When was Edgar atheling born?

Answer 1

Edgar the Ætheling was the last prince of the old West Saxon (Wessex) royal line when Edward the Confessor died in January 1066. The word Ætheling means "noble son" and indicated he was of royal blood. However, when Edward the Confessor died, Edgar was only about ten years old and was passed over when it came to inheriting the throne which went to Harold Godwinson instead, who went to to rule England as King Harold II. When Harold II was killed at The Battle of Hastings later that same year the Witan (a sort of council) chose Edgar as the next king of England - to be Edgar III. His reign lasted only a few months before he was forced to surrender by William the Conquerer and compelled to abdicate. William the Conquerer was then crowned as King William I. Edgar went on to live a long and illustrious life which is only rarely discussed. He spent some time as a captive of King William I before getting away and hiding in Scotland with his sister Margaret. There he raised an army and invaded northern England in an attempt to support the rebellious northern Earls. There is also evidence to say he liaised with the rebel Hereward the Wake. Eventually during one of these attempts he was captured by the Norman authorities. His life was spared and as a captive he lived for years with the Norman royal family in Rouen. Later in life he is known to have gone on the First Crusade to Jerusalem and while there was captured by the Saracens. He was eventually rescued and returned to Scotland. Towards the end of his life he moved back to England where he died an old man in Hertfordshire sometime after 1125 during the reign of Henry I. Edgar never married and had no children (according to Norman records which may of course be untrue).

Answer 2

Edgar the Atheling was born in Hungary in 1051 and died in the year 1126. He was proclaimed the King of England in 1066, but was never crowned because war was brewing and the consensus was, he was too young to handle it.

Answer 3

Edgar the Aetheling, (meaning "of the noble kin"), was the grandson of Edmund Ironside, who was the brother of Edward the Confessor.
He was the legitimate heir to the throne of England when Edward died but was only a boy of 14 and had been brought up in Hungary. As he had not been in the country long enough to gather supporters he was ignored in favour of Harold who was probably the most powerful man in England at that time.

Answer 4

In my book 'The Lost King: Resistance' I have made him almost fourteen years old. He is thought to have been born in the 1050s and lived until 1125.

I wanted him to be too young to be considered a candidate for the throne in 1065 but just old enough to be proclaimed King in the desperate circumstances following the Battle of Hastings.

Martin Lake