Edgar of Casmire

Edgar the Old
Edgar the Old
	Portrait of Edgar I
Prince of Casmire
Reign	October 1013 – 15 January 1050
Predecessor	Edmund II
Successor	Alaric I
Born	c. 984; Crown Palace of Eutavre, Casmire
Died	Palace Gardens
Burial	Abbey of Saint Agar, Casmire
Issue	Edmund; Cecilia; Alaric I of Rythene; Aline; Juliane; Alfred;
Father	Edmund II of Casmire
Mother	Margaret

Edgar of Casmire (c. 984 - 15 January, 1050), also known as Edgar the Old and sometimes the Afflicted was the Prince of Casmire from October 1013 until his death in 1050, caused by injuries sustained from a previous assassination attempt. Edgar’s reign was plagued with constant conflict between duchies, and as such he spent most of his life easing the tensions caused by his father's rule. After a number of years suffering from illness, Edgar officially declared his son Alaric as Prince Regent of Casmire in 1046, and was rarely seen outside of his bedchambers from then onwards. Edgar was a descendant of William I of Blayk, and his son Alaric went on to become the first King of Rythene.

Early life

Evolution of Edgar fighting a bear in popular culture

Edgar was born in the Spring of 984 at the Crown Palace of Eutavre. His father was Edmund II of Casmire, who later in his reign was regarded as a weak ruler, and his mother was Margaret of Warford, a Duchess of a particularly ill regarded house. Edgar was the eldest of two children; the second another son named Edmund, who went missing during the invasion of Rythene. Edgar was believed to be a violent child by some historians, reflected in later life by his affinity to war and military matters. Popular folklore depicts across many accounts that Edgar once wrestled a bear as a teenager, which has been parodied numerous times in Rythenenan culture.

Edgar was betrothed to Idina of Brënhemst at the age of eight, and officially married seven years later. Together they had six children; their eldest son Edmund died aged seven in the care of the royal steward. This incident led Edgar to hold little trust and respect for his court, and was the primary reason as to why he personally mentored his next son and heir Alaric. The royal couple’s second child was a daughter named Cecilia, who upon her birth was betrothed to a neighbouring duke’s son to secure their allegiance. Alaric was their third child, who was kept separate from his other siblings out of Edgar’s distrust and paranoia. Edgar’s fourth and fifth children were both daughters, named Aline and Juliane respectively. Aline was resented by Edgar later in her life when she failed to have children, causing tensions to rise between the family she was promised to and the royals. Princess Idina died giving birth to her sixth and final child, a son named Alfred. Edgar took another wife a year after Idina’s death, however they never had any children, and the name of the woman is unknown.

During Edgar’s early adulthood, he became well renowned as an excellent swordsman and leader. Towards the end of his father’s reign, he began to take over public engagements and became the face of the Principality. Edmund was willing to let his son handle such affairs as he was disliked by many of the dukes of the realm, despite the fact that the issues they blamed him for were out of his control (i.e. poor harvests).

Reign

Upon Edmund’s death in 1013, Edgar was soon crowned Prince of Casmire at St Rhaëg’s Hall. The political landscape of Casmire after the coronation became less strained, as Edgar remained a popular figure throughout the country. The Prince’s early reign was marked by years of peace and diplomacy, as the rivals of his father sought no quarrel with their new leader.

In 1021, Edgar increased the level of tax on the dukes of the realm in order to fund the expansion of the Casmirean military. This was met with resentment from newer members of the nobility, who banded together and attacked a number of villages nearby the royal palace. Edgar and a number of older dukes summoned their strength to combat the issue, and the First Casmirean Civil War commenced. It lasted only seven months, and saw Edgar and his allies emerge victorious. The traitorous nobles were executed, and the Prince let their children keep their titles. Most were under the age of twelve, and Edgar had members of his court live within their holds to mentor them.

The rest of Edgar’s reign revolved around a state of forced peace, signs of rebellion only surfacing during his illness.

Later life

Assassination attempt

In 1042, an attempt on Edgar’s life had been made whilst he was travelling with a small party. It is widely accepted that the assasination attempt was made by a large group of peasants, who were successful in tearing the Prince from his horse and attempted to murder him. Most of the assailants were killed in the ensuing conflict with Edgar’s guard, but the few that remained alive were tortured for an extensive period of time.

Illness

Depiction of the numerous attempts to heal Edgar’s wounds

After the incident, Edgar gradually eased off on a number of his duties, and hardly ever ventured outside of Eutavre Palace. By 1046 however, Edgar’s wounds rendered him bedridden, and his son Alaric was proclaimed Prince Regent of Casmire until further notice. A wide variety of healers saw the Prince, but failed to successfully treat his illness.

Death and aftermath

In the winter of 1050, Prince Edgar of Casmire finally succumbed to his wounds and died, nearly eight years after the attempt on his life. On the night of his death, Edgar had asked to visit the palace gardens with his wife. His frail body was carried into the centre of the gardens in the middle of the night, where he died surrounded by palace guards and his wife. Following Edgar;’s death, the Principality of Casmire was absorbed into the Kingdom of Rythene.

A statue was erected in the middle of the gardens, which was destroyed sometime in the fourteenth century. In 1820, a new statue of Edgar was constructed where the original once stood and remains there to this day.