EDRED (EADRED), king of the English (d. 955), was the youngest son of Edward the Elder and his wife Eadgifu. He succeeded his brother Edmund in the year 946 and received the formal submission of the Northumbrians and Scots. In the next year Edred went to Tanshelf in Yorkshire, where he received from Wulfstan, archbishop of York, and the Northumbrian "witan" confirmation of their submission. Shortly after they threw their pledges to the winds and took the Norwegian Eric Bloodaxe, son of Harold Fairhair (Harald Harfagar), as their king. Edred recklessly ravaged all Northumbria in revenge, burning Ripon during his march. On his return home Edred's rearguard was at tacked at Castleford, and he once more turned to ravage Northum bria, which was only saved by its abandonment of Eric and by compensation made to Edred. Archbishop Wulfstan seems to have been a centre of disaffection in the north, and in 952 Edred caused him to be imprisoned in the castle of "Judanburh," while in the same year the king, in revenge for the slaying of Abbot Eadelm, slew many of the citizens of Thetford. After the brief rule of Anlaf Cuaran in Northumbria, Eric was once more restored, probably in 95o, only to be expelled again in 953 or 954, when Edred took the Northumbrian kingdom into his own hands. In the same year Wulfstan was liberated and appointed to the Mer cian bishopric of Dorchester. Edred died on Nov. 955, at Frome, in Somersetshire, and was buried in the old minster at Winchester. During the whole of his life Edred was troubled by ill-health, a fact which may help to explain some of the more passionate acts of violence attributed to him. The king was throughout his life on terms of personal intimacy with St. Duns tan, and his public policy was largely guided by that prelate and by his mother Eadgifu. It is not known that Edred married.