23rd November 955: The death of Eadred Anglo-Saxon king of England.
The penny in the image above is dated to the reign of King Eadred, on it you can see that the king has his mouth open. I wonder, was the smith who minted this coin depicting the condition that was the cause of his death? The coin certainly shows something being expelled from his mouth.
Eadred was the son of Edward the Elder, his brother Edmund had been murdered by a thief in the May of 946 leaving the throne of England to twenty-three-year-old Eadred.
Nine years later Eadred was himself dead, he died from some sort of stomach complaint that left him unable to digest food. Because of this ailment, Eadred was forced to chew and then spit out the food, it seems that he only swallowed the liquid. A witness who watched Eadred at mealtimes wrote
"Eratque, proh dolor, rex Eadraedus dilectus Dunstani per omne tempus imperii sui nimium languens, ita ut refectionis tempore sorpto succo ciborum reliquam partem parumper dentibus obtritam ab ore rejecisse, et sic saepe convivantibus secum militibus foetentem nausiam exspuendo fecisset."
"so that the part of the rest of the meal is in the time of the sorpta the juice of the food from the mouth to the
teeth, a minced rejected, stinking and loathsome to be spewed out to the soldiers"
Poor Eadred! Despite this, he had some success during his reign especially in the north of the country. He is also credited with defeating the rather frighteningly named Eric Bloodaxe.
Nine years later Eadred was himself dead, he died from some sort of stomach complaint that left him unable to digest food. Because of this ailment, Eadred was forced to chew and then spit out the food, it seems that he only swallowed the liquid. A witness who watched Eadred at mealtimes wrote
"Eratque, proh dolor, rex Eadraedus dilectus Dunstani per omne tempus imperii sui nimium languens, ita ut refectionis tempore sorpto succo ciborum reliquam partem parumper dentibus obtritam ab ore rejecisse, et sic saepe convivantibus secum militibus foetentem nausiam exspuendo fecisset."
"so that the part of the rest of the meal is in the time of the sorpta the juice of the food from the mouth to the
teeth, a minced rejected, stinking and loathsome to be spewed out to the soldiers"
Poor Eadred! Despite this, he had some success during his reign especially in the north of the country. He is also credited with defeating the rather frighteningly named Eric Bloodaxe.
Eadred is thought not to have married or had any children and therefore his heir was his teenage, and somewhat frisky, nephew Eadwig.
Eadred was buried at the Old Minster, Winchester.
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