Edmund the Martyr

Patience, brothers. Soon we will reveal the secrets of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. This article has been identified as being out of date. Please update the article to reflect recent releases and then remove this template once done.

"Here lies King Edmund, father of East Anglia, a good and godly man. May he lie here in peace, surrounded by the children of the God, until Doomsday when the dust shall return to the earth, and the spirit shall return unto Heaven. Lord have mercy on his soul."

―A note near Edmund's crypt.

Edmund the Martyr (c. 841 – 870), also known as Saint Edmund, was King of East Anglia from about 855 until his death. He was succeeded by Æthelred II.

Biography

In 865, the Great Heathen Army invaded East Anglia as part of the Viking expansion into England. By the following year, Edmund had a truce in place with Ivarr the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson. He once sent two heralds to speak with them and attempt a conversion, but Ivarr killed one of them and scared the other. Fearing his life, the remaining herald passed the message that Edmund thanked them for abiding by the truce and gifted them 2000 pounds of silver as a sign of respect and hope that the peace would continue. Ivarr sent him away, asking instead for a hundred strong horses in 10 days.

In 870, he was "entirely covered with their missiles, like the bristles of a hedgehog", earning him the title of martyr. Following his death, Edmund was buried in the church crypt in the village of King's Bury near Theotford.

Legacy

By 873, Ivarr the Boneless claimed personal credit for having killed Edmund, but this could not be proven, as there were conflicting claims that Ubba had killed the king instead, though Ubba never challenged Ivarr on his boasts.

During the 9th century CE, the shieldmaiden Eivor Varinsdottir of the Raven Clan learned of the king's death after opportunistically taking the arrows embedded in his throne. A local Anglo-Saxon woman informed her of the weapons' history and offered to buy them back for her own hagiographical study, which Eivor accepted.

Behind the scenes

Although tradition holds that Edmund died in the as-yet unidentified place known as Haegelisdun, a fact upheld in the Assassin's Creed: Valhalla tie-in novel Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Geirmund's Saga, the Valhalla memory "Edmund's Arrows" instead says that he died in Norwich, pinned to his throne by arrows which were considered holy artifacts after Edmund's canonization.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Geirmund's Saga (mentioned only)
• Echoes of Valhalla (voice only)
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Blood Brothers (first appearance)