Early Life
Æthelstan probably did not approve of the increasing influence of ealdorman Eadric Streona from 1007, and he seems to have formed a friendship with Sigeferth and Morcar, two of the leading thegns of the Five Boroughs of the East Midlands. Æthelstan and Edmund were close, and they probably felt threatened by Emma's ambitions for her sons. The Life of Edward the Confessor, written fifty years later, claimed that when Emma was pregnant with him, all Englishmen promised that if the child was a boy they would accept him as king.
When Sweyn Forkbeard seized the throne at the end of 1013 and Æthelred fled to France, the brothers do not appear to have followed him, but stayed in England. Æthelstan died in June 1014 and left his brother estates and a sword which had belonged to king Offa of Mercia. His will also reflected the close relationship between the brothers and the nobility of the east midlands.
Read more about this topic: Edmund Ironside
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