Edmund Ironside

Edmund II, known as Ironside (c. 990–1016), was a son of King Æthelred the Unready. In 1015, after Sigeferth was executed, he defied Æthelred, married Sigeferth's widow and made himself master of the Five Boroughs.

On Æthelred's death in April 1016 he was elected king and led resistance to Cnut's Danish army, before defeat at Assandun, where Eadric Streona's flight was decisive. He divided the kingdom with Cnut at Alney, keeping Wessex, but died on 30 November 1016 after seven months as king.