Eadwig the All-Fair: 955-959

Eadwig came to the throne at the tender age of 16 following the death of his uncle, King Eadred, who died childless. He became known amongst the people as "All Fair", for his great beauty.

Eadwig's reign is tainted by an incident at his coronation feast. Following his consecration, the new king hastily departed the feast. The gathered noblemen urged Dunstan (later archbishop and saint) to recall the king to the banquet. Upon entering the royal chambers, Dunstan discovered Eadwig engaged in sexual congress with a young lady and her mother. Dunstan implored the king to attend to his more seemly duties, and led him by the hand back to the festivities. Whatever the truth of the story, it has defined how Eadwig is remembered by subsequent chroniclers, who tend to view him in an unfavourable light. Something certainly caused Dunstan to fall from royal favour, for he was exiled to Flanders shortly afterwards.

Eadwig's reputation is further sealed by the division of his kingdom. Although the arrangement seems to have been peaceable, in 957AD, his fourteen-year-old brother Edgar became king of Mercia and the lands north of the Thames. Chroniclers record that Eadwig was rejected by his people due to his misrule, but the exact reasons for the divide remain unclear. Edgar's first act as king was to recall Dunster from exile. Two years later, Eadwig died an early death (the nature of which is unrecorded), and the divided kingdom was reunited under Edgar's rule.

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