmund the Magnificent, grandson of King Edward the Elder, great-grandson of King Alfred the Great, and therefore great-great-nephew of King Æthelred I. Eadwig and Ælfgifu were therefore third cousins once removed.

Sharpham Park was granted by King Eadwig to the then abbot Æthelwold in 957.

In 957 King Eadwig, the great-grandson of King Æthelred I's brother, Alfred the Great, was obliged to divorce Æthelweard's sister Ælfgifu on grounds of consanguinity, and in the introduction to his Latin Chronicle Æthelweard claims to be the " grandson's grandson " of King Æthelred.

Oda crowned King Eadwig in 956, but in late 957 the archbishop joined Eadwig's rival and brother Edgar who had been proclaimed king of the Mercians in 957, while Eadwig continued to rule Wessex.

The division was peaceful, and Eadwig continued to call himself " King of the English " in contrast to Edgar's title of " King of the Mercians ".

The first recorded reference to Chesham is under the Old English name Cæstæleshamm meaning " the river-meadow at the pile of stones around 970 in the will of Lady Ælfgifu, who has been identified with the former wife of King Eadwig.

The " cavorting " in question consisted of Eadwig ( then only 16 ) being away from the feast with Ælfgifu and her mother Æthelgifu.

His cognomen, " The Peaceable ", was not necessarily a comment on the deeds of his life, for he was a strong leader, shown by his seizure of the Northumbrian and Mercian kingdoms from his older brother, Eadwig, in 958.

from: 955 till: 959 color: w text :" Eadwig "

According to a South Saxon charter, supposedly from 956, Brihthelm received a grant of land from a King Eadwig, however the charter ( S. 616 ) is likely to have been a later forgery, although probably based on a genuine contemporary document.

Æthelweard first witnesses charters as a minister after the accession of Eadwig in 955, and this is likely to be connected with the king's marriage to Ælfgifu.

In 955 King Eadwig granted the nuns of Wilton Abbey an estate called Chelke ( Chalke, Saxon aet Ceolcum ) which included land in Broad Chalke and Bowerchalke.

Following the death of her younger son Eadred in 955, she was deprived of her lands by her eldest grandson, King Eadwig, perhaps because she took the side of his younger brother, Edgar, in the struggle between them.

Between 899 and 925 an estate in Yeovilton was granted by King Edward and between 955 and 959 King Eadwig gave a further holding of five hides to Brihtric.

In 957 rather than see the country descend into civil war, an agreement was reached among the nobles by which the kingdom would be divided along the Thames, with Eadwig keeping Wessex and Kent in the south and Edgar ruling in the north.

Later realizing that he had provoked the king, Dunstan fled to the apparent sanctuary of his cloister, but Eadwig, incited by Æthelgifu, followed him and plundered the monastery.

Thus this report of a feud between Eadwig and Dunstan could either have been based on a true incident of a political quarrel for power between a young king and powerful church officials who wished to control the king and who later spread this legend to blacken his reputation, or it could be an urban legend ; the Chronicle also tells of Odo putting aside the King's marriage on the grounds Eadwig and his wife were " too related ".

Her cousin Æthelstan was ruler of Mercia only before becoming king of the Anglo-Saxons, and so too was King Edgar ruler of the Mercians under his elder brother King Eadwig.

This is a gross exaggeration, since Eadwig retained the title " king of the English " in his charters and Æthelweard envisaged a " continuous " reign.

Eadwig also remained childless, however, so upon his death the crown went to his brother Edgar, who had already taken some of the realm by force.

Second, she was related to her husband Eadwig, since in 958 their marriage was dissolved by Archbishop Oda on grounds that they were too closely related by blood, that is, within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity.

Dunstan's Life alleges that on the banquet following the solemnity of his coronation at Kingston ( Surrey ), Eadwig left the table and retreated to his chamber to debauch himself with two women, an indecent noblewoman ( quaedam, licet natione præcelsa, inepta tamen mulier ), later identified as Æthelgifu, and her daughter of ripe age ( adulta filia ).

These stories, written down some 40-odd years later, seem to be rooted in later smear campaigns which were meant to bring disrepute on Eadwig and his marital relations.

It is known that in 958 Archbishop Oda of Canterbury, a supporter of Dunstan, annulled the marriage of Eadwig and Ælfgifu on the basis of their consanguinity.

In 956 King Eadwig gave a gift of land in Southwell to Oskytel, Archbishop of York, on which a Minster church was established.

Eadwig died at a young age in 959, in circumstances which remain unknown.

In the same year Cnut had Edward's last surviving elder half-brother, Eadwig, executed, leaving Edward as the leading Anglo-Saxon claimant to the throne.

His elder brothers were Æthelstan and Egbert ( died c. 1005 ), and younger ones, Eadred, Eadwig and Edgar.

The annulment of the marriage of Eadwig and Ælfgifu is unusual in that it took place against their will, clearly politically motivated by the supporters of Dunstan.

Eadwig is known for his remarkable generosity in giving away land.

The choice between the sons of Edward the Elder had divided his kingdom, and Edgar's elder brother Eadwig had been forced to give over a large part of the kingdom to Edgar.

He died a bachelor, and was succeeded by Edmund's son Eadwig.