Ælfweard (/ˈælfwɔːrd/; c. 902 – 2 August 924) was the second son of Edward the Elder, the eldest born to his second wife Ælfflæd.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle simply states that Ælfweard died soon after his father's death on 17 July 924 and that they were buried together at Winchester.
However, a list of West-Saxon kings in the 12th-century Textus Roffensis[1] mentions him as his father's successor, with a reign of four weeks.
[2][5][6] In the view of Simon Keynes, Ælfweard was recognised as king in Wessex and Æthelstan in Mercia, and although it is possible that Edward intended a division of the kingdom after his death, it is more likely that the leaders of Wessex chose Ælfweard, and Mercia set up Æthelstan in opposition.
[7] Ælfweard died only 16 days after his father, on 2 August 924 at Oxford, and was buried at the New Minster, Winchester.