Edward the Elder

Born in the 870s, Edward inherited the throne of the Anglo-Saxons in 899 after his father Alfred's death, but first had to crush a rival claim from his cousin Æthelwold. Alfred had saved Wessex from the Danes at Edington in 878, but the Vikings still held most of eastern England when Edward took power. In 910 his forces broke the northern Viking threat decisively, then he spent the next decade systematically reclaiming the south in partnership with his sister Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians. After her death in 918 he absorbed Mercia directly, erasing its autonomy. By the 910s' end he ruled Wessex, Mercia, and East Anglia - three-quarters of what would become England. He died at Farndon on 17 July 924 after putting down a revolt at Chester, leaving his son Æthelstan to inherit a kingdom unified in all but Northumbria.