Edwy 'All-Fair' (c.941-October 1st, 959), King of England (955-959), was the son of King Edmund I by Elgiva. After the death of his uncle Edred (946-955), Edwy was elected king by the Witangamot. His short reign was marked by the conflicts with his family, the thanes, and particularly the Church under the leadership of St Dunstan and Archbishop Odo.
Edwy's marriage to Elgiva, who was related to him, deeply offended the clerical party and Archbishop Odo separated them with the approval and support of Dunstan and with acts of terrible cruelty before Elgiva was put to death (he is said to have had Elgiva's face branded with hot irons).
Edwy opposed the temporal power of St Dunstan, calling him to account for his part in the administration of preceding reign of his uncle Edred, and banished him.
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One legend regarding the fued between the young monarch and St Dunstan places its origins on the day of Edwy's consecration. When Edwy failed to attend a meeting of nobles, Dunstan found him cavorting with a noblewoman named Ethelgive. Edwy refused to return with the bishop and, infuriated, Dunstan dragged Edwy back.
Later, Dunstan realized that he had provoked the king and fled to the sanctuary of his cloister only to be persued by the king, incited by Ethelgive, who plundered the monastery.
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Dunstan sought refuge at the monastery of Ghent, in Flanders (modern Belgium), refusing to return to England during Edwy's lifetime but recalled by Edgar, king of Mercia and Northumbria 957.
In 957, the thanes of Mercia and Northumberland, frustrated by the king'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.
During his few remaining years as king of Wessex and Kent, Edwy ruled his realm more wisely and made significant gifts to the Church.
Edwy died on October 1st, 959, aged only twenty, and was succeeded by his brother Edgar as king of all England.
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