Everything about Athelstan Of England totally explained
Athelstan or
Æþelstān (
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 (
Æthelflæd) of
Mercia. Æthelstan's success in securing the submission of
Constantine II,
King of Scots, in
927 through to the
Battle of Brunanburh in
937 led to his claiming the title "King of all
Britain". 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.
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's 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.
Reign
Athelstan 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, 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 didn't become permanent until
954. In less than a decade, the kingdom of the English had become by far the greatest power in Britain and Ireland, perhaps stretching as far north as the
Firth of Forth.
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.
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 wouldn't ally with the Viking kings. William states that Æthelstan stood godfather to a son of Constantine, probably
Indulf (Ildulb mac Constantín), during the conference.
Æthelstan followed up his advances in the north by securing the recognition of the Welsh kings. 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.
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.
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. 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. 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.
Brunanburh and after
Following
Constantine's disappearance from Æthelstan's court after 935, there's 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.
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.
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.
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".
He achieved considerable military successes over his rivals, including the
vikings, and extended his rule to parts of
Wales and
Cornwall.
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's 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's 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'.
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's 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's the first Welsh king associated with a major
Welsh law code, and a coin, minted at
Chester, carries his name.
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's 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'd 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 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.
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