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- [00:01]
Matt Lewis
Hello, I'm Matt Lewis.
- [00:03]
David Woodman
And I'm Dr. Eleanor Jaenega and we're.
- [00:05]
Matt Lewis
Just popping up here to tell you some insider info.
- [00:08]
David Woodman
If you would like to listen to Gone Medieval ad free and get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to.
- [00:14]
Matt Lewis
History Hit with the History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries such as my new.
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David Woodman
Series on everyone's favorite conquerors, the Normans.
- [00:25]
Matt Lewis
Or my recent exploration of the castles that made Britain.
- [00:29]
David Woodman
There's a new release to enjoy every week.
- [00:32]
Matt Lewis
Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com subscribe or find the link in the show notes for this episode.
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David Woodman
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- [02:29]
Matt Lewis
Hello, I'm Matt Lewis. Welcome to Gone Medieval. From History Hit, the podcast that delves into the greatest millennium in human history. We've got the most intriguing mysteries, the gobsmacking details and and latest groundbreaking research. From the Vikings to the printing press, from Kings to Popes to the Crusades, we cross centuries and Continents to delve into rebellions, plots and murders, to find the stories, big and small, that tell us how we got here, find out who we really were with Gone Medieval. Welcome to this episode of Gone Medieval. I'm Matt Lewis. We all know Vikings are cool, but the Anglo Saxons are getting their moment to shine too. Amongst the Anglo Saxon kings in Britain, Alfred probably attracts the most attention and gets remembered as the Great. Quite rightly, others have been given cool names too, from Edmund Ironside to Edgar the peaceable. One king slips easily through the net, though, and he shouldn't. Athelstan is important in a number of ways, not least for being the first monarch to unite a geographical area that we would recognize as something like England and to call himself King of the English. Here at Gone Medieval, we stan Athelstan. And so when a new biography of him is being released, it's all the excuse that we need to talk about him some more. I'm delighted to be joined by David Woodman, whose new book is the First King of England, Athelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom. Welcome to God Medieval David.
- [04:09]
David Woodman
Hi, Matt. Thanks very much for having me.
- [04:11]
Matt Lewis
It's fantastic to have you with us. Athelstan is a personal favourite and a bit of a favourite, I think, of our listeners too, so I'm really keen to get into the depths of his story with you. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and learning a lot more about him. So I can't wait to pick your brains and find out a bit more about Athelstan. I wondered if you could just introduce him to us a little bit in terms of kind of when is he born and who are his parents?
- [04:35]
David Woodman
Yeah, absolutely. So we think that Athelstan was born in the mid-890s, so round about the year 894. He's the eldest son of a man called Edward the Elder and his first wife. He went on to be married three times, but his first wife, who was a lady called Edgwyn, and he was also the grandson of Alfred the great. And in 894, at the time that Athelstan is born, Alfred is still on the throne and he will rule until. Until the 899.
- [05:03]
Matt Lewis
It's a pretty impressive pedigree. Lots of pressure to be born into there. Grandson of Alfred the Great.
- [05:08]
David Woodman
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, he would have been known by the term an Atheling, somebody who was throne worthy, broadly speaking, kind of a prince in modern parlance. And so there would have been a degree of expectation, you know, that he was someone who could come to the throne in due course.
- [05:21]
Matt Lewis
And what is the political context into which he's born? I guess when we're talking about Alfred's reign, we're talking about the fight back against the Danes and the Vikings, aren't we?
- [05:31]
David Woodman
Yeah, exactly that. I mean, it's a very, very difficult political context into which Athelstan is born. So the English kingdoms and England is itself politically complex, divided into a number of independent kingdoms. Places like Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, Northumbria, they are beset by Viking raids of various kinds. From the mid-860s onwards, there's been a degree of Viking settlement in East Anglia, into the East Midlands, into Northumbria, especially at York and at hinterland. And that's the context in which Athelstan is born. So really diffic in terms of internal politics, but also in terms of Viking aggression, that Alfred is constantly having to deal with waves of Viking attacks coming from a force known as the Great Heathen Army. So the Great Heathen army of Vikings. So definitely a difficult scene for Afghanistan.
- [06:18]
Matt Lewis
And how much do we know about his youth and his upbringing? I mean, he's obviously born into a situation where he's the oldest son of the heir to the throne. That must put him in a position of some importance. What do we know about him growing up?
- [06:30]
David Woodman
Yeah, very much so. So certainly at the beginning he was in a position of importance. I guess by the time that Edward goes on to marry his second wife, Elflad, and then his third wife, Eaddeafu, then Athelstan's importance is diminished somewhat. And in fact, Edward has a number of other sons and daughters with both of those subsequent wives. So as that progresses, Aethelstan becomes, you know, slightly on the margins, if you like. And one way in which we see that is that he's sent. We think that he's sent from the West Saxon royal court up to Mercia to the court of his aunt, a lady called Aethelflaad, and her husband, Aethelred, where he's brought up separately to the West Saxon court. So he's sent away at quite an early stage in his life, and we think that he's subsequently brought up in Mercia instead.
- [07:14]
Matt Lewis
You definitely get an impression that this isn't a blended family that is working, that, you know, his stepmoms aren't keen to particularly have him around and are jealous of his position as potentially, you know, his. His father's oldest son and natural heir.
- [07:29]
David Woodman
Yeah, no, absolutely. And, you know, I guess I think that that Mercian upbringing would have been very formative for Athelstan. And in fact, there are various ways later, as we'll see, you know, maybe we'll talk about later in his reign that that comes to play where we see him sort of having a. I guess in some ways it's a positive thing. He has a better understanding of what it means to be Mercian, what it means to have a view from outside of Wessex itself. And you see that the sort of Mercia, the Midlands and the north become a real priority for Athelstan as part of his kingship.
- [07:58]
Matt Lewis
And I guess that positioning at Mercia puts him much more on the frontier of the fight back as well. You know, Wessex is definitely involved in this. You know, his father will become involved in fighting back, but his aunt is as well. And in Mercia, he's much kind of closer to that frontier. And it's perhaps a much more real thing for him growing up than it might have been if he was in Wessex.
- [08:18]
David Woodman
Yeah, it's a really, really good observation. That's exactly the case. So his aunt Aethelfla, she's an extraordinary figure. I mean, it's very unusual for a woman to have such prominence in our sources from the early 10th century, but she really does. We think that it's partly because she was such an incredible leader in her own right. So there's a sequence of annals embedded in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, which is the main contemporary narrative source, which talk about the actions that she and her husband Aethelred were taking in trying to reclaim bits of the Midlands, bits that had been settled by. By the Vikings, that have undergone a degree of Scandinavian settlement. And they're really trying to win back these places from Viking hands. And they do it in a number of ways. One, of course, is military aggression. Another is the building of fortified strongholds, things known as burhs. And they implant this extraordinary network of burrs in key strategic areas across the Midlands, on Roman roads, on rivers. They're clearly trying to block the passage of Vikings who were known for these sort of snatch and grab raids, quickly appearing, then quickly disappearing and devastating a neighbourhood. So, you know, Athelstan, he's growing up, he's on the frontier, as you said, Matt, but he's also, he's witnessing this extraordinary leadership, this, this very strategic vision of Aethelflad and her husband, of the ways in which they can compete against the Vikings. So really a formative period of his life.
- [09:33]
Matt Lewis
I wonder if you could talk us through a little bit. And it's complicated how Athelstan becomes king at one point, but, you know, his father becomes King Edward the Elder, and when his father dies, it's quite a mess. What happens, isn't it? How much clarity do we have about what happens in the order in which those events take place?
- [09:53]
David Woodman
Yeah, not a huge amount. So we have very brief laconic entries in a number of our sources. Again, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle is one. We have a manuscript from Winchester called the New Minster Libavitae, which has some details about what happened after the death of Edward the Elder. So, broadly speaking, Edward dies in 94. And the Anglo Saxon Chronicle just tells us basically, that Athelstan takes over. It really doesn't go into too much detail, but the Libavitae, this New Minster manuscript that I mentioned, talks about the fact that Athelstan's half brother, Elfwayard, a man called Elfwayard, he had actually become king, that he was crowned as well. And what emerges from further scrutiny is that there seems to have been a period of joint rule somehow, that maybe that Aethelstan was recognised by those in Mercia, which makes sense, given that's where he'd been brought up. And at the same time that Elfriage was recognised as king in West. And that kind of fracturing along kingdom lines is something that you might expect given the kingdom of the Anglo Saxons, which was mercy. Broadly speaking, Mercia and Wessex had only recently been joined together. So, yes, we think a degree of Shelu. As it happens, Alfea died only a few weeks afterwards. So the point was moot anyway, because Athelstan then becomes the sole king and takes over both in Wessex and in Mersey.
- [11:08]
Matt Lewis
It's an interesting what if, isn't it? We could have ended up with reverting to kind of two kingdoms. And I guess at this point, Athelstan's presence and his experience in Mercia and the fact that Mercia knows Athelstan maybe smooths his accession there, but maybe makes Wessex a little bit wary of him and more willing to accept his half brother.
- [11:28]
David Woodman
Absolutely. And in fact, there is extraordinary evidence, you know, as you say, Aethelstan is this West Saxon Atheling, this person who was, you know, at one point considered for the throne. And yet from Wessex we see a degree of hostility emerging in our sources. So I know that the Bishop of Winchester, a man called Frithurstan, was violently opposed to Athelstan. And in fact, there are rumours in the early 12th century. And in the early 12th century, we have a historian called William of Malmesbury, who's writing an important account about Athelstan's reign, he talks about rumours about a plot to have Athelstan blinded. So this plot that was taking place again in Winchester. So, yes, I think on the one hand, Athelstan benefits from this Mercian background in that he has a good experience of what it means to be part of a neighboring kingdom. But on the other hand, it means that there's a degree of antipathy towards Athelstan from Wessex as well.
- [12:19]
Matt Lewis
And blinding is quite a powerful political tool at this point, isn't it? If you blind someone, they can't really become accepted as king at that point.
- [12:27]
David Woodman
Yeah, exactly. So it would have meant that they were physically unable to fulfill their functions in the office of king and it would have effectively ruled him out from being kingdom.
- [12:37]
Matt Lewis
So we've got Athelstan then in his. Probably in his late 20s, maybe around about 28, becoming kind of King of Mercia and then sort of slipping his way into Wessex as well and sort of reuniting that kingdom that his grandfather and his father had ruled. Do we see him at this point in 924, committed to pursuing the work of his father and his aunt in pushing back against the Danes even further?
- [13:03]
David Woodman
Yeah, it's very hard, actually to piece together the first few years of his reign, I think. Absolutely. He was very aware of the importance of the north and the Midlands. An early event is that he seems quite quickly to have recognised that, of course the Vikings who were settled in York were going to be very fundamental in the success of his reign. He had to get them on good terms or to deal with them in some way to make sure that there was peace within English territory. So in 926, one of the things we see happening is that he arranges a marriage between his full sister, whose name we don't know, and the then Viking king in York, who was a man called Sitrich. So that happens in 96 on an occasion in Mercia, in Tamworth. Yeah.
- [13:44]
Matt Lewis
I think you make the point in the book that it's quite significant where that meeting takes place, isn't it?
- [13:48]
David Woodman
Very significant. And it's a bit difficult to work out exactly the dynamics at play. I mean, both people are listed as kings in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle when this episode takes place. For me, the fact that it's happening in Mercian temitary, not just anywhere in Mercia, in Tamworth, a place that has, you know, had a burr, it's had lots of recent experience of. Of mercy and refortification, would have sent a powerful message about, I guess, athelstan's upper hand in those dealings, the fact that he was the one, he was the premier king, if you like, he was bringing Sitric to his territory and arranging for this marriage alliance to take place. The possible doubt there is that because Sitric is recognized as a king, obviously he's a powerful person in his own right, and there's some evidence that he's able to mint coins in his name beyond the territory of Northumbria. So although he's king in Northumbria, there are some coins from the East Midlands that are minted at this point in Sitric's name. So it's a little bit difficult to tell, but for my money, it's. Athelstan is the sort of holding the upper hand in those negotiations.
- [14:43]
Matt Lewis
Yeah, it's one of those tents. Like, if you were watching the body language, this would be the moment where they appear to be equal. But Athelstan is the one who is slightly asserting himself in that situation by having Citric come to him rather than meeting on neutral territory or going to Sitrich.
- [14:59]
David Woodman
Yeah, exactly. And I also think early medieval marriages of this kind, they would have been very public affairs involving lots of witnesses. There would have been reports taken down, probably disseminated to different parts of the kingdom, so that people were up to, stated about what was going on. So there was a public ritual involved, I guess, as well, a dynamic there, a real showing, an indication of the supremacy of Athelstan at that moment.
- [15:19]
Matt Lewis
I guess the fact that Athelstan is also marrying his full sister to Sitric gives us an idea that he's maybe building in a sort of an Anglo Saxon element of the Danish rule. So, you know, his nephew might be the next king of York and he might be slightly more sympathetic to Anglo Saxons than he is to Danes.
- [15:38]
David Woodman
Absolutely, yeah. It's a very important point to make, actually, particularly because for generations, by this point, from the mid-860s onwards, really, a number of Vikings who had power in Dublin, in the Viking stronghold in Dublin on the east coast of Ireland, had been coming over from Dublin to York and succeeding there as kings in their own right. So there seems to have been a sort of pattern of Vikings traveling, as I say, from Ireland across to Northumbria. So this was an important way for Athelstan, as you say, to try and interrupt that pattern of Viking rule at York if he could, and put someone there who would be more amenable to Athelstan in the future.
- [16:12]
Matt Lewis
And one of the interesting things that we see Athelstan begin to do is maybe consider Something close to what we might think of as a foreign policy, in that he begins to marry his half sisters off to significant people on the continent. So, first of all, we have Ealdhild married to Hugh the Great, who is the Duke of the Franks. I mean, that's a fairly significant move for an Anglo Saxon king at this point, isn't it? They're not normally marrying into significant families on the continent.
- [16:35]
David Woodman
No, absolutely not. I mean, we have had examples in the past before this, of Anglo Saxon kings marrying various European figures, but there's nobody who's exerted such a concerted policy of doing so. And so, as you say, a number of his half sisters are married off into European ruling houses. So you mentioned Eadhild marrying Hugh the Great. We also have his other half sister, Eaddefou, marrying Charles the Simple, King of the West Franks, and Eadgyd who marries Otto I, King of the East Franks, who later becomes an emperor. So it begins to look like there's some policy, certainly on Athelstan's part, that it's very important for him to make sure that his sisters, his royal house, is well connected into contemporary Europe. And actually, he's one of the first early medieval kings that we see having a real influence on the way the evolution of European politics. So Europe itself is fascinating at this point in the early 10th century. It's fragmenting politically. There's lots of opportunities there for powerful people, people like Hugh the Great, who was one of the most powerful nobles of his day, to assert themselves as kings in their own right. And so amid this turbulence of politics, it was, you know, it was very striking that Athelstan, you know, one of his half sisters, is always kind of there. You know, they're there ready to take advantage of it. So, yes, it's a very important part of his. Of his reign.
- [17:47]
Matt Lewis
Yeah. Do we get any sense whether this is a positive thing by Athelstan in terms of increasing the prestige of his crown as king of the Anglo Saxons, or is this a more of a defensive thing? Does this relate to his efforts against the Vikings? Is what I'm getting at? Is this. Is this an effort to draw in allies who would help him to push back and create sort of a. A Western European Christian alliance against the Vikings that he can harness in his own kingdom?
- [18:13]
David Woodman
Yeah, I think it's probably both, is the answer, Matt. I think it's probably both there that there's a degree of power politics, that he's someone who is now going to be recognized at a European level. And that sent potent messages to other kings in Britain too. I mean, that's a very important aspect of Athelstan's reign. He's someone who's trying to say that he's not always just King of the English, he can be King of Britain as well. So there's a powerful message for people in Britain here that he's somebody not to be messed with, I guess that he's powerful on a European stage. So that's definitely one aspect of it. But I think you're absolutely right that since the reign of his grandfather, Alfred the Great, those at the centre of things in the West Saxon court, they were very conscious of what was going on with Vikings in Europe, in northwestern Europe, they were keeping track of Viking movements there, trying to see what was going on in the northwest, in Brittany, in the Loire Valley. So lots of records of the Viking raids. And we do see Athelstan forming links with the rulers of those areas, and Brittany is one in particular. And I think that's absolutely the case, that it was a way of sort of defending the kingdom against potential Viking raids in the future.
- [19:14]
Matt Lewis
Yeah, yeah. And it will only be kind of a few years into Athelstan's reign that he will take the step that we perhaps remember him best for the most significant moment in his life and a major milestone in the formation of what will become the kingdom of England. How do we get to the point in 927 in which Athelstan makes this big grab? Is it purely opportunistic or is it the result of some longer standing plan?
- [19:40]
David Woodman
The broad outline of what happens Is that so. 96, we saw that Athelstan had married his sister to Sir Sitric in York. Only a year later, in 97, Sitric dies. And Athelstan receives word of this. And he clearly acts very, very quickly. He marches north, he takes York. Contemporary sources don't give us much detail about what actually happened there, but William and Malmsby, again writing in the early 12th century, he talks about the fact that Athelstan had to raze the Viking fortress there to the ground. So it looks like there was a military expedition of some kind which led to him gaining authority over York. And then after taking York, Athelstan marches further north to a place called Eamont Bridge, where He arrives by the 12th of July in 927. And an extraordinary ceremony unfolds, during which various different kings of Wales, two kings from Wales, one king from Scotland and a ruler from Northumbria, and also, we think, from Strathclyd and Cumbria. Sort of northwestern kingdom, all agree to recognize basically the supremacy of Athelstan that day. And these events, this moment in 927, this is the time that England is born. England of a recognisable geographical and political shape first comes to the fore. And it's an extraordinary moment in our history. And Athelstan, from this moment onwards is rebranded as the Rex Anglorum, in Latin, the King of the English. And it's a title that he doesn't abandon for the rest of his reign. So, yes, very, very important. What's going on in 927?
- [21:07]
Matt Lewis
Yeah, I want to come back to the title King of the English for a moment, but before we get to that, I just wanted to have a little word about Citric and what happens in York in that. Maybe it's my cynical mind, but I'm thinking Athelstan has married his sister, and conveniently, a year later, Sitric dies, and conveniently, Athelstan is fully prepped to march in and take over. Is there any sense that there was a bit of. Of shenanigans going on here, that Athelstan had planned anything, or does he simply see if he was planting that seed, that in the future York might become more sympathetic? Does he simply seize the opportunity that Sitric is gone and he has created this connection to York so that his sister is sort of queen there, and if there's no other obvious heir, then maybe he can step in and say, you know what, guys, I'm here to help out. I'm just being a good guy here.
- [21:55]
David Woodman
Yeah. I mean, unfortunately, again, our sources are simply silent on those matters. So it'd be. It'll be guesswork. I mean, I think both of those interpretations are possible. I think the main thing to say, really, is that Athelstan, he was super aware of the importance of securing York's loyalty and however he could do so at that moment. So a year earlier it involved a marriage alliance and now it was conquest. And it certainly is very striking that it involves conquest. Clearly means that Athelstan himself feels powerful enough by that stage in 927 that he'll be able to do this. And that's something that clearly has changed in a year. And what we see with. With institutions in York, so, for example, the Church of York, is that they sort of oscillate in their support at one moment for a Viking king, at another moment for a West Saxon king, so aware of those dynamics. I think it was very important for Athelstan to try and take control in his own Right, yeah, yeah.
- [22:48]
Matt Lewis
And if we go back to the 12th of July, to this astonishing moment at Eamont Bridge, how significant is the location in which that takes place? How certain are we about where that is? And why would the location be important?
- [22:59]
David Woodman
Hmm, it's really important. The old English place name for Eamont is at Eamotem, which means literally at the meeting of the rivers. So it's a place in the northwest, about a mile south today of modern Penrith, where the rivers Eamont and Lowther converge. They flow together and then they go away from each other again. And there's a sort of liminal zone there between the two rivers, where one suggestion is that's where the actual ceremony took place. So near Two Rivers, it was also on the boundary between the kingdoms of. Of Northumbria and Strathclyde and Cumbria. And often meetings between rulers did happen on the boundaries of territories. So it's symbolically very important that it's happening on the boundary there. And in the vicinity, there are lots of very interesting ancient sites of authority, so places like King Arthur's Round Table Henge, Maaborhenge, and there's a Roman fort called Bruckarvum there as well. So there are messages here in the topography of the landscape about ancient power, that they are trading off these ancient sites and sending messages. So it's been carefully choreographed, this occasion at Haymont Bridge, that's for sure.
- [24:05]
Matt Lewis
Yeah. I always find it interesting to think about why things happen where they happen, because it's so easy to think the meeting happened there and then we move on. But there's so many factors at play when people choose where those things are going to happen. I always think that's interesting and this moment is recognised as so significant that there's a poem written about it, isn't there?
- [24:25]
David Woodman
Yes, there is, yes. I mean, I find it extraordinary that we've got this military operation going on and Athelstan is going from York to. To the northwest to Aimont Bridge. And he seems to have taken a poet with him en route, who writes some verses. He writes this poem and he sends it back to Winchester to announce what's happened. And there's a wonderful line in the poem that says that this Saxon land has now been made whole is de perfecta Saxonia. And by Saxon land, the poet means England. So he's announcing that. The poet is announcing in grandiose terms, that Athelstan has made this extraordinary advance towards the making of England in the first place. And the poem is very, very interesting in itself. If you look at its literary models. One model is a 9th century Carolingian poem which had been written for none other than the emperor Charlemagne himself. So what does that allusion mean? I mean, it probably was lost on contemporaries, but would they have recognised that is Aethelstan being held up as almost a Charlemagne like figure here in the early 10th century. And the poet also rejoices, of course about Athelstan himself and talks about Aethelstan being glorious through his deeds. So a very, very interesting way to mark this political advance in 927.
- [25:37]
Matt Lewis
Yeah, it's fascinating. I think, that even contemporaries recognized just how important, how significant a moment that was. It's quite often easy to see contemporaries sort of plowing through these events without realizing the momentous point they've reached. But it's clear that that 12th of July was recognized by everybody involved as something really big.
- [25:57]
David Woodman
Yeah, absolutely. Something seismic has happened in 97 and contemporaries are aware of it. They take note. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle in its entry for this year, which is quite brief, disappointingly brief. I wish it said a bit more, but it begins by saying in this year appeared fiery lights in the northern quarter of the sky. And that allusion to physical portance is often a sign in the Chronicle that something very significant is about to be recorded. And that's what they go on to talk about. Costan's Making of England.
- [26:37]
Matt Lewis
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- [29:19]
Matt Lewis
Yeah, I I love things like the Anglo Saxon Chronicle. When you, when you read the beginning of a year and you know it rained blood, you know, oh, something's good is going to happen this year.
- [29:26]
David Woodman
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Often the sign that Vikings are about to appear or something. Yes.
- [29:31]
Matt Lewis
Yeah. Those physical portents that this is an important year. It's almost like an introduction to the the reader to say you're going to want to read this year because you know something big happens.
- [29:38]
David Woodman
It's interesting as well about reception. How has this text been received? You can imagine almost like a newspaper. That's the way I like to think of it that it was sent to different parts of the kingdom and it was people about what was going on. So you can imagine people being gripped by or not by the announcement of these physical portents and what was to follow.
- [29:53]
Matt Lewis
Yeah, yeah. And I guess Rathelsan with all of those links across the European courts as well. You know this poem that has been written and the news that he is forged this whole new kingdom is going to be spreading. He's going to want his allies, relatives on the continent to know what he's achieved. I guess.
- [30:09]
David Woodman
Yeah, absolutely. I mean when we were talking about the various different marriage alliances earlier, we were talking about it from what does Athelstan gain from this. But I think also we need to think about what are these various European rulers gaining from linking into Athelstan's family and Otto the Great, the Frankish king, he's a good example. His family line had only really been established with his father, Henry the Fowler, so relatively recently established. And therefore, to gain a connection, a marriage alliance with Aethelstan's family. And of course, the royal house of Wessex has a history going back to the 6th century, lent it a degree of authority and credibility in its own right. So, yes, the benefits were in both directions.
- [30:45]
Matt Lewis
And I just wanted to go back to that use of the title King of the English as well, because it's striking, isn't it? We've gone. Alfred sort of designates himself King of the Anglo Saxons, which still kind of partitions him from the Danish people. What do you think Athelstan is getting at when he uses the title King of the English? He's not King of England, he's not creating a land of the English just yet, but he is the King of the English.
- [31:08]
David Woodman
Yeah, as you say, Matt. In the reign of his grandfather, King Alfred the Great, Alfred had created for the first time a kingdom known as the Kingdom of the Anglo Saxons. And he titles himself King of the Anglo Saxons in the 9th century. And that, broadly speaking, encompassed the separate kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia. And at the same time as creating that new polity, in the court of King Alfred, they're beginning to talk about the idea of what could one single English people look like? So that we get these discussions of what constitutes members of the Angle Coon in Old English English people. And this is actually an idea that goes all the way back to the early 8th century and the work of Bede, where he talks about this too. But of course, in political terms, Alfred doesn't achieve this. He never, never gains control over Northumbria. So when his grandson Athelstan manages this, he pushes forward this idea of there being one people, one English people within his realm. And that's why he titles himself the Rex Anglorum. Now, I guess the complication is, for generations in these different kingdoms, people have been living very independently, separately. And what people thought about this would have varied hugely. I imagine someone in the north of Northumbria probably was only dimly aware of Athelstan and his claims to be King of the English. And likewise someone in the far southwest, in a place like Cornwall, whereas someone at the centre of in Wessex, in Winchester, they would have been, had a very different view of this idea of King of the English and of England.
- [32:26]
Matt Lewis
Yeah. I mean, it strikes me as a clever political move in that he's not demanding that everyone becomes an Anglo Saxon. He's not projecting the conquest of the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia further north. He's almost creating this new political body, this new polity that anyone can be part of. If you live here, you are English and I'm going to be the king of the English. And it's not forcing the Danes to become Anglo Saxon or vice versa. It's sort of opening the door to something new that everyone can be part of.
- [32:57]
David Woodman
Yeah, it's a really good way of putting it, I think, actually, because just as you say, we were talking about there, the different independent early English kingdoms, Mercy and Wessex and Northumbria and so on, but also you got to take on board the idea that there's been generations of Scandinavian settlement there. How do you incorporate that element of society? So, yes, I think in stressing this idea of one people, it was a message that everybody could get on board with if they wanted to, and that's something that was there and available to people if they wanted to become part of the kingdom of English. We shouldn't also underestimate just how much military might was involved on Athelstan's part. He was doing this by the sword. It's a very different world from the one that we live in. But, yes, it was an important advance in terms of enabling what was a very complex and multifaceted political situation to be adopted into one new idea.
- [33:43]
Matt Lewis
And you talk a fair bit in the book as well about the paperwork that we then have for Athelstan's reign from this point onwards, which I think is quite significant, and it stands out amongst the Anglo Saxons, Saxon kings, doesn't. He seems to have quite an organised and coordinated system of creating his paperwork, which I guess he needs with much more territory under his control now.
- [33:59]
David Woodman
Yeah, absolutely. To a much greater degree than you might expect. Early medieval English kings, they relied on the written word for their governance by the early 10th century. And thankfully, in the name of Athelstan, we have a whole set of what are known as royal diplomas. So they are, in origin, grants of land issued in the name of the king to different institutions or to different individuals, and extraordinary documents. So they set out the terms of the grant itself itself in Latin. They give the details of the estate in Old English, so they're bilingual documents. And then they have a sort of clause which is known as a sanction, which threatens anybody who would defraud the terms of the grant, which are very vivid in the things that they threaten. And it ends with a witness list, a group of people set out hierarchically from the king, the archbishops, the bishops and the royal officials, known as ealdormen and thanes, onwards. And that seems to be the group of people who were present at the meeting of the Royal assembly where he granted these documents. And they tell us all sorts of things. And what's extraordinary about the reign of Vathelstan is that after this political moment in 927, where he forms England for the first time, the charters, the diplomas, they take on an entirely new form. We've never seen diplomas of this kind of ambition before, so they're much longer. There's two that survive in their original form and they're so large that if you go to the British Library, you're sent to a separate desk to view them from. They're very large. So they're sending. In their physicality, they're sending big messages about the kind of king that Avelstan was. And the Latin is very dense, very learned, written in rhyming Latin, Latin that alliterates. It would have been very difficult to understand the meaning of these things. Takes an awfully long time to sit there with a dictionary and go through and trying to work out the meaning of these abstruse Latin words. So that's also sending a message about cultural advances. At his core, he's a king who's not just having these big political successes, but he's also fostering learning and showing off in these doctrines, documents. And if we think of them as products of the Royal assembly and the occasion when all these people are meeting and there are hundreds of people there, it was an opportunity for him to demonstrate His Majesty, the fact that he was this newly powerful king. So they're the most wonderful. Some of my favourite documents from the whole period actually emerge, and they're very much reflecting the success that he's enjoying in the political sphere.
- [36:09]
Matt Lewis
Yeah, I'm kind of imagining Athelstan now sitting on a throne, twiddling his crown on his finger, saying, you know, I'm gonna have all this amazing paperwork. But you know what? It's gotta be cool as well as well. It's got to have some style. I want it to rhyme and I want it to alliterate. And it kind of describes there going, oh, no.
- [36:25]
David Woodman
Exactly that. I think they would have gone, oh, no, they're very long. So they were very difficult to copy out. And you had to get it all on A single sheet, perfectly. And you can imagine those present thinking, oh, no, there's a very long stand document coming again for us to listen to. So, yeah, it would have been a mixed response, maybe.
- [36:39]
Matt Lewis
Yeah, yeah. And one of the documents you pick out in the book is a grant of a mounderness to the Church of York, York. When does that take place and why is that one particularly important?
- [36:50]
David Woodman
So this takes place in 934. The document can be dated to 934. It's issued at a meeting of Athelstan and Royal assembly that happened in Nottingham. And he's proceeding in 934 on the way to conduct a war in Scotland. So he stops off in Nottingham and he makes this grant of land. And the grant of land, the land itself is very interesting for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because it's very large. We think it's the largest single grant of land that any, any early medieval king made in the whole Anglo Saxon period. It's on the northwest coast of England, Amanderness so very distant from the York Church in the east, that Athelstan is granting this to. And it begins to look a bit like Aethelstan is trying to win over the favor of the York Church. I mentioned earlier that the York Church had at times before this moment, sided with various local Viking kings. And I think here's a strong message from Athelstan that he's willing to be very generous to the York Church if they are willing to accept him as their ruler. In other words, look towards Aethelstan and not towards the Vikings. There's a third point about this document too, which is that for generations, again, as we said talked about earlier, Vikings have been travelling from Dublin across the Irish Sea, landing on the northwest coast and proceeding to York. So in other words, Amanda Ness is just in the zone where Vikings would have been landing. And there's an important message there as well of Athelstan trying to interrupt that connection, that nexus between Dublin and York.
- [38:26]
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- [39:38]
Matt Lewis
Yeah, I think it's interesting that he's willing to kind of play that game. He's not all about conquest, it's not all about the sword. You know, he's willing to be generous and give this piece of land, provided you play the game. And presumably the York Church were afraid enough of Athelstan that they were willing to go along with it. Do you think there's also a degree in which, if he gives a mountainess to the York Church and Vikings begin using that area to land and move across, the York Church would then have to. To incriminate themselves in almost allowing these Viking incursions and expose themselves that they've almost got to block off that way of Vikings getting across in order to demonstrate their loyalty to Athelstan.
- [40:17]
David Woodman
Yeah, it's a very good point. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I guess it's a way of sort of bringing out into the open the exact position of the church. You know, how are they going to operate in the future? Are they going to be on Athelstan's side or not? And it was a canny manoeuvre by Athelstan for sure. And what you said, the at earlier, Matt, as well, about his generosity is really true. So it wasn't just a question of trying to conquer militarily all these different places. He's also, as you say, trying to get people on side. So just after this moment in Nottingham, he goes further north and he stops at Chesterly street and meets with St Cuthbert's community, which was in a way the equivalent of York in its area of Northumbria, in that it was a very powerful religious institution. And he gives them various important gifts, many of which still survive today, again, as a way of getting them on side. I. In fact, one of the gifts that he gives is the most amazing early 10th century manuscript, which is in Corpus Christi College in Cambridge today, which has the earliest surviving manuscript portrait of any early English monarch. And Athelstan is depicted with his head bowed, sort of reading a book in front of St Cuthbert. So here's a powerful message of Athelstan is a sort of a king who reads. Sort of a king who's, you know, got a. Placing an emphasis on reading and learning, but also somebody who has a recognition of the importance of this northern saint as well.
- [41:35]
Matt Lewis
Yeah, yeah. He's also willing to position him himself as, you know, almost bowing down to the church, that he recognizes the power and authority of the church. And I suppose for him they're a unifying thing. You know, he wants the Christian Church to unify England and maybe drive away the last of Viking paganism from England too.
- [41:51]
David Woodman
Yeah, absolutely. And by all accounts, he was a deeply pious individual, which we'd expect by the early 10th century, especially from the grandson of Alfred the Great. Yeah, so very pious himself. He's renowned across Europe for collecting relics and for giving copies of Bibles to different religious institutions in England. And so much so that when various different European rulers are seeking out his alliance in these marriage negotiations, they're very careful to bring with them relics of various kinds as gifts to win over Athelstan's favour.
- [42:19]
Matt Lewis
I'm always keen to point out as well that that first surviving image of an English king, he's very ginger, with a lovely ginger beard. All the finest people sport the ginger beer. It maybe shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that Athelsan begins to face some opposition to his apparent all conquering, unstoppable juggernaut of an effort to unite all of these kingdoms. How do we see an alliance forming against him that will ultimately lead to the Battle of Brunenbaena, which stands out as, like Hastings, this is a huge, memorable battle. How does that alliance begin to coalesce against Athelstan?
- [43:00]
David Woodman
I guess we've seen various ways in which Athelstan has asserted himself and probably created a degree, a large degree of resentment in the background. So, for example, there are various points at which he claims to have jurisdiction over different Welsh and Scottish and Cumbrian kings, all of whom are brought to his court. They're requested to be present at his major gatherings at the royal assembly.
- [43:20]
Matt Lewis
And much like we were saying with Sitric, that act of making them come to him is embarrassing to them and reinforcing his kind of overlook lordship, which they obviously won't like.
- [43:29]
David Woodman
Absolutely. And it's. And simultaneously taking them away from their own business in Wales or Scotland or wherever it may be. So it's a very. It was a very, I guess, humiliating message that's being sent to these, to these kings. And at the same time, because he's taken control in York, he's interrupted the line of Viking kings that have been succeeding there from Dublin, many of whom were members of the dynasty of Ivar, the famous viking of the mid 9th century. There's definite resentment building up in the background. There's an extraordinary part poem, which unfortunately is a bit difficult to date, but I think a good case can be made for it dating to Athelstan's reign, a Welsh poem known as Armist Prydine V, the Great Prophecy of Britain, which talks in the most bloodthirsty terms of the way in which the Welsh and the British should rise up and slaughter the English and drive them from the island. And that gives you some indication of the kinds of enmity that were stirring in the background and people keen to reassert themselves. And just as you said, say, Matt, this comes to a head in 937 at the famous Battle of Brunumber.
- [44:26]
Matt Lewis
And how much of a sense do we have of what happened at that battle? It's so significant. And there are some of the major players in the politics of the British Isles present there. Do we have good sources for how that battle plays out and what happens?
- [44:40]
David Woodman
Yeah, in terms of sources, one very interesting thing here is that the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, which is relatively silent for Athelstan's reign, apart from brief entries for each year, by the time it gets to 937, it completely changes its character and inserts this quite long, heroic old English poem celebrating the events at Brunanburg, celebrating what's happened and what was going on. And we see basically a Viking coalition has risen up. So Olaf Guthrisson from Dublin is one member of the coalition. We have Constantine II of the King of the Scots, and we have King Owen of Strathclyde and Cumbria, all involved against Aethelstan. We've got no indication that there was any Welsh involvement at this moment, which.
- [45:23]
Matt Lewis
Is quite striking after they've written bloodthirsty poems about huge desire to drive out the English and be rid of Athelstan, and then there's this huge alliance and they're conspicuous by their absence.
- [45:33]
David Woodman
They are conspicuous by their absence, yeah, absolutely. And what does that say about the levels of Athelstan's control over Wales and the then King Havaldar in Dehoibart? There are important questions there, I think, about what that means in terms of English influence. And I really think that 937.
- [45:50]
Will Friedle
This.
- [45:50]
David Woodman
Construct of this new polity of England that Athelstan had created in 927 was very much on the line. Everything was at risk there for Athelstan on that day in 937. And of course, eventually he wins out. And the poem celebrates the slaughter of his enemies. It takes place the fact that their bodies are left on the field for scavenger birds. And he and his half brother Edmund, were successful in defending themselves that day.
- [46:13]
Matt Lewis
And I guess Athelstan has reinforced that idea that, you know, I can be a nice guy, I can make all of these generous grants and try and include everybody, everybody. But if you step out of line, I can also come down on you like an absolute ton of bricks. I mean, victory at Brunanburg must do something to really reinforce Athelstan's new position as king of the English. Well, it's not new by this point, but, you know, he's reinforcing that idea now militarily, when asked to.
- [46:39]
David Woodman
Absolutely. And I guess, you know, one thing to say that in the early 10th century, battles of this kind, battles in general, rather, are very common. There's hardly a year goes by without some kind of battle battle record taking place. That this was a different order of battle is indicated by the fact that so many of our surviving sources from England, from Ireland, from Wales, from Scotland and from Scandinavia, all recorded and its outcome. So it's clear that it's something that's known about. The significance of it is known about a chronicler from England writing In the later 10th century, an ealdorman called Ethelwiard. He talks about the importance of this for making sure that England survives intact. So it's a very significant event.
- [47:21]
Matt Lewis
And I should probably just say that I'm deliberately steering away from kind of where it took place, because that's a matter of a fairly hot debate. That maybe isn't as important to Athelsan's story as some of the other elements that we're talking about. So I'm deliberately steering away from where Brunenburg took place. I guess we need to get on to the fact that Athelstan doesn't live too much longer after Brunenburg, having achieved all of this immense success just two years after Brunenburg. But we get Athelstan's death. What are the circumstances around his death? How does he meet his end?
- [47:54]
David Woodman
We don't know so much about how he dies, but you're quite right, in 9339 he dies and he's eventually taken to Malmesbury and buried there. And actually his site of burial is fascinating because his father and his grandfather had been buried in the new minster in Winchester. And so it's very striking that a decision is taken that Athelstan should not be buried there and they should be buried, buried elsewhere. And there are all sorts of possible reasons why that might have been the case. Maybe he was trying to send a message that he was a king for a wider polity than just this Wessex itself. But he dies in 939. What we see happen very quickly thereafter is that the kingdom of the English that he'd put together fragments. So Olaf Guddfarson becomes king. The very person who had tried to unseat Aethelstan at Brunanburg becomes king in York. And things begin to fall apart a bit at the seams. And I think, in a. A way that, for me, anyway, that shows you just how precociously successful Athelstan had been in bringing it all together in the first place. The fact that it crumbles when he dies, that it was. It was very much tied to him as a person.
- [48:52]
Matt Lewis
Yeah. And I guess we need to be aware that he dies here at the peak of his power as well. You know, he almost hasn't had time to fail. But also, I mean, his career as king is just astonishing. In the space of 15 years, he's kind of forged this whole new kingdom and created a new kind of administration around his government too. And he's defended that on a battlefield against a significant coalition of his enemies. He's achieved an awful lot. I mean, I say he dies at the peak of his power, but that peak is consistent.
- [49:25]
David Woodman
Yeah, it's very consistent. Just as you say, across political achievements, his sponsorship of learning. We talked about the learned diplomas that he had constructed in his name. We haven't mentioned his law codes. We have six or so law codes where he legislates very widely. We have his coinage, which shows remarkable sophistication. And he legislates in such a way that he asks for there to be one coinage across the entirety of his kingdom. He never seems to quite get there, but he's certainly looking in that direction. There are cultural advances. His reign is a time when we think there's one of the earliest English interactions with the game of chess, a game from India. So, yeah, it's definitely a peak. There are so many different points of interest from Athelstan's reign that it's just a fascinating period. I first came across Athelstan as an undergraduate student, really read properly about him for the first time. I was just amazed, reading about all this, that I hadn't heard about him at school, for example. I hope that can be corrected at some point because he's worthy of much more attention.
- [50:19]
Matt Lewis
Yeah. I mean, it's shocking how much he loses out to his grandfather when you compare their achievements. Not to say that Alfred didn't achieve, but, you know, his grandson possibly achieved more war and so often disappears under the radar.
- [50:30]
David Woodman
Yeah. And I think that's possibly, at least in my view, he's a victim of historiography here, that Alfred had a contemporary royal biographer, a Welsh cleric called Assa, who wrote up a very vivid account of the merits of Alfred and his kingship. And we have that text, and that sort of cemented his reputation throughout the Anglo Norman period and beyond to today. And Athelstan simply didn't have that, really. It didn't have a contemporary bargain, or at least nothing that survived today.
- [50:59]
Matt Lewis
Yeah, yeah. And you mentioned that the kind of. The immediate impact of Athelstan's death is the fracturing of that kingdom that he has forged together. And, I mean, that's in part, we haven't kind of mentioned either that Athelstan kind of never gets married and never has any children. And there's perhaps a hint that he'd always. Or maybe he'd won power in Wessex by promising to allow his half brothers to succeed him in Wessex. Do you think there's any kind of merit to that? I mean, he doesn't get married and have any heirs, does he?
- [51:25]
David Woodman
Yeah, no. It's a very striking feature of his reign, as you say, that he doesn't get married, he doesn't have any children of his own. There's one reference in an early 12th century Ely text to the fact that he might have had a daughter. I think it was. But we think it's just a mistake on the part of the Ely author. And I guess he'd been left with a very difficult position from his father, from several marriages and having many different brothers. And it's certainly feasible that he was aware of that and that actually stability for the kingdom, political stability, would have been brought by him not introducing more, yet more Athelings into the mix. Again, our sources are silent on these explicit details and motivations, but it's certainly a feasible explanation. Some historians have also raised questions about sexuality of Athelstan as well, and maybe there's something in that too. So lots of possibilities.
- [52:08]
Matt Lewis
Yeah, yeah. And what would you say is Athelstan's legacy today? I think we've given him a huge set of achievements. We've talked a little bit about how he flies under the radar and you've just written a new biography of him. Do you see a legacy that. That is still alive today For Athelstan.
- [52:26]
David Woodman
I guess his biggest legacy is his creation of England. This idea of driving forward a geographical, political reality of England. I think that's the legacy that's. That is with us today. It happened in 97 and that's a date that we should be aware of. I'm personally fascinated by this fixation on learning and driving cultural advances at the centre of his core. And I find that a fascinating admixture of someone who is at the same time as he's a warring king spreading his rule and authority. He's also got a real concern for close reading of texts, for swapping of texts between different people, for inviting European scholars to his court. And it almost seems like a contradiction internally to our modern sensibilities. And I think that also reminds us that it was a very different time in the early 10th century. And we need to always be aware of that when we're thinking about it.
- [53:12]
Matt Lewis
People need to know Athelstan better.
- [53:13]
David Woodman
They do. Yeah.
- [53:14]
Matt Lewis
I'm going to put you on the where spot. If his grandfather is Alfred the Great and we're going to try and position Athelstan as better. If you were to give him an epithet, you know, he's surrounded by, you know, Edmund Ironside, Edward the Elder, Edgar the Peaceable, all of these people who get these epithets, but he's missing one. If you had to give him an epithet, what would it be?
- [53:32]
David Woodman
Oh, you have put me on the spot. Funny enough, he is actually given an epithet. He also is called Magnus the Great and for whatever reason, again, I think it's in historiographical terms, it just doesn't stick and people don't run with it. I guess that would be my best attempt, that he of the early medieval English kings, he's deserving of exactly that kind of recognition. So it'd be something along the lines of the great for me too.
- [53:54]
Matt Lewis
We could put an er in brackets at the end of it, Athelstan the Greater, just to distinguish him from your grandfather. Well, thank you so much for joining us, David. It's been absolutely fascinating to get a little bit closer to Athelstan and hopefully people will go away, pick up your book and want to find out even more about this fascinating moment in history, but also this fascinating man who drove so many of the events and, and almost single handedly forged what would become the kingdom of England. Thank you so much for joining us, David.
- [54:21]
David Woodman
Thank you for having me.
- [54:24]
Matt Lewis
I hope you've enjoyed this voyage into Anglo Saxon England. If you'd like more on this period, you can grab David's book the First King of England, Athelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom. And you can also find a series in our back catalog on three of the major Anglo Saxon kingdoms and and one on the Witen their council that advised the King, as well as plenty of other Anglo Saxon episodes too. There are new installments of Gone Medieval every Tuesday and Friday, so please come back.
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Matt Lewis
Can join Eleanor and I for more from the greatest millennium in human history History. Don't forget to also subscribe or follow us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts and tell all of your friends and family that you've gone medieval. You can sign up to History Hit to access hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a new release every week and all of History Hits podcasts ad free. Head over to historyhit.com subscribe now. Anyway, I better let you go. I've been Matt Lewis and we've just gone medieval with history.