Edmund I of Angle-land is usually listed as the fourth King of England. He was the son of Edward the Elder, often listed as the second King of England. Edmund's brother Athelstan was the third King and the first to unite all England as one kingdom.
Edward the Elder Athelstan and Edmund are seen as the main Kings who presided over the reconquering of the Danelaw.
Sometimes called the Deed-Doer, he was born in Wessex in 921. He reigned from 939 to 946 taking the throne after Athelstan's death (October 27, 939).
He fended off a Norse army led by Olaf Guthfrithson but not until he had recognised Olaf as king of York. Olaf bought it in 941 and Edmund went wild, recovering the northern Danelaw (Northumbria and the Midlands) and ravaging Strathclyde.
In a middle ages example of brilliant propganda, contemporary poems portrayed Edmund as a liberator of the Danes from the Norse oppressors.
Edmund died in 947 and it was deja vu all over again as edmund's successor Eadred lost York again, and scuffled with another Olaf (Sihtricson).
Edmund's two sons, Edwin and Edgar, reigned as kings of various regions, and Edgar became King of England from 959 to 975.