Anglo-Saxons vs Vikings: The Battle That Gave Birth To England

Summary

Podcast Summary: Dan Snow's History Hit

Episode: The Battle of Brunanburh

Release Date: May 21, 2026
Host: Dan Snow
Notable Contributors: Professor Fiona Edmonds, Mike Livingstone

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Overview

In this epic episode, Dan Snow recounts the pivotal Battle of Brunanburh (937 AD), a rarely discussed event that secured the nascent Kingdom of England’s existence against an unprecedented coalition of Scots, Irish, Vikings, and Britons. The episode peels back the tangled history behind the formation of England, taking listeners through layers of invasion, resistance, and evolving identities across the British Isles. Snow blends vivid storytelling, historical insight, and poetic reflection—including first-hand visits to the likely site of the battle on the Wirral Peninsula and readings from Old English poetry—to bring this foundational moment to life.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Fragmented Isles Before England (05:03–13:56)

• Landscape of Power: Britain and Ireland were fragmented into a mosaic of small kingdoms—Kent, Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria, the Welsh principalities, and numerous Irish kingdoms. Constant warfare and competition were the norm.
• Viking Arrivals: The first Viking raids (787–793) spell disaster—priests slaughtered, treasures looted, and local rulers killed or intimidated.
  • Quote: "The crew was ... men from the north ... they killed [the reeve] and they pushed off." (06:28, Dan Snow/Co-narrator)
• The Vikings soon go from raiders to conquerors, seizing York (866), and igniting decades of “near continuous war.” The English kingdom of Wessex remains the main outpost against the Viking advance.

2. Birth of the Idea of England (13:56–19:51)

• Alfred the Great’s Innovations: Alfred survives near-annihilation, rallies the militia (“the third”), and provides the institutional backbone for a new English identity by building “burhs” (fortified towns) and asserting himself as “King of the Angles and Saxons.”
  • Quote: “There weren’t any other English kings around because the Vikings had killed them all. So Alfred is the last English king, sets his stall out to become the first king of the English.” (12:27, Dan Snow)
• Mercia is absorbed into Wessex, and the idea of a unified England emerges.

3. Rise of Athelstan and the Precarious Unity (19:51–22:35)

• Athelstan’s Ascendancy: Following Edward’s death and a suspiciously fast demise of his half-brother, Athelstan becomes the first broadly recognized King of England after being crowned at Kingston—a symbol of Wessex-Mercia union.
  • Quote: “I’m not King of Wessex. I’m not King of Wessex and King of Mercia. I’m King of the Angles and Saxons.” (19:31, Dan Snow)
• Overlord of Britain: Through diplomacy and might, Athelstan compels oaths of loyalty from other rulers on the island, including Constantine of Scotland, and even leads a campaign north into Scotland (934).

4. The Gathering Threat: Anti-English Coalition (26:20–28:04)

• Resentment and Fear: The growing dominance of “England” prompts the rulers of Scotland, Strathclyde, and Irish Vikings to unite despite historical enmity.
  • Quote: “If they would only be inseparable, they would be insuperable.” (26:37, Dan Snow, on the Welsh saying)
  • A period poem fantasizes about “driving the English—‘the shitheads from Thanet, the tormentors of island’—back into the sea.” (27:03)

5. The Battle of Brunanburh: Location, Numbers, and Lead-Up (28:04–36:28)

• Location Debate: Dan visits the Wirral Peninsula, likely site of the battle, emphasizing Viking naming traditions (Bromborough/“Brunburgh”, West Kirby, Thingwall) and medieval environmental context.
  • Quote: “I think that’s as close as we're gonna get.” (31:07)
• Forces Assembled: Estimated 500 ships, perhaps 10,000–25,000 warriors in the coalition, joined by local Viking settlers.
• Description of Preparations: Vivid imagery of multi-ethnic, well-armed warriors gathering, ready to march on Chester with Athelstan’s army moving to block their advance.

6. The Clash of Shield Walls (36:28–39:10)

• Preparation for Battle: Both armies form dense shield walls. Lords and their closest retainers lead from the front, with “shoulders rubbing, men drawing strength from those around them ... Some voided their guts, some drank alcohol to dull the fear.” (37:28–38:15)
• Nature of the Battle: Unlike cavalry or ambushes, this was a brutal, direct infantry collision—“unstoppable iron tipped masses.” (38:22)
  • Quote: “There was no room to swing a sword, certainly no room to send a huge axe through its mighty arch. It was a shoving stamping. It was little jutting thrusts with knives.” (38:59)

7. Aftermath and Sources—What We Know and What We Imagine (40:06–48:21)

• Poetic Legacy: A powerful section of the Old English Brunanburh poem is read, detailing the carnage, the glory of Athelstan and his brother Edmund, and the scale of slaughter.
  • Quote (Old English Poem, 41:07): “This year, King Athelstan, lord of warriors, ring giver to men, and his brother ... won eternal glory in battle.”
    “Flesh and entrails scattered as if it was an abattoir.” (42:19)
• Eyewitness Echoes: Accounts from Viking sagas—especially Snorri Sturluson’s story of Egil Skallagrimsson fighting for Athelstan, losing his brother in battle and being honored by the king with a gold bracelet. Egil composes a song in Athelstan’s hall:
  • Quote: “He addressed Athelstan as Mael’s monarch, God of battle. And that really, that eased the tension.” (48:00)

8. The Consequences and What Might Have Been (48:21–49:57)

• Turning Point: The battle secures England's existence, but only for a time. “Brunanburh did not settle things forever, but it did set England more firmly on its path to the present.” (49:50)
  • Alternate futures are imagined: the Scottish border running south, Vikings ruling the north, Strathclyde dominant, or a vastly weakened England.
  • Quote: “All that was at stake. As the shield walls swayed and buckled and flexed that day—the future was a blank. It was written with every thrust of sword and thud of axe.” (49:08)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the stakes of Brunanburh:
  “It was a field of bodies. Among them, five kings lay dead... 40 years later, the English were still calling it the great battle.” – Dan Snow (03:15)

• On unity and opposition:
  “On the one side...Scots, Welsh, Irish, Vikings. On the other side, a political experiment, fragile, uncertain... England under arguably its first king, Athelstan.” – Dan Snow (04:11)

• On the brutality of shield-wall combat:
  “Shield to shield. The front ranks pressed so close that men could smell the breath of their enemy.” – Dan Snow (38:53)

• On aftermath and loss:
  “Anlaf...may have lost two brothers. Constantine had lost his son, a beloved child, the future of his dynasty.” – Dan Snow (44:15)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:15]—Stakes of the Battle, composition of the adversaries
• [05:03–13:56]—Fragmented British Isles before unification, Viking invasions
• [13:56–19:51]—Alfred's survival, creation of England, Athelstan's rise
• [19:51–22:35]—Athelstan's claim and early reign
• [26:20–28:04]—Anti-English coalition forms
• [28:04–36:28]—Debates and evidence about the battle's location; assembling of armies
• [36:28–39:10]—The battle itself: tactics, shield walls, brutality
• [40:06–42:17]—Poetry on battle’s violence and aftermath
• [43:03–44:06]—Aftermath, pursuit, death of nobles
• [46:09–48:21]—Viking saga accounts, Egil's grief and reward
• [48:53–49:57]—What was at stake and the aftermath in geopolitical terms

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Concluding Thoughts

The Battle of Brunanburh is depicted as a decisive, yet almost forgotten, moment in the making of England. Its victory, secured by Athelstan and his kin, prevents the fledgling English kingdom from being snuffed out at birth. The battle’s memory lingers in poetry, saga, archaeology, and place-names, while Dan Snow’s narration captures both the drama and the historical uncertainty still surrounding the event. The episode invites listeners to see Brunanburh as the crucible that forged “England”—and shaped the British Isles as we know them.

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For questions or further reading, listeners are encouraged to explore Mike Livingstone’s book "Never Greater Slaughter," or visit the ongoing work of the Wirral Archaeological Trust.

Transcript

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[Dan Snow]

it was a field of bodies. Among them, five kings lay dead. A glittering coalition from across the British and Irish Isles and beyond had brought kings and jarls and lords to this corner of England. And here they had died, the rest of the fallen, we're told countless 40 years later, the English were still calling it the great battle.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

It was England's great hardening, the testing

[Dan Snow]

ground, the moment when England could have been snuffed out.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

It was the Battle of Brunanburg.

[Dan Snow]

In this episode of Dan Snows History, I'm going to tell you that story. The story of not only how two armies clashed on that field 1100 years ago, but how they embodied two opposing

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

visions for Britain and Ireland.

[Dan Snow]

On the one side, you've got the Scots, what we might call the Welsh. You've got the Irish, the Vikings. And on the other side, a political experiment, fragile, uncertain, an upstart. England under arguably its first king, Athelstan. I am extremely grateful to the kind and enthusiastic legends of the Wirral Archaeological Trust who introduced me to what they believe is the battlefield. They let me come with them for some metal detecting and some surveying work. Also to Professor Fiona Edmonds, who came with me that wonderful day, and Mike Livingstone, great friend of history, for his fabulous book, Never Greater Slaughter. This is the story of Brunanburgh, Athelstan

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

and the rise of England.

[Dan Snow]

In the early Middle Ages, Britain and

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Ireland was a contested space.

[Dan Snow]

Groups within the isles fought each other and they fought outsiders. In around, let's say 750 AD, there was a patchwork of little states. So if you drew a line across the isles from Dover, you would have the kingdom of Kent. You would go through Wessex, you'd go through the kingdom of Mercia. You'd go into a little mosaic of Welsh statelets like Gwent and Powys and Gwynedd and others. You'd cross to Ireland where there was another collision of competing kingdoms. Meath, Leinster, Connaught, others. And that's just a cross section from sort of east to west. You've also got Cornwall in the south. In the north of Britain, there were lots of other little kingdoms like Anglo Saxon, Northumbria, Strathclyde, which is a British kingdom, Welsh if you like. War was the norm between all of these different statelets. In the later Seven hundreds and the eight hundreds. Well, lucky then, they had the opportunity

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

to fight outsiders too.

[Dan Snow]

In 787, a Reeve, so that's a

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

local government official, he was at, we think he's Portland in Dorset.

[Dan Snow]

He hastened down to the quayside to

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

investigate and presumably try and charge some

[Dan Snow]

tax on an unfamiliar trading ship that had called in. The crew was, well, they were men from the north, and by the way,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

they had no interest in paying any taxes. They had no interest in the writ of the reeve or his king. They killed him and they pushed off.

[Dan Snow]

Three years later, worryingly similar men stormed ashore on the holy isle of Lindisfarne

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

and slaughtered the priests they found there. Bookbindings dripping with jewels were torn from the vellum pages within.

[Dan Snow]

Liturgical implements.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

So you've got your silver chalice and the like. They were thrown into their ships holds by these northmen who couldn't believe their luck. The Vikings had come to the archipelago. They arrived in Scotland a few years later, and then Ireland in the eight hundred thirties. There were waves of them.

[Dan Snow]

At least two groups of Vikings fought each other and many Irish kingdoms. It was Ireland that became the Viking

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

stronghold in the Isles.

[Dan Snow]

Dublin became a thriving Viking town. But they didn't restrict themselves to Ireland. In 865, Vikings sailed round and seized the Isle of Thanet in Kent. Now, that's long been the gateway to England. The Romans had built a massive Triumphal Arch there. St. Augustine of Canterbury arrived there on his mission to the English. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, at this point, it talks about a cabal of Viking

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

brothers, perhaps possibly sons of Ragnar Lothbrok,

[Dan Snow]

Ivar the Boneless, his brother Ubba. Later sources talk about even more brothers. Bjorn Ironside, Sigurd, Snake in his eye, Halfdan. It is possible that these were a mixture of Vikings from Scandinavia and some that had already settled in Ireland.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

We just can't be sure.

[Dan Snow]

The men of Kent, the people of Kent bowed to the inevitable, and they just paid a massive bribe. The Vikings raided the coast before they headed north to East Anglia. There, the king also tried to bribe them, bought them off with a lot of horses. But they didn't go home. For the first time ever, they spent the winter in Britain. They stayed in Thetford. The following spring, a chunk of them swapped their dragon ships for horses and set off to the north, their naval forces moving on a parallel track up the coast. In November 866, they pulled off a real coup. They seized the greatest northern city, York. If it wasn't already clear, this was

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

now a Massive threat.

[Dan Snow]

These Vikings were here to conquer. And from this point on, there would be decades of near continuous war. York would be at the heart of those wars. It was a glittering prize. But neither Viking, nor should I say Anglo Saxon appetites would be sated with that glittering prize.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

They were playing for the highest possible stakes.

[Dan Snow]

So the Northumbrians, the English Northumbrians tried to seize back their capital in 867. But the Vikings defeated them soundly. We hear from a source a year later, Northumbrian King Eller had his back sliced open, his ribcage torn outwards, his

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

lungs pulled out so that he resembled an eagle with bloody wings. From there the Vikings surged onwards, their numbers swollen by fresh recruits from across the sea. Lured by tales of riches as whole

[Dan Snow]

kingdoms fell, the army marched south. They wintered at Notting. Desperate Mercians. So that's the English kingdom of the

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Midlands bribed them to leave.

[Dan Snow]

And they did leave for a year or so, they went back to York to toast their good fortune.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

But they marched south again in 869.

[Dan Snow]

And don't think they'd forgotten East Anglia,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

where they'd intimidated their first English king.

[Dan Snow]

They returned there and they killed him. King Edmund.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

They shot him to death with arrows.

[Dan Snow]

According to later sources, he is buried in Bury St Edmund's. Ivar the Boneless, we think. Then headed to Scotland.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

He successfully besieged Dumbarton, which was capital of the kingdom of Strathclyde, it was called.

[Dan Snow]

In about 870, he filled his ship's hulls with slaves and booty and he

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

sailed back to Ireland.

[Dan Snow]

His brothers, though they stayed in the south. In fact, they crisscrossed east and central England and eventually pushed south, where an

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Anglo Saxon kingdom was still holding out. It was called Wessex.

[Dan Snow]

In 871, Wessex had got a new king.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

His name was Alfred.

[Dan Snow]

He'd been the younger brother of the previous king. But after a series of battles, his

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

big brother had been killed, mortally wounded, we think. Anyway, he died and Alfred took the throne.

[Dan Snow]

Within five or six years of that,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Mercia had fallen to the Vikings.

[Dan Snow]

So Wessex was the only English speaking

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

kingdom left in Britain.

[Dan Snow]

And it wasn't clear if Wessex would survive. In January 878, a small Viking force launched a lightning strike against Alfred himself.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

While he was at Chippenham, he fled

[Dan Snow]

further to a small island in the Somerset marshes.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

And briefly, that island was pretty much Wessex, that was England.

[Dan Snow]

But Wessex was more than just territory.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

It was an idea. And Alfred rolled the dice. He summoned the third.

[Dan Snow]

So that's the able bodied men of

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

the surrounding counties, like we might call them a militia, and they responded.

[Dan Snow]

It was one of the most dramatic

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

moments of English history. Alfred arrives at the prearranged meeting point. He must have been slightly worried there'd be no one there to meet him

[Dan Snow]

because he knew that local lords, well, they make their accommodations with the Vikings, they try and save their own skin,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

their own property, so maybe no one's

[Dan Snow]

going to show up.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Instead, as he got there, he found an army. Alfred's in the game.

[Dan Snow]

That army went on to fight the Vikings at a place called Ethandon. We think it might be Eddington and Wiltshire.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

It's a win, it's a crushing victory.

[Dan Snow]

The Viking king, Guthrum, he retreats to Chippenham. There's a siege. Guthrum submits, he surrenders, he agrees to become a Christian, he agrees to leave Wessex and then even more so that there's a treaty between Guthrum and Alfred and they draw a line from the north of London to, to Chester. Everything south and west of that line was Alfred's sphere of influence. Now, Alfred is very cunning at this point, very cunning indeed. There's a rebrand, he extended his power over this area, but not as the King of Wessex, but as the king of the Angles and Saxons, as king of the English. There weren't any other English kings around because the Vikings had killed them all. So Alfred is the last English king, sets his stall out to become the first king of the English. And Alfred didn't just talk about a new kingdom, he really built one.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

He constructed a series of burrs around the kingdom.

[Dan Snow]

So those are fortified towns and they're garrisoned with a standing force, they're properly protected. That was all paid for by a sophisticated system of taxation. And it meant that the English were more able to effectively respond to a large Viking raid, say on Kent in the mid-890s. Now, across the other side of that line, in Viking territory to the east and north of that line, well, the Vikings were not unified at all.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

They were a quarrel of competing earls.

[Dan Snow]

Alfred died in 899. His oldest son Edward succeeded him. Edward himself had a son of around five years old.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

His name was Athelstan. And just before Alfred had died, he presented his grandson Aethelstan with a scarlet cloak, a sword belt and a sword. He is saying at that point, this is the future of my royal line.

[Dan Snow]

So meanwhile, in Ireland, the Vikings have been driven out of Dublin by the Irish. This was a tumultuous time, folks. People were up and down, these Irish Vikings have now been scattered across, well,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

much of Europe, really.

[Dan Snow]

So we have accounts of these Vikings

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

battling King Constantine of Scotland in 904.

[Dan Snow]

We have accounts of Vikings landing in Lancashire. Some tried to capture the Isle of Anglesey off the northwest coast of Wales. But rebuffed by the Welsh, that band of Vikings sails along the coast till it arrives near Chester in what had

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

been the kingdom of Mercia.

[Dan Snow]

Now, Mercia was being ruled by Alfred's daughter, Aethelflad. She was married to someone described not as the King of Mercia, but as a Lord of Mercia.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

So look, clearly what's happened here is that Wessex has conquered Mercia under this exciting new banner of Englishness.

[Dan Snow]

Alfred's daughter is calling the shots there.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

She's fortified Chester, which had briefly fallen to the Vikings in 893.

[Dan Snow]

Now, importantly, the new King of Wessex, Edward, he sent his oldest son, Athelstan to live with his aunt Aethelsd. He wants her to be educated by her, he wants his sister to introduce his son to the battlefield. Edward himself had remarried, he had lots of new kids.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

And it's possible his new wife wanted his son Athelstan away from his father's gaze. And perhaps she wanted her own children on the throne one day, we're not certain.

[Dan Snow]

Aethelflaad, for her part, she conquered territory, she pushed back the Vikings. But she does seem to have let this little band of Vikings settle on the Wirral Peninsula between the rivers Mersey

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

and the River Dee.

[Dan Snow]

We can see it. Some of the place names, West Kirby,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

for example, is a classic Viking place name. It's still there to this day.

[Dan Snow]

In nine hundred and nine, Aethelflaad and her brother King Edward, launched a raid into the Midlands. In retaliation, the Vikings gathered up a huge fleet and sailed up their rear up the River Severn. But the English Burhs, the English forts, held and Aethelflaad and Edward caught the Viking force near Wolverhampton.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

The Midlands, vast number of the Vikings

[Dan Snow]

were slain, kings were slain, including the rulers of Northumbria. The local English were able to re establish English control in Northumbria, in that northern kingdom. And the English realised the key to

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

holding back the Vikings is building these defensive towns.

[Dan Snow]

So there's a massive expansion of burr building in the next few years into Essex, into East Angier, parts of the East Midlands. You can just watch England expanding, that

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

is Englishness expanding across Britain at the

[Dan Snow]

same time while that process is going on.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

In 917, the Vikings stormed back into Dublin.

[Dan Snow]

Men called Ragnall and Sitric.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

We think they're grandsons of Ivar the Boneless.

[Dan Snow]

They came back to Ireland in force. Ragnall hit Waterford on the southeast coast.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Sitric reclaimed Dublin in the east.

[Dan Snow]

A brutal battle followed, and the Irish

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

were left with catastrophic losses.

[Dan Snow]

Buoyed up by this, Ragnall decides to invade England once more. He decides to invade Northumbria once more.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Re establish Viking control of Northumbria.

[Dan Snow]

The English once again kicked out. They were deposed. The King of the Scots, who'd marched down to deal with the Vikings, to help deal with the Vikings, he was defeated.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Northumbria, with its capital of York, once again, Vikings.

[Dan Snow]

So, as you can see, the political complexion of the Isles is just veering this way and that.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

It's all up for grabs.

[Dan Snow]

In June 918, Aethelflad died at the height of her power, her brother, King Edward of Wessex, swiftly steps in. He removes Aethelflaed's daughter from rule and installs his own son, remember his own son, Athelstan, as Lord of Mercia. Athelstan's grown up there.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

He knows the people.

[Dan Snow]

He might have been a popular choice, but it's clear that Mercia was no longer independent. It had been absorbed into this expanding, expanding empire of Wessex, if you like. And that was fast becoming the Kingdom of England. In July 924, possibly while putting down a rebellion in Chester, Edward himself died.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

He may have been fighting and died as a result of a wound. He left behind this young English kingdom that he and his sister had built on their father's foundations.

[Dan Snow]

Their England controlled nearly all the south of Britain. The Vikings rule Northumbria, the Welsh rule up through Wales and into Strathclyde.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

So that's Cumbria and Glasgow.

[Dan Snow]

Then we've got the Kingdom of the Scots to the north and east of that. This is Edward's legacy, this kingdom of England. Could his son sustain it?

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Could he grow it?

[Dan Snow]

Athelstan was 30 and he was probably

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

with his dad when he died.

[Dan Snow]

Having put down this revolt straight away,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

he had himself hailed as King in Mercia.

[Dan Snow]

But back in Wessex, his younger half

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

brother was proclaimed king.

[Dan Snow]

So this was quite a moment. Was the fragile English union over? Would Wessex and Mercia return to their ancient division?

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

No, they wouldn't. We don't know exactly what happens next, we do not know.

[Dan Snow]

But very sadly and strangely, his younger half brother, who I'm sure Athelstan was very, very close to, accidentally and shockingly died within the month.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Oh, dear.

[Dan Snow]

Never mind. Athelstan persuaded the Wessex nobles to accept him as king and he was crowned in Kingston, which is very symbolic because that is where Wessex meets Mercia.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

It's a symbol of the union of the two realms.

[Dan Snow]

He's crowned right there on the border and that he's saying, these two realms are now indivisible, they're embodied by me,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

and I'm sitting astride this traditional frontier.

[Dan Snow]

I'm not King of Wessex. I'm not King of Wessex and King of Mercia. I'm King of the Angles and Saxons. This was an ambitious claim. It was quite a statement because lots of Angles and Saxons were living in parts of Britain under, well, British or Scottish rulers. This was a maximalist vision.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Other princes in other parts of the archipelago, well, they took notice.

[Dan Snow]

He quickly married his sister to Sitric,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

the Viking ruler of York, hoping that, like his aunt Aethelflaed, she would somehow manage to take over the country.

[Dan Snow]

And luckily, Sitric did indeed die very shortly afterwards. And Athelstan charges up to York, forced

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

the Northumbrians to acknowledge his rule.

[Dan Snow]

So he's managed to take control of Northumbria. And then shortly after that, it seems that he realized the dream of so many past kings. He pulled off the remarkable coup of securing loyalty oaths of all the other rulers on the island, whether they be Vikings, whether they be Welsh, British, whatever

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

they are, whether they be Scots.

[Dan Snow]

So Constantine of Scotland, for example, Eadrid

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

of Bamburgh, who controlled a little slice of Northumbria.

[Dan Snow]

Huelda of Dyoath in Wales, Owain of

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Strathclyde, all of them. It was the 12th of July, 927. And if Athelstan and his propagandists are

[Dan Snow]

to be believed, this was a huge moment. The Anglo Saxons, the English, appeared to be dominant on the island. He's got these oaths of loyalty from everyone else.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

We think he pressured the Welsh to accept his overlordship. He visited Cornwall to enforce his claim there as well.

[Dan Snow]

And certainly Athelstan, friendly sources stress that at this point, he was the overlord of all of Britain, the King of Scotland, his willing subordinate. How willing was clearly up for question, because in 934, Athelstan invaded Scotland. He moved fast.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

His navy shadowed him as he marched up the North Sea coast.

[Dan Snow]

He left Wessex in late May.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

He went north.

[Dan Snow]

Raided campaign. He was back in southern England again by early September.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Pretty impressive.

[Dan Snow]

We don't know how successful he was, other than that the King of the Scots, Constantine, was at his side in

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

England, playing the sort of subservient role as a sub king.

[Dan Snow]

So seems to have worked now, as

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

you'll know from listening to this podcast and watching these videos.

[Dan Snow]

In the medieval period, acknowledging that someone is an overlord is something that kings and princes and earls could actually be quite relaxed about. You swore an oath, you went home

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

and got on with ruling your own lands.

[Dan Snow]

But it doesn't really mean that Athelstan

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

can tax all those subjects up there in Scotland.

[Dan Snow]

He can't settle legal disputes in sort

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

of eastern Scotland or Wales or Galloway.

[Dan Snow]

It doesn't mean he can wander about in Aberdeenshire or in Gwynedd without an army to look after him. But I think it still means something. It's an acknowledgment of raw power, and

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Athelstan was at that moment the most powerful ruler in Britain.

[Dan Snow]

You're listening to Dan Snow's history. We're going to be back after this break. This episode is sponsored by Momentous when did I realize that not getting enough fiber was affecting me more than I thought? It wasn't one big moment, just a gradual sense that things like digestion, energy and focus weren't as consistent as they could be. I tried a few supplements, but most felt pretty one dimensional. Then I switched to Momentous Fiber Plus. It combines multiple types of fiber with prebiotic resistant starch, so it supports gut health more holistically. Since adding it in, things just feel more steady. Nothing dramatic, just better day to day clean ingredients, no junk, even real cinnamon bark. It's simple and easy to stick with, and if your gut's working well, everything else tends to follow. Support your gut health and overall performance with Momentous Fiber plus and get up to 35% off your entire first order at livemomentous.com promo code dansnow that's livemomentous.com promo Code-A N S N O W for up to 35% off livemomentous.com, promo code dan Snow.

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[Dan Snow]

okay, caller one wins courtside seats to tonight's game. What? I won floor seats.

[Knox or Jamie (Podcast Hosts)]

You did?

[Dan Snow]

I've been calling for 13 months. Wait.

[Knox or Jamie (Podcast Hosts)]

Chris.

[Dan Snow]

Yes. I finally did it.

[Knox or Jamie (Podcast Hosts)]

What are you gonna wear?

[Dan Snow]

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[Knox or Jamie (Podcast Hosts)]

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[Dan Snow]

Not a chance.

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[Dan Snow]

All of that meant that the rest

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

of Britain and Ireland now had an English problem.

[Dan Snow]

The English were now threatening to overwhelm

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

the myriad of other states in the islands.

[Dan Snow]

The only way to solve this was to work together. There's a great medieval saying that I've

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

always loved about the Welsh, which is,

[Dan Snow]

if they would only be inseparable, they would be insuperable.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

So if they'd worked together, no one could defeat them.

[Dan Snow]

But the disparate peoples of Britain and Ireland at this point were not inseparable.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

They were definitely separate.

[Dan Snow]

In fact, they all hated each other. But perhaps this was enough of A crisis to bring them together.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

That's a great poem by a Welshman at the time. The great prophecy of Britain.

[Dan Snow]

It fantasizes about driving the English, who it calls the shitheads from Thanet, the tormentors of island.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

It fantasizes about driving them back into the sea. It imagined the people of Wales, the

[Dan Snow]

people of Ireland, of Anglesey, of Scotland, of Cornwall, of Strathclyde, all of them working together. The Saxons will fall as food for wild beasts. There will be floods of blood.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

So at least someone was thinking big.

[Dan Snow]

At least this poet was trying to

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

normalize the idea that all the other

[Dan Snow]

peoples of the isles should put aside their differences and strike at Athelstan and commit genocide. They're at it. And in 937 extraordinarily, the rulers came

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

round to that point of view.

[Dan Snow]

A grand anti English alliance was born. Constantine of Scotland, Owain of Strathclyde, Anlaf Viking king of Dublin.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

They formed a coalition.

[Dan Snow]

Men who'd spat insults at each other

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

over shield walls, suddenly and dramatically decided to fight together.

[Dan Snow]

Former enemies would march shoulder to shoulder

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

to try and strangle a kingdom. We know an invasion of England took place.

[Dan Snow]

We know it climaxed in a truly

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

decisive battle called Brunanburgh. But very annoyingly, we do not know where all that happened.

[Dan Snow]

There is nowhere called Brunanburgh anymore. And even more painfully, there are several different names for the battles in different sources. So we get Brunanburgh from the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, Brun in the Welsh Chronicle, Brunendune Wendune, Brunfeld and the plains of

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Othlin in an old Irish chronicle from some time later.

[Dan Snow]

One chronicler, writing in the mid 1100s,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

so quite a long time later, says

[Dan Snow]

that coalition forces sell up the Humber

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

to do battle in northeast England.

[Dan Snow]

Now I'm enormously skeptical about that suggestion. It is a 900 mile sea journey from Dublin to the Humber in the summer of 937. We know that the Vikings of Ireland,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

who were often at each other's throats,

[Dan Snow]

well, they'd met up, they'd come to an agreement. There may have been violence, there may

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

not have been violence, we're not sure.

[Dan Snow]

The Limerick Vikings were commanded by Olaf, the Dubliners by Anlaf. West met east right in the middle

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

of Ireland at Lockery.

[Dan Snow]

That was, we think, in August. So within eight weeks, Olaf and Anlaf are side by side at the Battle of Brunnabor. So it seems unlikely to me that they sailed all the way around Britain in that time. On the other hand, Dublin to Lancashire is just over 100 miles. That's less than 24 hours with a

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

fresh westerly breeze in your sails.

[Dan Snow]

We know this Viking invasion force was joined by the King of Strathclyde. They were a west coast kingdom of Welsh Britons we can call them. Of course, they could have marched across the entire island, the River Humber. But the idea of them nipping down

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

the coast of Lancashire feels, I think better.

[Dan Snow]

If you ask me, I'm afraid west is best. So the question is where in the west?

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

And this is where we turn our attention to the Wirral Peninsula. I've mentioned this lovely spot before, it sits between England and Wales.

[Dan Snow]

It's a beautiful place, my wife grew

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

up right next to it, so I need to proceed with caution. We still go there a lot at low tide. On the west side there are wide beautiful sandbanks that run out from the shore. I've explored them with my kids as the sun set on a summer's night.

[Dan Snow]

Then I've enjoyed a pint in the

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

pub while my kids continue to explore and get caught by the incoming tide. It's character forming stuff. On the east of the Wirral peninsula

[Dan Snow]

you have the mighty Mersey. You can clearly see the glorious city

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

of Liverpool on the far bank.

[Dan Snow]

But on the Wirral you get the town of Bromborough. It sits about halfway down on the Mersey side. Now in 1611amap of the Wirral was

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

produced and on that map the town of Bromborgh is given a different name. It's called Brunburgh. I think that's as close as we're gonna get.

[Dan Snow]

The Wirral is just a very obvious place to land. It's a perfect place to land if

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

you're attacking from Ireland.

[Dan Snow]

It is an excellent place to meet

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

armies coming down from the north.

[Dan Snow]

It already has a Viking population. Remember I mentioned that little band that

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

were allowed to settle there by Aethelflaad

[Dan Snow]

West Kirby, where in fact we were

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

staying with friends, where the pub is

[Dan Snow]

which I went to, and Greasby next door have the classic suffix B meaning settlement in Norse.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Those are Viking names and those are

[Dan Snow]

very rare in that part of eastern England in the heart of the world. There's even a place called Thingwall, which is Old Norse basically for meeting place. There are things in Iceland, in Norway, in Sweden, in Orkney. You name is the ideal meeting point

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

for Irish Vikings, for the Scots, for

[Dan Snow]

the Strathclydians and for any anti Wessex northerners and for any Welsh if they choose to join more on later it is near Chester, which is really important, linchpin of England. And from Chester there's a big old Roman road running like an arrow into

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

the heart of the Southlands.

[Dan Snow]

Mike Livingstone, veteran of this podcast, Friend, legend, historian.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

He thinks it was here and that's good enough for me.

[Dan Snow]

This is where the alliance fleet beach themselves and its cargo of armor clad

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

warriors disgorged onto beaches.

[Dan Snow]

We think 500 ships is a reasonable bet. Mike Livingstone reckons there might be up to 50 men on each ship. That's a rough place to start and that gives us around 25,000 men. But you also need supplies, you also need non combatants. So you strip out some of those men and replace them with food and weapons. You might end up with a fighting

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

strength of 10,000 or so.

[Dan Snow]

They would have come ashore using little

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

tendrils of water that crept inland the inlets which once crisscrossed this peninsula.

[Dan Snow]

Now, if I have banged on about

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

it once on this podcast, I have banged on about a thousand times.

[Dan Snow]

The coast of England today is almost

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

unrecognizable to what it was in pre modern times.

[Dan Snow]

Vast tracts of land have been drained, they've been reclaimed. The coasts of Hampshire, Sussex, Lincolnshire, Norfolk were all far more higgledy piggledy. There were marshes and wetlands stretching miles inland. There were not straight lines, there weren't sea defences and well kept fields dividing up by neat hedgerows. And that's true of the Wirral peninsula as well. Wallasea at the top end I think was probably an island cut off at

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

high tide where the docks are now, just north of Birkenhead. The flood tide would have surged in.

[Dan Snow]

I thought the flood tide would have surged in just north of the excellent

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

U Boat Museum, which you go and

[Dan Snow]

check out now, in fact, at the point where the ferry across the Mersey

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

sets off for Liverpool.

[Dan Snow]

Wallasey means isle of the foreigners. So because sea means island, like angle sea or port.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Sea and waal is the same root word in English as the Welsh.

[Dan Snow]

So land of the island of the foreigners.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

And we can imagine the Viking ships grounding there, hawsers lashed to trees along the shoreline, perhaps a kedj anchor out

[Dan Snow]

to keep them moored fore and aft.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Men and stores unloading different languages. Men gathered from across the archipelago and beyond. A mass of warriors, weathered faces, forearms scarred from blacksmithing, from fighting men wading to and fro from the ships, carrying bundles of arrows on their shoulders, squealing goats, sheep, pigs, their weapons reasonably similar to each other. Swords for the high status warriors, men with Gold on their arms and at their throats, spears on wooden shafts.

[Dan Snow]

These men would have carried axes that they used to split wood. They had at their waist, the knives

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

they used to carve meat. And these men would be splitting and carving before the campaign was up.

[Dan Snow]

Some men carried the larger axe, a

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

two handed, vicious weapon.

[Dan Snow]

Traditionally a Viking weapon, blows powerful enough

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

to behead a horse.

[Dan Snow]

To our eye, it might have been

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

difficult to differentiate one group from another.

[Dan Snow]

To them, though I'm sure they'd have

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

known a Strathclyde Brit from an Irishman from a Scot to a man of Norse descent.

[Dan Snow]

There would have been little tells.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Hair, body markings, colours, shirt, jewellery.

[Dan Snow]

These were men who would have been as happy fighting one another as fighting English. But this was now and here and

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

their lords had sworn oaths. And so today they would march together.

[Dan Snow]

They would have been greeted by the

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

local inhabitants of Viking origin.

[Dan Snow]

They got themselves together.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

They built fires to warm and dry themselves after their trip across the Irish Sea, voyages from which I have never emerged dry.

[Dan Snow]

They stretched themselves on land for a

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

decent sleep after the uncomfortable snoozes. On and under wooden thwarts.

[Dan Snow]

I imagine pretty quickly they set their eyes on Chester, the great Roman city, the key to northwest England, the gateway to Wales. That was the target. Initially, they advanced some way down the

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

peninsula, but then they paused. Ahead of them was an army blocking the way south.

[Dan Snow]

At its head, England's warrior king, grandson of the mighty Alfred, sired from the line of Cerdic himself, king of kings, overlord of Britain.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Here was Athelstan.

[Dan Snow]

The English had been quick. Athelstan had been able to respond to the threat. A network of messengers, perhaps beacons, had done the job. Aethelstan had been able to gather enough men fast enough to march on the

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Wirral and block off its exit.

[Dan Snow]

Now this is exactly what King Harold would try and do to William the Conqueror at Hastings in 1066. March to the site of the invasion, bottle up the enemy and then hopefully

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

hurl them back into the sea.

[Dan Snow]

I wish we knew more about what happened next. Did Athelstan stride down the length of his line, calling on his men to fight for him as their parents had fought for Edward and Aethelflaad, as their grandfathers had fought for Alfred on the other side.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Did Anlaf promise that his men would seize the golden arm rings of their slaughtered enemies?

[Dan Snow]

Was there a cacophony of exhortation? Viking, Norse, British, English, A babble of languages, different ways of saying the same things?

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

It was a time to conquer. Or die, we can assume. The two sides morphed into massed shield walls, dense bodies of men packed together. I'm sure the higher status men reserved the front rank lords squarely at the front of their households, their younger brothers, their sons around them. Behind them, their followers either paid or owing some obligation. They were offering their own bodies and blood for their land and all their privileges. Shoulders rubbing, men drawing strength from those around them, Steam rising from the scrum of men if it was a morning cold enough with small steps they maintained their cohesion and closed with the enemy. Some men voided their guts, some drank alcohol to dull the fear. Yeah, I wish we knew more.

[Dan Snow]

Some battles begin with an ambush, others

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

with a dashing cavalry strike like Alexander at Gorgamela.

[Dan Snow]

This one probably was very different. This would probably be much more deliberate, direct a collision of unstoppable iron tipped masses of warriors.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Archers shot arrows. They thudded into shields. One or two found gaps and sunk into flesh, shoulders, thighs, feet. The wounded were so packed in by their mates they would have been swept along like flotsam on a river. Eventually the shield walls clashed, shield to shield.

[Dan Snow]

The front ranks pressed so close that

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

men could smell the breath of their enemy. There was no room to swing a

[Dan Snow]

sword, certainly no room to send a

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

huge axe through its mighty arch. It was a shoving stamping. It was little jutting thrusts with knives. I wish we knew more, but we do not.

[Dan Snow]

You're listening to Dan Snow's History. We're going to be back after this break.

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[Dan Snow]

Apro Vecha Los arros de Memorial Day in Los y Compare por Char Broil Performance series. We do have a Brunoburgh poem written in the Old English, preserved in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle. We don't know when it was composed. It makes a point of praising Edmund, who's Athelstan's younger half brother and his successor. So I've always been drawn to the

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Suggestion that it was written in his reign.

[Dan Snow]

So perhaps within 10 years of the battle being fought. But it's really pretty much all we've

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

got, certainly on the English side, and it's far more poetic than me, so it's worth quoting at length.

[Dan Snow]

This year, King Athelstan, lord of warriors, ring giver to men, and his brother, also Prince Edmund, won eternal glory in battle.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

With sword edges around Brunnabor, they split the shield wall.

[Dan Snow]

They hewed battle shields with their hammer beaten blades. The sons of Edward. It was only befitting their noble descent from their ancestors that they should often defend their land. In battle against each hostile people, the enemy perished.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Scots men and seamen fated they fell. The field flowed with the blood of warriors from sun up in the morning when the glorious star glided over the earth, God's bright candle, eternal Lord, Till that noble creation sank to its seat. There lay many a warrior by spears

[Dan Snow]

destroyed, Northern men shot over shield likewise

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Scottish as well, weary war sated. It's pretty epic poetry and I think it does reflect an epic drawn out clash. By evening, the dead were carpeting the ground.

[Dan Snow]

The grass beneath them churned up.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

The ground sodden with blood. Flesh and entrails scattered as if it was an abattoir.

[Dan Snow]

The country folk from around the area

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

joined camp followers in looting the corpses. Metal already being melted down on makeshift forges.

[Dan Snow]

Valuable mail coats being scooped up by new owners.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

The odd arrowhead and broken blade pressed into the soaking ground by careless feet. Clues for later archaeologists.

[Dan Snow]

I'm lucky enough to have spent time with those archaeologists. I've watched as metal detectorists unearth vast

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

amounts of metal from parts of the potential battlefield. Parts of weapons, a coin from exactly the right period. There is still much to be done, but those heroes at Wirral Archaeology are on the case.

[Dan Snow]

While the battlefield was looted, the fighting hadn't finished. Most of the killing, I think in these battles would take place when one side breaks together.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Men are strong, scattered their prey. They're just desperate, tired boys in a foreign land. They're running blind, hunted by swaggering victors. Let's hear from that old English poet again. He says that the West Saxons pushed onwards. All day they pursued the hostile people.

[Dan Snow]

They hewed the fugitives grievously from behind

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

with swords sharp from grinding.

[Dan Snow]

The Mercians did not refuse hard handplay to any warrior who came with anlaf

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

over the sea surge in the bosom of a ship. Those who sought land fated to fight

[Dan Snow]

five lay dead on the battlefield.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Young kings put to sleep by swords

[Dan Snow]

likewise also seven of Anlaf's earls, countless

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

of the army, sailors and Scots. Well, it was a one sided day.

[Dan Snow]

Anlaf and Constantine, the king of the Scots, had survived, but they had been

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

thrashed, they had been humiliated.

[Dan Snow]

They were, says the poet, ashamed in spirit.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

And frankly, they were worse than ashamed. Anlaf, we think, may have lost two brothers. Constantine had lost his son, a beloved child, the future of his dynasty. A double blow, chief among the many burdens of kings.

[Dan Snow]

Owen of Strathclyde.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

The king of Strathclyde. He disappears from the record after the battle. His body may have been one of those left on the field. Let's go back to some of the poetry they left behind to divide the corpses. The dark coated one, the black raven. The horn beaked one, the dust covered one, the white tailed eagle, to enjoy the carrion.

[Dan Snow]

The greedy warhawk and that gray beast,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

the wolf of the wood.

[Dan Snow]

Never greater slaughter was there on this island. Never as many folk felled before this by the sword's edges as those books tell us. Old authorities since here from the east,

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

the Angles and Saxons came ashore. It was a crushing victory. It saved the English project. It had been battle hardened. England emerged stronger. The English feasted.

[Dan Snow]

We get the best impression of what happened after the battle from, weirdly, a Viking saga.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

It's one that I wasn't familiar with before. I went to Iceland the other day to make a documentary for our History Channel.

[Dan Snow]

We visited the house of Snorri Stunason and he is just a huge figure

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

in Iceland, the father of Icelandic literature, really.

[Dan Snow]

He wrote down the sagas. He is the reason that we know about Eric the Red Thor, Odin, the whole Norse worldview. He was writing in the early 1200s, so he's writing a long time later. He could have made it all up, but the consensus among scholars is that

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

it's rooted in history.

[Dan Snow]

He's writing down stories told through long Icelandic winters.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

He is writing down oral traditions. He's gathering up from source material now tragically lost.

[Dan Snow]

And one of his sagas is about Egil Skalmor Grimsson. And what a life this guy had. Born in Iceland, killed another boy with an axe, raiding in the Baltic states. A teenager now, weirdly, he signed up to fight with Aethelstan at Brnabra. Athelstan paid his debts, so men like Egil and his brother Thorolf were happy to fight for him. And we hear that Egil chased down the fleeing enemy. He hacked down men in the shallows. They leapt aboard passing boats. He was tall, He Was thick set. He was a lord of war. But he returned to the battlefield to

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

find that his brother Thorolf had been killed. The saga says that he grieved his stout hearted, noble brother. He buried him with his sword and gold in the ground under a pile of rocks.

[Dan Snow]

And then he went off to find Athelstan. The king was with his army. They were feasting, they were drinking.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

It was a wild group.

[Dan Snow]

They were happy to be alive.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

They were trying to blot out what they'd been through.

[Dan Snow]

Egil walks in a place of honour was made for him near the king. But Egil did not take off his

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

battered helmet or his mail slick with blood, filth and the soil into which he just laid.

[Dan Snow]

His brother, overwhelmed with a sorrow worse than death.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Pang he was. The hall fell silent. Athelstan looked up and without speaking, he took off one of his golden arm rings. He walked down to Egil and he placed it on his sword and he held it out to Egil through the fire. Egil accepted.

[Dan Snow]

And then, like all good Vikings, he composed a song right there on the spot in front of that throng. He addressed Athelstan as Mael's monarch, God of battle. And that really, that eased the tension.

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

Egil removed his helmet and joined the feast.

[Dan Snow]

Aethelstan later brought in two chests of

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

silver in payment, which I can imagine further cheered him up.

[Dan Snow]

Sometime after, Egil described Athelstan as lavish of gold kin. Glorious, great Aethelstan victorious. Well, those are the best glimpses that

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

we have of that great battle. It is a milestone in the long and twisting and dramatic story of Britain and Ireland on that field. On that day, 1100 years ago, the complex ethnic and national identities of these islands were hammered out, literally hammered and hacked out. The lords of the north and the west came together, united by their fear and loathing for the man who ruled the east and the south. A different Britain was very possible that day. We could imagine a Scotland that runs

[Dan Snow]

down to the T's Vikings ruling over all the Viking territory given to them

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

in their deal between Alfred and Guthrum.

[Dan Snow]

We can imagine a kingdom of Strathclyde, secure right the way down to Morecambe Bay. We can imagine the Welsh pushing east

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

into a weakened England. All that was at stake. As the shield walls swayed and buckled and flexed that day, the future was a blank. It was written with every thrust of sword and thud of axe. Nothing in this archipelago is straightforward now,

[Dan Snow]

as it happens, Athelstan died two years later and the Vikings did seize the opportunity to return. Anlaf seized York. He and other Vikings grabbed back swathes of eastern England. But the tide would turn again, and England would resume its march. It would continue on that trajectory set

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

by Alfred and his heirs.

[Dan Snow]

Brnabur did not settle things forever, but it did set England more firmly on

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

its path to the present.

[Dan Snow]

A grand coalition had tried to throttle

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

England in its adolescence, and it had failed.

[Dan Snow]

Well, folks, I hope you enjoyed it. That's a remarkable story, and it's one that's so important to understanding how England

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

and the British and Irish Isles were forged.

[Dan Snow]

And yet it isn't nearly as well

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

known as it should be.

[Dan Snow]

So I hope that episode has closed the gap, and feel free to send

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

it to someone that you know would enjoy it.

[Dan Snow]

Thanks for listening, folks. Don't forget to hit Follow or leave a review for more explainers like this on Dan Snow's history Wherever you get

[Co-narrator or Historian Guest]

your podcast, see you next time.

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[Dan Snow]

banks of the Thames, it's 1666 and the city is a towering inferno in front of you. The Great Fire rages through the Stuart Capital. If you're visiting London this summer, let me Dan Snow, historian and born and raised Londoner, be your personal guide in a brand new series of audio walking tours from history hit. I tell you the stories of where some of England's most explosive history happened. We'll follow the destructive path of the Great Fire of London and explore where and how King Charles I met his grisly end. All you need is your smartphone and the Voice Map app. Using your location, it triggers the story automatically so you can keep your phone in your pocket and your eyes on the history as you walk. Step into London's past. Download VoiceMap from your app store or go to VoiceMap Me Historyhit. That's VoiceMap MeHistoryhit. Have you been enjoying my podcast and now want even more history? Sign up to history and watch the world's best history documentaries on subjects like how William conquered England, what it was like to live in the Georgian era, and you can even hear the voice of Richard iii. We've got hundreds of hours of original documentaries, plus new releases every week, and there's always something more to discover. Sign up to join us in historic locations around the world and explore the past. Just visit historyit.com subscribe tribe.