Edgar was born about 942, the younger of two sons of King Edmund I by Elgiva.
On the death of King Edred in 955, Edgar's elder brother Edwy was elected as King of England but, in 957, the thanes of Mercia and Northumberland, frustrated by the King Edwy's impositions and with the support of Archbishop Odo and the party of the banished Dunstan, switched their allegiance to Edwy's younger brother Edgar. Edwy was defeated in battle at Gloucester but civil war was averted by an agreement among the nobles by which England would be divided into two kingdoms along the river Thames; Edwy would retain Wessex and Kent while Edgar ruled the north.
On the death of Edwy on October 1st, 959, Edgar became king of all England.
Edgar was crowned at Bath in 973.
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The ceremony devised for Edgar's coronation in 973 by St Dunstan remains the basis of the present-day coronation ceremony.
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He married Ethelfleda the Fair, then and Elfrida, widow of Ethelbald, Alderman of the East Angles, whom Edgar slew in order to obtain the hand of his widow (Elfrida seems to have connived at her husband's murder).
Edgar died on July 8th, 975 at Winchester, and was buried at Glastonbury (his remains later removed to Winchester Cathedral).
Edgar left two sons; the eldest, Edward, by his first wife, Ethelfleda, succeeded him as king in 975,
becoming known as 'Edward the Martyr';
and the younger, Ethelred by his second wife Elfrida, who became king in 978 as Ethelred II (-1016) after his mother had murdered Edward.
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