Background
Almost nothing is known about Edmund. He is thought to have been of East Anglian origin. By tradition, Edmund is thought to have been born in 841 and to have acceded to the East Anglian throne in around 855. The most credible theory for Edmund’s parentage suggests Ealhhere, brother-in-law to King Æthelstan of Kent, as Edmund’s father and Edith (Æthelstan’s sister) as Edmund’s mother. Another theory is what he was the son of Æthelweard, an obscure East Anglian king, or alternatively that he was the youngest son of a Germanic king named 'Alcmund'.
Edmund cannot be placed within any ruling dynasty. Numismatic evidence suggests he succeeded Æthelweard. According to the historian Susan Ridyard, Abbo of Fleury's statement that Edmund was 'ex antiquorum Saxonum nobili prosapia oriundus' can be taken to mean that he was descended from a noble and ancient race.
Career
Later versions of Edmund's life relate that he was probably crowned on 25 December 855 at Bures St. Mary in Suffolk, which at that time functioned as the royal capital, and that he became a model king.
There are several versions of his death. In 869, the Great Viking Army advanced on East Anglia and killed Edmund. He may have been slain by the Danes in battle, but by tradition he met his death at an unidentified place known as Haegelisdun, after he refused the Danes' demand that he renounce Christ: the Danes beat him, shot him with arrows and then beheaded him, on the orders of Ivar the Boneless and his brother Ubba. According to one legend, his head was then thrown into the forest, but was found safe by searchers after following the cries of an ethereal wolf that was calling, in Latin, "Hic, Hic, Hic" – "Here, Here, Here".
Personality
He was a model king who treated all his subjects with equal justice and who was unbending to flatterers. It was written that he withdrew for a year to his royal tower at Hunstanton and learned the whole Psalter, so that he could recite it from memory.
