Genealogy Wylie » Athelstan King of "Athelstan "the Glorious"" England zzz (± 894-939)

Sources

1. Encyclopedia Britannica, Treatise on, Athelstan
2. Wikipedia, via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athelstan..., December 24, 2008

   Athelstan of England
   From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   (Redirected from Athelstan)
   Jump to: navigation, search
   "Athelstan" redirects here. For other persons of that name, see Athelstan (disambiguation).
   Athelstan
   King of the English
   
   The tomb of King Athelstan in Malmesbury Abbey
   Reign August 2, 924 (or 925 [1]) – October 27, 939
   Predecessor Edward the Elder or Ælfweard
   Successor Edmund
   Father Edward the Elder
   Mother Egwina
   Born 895
   Wessex, England
   Died October 27, 939
   
   Burial Malmesbury Abbey
   Military Service
   Rank 9th
   Athelstan or Æðelstān (c. 895 – October 27, 939), called the Glorious, was the King of England from 924/925 to 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder, and nephew of Ethelfleda (Æðelflæd) of Mercia. Æthelstan's success in securing the submission of Constantine II, King of Scots, at the Treaty of Eamont Bridge in 927 through to the Battle of Brunanburh in 937 led to his claiming the title "King of all Britain".[2] His reign is frequently overlooked, with much focus going to Alfred the Great before him, and Edmund after. However, his reign was of fundamental importance to political developments in the 10th century.
   
   Contents [hide]
   1 Sources
   2 Reign
   2.1 Brunanburh and after
   3 Administration and law
   4 Athelstan and the Welsh
   5 Foreign contacts
   6 Ancestry
   7 See also
   8 External links
   9 Bibliography
   10 References
   
   
   
   [edit] Sources
   The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which is so vocal during the reigns of Alfred and Edward the Elder, falls into relative silence during Athelstan's reign, and what entries survive are retrospective. A few references tell us of his military campaigns, the longest entry being a poem about the Battle of Brunanburh (937), probably composed in his successor Edmund's reign. Other narrative sources from across Europe, though, provide us with more information. The Annals of Flodoard contain several references to Athelstan's dealings with the rulers of west and east Francia, as does the Chronicle of Nantes. William of Malmesbury, however, writing in the early 12th century, provides us with the greatest detail. His work might even draw on a (now lost) Vita Æthelstani, as Michael Wood argues, but caution is called for as this case has yet to be proven and William's account can rarely be verified.
   
   Documentary sources come in the form of charters and laws. Numerous charters exist that tell us about where Athelstan was, who was with him, and to whom he was granting land. Through these it is possible to trace his peregrinations, particularly between 927 and 932 when all diplomas were drafted by the extraordinary scribe known as 'Athelstan A'. We have several law codes attributed to Athelstan; a couple are law codes after the tradition of Alfred and Edward; the others are less 'official', but nonetheless reveal aspects of Athelstan's administration.
   
   Non-written sources are also available. Perhaps most useful are coins, which give Athelstan a title which reveals how widespread he (or rather the minters) felt his reign extended: throughout all Britain. Also of interest are the manuscripts and relics Athelstan collected and donated - many of the former contain notices giving the details of these donations. These particularly shed light on Athelstan's patronage of the cult of St Cuthbert's in Northumbria, to whom he gave two lavish manuscripts containing our earliest surviving English ruler portraits, the Corpus Christi Manuscript.
   
   
   [edit] Reign
   
   Athelstan DCCCCXXV on the modern plinth of the Saxon Coronation Stone, Kingston upon ThamesAthelstan was the son of Edward the Elder, and grandson of Alfred the Great. His father succeeded, after some difficulty, to the Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons formed by Alfred. His aunt, Edward's sister, Æthelflæd, ruled western Mercia on his behalf following the death of her husband, Ealdorman Æthelred. On Æthelflæd's death, Edward was quick to assume control of Mercia, and at the time of his death he directly ruled all the English kingdoms south of the Humber. Athelstan was fostered by his family as 'Half-King' in Mercia, perhaps as a method of encouraging Mercian loyalty to the West Saxon dynasty. On Edward's death, Athelstan immediately became King of Mercia, though it seems to have taken longer for him to be recognised in Wessex where his half-brothers Ælfweard and Edwin had support.
   
   Political alliances seem to have been high on Athelstan's agenda. Only a year after his crowning he married one of his sisters to Sihtric Cáech, the Viking King of Jórvík at Tamworth,[3] who acknowledged Æthelstan as over-king, adopting Christianity. Within the year he may have abandoned his new faith and repudiated his wife, but before Æthelstan and he could fight, Sihtric died suddenly in 927. His kinsman, perhaps brother, Gofraid, who had remained as his deputy in Dublin, came from Ireland to take power in York, but failed. Æthelstan moved quickly, seizing much of Northumbria. This bold move brought the whole of England under one ruler for the first time, although this unity did not become permanent until 954. In less than a decade, the kingdom of the English had become by far the greatest power in the British Isles, perhaps stretching as far north as the Firth of Forth.[4]
   
   Initially the other rulers in Great Britain seem to have submitted to Athelstan at Bamburgh: "first Hywel, King of the West Welsh, and Constantine II, King of Scots, and Owain, King of the people of Gwent, and Ealdred...of Bamburgh" records the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. William of Malmesbury adds that Owain of Strathclyde was also present.[5]
   
   Similar events are recorded along the western marches of Athelstan's domain. According to William of Malmesbury, Athelstan had the kings of the North British (meaning the Welsh) submit to him at Hereford, where he exacted a heavy tribute from them. The reality of his influence in Wales is underlined by the Welsh poem Armes Prydein Fawr, and by the appearance of the Welsh kings as subreguli in the charters of 'Αthelstan A'. Similarly, he drove the West Welsh (meaning the Cornish) out of Exeter, and established the border of Cornwall along the River Tamar.
   
   John of Worcester's chronicle suggests that Æthelstan faced opposition from Constantine, from Owain of Strathclyde, and from the Welsh kings. William of Malmesbury writes that Gofraid, together with Sihtric's young son Olaf Cuaran fled north and received refuge from Constantine, which led to war with Æthelstan. A meeting at Eamont Bridge on 12 July 927 was sealed by an agreement that Constantine, Eógan of Strathclyde, Hywel Dda, and Ealdred would "renounce all idolatry": that is, they would not ally with the Viking kings. William states that Æthelstan stood godfather to a son of Constantine, probably Indulf (Ildulb mac Constantín), during the conference.[6]
   
   Æthelstan followed up his advances in the north by securing the recognition of the Welsh kings.[7] For the next seven years, the record of events in the north is blank. Æthelstan's court was attended by the Welsh kings, but not by Constantine or Eógan of Strathclyde. This absence of record means that Æthelstan's reasons for marching north against Constantine in 934 are unclear.[8]
   
   Æthelstan's campaign is reported by in brief by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and later chroniclers such as John of Worcester, William of Malmesbury, Henry of Huntingdon, and Symeon of Durham add detail to that bald account. Æthelstan's army began gathering at Winchester by 28 May 927, and reached Nottingham by 7 June. He was accompanied by many leaders, including the Welsh kings Hywel Dda, Idwal Foel, and Morgan ab Owain. From Mercia the army went north, stopping at Chester-le-Street, before resuming the march accompanied by a fleet of ships. Eógan of Strathclyde was defeated and Symeon states that the army went as far north as Dunnottar and Fortriu, while the fleet is said to have raided Caithness, by which a much larger area, including Sutherland, is probably intended. It is unlikely that Constantine's personal authority extended so far north, and while the attacks may have been directed at his allies, they may also have been simple looting expeditions.[9]
   
   The Annals of Clonmacnoise state that "the Scottish men compelled [Æthelstan] to return without any great victory", while Henry of Huntingdon claims that the English faced no opposition. A negotiated settlement may have ended matters: according to John of Worcester, a son of Constantine was given as a hostage to Æthelstan and Constantín himself accompanied the English king on his return south.[3] He witnessed a charter with Æthelstan at Buckingham on 13 September 934 in which he is described as subregulus, that is a king acknowledging Æthelstan's overlordship.[10] The following year, Constantine was again in England at Æthelstan's court, this time at Cirencester where he appears as a witness, appearing as the first of several subject kings, followed by Eógan of Strathclyde and Hywel Dda, who subscribed to the diploma.[11] At Christmas of 935, Eógan of Strathclyde was once more at Æthelstan's court along with the Welsh kings, but Constantine was not. His return to England less than two years later would be in very different circumstances.[12]
   
   
   [edit] Brunanburh and after
   Following Constantine's disappearance from Æthelstan's court after 935, there is no further report of him until 937. In that year, together with Eógan of Strathclyde and Olaf Guthfrithson, King of Dublin, Constantine invaded England. The resulting battle of Brunanburh—Dún Brunde—is reported in the Annals of Ulster as follows:
   
   a great battle, lamentable and terrible was cruelly fought...in which fell uncounted thousands of the Northmen. ... And on the other side, a multitude of Saxons fell; but Æthelstan, the king of the Saxons, obtained a great victory.[13]
   
   The battle was remembered in England a generation later as "the Great Battle". When reporting the battle, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle abandons its usual terse style in favour of a heroic poem vaunting the great victory. In this the "hoary" Constantine, by now around 60 years of age, is said to have lost a son in the battle, a claim which the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba confirms. The Annals of Clonmacnoise give his name as Cellach. For all its fame, the site of the battle is uncertain and several sites have been advanced, with Bromborough on the Wirral the most favoured location.[14]
   
   Brunanburh, for all that it had been a famous and bloody battle, settled nothing. On 27 October 939 Æthelstan, "pillar of the dignity of the western world" in the words of the Annals of Ulster, died at Malmesbury. He was succeeded by his brother Edmund the Elder, then aged 18. Æthelstan's empire, seemingly made safe by the victory of Brunanburh, collapsed in little more than a year from his death when Amlaíb returned from Ireland and seized Northumbria and the Mercian Danelaw. Edmund spent the remainder of Constantín's reign rebuilding the empire.[15]
   
   Athelstan is generally regarded as the first king of England and his reign is seen as the first time that kingdoms of England, Wales and Scotland were united under one ruler as "King of all Britain".[2] He achieved considerable military successes over his rivals, including the Vikings, and extended his rule to parts of Wales and Cornwall.
   
   
   [edit] Administration and law
   As Athelstan's kingdom grew it posed new challenges in administration. Towards the end of his reign we hear of another Athelstan, termed 'half-king', who was Ealdorman for much of eastern Mercia and East Anglia. Ian Walker has argued that, as the extent of Athelstan's power grew, the extent of rule of the next level of the aristocracy had to grow too. This points towards an increasing stratification of Anglo-Saxon society, a development that can (possibly) be traced from earliest Anglo-Saxon times right up to the Norman Conquest and beyond.
   
   A relatively large number of law codes have come down to us from Athelstan's reign. To examine each in detail would take too much space here, but two viewpoints summarise the arguments around them. Patrick Wormald, who has argued that written law had little practical use in Anglo-Saxon England, states that there is little homogeneity to the laws, and that the sporadic nature of them indicate little sign of a coherent system based on written law. Simon Keynes has instead argued that there is a pattern to the laws of Athelstan's reign, and that the laws are evidence 'not of any casual attitude towards the publication or recording of the law, but quite the reverse'.
   
   
   [edit] Athelstan and the Welsh
   Athelstan's reign marks a hiatus in sporadic unrest between the English and Welsh kingdoms. According to Asser, a monk from St David's, Dyfed, several kingdoms of Wales submitted (including eventually those ruled by the sons of Rhodri Mawr) to Alfred. No battles between the English and the Welsh are recorded during Athelstan's reign, but charters show Welsh kings attending his court, possibly coming with him on campaign. D.P. Kirby argued that Athelstan was repressing the Welsh kings, keeping them close in order to maintain their loyalty. Yet it is also possible that some Welsh kings, in particular Hywel Dda, were benefiting from this relationship. Hywel may have been influenced by English ideas of kingship - he is the first Welsh king associated with a major Welsh law code, and a coin, minted at Chester, carries his name.
   
   
   [edit] Foreign contacts
   Like those of his predecessors, Athelstan's court was in contact with the rest of Europe. His half-sisters married into European noble families. Ædgyth was married to future Holy Roman Emperor Otto, son of Henry I of Saxony, and another to Egill Skallagrímsson, the subject of the Icelandic Egils Saga. Alan II, Duke of Brittany and Haakon, son of Harald of Norway, were both fostered in Æthelstan’s court, and he provided a home for Louis, the exiled son of Charles the Simple.
   
   Athelstan might have considered his rule in some way imperial: the style basileus is found in his charters, whilst he is the first king to bear the title r[ex] tot[ius] B[ritanniae]. According to William of Malmesbury, relics such as the Sword of Constantine (Emperor of Rome) and the Lance of Charlemagne (first Holy Roman Emperor) came to Athelstan, suggesting that he was in some way being associated with past great rulers.
   
   Although he established many alliances through his family, he had no children of his own.
   
   Athelstan was religious and gave generously to the church in Wessex, and when he died in 939 at Gloucester he was buried at his favourite abbey (Malmesbury) rather than with his family at Winchester. Though his tomb is still there, his body was lost centuries later. There is nothing in the tomb beneath the statue, the relics of the king having been lost in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 by King Henry VIII. The remains may have been destroyed by the King's Commissioners or hidden before the Commissioners arrived to close down the Abbey. In Malmesbury, his name lives on into the 20th and 21st centuries, with everything from a bus company and a second-hand shop to several roads and streets, as well as the Care Home opened in 2008, named after him. His patronage of the abbey, and his gift of freemen status to the town also lives on with the Warden and Freemen of Malmesbury.
   
   He was succeeded by his younger and more famous half-brother, King Edmund of England.
   
   
   [edit] Ancestry
   Ancestors of Athelstan[hide]
   
   
   16. Egbert of Wessex
   
   
   
   8. Æthelwulf of Wessex
   
   
   
   17. Redburga
   
   
   
   4. Alfred the Great
   
   
   
   18. Oslac
   
   
   
   9. Osburga
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   2. Edward the Elder
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   10. Æthelred Mucil
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   5. Ealhswith
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   1. Athelstan
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   3. Ecgwynn
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   [edit] See also
   House of Wessex family tree
   Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
   List of monarchs of England
   Kingdom of England
   Malmesbury, Wiltshire
   
   [edit] External links
   Documentary - The Making of England: King Athelstan
   
   [edit] Bibliography
   Wessex and England from Alfred to Edgar: six essays on political, cultural, and ecclesiastical revival, David Dumville, (Woodbridge, 1992)
   "England, c.900-1016", Simon Keynes, in The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. II. ed. R. McKitterick, (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
   The Age of Athelstan: Britain's Forgotten History, Paul Hill, (Tempus Publishing, 2004). ISBN 0-7524-2566-8
   On Athelstan and the Welsh:
   
   D.P. Kirby, 'Hywel Dda: Anglophil?', Welsh Historical Review, 8 (1976-7)
   H.R. Loyn, 'Wales and England in the tenth century: the context of the Athelstan Charters', Welsh History Review 10, (1980-1)
   For law in Athelstan's reign:
   
   Patrick Wormald, The Making of English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century, vol. 1, (Blackwell, 1999)
   Simon Keynes, 'Royal government and the written word in late Anglo-Saxon England' in The Uses of Literacy in Early Medieval Europe. ed. R. McKitterick, (Cambridge University Press, 1990)
   Compilations of sources can be found in:
   
   The Laws of the Earliest English Kings, F.L. Attenborough, (Cambridge University Press, 1922)
   English Historical Documents c.500-1042, 2nd ed., D. Whitelock, (Eyre and Spottisoode, 1980)
   
   [edit] References
   ^ Short Athelstan biography on the BBC History website
   ^ a b Æthelstan at archontology.org
   Athelstan at everything2.com
   Athelstan at Encarta
   King Athelstan (924 - 940) at britroyals.com
   Anglosaxon Britain at Britannia.com
   ^ a b everything2.com
   ^ Higham, Kingdom of Northumbria, pp. 186–190; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 339–340; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp.148–151; Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 105 & 107, Ms. D, s.a. 925, 926, Ms. E, F, s.a. 927.
   ^ litencyc.com
   ^ Anderson, Scottish Annals, pp. 66–67; Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p.107, Ms. D, s.a. 926; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 339–340; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp 150–152 & 192–193; Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, pp. 201–202; Miller, "Æthelstan".
   ^ Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 340–341.
   ^ Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 161–165. The previous year had seen the death of Æthelstan's brother Eadwine, perhaps drowned on the king's orders; Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 107, Ms. E, s.a. 933 & note 11; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 355–356. The following year Gofraid died and was succeeded by his son Amlaíb, Constantine's son-in-law; Annals of Ulster, s.a. 934. Finally, the Annals of Clonmacnoise report the death of "Adulf mcEtulfe, king of the North Saxons" in the same year as Æthelstan's campaign; Woolf suggests that this may represent Ealdred, or some other son of Eadulf, ruling in Northumbria.
   ^ Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 107, Ms. D, s.a. 934; Anderson, Scottish Annals, pp. 67–69; Miller, "Æthelstan"; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 342; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 160–166; Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, p. 203.
   ^ Anderson, Early Sources, p. 426; Anderson, Scottish Annals, pp. 67–69; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 166–168; Miller, Sean. "Charter S 426". Anglo-Saxons.net. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.
   ^ Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 166–168; only a part of this charter survives, see "Charter S 1792". Anglo-Saxon Charters Website. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.
   ^ Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 167–168.
   ^ Anderson, Early Sources, pp. 428–429; Annals of Ulster, s.a. 937.
   ^ Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 106–110, Ms. A, s.a. 937; Anderson, Scottish Annals, pp. 69–73; Anderson, Early Sources, p. 429; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, 168–173; Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, pp 203–204; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 342–343; Scragg, "Battle of Brunanburh".
   ^ Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 174; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 356–359; Higham, Kingdom of Northumbria, p. 193; Blair, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 87–89.
   Preceded by
   Edward the Elder
   or
   Ælfweard King of England
   924–939 Succeeded by
   Edmund
   [hide]v • d • eEnglish Monarchs
   
   Monarchs Pre-Conquest Alfred the Great · Edward the Elder · Ælfweard · Athelstan the Glorious¶ · Edmund the Magnificent¶ · Eadred¶ · Eadwig the Fair¶ · Edgar the Peaceable¶ · Edward the Martyr · Ethelred the Unready · Sweyn Forkbeard · Edmund Ironside · Canute the Great¶ · Harold Harefoot · Harthacanute · Edward the Confessor · Harold Godwinson · Edgar the Atheling
   
   Monarchs Post-Conquest William I · William II · Henry I · Stephen · Matilda (disputed) · Henry II with Henry the Young King · Richard I · John† · Henry III† · Edward I† · Edward II† · Edward III† · Richard II† · Henry IV† · Henry V† · Henry VI† · Edward IV† · Edward V† · Richard III† · Henry VII† · Henry VIII† · Edward VI† · Jane† · Mary I† · Elizabeth I† · James I‡ · Charles I‡ · Commonwealth · Charles II‡ · James II‡ · William III‡ with Mary II‡ · William III‡ · Anne‡
   
   ¶Also Overlord of Britain. †Also Lord/Monarch of Ireland. ‡Also Monarch of Scotland and Ireland.

3. Wikipedia, via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athelstan..., December 24, 2008

   Athelstan of England
   From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   (Redirected from Athelstan)
   Jump to: navigation, search
   "Athelstan" redirects here. For other persons of that name, see Athelstan (disambiguation).
   Athelstan
   King of the English
   
   The tomb of King Athelstan in Malmesbury Abbey
   Reign August 2, 924 (or 925 [1]) – October 27, 939
   Predecessor Edward the Elder or Ælfweard
   Successor Edmund
   Father Edward the Elder
   Mother Egwina
   Born 895
   Wessex, England
   Died October 27, 939
   
   Burial Malmesbury Abbey
   Military Service
   Rank 9th
   Athelstan or Æðelstān (c. 895 – October 27, 939), called the Glorious, was the King of England from 924/925 to 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder, and nephew of Ethelfleda (Æðelflæd) of Mercia. Æthelstan's success in securing the submission of Constantine II, King of Scots, at the Treaty of Eamont Bridge in 927 through to the Battle of Brunanburh in 937 led to his claiming the title "King of all Britain".[2] His reign is frequently overlooked, with much focus going to Alfred the Great before him, and Edmund after. However, his reign was of fundamental importance to political developments in the 10th century.
   
   Contents [hide]
   1 Sources
   2 Reign
   2.1 Brunanburh and after
   3 Administration and law
   4 Athelstan and the Welsh
   5 Foreign contacts
   6 Ancestry
   7 See also
   8 External links
   9 Bibliography
   10 References
   
   
   
   [edit] Sources
   The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which is so vocal during the reigns of Alfred and Edward the Elder, falls into relative silence during Athelstan's reign, and what entries survive are retrospective. A few references tell us of his military campaigns, the longest entry being a poem about the Battle of Brunanburh (937), probably composed in his successor Edmund's reign. Other narrative sources from across Europe, though, provide us with more information. The Annals of Flodoard contain several references to Athelstan's dealings with the rulers of west and east Francia, as does the Chronicle of Nantes. William of Malmesbury, however, writing in the early 12th century, provides us with the greatest detail. His work might even draw on a (now lost) Vita Æthelstani, as Michael Wood argues, but caution is called for as this case has yet to be proven and William's account can rarely be verified.
   
   Documentary sources come in the form of charters and laws. Numerous charters exist that tell us about where Athelstan was, who was with him, and to whom he was granting land. Through these it is possible to trace his peregrinations, particularly between 927 and 932 when all diplomas were drafted by the extraordinary scribe known as 'Athelstan A'. We have several law codes attributed to Athelstan; a couple are law codes after the tradition of Alfred and Edward; the others are less 'official', but nonetheless reveal aspects of Athelstan's administration.
   
   Non-written sources are also available. Perhaps most useful are coins, which give Athelstan a title which reveals how widespread he (or rather the minters) felt his reign extended: throughout all Britain. Also of interest are the manuscripts and relics Athelstan collected and donated - many of the former contain notices giving the details of these donations. These particularly shed light on Athelstan's patronage of the cult of St Cuthbert's in Northumbria, to whom he gave two lavish manuscripts containing our earliest surviving English ruler portraits, the Corpus Christi Manuscript.
   
   
   [edit] Reign
   
   Athelstan DCCCCXXV on the modern plinth of the Saxon Coronation Stone, Kingston upon ThamesAthelstan was the son of Edward the Elder, and grandson of Alfred the Great. His father succeeded, after some difficulty, to the Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons formed by Alfred. His aunt, Edward's sister, Æthelflæd, ruled western Mercia on his behalf following the death of her husband, Ealdorman Æthelred. On Æthelflæd's death, Edward was quick to assume control of Mercia, and at the time of his death he directly ruled all the English kingdoms south of the Humber. Athelstan was fostered by his family as 'Half-King' in Mercia, perhaps as a method of encouraging Mercian loyalty to the West Saxon dynasty. On Edward's death, Athelstan immediately became King of Mercia, though it seems to have taken longer for him to be recognised in Wessex where his half-brothers Ælfweard and Edwin had support.
   
   Political alliances seem to have been high on Athelstan's agenda. Only a year after his crowning he married one of his sisters to Sihtric Cáech, the Viking King of Jórvík at Tamworth,[3] who acknowledged Æthelstan as over-king, adopting Christianity. Within the year he may have abandoned his new faith and repudiated his wife, but before Æthelstan and he could fight, Sihtric died suddenly in 927. His kinsman, perhaps brother, Gofraid, who had remained as his deputy in Dublin, came from Ireland to take power in York, but failed. Æthelstan moved quickly, seizing much of Northumbria. This bold move brought the whole of England under one ruler for the first time, although this unity did not become permanent until 954. In less than a decade, the kingdom of the English had become by far the greatest power in the British Isles, perhaps stretching as far north as the Firth of Forth.[4]
   
   Initially the other rulers in Great Britain seem to have submitted to Athelstan at Bamburgh: "first Hywel, King of the West Welsh, and Constantine II, King of Scots, and Owain, King of the people of Gwent, and Ealdred...of Bamburgh" records the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. William of Malmesbury adds that Owain of Strathclyde was also present.[5]
   
   Similar events are recorded along the western marches of Athelstan's domain. According to William of Malmesbury, Athelstan had the kings of the North British (meaning the Welsh) submit to him at Hereford, where he exacted a heavy tribute from them. The reality of his influence in Wales is underlined by the Welsh poem Armes Prydein Fawr, and by the appearance of the Welsh kings as subreguli in the charters of 'Αthelstan A'. Similarly, he drove the West Welsh (meaning the Cornish) out of Exeter, and established the border of Cornwall along the River Tamar.
   
   John of Worcester's chronicle suggests that Æthelstan faced opposition from Constantine, from Owain of Strathclyde, and from the Welsh kings. William of Malmesbury writes that Gofraid, together with Sihtric's young son Olaf Cuaran fled north and received refuge from Constantine, which led to war with Æthelstan. A meeting at Eamont Bridge on 12 July 927 was sealed by an agreement that Constantine, Eógan of Strathclyde, Hywel Dda, and Ealdred would "renounce all idolatry": that is, they would not ally with the Viking kings. William states that Æthelstan stood godfather to a son of Constantine, probably Indulf (Ildulb mac Constantín), during the conference.[6]
   
   Æthelstan followed up his advances in the north by securing the recognition of the Welsh kings.[7] For the next seven years, the record of events in the north is blank. Æthelstan's court was attended by the Welsh kings, but not by Constantine or Eógan of Strathclyde. This absence of record means that Æthelstan's reasons for marching north against Constantine in 934 are unclear.[8]
   
   Æthelstan's campaign is reported by in brief by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and later chroniclers such as John of Worcester, William of Malmesbury, Henry of Huntingdon, and Symeon of Durham add detail to that bald account. Æthelstan's army began gathering at Winchester by 28 May 927, and reached Nottingham by 7 June. He was accompanied by many leaders, including the Welsh kings Hywel Dda, Idwal Foel, and Morgan ab Owain. From Mercia the army went north, stopping at Chester-le-Street, before resuming the march accompanied by a fleet of ships. Eógan of Strathclyde was defeated and Symeon states that the army went as far north as Dunnottar and Fortriu, while the fleet is said to have raided Caithness, by which a much larger area, including Sutherland, is probably intended. It is unlikely that Constantine's personal authority extended so far north, and while the attacks may have been directed at his allies, they may also have been simple looting expeditions.[9]
   
   The Annals of Clonmacnoise state that "the Scottish men compelled [Æthelstan] to return without any great victory", while Henry of Huntingdon claims that the English faced no opposition. A negotiated settlement may have ended matters: according to John of Worcester, a son of Constantine was given as a hostage to Æthelstan and Constantín himself accompanied the English king on his return south.[3] He witnessed a charter with Æthelstan at Buckingham on 13 September 934 in which he is described as subregulus, that is a king acknowledging Æthelstan's overlordship.[10] The following year, Constantine was again in England at Æthelstan's court, this time at Cirencester where he appears as a witness, appearing as the first of several subject kings, followed by Eógan of Strathclyde and Hywel Dda, who subscribed to the diploma.[11] At Christmas of 935, Eógan of Strathclyde was once more at Æthelstan's court along with the Welsh kings, but Constantine was not. His return to England less than two years later would be in very different circumstances.[12]
   
   
   [edit] Brunanburh and after
   Following Constantine's disappearance from Æthelstan's court after 935, there is no further report of him until 937. In that year, together with Eógan of Strathclyde and Olaf Guthfrithson, King of Dublin, Constantine invaded England. The resulting battle of Brunanburh—Dún Brunde—is reported in the Annals of Ulster as follows:
   
   a great battle, lamentable and terrible was cruelly fought...in which fell uncounted thousands of the Northmen. ... And on the other side, a multitude of Saxons fell; but Æthelstan, the king of the Saxons, obtained a great victory.[13]
   
   The battle was remembered in England a generation later as "the Great Battle". When reporting the battle, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle abandons its usual terse style in favour of a heroic poem vaunting the great victory. In this the "hoary" Constantine, by now around 60 years of age, is said to have lost a son in the battle, a claim which the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba confirms. The Annals of Clonmacnoise give his name as Cellach. For all its fame, the site of the battle is uncertain and several sites have been advanced, with Bromborough on the Wirral the most favoured location.[14]
   
   Brunanburh, for all that it had been a famous and bloody battle, settled nothing. On 27 October 939 Æthelstan, "pillar of the dignity of the western world" in the words of the Annals of Ulster, died at Malmesbury. He was succeeded by his brother Edmund the Elder, then aged 18. Æthelstan's empire, seemingly made safe by the victory of Brunanburh, collapsed in little more than a year from his death when Amlaíb returned from Ireland and seized Northumbria and the Mercian Danelaw. Edmund spent the remainder of Constantín's reign rebuilding the empire.[15]
   
   Athelstan is generally regarded as the first king of England and his reign is seen as the first time that kingdoms of England, Wales and Scotland were united under one ruler as "King of all Britain".[2] He achieved considerable military successes over his rivals, including the Vikings, and extended his rule to parts of Wales and Cornwall.
   
   
   [edit] Administration and law
   As Athelstan's kingdom grew it posed new challenges in administration. Towards the end of his reign we hear of another Athelstan, termed 'half-king', who was Ealdorman for much of eastern Mercia and East Anglia. Ian Walker has argued that, as the extent of Athelstan's power grew, the extent of rule of the next level of the aristocracy had to grow too. This points towards an increasing stratification of Anglo-Saxon society, a development that can (possibly) be traced from earliest Anglo-Saxon times right up to the Norman Conquest and beyond.
   
   A relatively large number of law codes have come down to us from Athelstan's reign. To examine each in detail would take too much space here, but two viewpoints summarise the arguments around them. Patrick Wormald, who has argued that written law had little practical use in Anglo-Saxon England, states that there is little homogeneity to the laws, and that the sporadic nature of them indicate little sign of a coherent system based on written law. Simon Keynes has instead argued that there is a pattern to the laws of Athelstan's reign, and that the laws are evidence 'not of any casual attitude towards the publication or recording of the law, but quite the reverse'.
   
   
   [edit] Athelstan and the Welsh
   Athelstan's reign marks a hiatus in sporadic unrest between the English and Welsh kingdoms. According to Asser, a monk from St David's, Dyfed, several kingdoms of Wales submitted (including eventually those ruled by the sons of Rhodri Mawr) to Alfred. No battles between the English and the Welsh are recorded during Athelstan's reign, but charters show Welsh kings attending his court, possibly coming with him on campaign. D.P. Kirby argued that Athelstan was repressing the Welsh kings, keeping them close in order to maintain their loyalty. Yet it is also possible that some Welsh kings, in particular Hywel Dda, were benefiting from this relationship. Hywel may have been influenced by English ideas of kingship - he is the first Welsh king associated with a major Welsh law code, and a coin, minted at Chester, carries his name.
   
   
   [edit] Foreign contacts
   Like those of his predecessors, Athelstan's court was in contact with the rest of Europe. His half-sisters married into European noble families. Ædgyth was married to future Holy Roman Emperor Otto, son of Henry I of Saxony, and another to Egill Skallagrímsson, the subject of the Icelandic Egils Saga. Alan II, Duke of Brittany and Haakon, son of Harald of Norway, were both fostered in Æthelstan’s court, and he provided a home for Louis, the exiled son of Charles the Simple.
   
   Athelstan might have considered his rule in some way imperial: the style basileus is found in his charters, whilst he is the first king to bear the title r[ex] tot[ius] B[ritanniae]. According to William of Malmesbury, relics such as the Sword of Constantine (Emperor of Rome) and the Lance of Charlemagne (first Holy Roman Emperor) came to Athelstan, suggesting that he was in some way being associated with past great rulers.
   
   Although he established many alliances through his family, he had no children of his own.
   
   Athelstan was religious and gave generously to the church in Wessex, and when he died in 939 at Gloucester he was buried at his favourite abbey (Malmesbury) rather than with his family at Winchester. Though his tomb is still there, his body was lost centuries later. There is nothing in the tomb beneath the statue, the relics of the king having been lost in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 by King Henry VIII. The remains may have been destroyed by the King's Commissioners or hidden before the Commissioners arrived to close down the Abbey. In Malmesbury, his name lives on into the 20th and 21st centuries, with everything from a bus company and a second-hand shop to several roads and streets, as well as the Care Home opened in 2008, named after him. His patronage of the abbey, and his gift of freemen status to the town also lives on with the Warden and Freemen of Malmesbury.
   
   He was succeeded by his younger and more famous half-brother, King Edmund of England.
   
   
   [edit] Ancestry
   Ancestors of Athelstan[hide]
   
   
   16. Egbert of Wessex
   
   
   
   8. Æthelwulf of Wessex
   
   
   
   17. Redburga
   
   
   
   4. Alfred the Great
   
   
   
   18. Oslac
   
   
   
   9. Osburga
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   2. Edward the Elder
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   10. Æthelred Mucil
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   5. Ealhswith
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   1. Athelstan
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   3. Ecgwynn
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   [edit] See also
   House of Wessex family tree
   Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
   List of monarchs of England
   Kingdom of England
   Malmesbury, Wiltshire
   
   [edit] External links
   Documentary - The Making of England: King Athelstan
   
   [edit] Bibliography
   Wessex and England from Alfred to Edgar: six essays on political, cultural, and ecclesiastical revival, David Dumville, (Woodbridge, 1992)
   "England, c.900-1016", Simon Keynes, in The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. II. ed. R. McKitterick, (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
   The Age of Athelstan: Britain's Forgotten History, Paul Hill, (Tempus Publishing, 2004). ISBN 0-7524-2566-8
   On Athelstan and the Welsh:
   
   D.P. Kirby, 'Hywel Dda: Anglophil?', Welsh Historical Review, 8 (1976-7)
   H.R. Loyn, 'Wales and England in the tenth century: the context of the Athelstan Charters', Welsh History Review 10, (1980-1)
   For law in Athelstan's reign:
   
   Patrick Wormald, The Making of English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century, vol. 1, (Blackwell, 1999)
   Simon Keynes, 'Royal government and the written word in late Anglo-Saxon England' in The Uses of Literacy in Early Medieval Europe. ed. R. McKitterick, (Cambridge University Press, 1990)
   Compilations of sources can be found in:
   
   The Laws of the Earliest English Kings, F.L. Attenborough, (Cambridge University Press, 1922)
   English Historical Documents c.500-1042, 2nd ed., D. Whitelock, (Eyre and Spottisoode, 1980)
   
   [edit] References
   ^ Short Athelstan biography on the BBC History website
   ^ a b Æthelstan at archontology.org
   Athelstan at everything2.com
   Athelstan at Encarta
   King Athelstan (924 - 940) at britroyals.com
   Anglosaxon Britain at Britannia.com
   ^ a b everything2.com
   ^ Higham, Kingdom of Northumbria, pp. 186–190; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 339–340; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp.148–151; Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 105 & 107, Ms. D, s.a. 925, 926, Ms. E, F, s.a. 927.
   ^ litencyc.com
   ^ Anderson, Scottish Annals, pp. 66–67; Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p.107, Ms. D, s.a. 926; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 339–340; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp 150–152 & 192–193; Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, pp. 201–202; Miller, "Æthelstan".
   ^ Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 340–341.
   ^ Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 161–165. The previous year had seen the death of Æthelstan's brother Eadwine, perhaps drowned on the king's orders; Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 107, Ms. E, s.a. 933 & note 11; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 355–356. The following year Gofraid died and was succeeded by his son Amlaíb, Constantine's son-in-law; Annals of Ulster, s.a. 934. Finally, the Annals of Clonmacnoise report the death of "Adulf mcEtulfe, king of the North Saxons" in the same year as Æthelstan's campaign; Woolf suggests that this may represent Ealdred, or some other son of Eadulf, ruling in Northumbria.
   ^ Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, p. 107, Ms. D, s.a. 934; Anderson, Scottish Annals, pp. 67–69; Miller, "Æthelstan"; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 342; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 160–166; Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, p. 203.
   ^ Anderson, Early Sources, p. 426; Anderson, Scottish Annals, pp. 67–69; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 166–168; Miller, Sean. "Charter S 426". Anglo-Saxons.net. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.
   ^ Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 166–168; only a part of this charter survives, see "Charter S 1792". Anglo-Saxon Charters Website. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.
   ^ Woolf, Pictland to Alba, pp. 167–168.
   ^ Anderson, Early Sources, pp. 428–429; Annals of Ulster, s.a. 937.
   ^ Swanton, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, pp. 106–110, Ms. A, s.a. 937; Anderson, Scottish Annals, pp. 69–73; Anderson, Early Sources, p. 429; Woolf, Pictland to Alba, 168–173; Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men, pp 203–204; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 342–343; Scragg, "Battle of Brunanburh".
   ^ Woolf, Pictland to Alba, p. 174; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 356–359; Higham, Kingdom of Northumbria, p. 193; Blair, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 87–89.
   Preceded by
   Edward the Elder
   or
   Ælfweard King of England
   924–939 Succeeded by
   Edmund
   [hide]v • d • eEnglish Monarchs
   
   Monarchs Pre-Conquest Alfred the Great · Edward the Elder · Ælfweard · Athelstan the Glorious¶ · Edmund the Magnificent¶ · Eadred¶ · Eadwig the Fair¶ · Edgar the Peaceable¶ · Edward the Martyr · Ethelred the Unready · Sweyn Forkbeard · Edmund Ironside · Canute the Great¶ · Harold Harefoot · Harthacanute · Edward the Confessor · Harold Godwinson · Edgar the Atheling
   
   Monarchs Post-Conquest William I · William II · Henry I · Stephen · Matilda (disputed) · Henry II with Henry the Young King · Richard I · John† · Henry III† · Edward I† · Edward II† · Edward III† · Richard II† · Henry IV† · Henry V† · Henry VI† · Edward IV† · Edward V† · Richard III† · Henry VII† · Henry VIII† · Edward VI† · Jane† · Mary I† · Elizabeth I† · James I‡ · Charles I‡ · Commonwealth · Charles II‡ · James II‡ · William III‡ with Mary II‡ · William III‡ · Anne‡
   
   ¶Also Overlord of Britain. †Also Lord/Monarch of Ireland. ‡Also Monarch of Scotland and Ireland.

4. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911 edition, via http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Aethelst..., December 30, 2008

   AETHELSTAN (c. 894-940), Saxon king, was the son (probably illegitimate) of Edward the elder. He had been the favourite of his grandfather Alfred, and was brought up in the household of his aunt Ethelflaed, the "Lady of the Mercians." On the death of his father in 924, at some date after the 12th of November, Ethelstan succeeded him and was crowned at Kingston shortly after. The succession did not, however, take place without opposition. One Elfred, probably a descendant of Ethelred I., formed a plot to seize the king at Winchester; the plot was discovered and Elfred was sent to Rome to defend himself, but died shortly after. The king's own legitimate brother Edwin made no attempt on the throne, but in 933 he was drowned at sea under somewhat mysterious circumstances; the later chroniclers ascribe his death to foul play on the part of the king, but this seems more than doubtful.
   
   One of Ethelstan's first public acts was to hold a conference at Tamworth with Sihtric, the Scandinavian king of Northumbria, and as a result Sihtric received Ethelstan's sister in marriage. In the next year Sihtric died and Ethelstan took over the Northumbrian kingdom. He now received, at Dacre in Cumberland, the submission of all the kings of the island, viz. Howel Dda, king of West Wales, Owen, king of Cumbria, Constantine, king of the Scots, and Ealdred of Bamburgh, and henceforth he calls himself "rex totius Britanniae." About this time (the exact chronology is uncertain) Ethelstan expelled Sihtric's brother Guthfrith, destroyed the Danish fortress at York, received the submission of the Welsh at Hereford, fixing their boundary along the line of the Wye, and drove the Cornishmen west of the Tamar, fortifying Exeter as an English city.
   
   In 934 he invaded Scotland by land and sea, perhaps owing to an alliance between Constantine and Anlaf Sihtricsson. The army advanced as far north as Dunottar, in Kincardineshire, while the navy sailed to Caithness. Simeon of Durham speaks of a submission of Scotland as a result; if it ever took place it was a mere form, for three years later we find a great confederacy formed in Scotland against Ethelstan. This confederacy of 937 was joined by Constantine, king of Scotland, the Welsh of Strathclyde, and the Norwegian chieftains Anlaf Sihtricsson and Anlaf Godfredsson, who, though they came from Ireland, had powerful English connexions. A great battle was fought at Brunanburh (perhaps Brunswark or Birrenswark hill in S.E. Dumfriesshire), in which Ethelstan and his brother Edmund were completely victorious. England had been freed from its greatest danger since the days of the struggle of Alfred against Guthrum. Ethelstan was the first Saxon king who could claim in any real sense to be lord paramount of Britain. In his charters he is continually called "rex totius Britanniae," and he adopts for the first time the Greek title basileus. This was not merely an idle flourish, for some of his charters are signed by Welsh and Scottish kings as subreguli. Further, Ethelstan was the first king to bring England into close touch with continental Europe. By the marriage of his half-sisters he was brought into connexion with the chief royal and princely houses of France and Germany. His sister Eadgifu married Charles the Simple, Eadhild became the wife of Hugh the Great, duke of France, Eadgyth was married to the emperor Otto the Great, and her sister Elfgifu to a petty German prince. Embassies passed between Ethelstan and Harold Fairhair, first king of Norway, with the result that Harold's son Haakon was brought up in England and is known in Scandinavian history as Haakon Adalsteinsf6stri.
   
   Ethelstan died at Gloucester in 940, and was buried at Malmesbury, an abbey which he had munificently endowed during his lifetime. Apparently he was never married, and he certainly had no issue.
   
   A considerable body of law has come down to us in Ethelstan's name. The chief collections are those issued at Grately in Hampshire, at Exeter, at Thunresfeld, and the Judicia civitatis Lundonie. In the last-named one personal touch is found when the king tells the archbishop how grievous it is to put to death persons of twelve winters for stealing. The king secured the raising of the age limit to fifteen.
   
   [edit]Authorities
   Primary: The Saxon Chronicle, sub ann.; William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, i. 141-157, Rolls Series, containing valuable original information (v. Stubbs' Introduction, II. lx.- lxvii.); Birch, Cartul. Saxon. vol. ii. Nos. 641-747; A.S. Laws, (ed. Liebermann), i. 146-183; Ethelweard, Florence of Worcester. Secondary: Saxon Chronicle (ed. Plummer), vol. ii. pp. 132-142; D.N.B., s.v. (A. Mw.)

5. Encyclopedia Britannica, Treatise on, United Kingdom, Ancestry of British Royal House

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