The story of Edgar Aetheling is almost incredible but there is enough evidence to reconstruct his life, albeit with many large gaps. But what an extraordinary life it is.

Born in Hungary to a father in exile there (c. 1051), he died somewhere in England and is buried no-one knows where. No place holds him in death, just as no place held him in life. His name was never attached to a place, which is unusual at this period when everyone is from somewhere. Instead he bears the title ‘Aetheling’. This old English title was intended to confer a blessing, it was often given to royal first born sons. It meant something like ‘throneworthy’ or ‘princely.’ It contained both hope and promise but actually conferred nothing.

Could this man have been King of England? He had some claim to the throne by virtue of descent from Edward the Exile and thus from his grandfather, Edmund Ironside, who was king of England for eight months in 1016. But Edgar was still a boy when the throne of England was disputed between Harold Godwinson and William, Duke of Normandy. At this key moment in history, he lost out. 

Some might say he spent a life time losing out. But what he did accomplish was an astonishing total of miles travelled. Although it might seem that in one way his life was wasted, in another way his life was lived wholly, fully and widely.

Although he had no land of his own he travelled extensively over the land of others, through the kingdoms of Europe and the Middle East. He crossed the Mediterranean and the Channel many times. From Scotland to Apulia, from the Papal Court in Rome to the Holy Land, he saw his contemporary world as few medieval people got to see it. 

He was one of the most extensively travelled men of his day.

Find out more about this intrepid traveller in Deaths, Disasters and Destinies, Chapter Nine "The Obscure Life and Death of Edgar Aetheling" (p. 304).