EDMUND, or EADMUND I. (ATHELING), (922-946), king of the Mercians and West Saxons, was the son of Edward the Elder, and succeeded his brother Athelstan in 941, being then, it is said, only eighteen years of age, but having already gained the esteem of the people by his courage shown three years before at the battle of Brunanburh. When he succeeded his famous brother, the Northumbrians, judging the opportunity favourable, brought over Aulaf from Ireland, and set him up as their king. The Danes of the kingdom joined them, and the result of the campaign was that Edmund was compelled to make a treaty, by which he ceded a large portion of his territory to his enemy. Two years afterwards, however, on the death of Anlaf, he not only freed his kingdom, but also subdued the Britons of Cumbria or Cumberland, and bestowed their lands on Malcolm I. of Scotland, on condition of his co-operating with him in military service. On the 26th May 946 an outlaw named Leof had slipped into the banqueting-hall of Edmund, who was celebrating the festival of St Augustine at Pueklechurch in Gloucester, and the king in sudden anger, or because he suspected his designs, endeavoured to remove him, whereupon the outlaw plunged a dagger into his bosom and killed him.