EDMONDO, saint, martyr, king of ESTANGLIA. — Born in Nuremberg in 840, died on 20 November 870. Of ancient Saxon royal stock, he professed Christianity from childhood; at the age of 15 he began to reign in Estanglia, of which he was the last king. Around 866–867 the Danes invaded the eastern English provinces, and none of the princes was able to resist. He himself, refusing to submit, was captured and, after being shot with arrows, beheaded.
BIBL.: J. B. Mackinlay, St Edmund, king and martyr, London 1893; F. Hervey, The history of king Edmund the martyr and of the early years of his abbey, Oxford 1929; H. Kjellman, La vie saint Edmund le roi, Göteborg 1935. Ulderico Vicentini