Youngest son of King Edward the Elder of England, Edred succeeded his brother Edmund the Magnificent to the throne of England in 946. He continued his brother's fight against the Danes in England, and was apparently "afflicted from birth with an unspecified disability that precluded him from marriage" (according to David Williamson's The Kings and Queens of England). He died in 955 and was succeeded by his nephew Edwy the Fair.

King of England between 946-55AD, he was a sickly man who died while young. He is mainly noted for his crushing of a rebellion by Eric Bloodaxe, a man who had been thrown out of a bloodthirsty society for savagery.

Although Eadred's methods in the Northumberland campaigns were vicious and cruel, he was said to be a very pious man who devoted his life to God. He must have been viewed as quite a formidable foe for the Northumbrians to throw out the vicious Eric Bloodaxe rather than face the wrath of Eadred.

Eadwig ruled after him, Edmund the Magnificent before.