Æthelstan: the king who made England

Summary

History Extra Podcast – “Æthelstan: The King Who Made England”

Release Date: December 26, 2025
Guest: Professor David Woodman
Host: David Musgrove

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Episode Overview

This engaging episode marks the 1,100th anniversary of Æthelstan’s coronation and explores how he unified a fractured land to become the first King of England. Host David Musgrove is joined by Æthelstan’s biographer, Professor David Woodman, for an in-depth conversation about Æthelstan’s career, the political landscape he inherited, his challenges, major achievements, and his lasting legacy as England’s “founding father.”

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Æthelstan’s Crowning and Its Symbolism

[02:33-03:13]

• The episode starts with the “singularly unimpressive stone” in Kingston upon Thames, where Æthelstan was crowned in 925.
• The stone is overlooked today but marks the site of a momentous event: “almost 1100 years ago to the day, the very place that Athelstan was first crowned king...” (Prof. Woodman, 02:43).
• There was a delay between Æthelstan’s accession and coronation, highlighting the political struggles he faced.

2. The Political Situation in 924 AD

[03:13-05:17]

• Britain was fractured into multiple independent kingdoms: Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia, Northumbria, with Viking-held territories around York.
• Scotland, Wales, and Ireland were also fragmented, each with their own kings or power bases.
• “It’s a... really difficult, I guess, geopolitical situation that Athelstan is coming into and trying to establish himself in 924.” (Prof. Woodman, 03:22)

3. Æthelstan’s Path to Power

[05:17-06:44]

• Æthelstan’s succession was contested, especially by his half-brother Elfwiad, leading to a period of divided rule.
• There was even a plot to have Æthelstan blinded and removed from power, indicating internal resistance to his rule.
  • “A person called Alfred... hatched a plot to have Athelstan blinded and presumably... have him removed from political power at this early point.” (Prof. Woodman, 05:35-06:44)

4. The Nature of Kingship & Succession

[07:16-08:06]

• No strict primogeniture; being an "atheling" (throne-worthy) mattered, but acceptance by the royal assembly (the witan) and nobles was crucial.

5. Early Life and Formation

[08:17-09:24]

• Born likely in the early 890s; raised in Mercia with his aunt Aethelflaed, a formidable military ruler and influential role model.

6. Vikings and Foreign Policy

[09:24-11:38]

• Vikings were an ongoing threat, especially from York and via connections to Dublin.
• Early in his reign, Æthelstan pursued diplomacy: a marriage alliance with Sitrich, King of York, in 926.

7. The Seizure of York and Game-changing Diplomacy

[11:38-13:46]; [16:55-18:02]

• Upon Sitrich’s death in 927, Æthelstan seized York, consolidated power in the north, and convened a summit at Eamont Bridge.
• At Eamont Bridge, several British rulers (Constantine of the Scots, a Welsh king, Owen of Strathclyde/Cumbria) formally submitted to him.
  • “A remarkable occasion on which Athelstan receives the submission of various kings.” (Prof. Woodman, 12:02)
• The use of ancient sites (e.g., Roman forts, standing stones) for political theater and legitimacy.

8. “Devil’s Tribute” and Religion

[17:14-19:26]

• Agreement at Eamont Bridge involved swearing off “idol money” (devil’s tribute/devil money), possibly aligning against Viking alliances.
• Æthelstan himself was highly pious, a collector of relics and supporter of the Church, known for gifting Bibles and fostering religious communities.

9. Establishing and Projecting Royal Authority

[19:47-22:22]

• Military strength and the network of burhs (fortified settlements) underpinned his power.
• Titles changed to reflect new reality: from “King of the Anglo-Saxons” to “King of the English” (Rex Anglorum), and even “King of all Britain” (Rex Totius Britanniae).
  • “He becomes Rex Anglorum, even the Rex Totius Britanniae, the King of all Britain, a very extended claim on his coins as well.” (Prof. Woodman, 21:38)

10. Limits and Realities of Rule

[22:26-24:22]

• While diplomatic documents show British and Welsh kings present at his court, not all claims to territory reflected absolute control.
• In places like York or Cornwall, regional allegiance varied.

11. 927: The Foundational Date of England

[24:15-25:03]

• 927 is established as the foundation date for a unified England: “It’s the first time that England of a recognizable political and geographical form comes into view.” (Prof. Woodman, 24:22)

12. Innovations in Kingship and Government

[25:03-26:47]

• Æthelstan’s reign saw major transformations: larger, more ornate royal documents; more learned Latin; deliberate projection of power and prestige.
  • "They're so big... you're sent to a separate desk to read them because they're so large and quite hard to handle... There’s a revolution here in the documents that he’s issuing..." (Prof. Woodman, 25:15)

13. Ongoing Challenges and the Battle of Brunanburh

[26:47-28:56]

• Æthelstan faced constant internal and external threats—even expelling or killing rival half-brothers.
• The pivotal Battle of Brunanburh (937) saw Æthelstan defeat a coalition of Viking, Scottish, and Cumbrian kings, securing England’s survival.
  • “He’s so precociously powerful that... he causes resentment from various people... We have this major battle in 937 at a place called Brunnanburg...” (Prof. Woodman, 26:58)

14. After Æthelstan: Fragmentation and the Struggle for Unity

[28:56-29:54]

• After Æthelstan’s death in 939, the kingdom fragmented. York fell to the Vikings again, with reunification delayed until 954.

15. European Connections and Foreign Policy

[29:54-31:19]

• Æthelstan sought connections across Europe: alliances through marriage, receiving ambassadors, and fostering cultural ties.
  • “Athelstan is one of the first kings that we think had a concerted foreign policy with regard to Europe.” (Prof. Woodman, 30:09)

16. Æthelstan’s Legacy and Modern Remembrance

[31:19-33:01]

• Despite being England’s “founding father,” Æthelstan remains little known.
  • “I would love Athelstan to receive the recognition that he deserves as England’s architect. Basically, he’s the founding father of England and the date of 97... is really just as important as those other memorable medieval dates...” (Prof. Woodman, 31:39)
• Compared to 1066 or figures like Alfred the Great, Æthelstan's lack of contemporary chroniclers and dramatic artifacts means he is overlooked.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the challenge of uniting England:
  “So really difficult, I guess, geopolitical situation that Athelstan is coming into and trying to establish himself in 924.”
  — Prof. David Woodman (03:22)

• On ceremonial propaganda:
  “He becomes Rex Anglorum, even the Rex Totius Britanniae, the King of all Britain, a very extended claim on his coins as well.”
  — Prof. Woodman (21:38)

• On the Battle of Brunanburh (937):
  “Here, it’s on the line that day in this battle at Brunanburh. And it was a major victory for him. So much so that contemporary chronicles from Ireland, from Scandinavia, from Wales and from Scotland, they all register the importance of this occasion and the major slaughter that took place.”
  — Prof. Woodman (28:56)

• On why Æthelstan deserves greater fame:
  "He’s the founding father of England and the date of 927... is really just as important as those other memorable medieval dates that we have: 1066, 1215, Magna Carta."
  — Prof. Woodman (31:39)

• On the problem of historical memory:
  “The problem for 927 versus 1066 is that it doesn’t possess 68 metre long embroidery telling the story. If it had its own Bayeux Tapestry, then we’d probably be a lot more familiar with it.”
  — David Musgrove (32:49)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Æthelstan’s Crowning and the Stone at Kingston – [02:33-03:13]
• Political Landscape of Early 10th-Century Britain – [03:13-05:17]
• Æthelstan’s Succession Crisis – [05:17-06:44]
• Nature of Anglo-Saxon Kingship – [07:16-08:06]
• Upbringing and Early Influences – [08:17-09:24]
• Dealing with Vikings – [09:45-11:38]
• The Seizure of York and Eamont Bridge Submission – [11:38-13:46]
• Religious Agreements: "Devil’s Tribute" – [17:14-19:26]
• Transformation of Royal Documents and Kingship – [25:03-26:47]
• The Battle of Brunanburh and Its Aftermath – [26:58-28:56]
• Legacy, Historiography, and Why Æthelstan is Overlooked – [31:19-33:01]

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Tone and Language

The conversation maintains a scholarly yet accessible and enthusiastic tone, full of vivid storytelling, memorable metaphors (“landscape of kingly power,” “devil money”), and a touch of humor (“If it had its own Bayeux Tapestry...” — Musgrove). Both host and guest express admiration for Æthelstan’s achievements and a strong desire to rehabilitate his image in public consciousness.

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Summary

For listeners new to the subject, this episode offers a comprehensive, engaging portrait of a king too often overshadowed in English memory. Upon a precarious foundation of rival kingdoms, dynastic difficulties, and Viking threats, Æthelstan forged England’s first unified state. His reign was marked by innovation in government, religious advocacy, and a shrewd mixture of diplomacy and war. Though his legacy faded amid later invasions and a lack of contemporary chroniclers, Professor David Woodman argues persuasively that Æthelstan stands shoulder-to-shoulder with England’s most celebrated monarchs — if only history would remember him thus.

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Further Reading:
Professor David Woodman’s book, The First King of England: Athelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom, is available now and his feature can be read online at HistoryExtra.com.

Transcript

[Professor David Woodman]

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[Podcast Host / Narrator]

Welcome to the History Extra Podcast. Hope the festive period is treating you well. 1,100 years ago, in 925 AD, Athelstan was crowned in Kingston upon Thames. He went on to extend his authority far beyond his initial power base of Wessex and Mercia to become the first King of England. David Musgrove spoke to Athelstan's biographer, Professor David Woodman, to hear why we should remember Athelstan's reign. He began by asking David about an article he'd written for the September 2025 issue of BBC History magazine, which is available to read on the History Extra app [e-mail] you start your article by.

[David Musgrove]

Talking about a singularly unimpressive stone in Kingston upon Thames, which sits in the middle of a roundabout in a commuter town to London. Why?

[Professor David Woodman]

Well, it's a stone quite as you say, Dave, that not many people would know about its significance and what it represents is almost 1100 years ago to the day, the very place that Athelstan was first crowned king in 925. Now, he'd actually come to the throne a year previously in 924, and the delay is indicative of the struggle that he had to establish himself in the first place as king. And he went on to stratospheric achievements after that in 97 and beyond, creating England for the first time.

[David Musgrove]

Okay, so could you just sketch out the political situation across Britain in, say, 924 AD? Who's where and what are they doing?

[Professor David Woodman]

Yeah, absolutely. So the political situation has been quite complicated in 924. And running up to 924, we have had a number of independent kingdoms. So Wessex in the south and west, which had been ruled by Athelstan's father, father Edward the Elder, and kingdoms like Mercia in the midlands, East Anglia in the east, and Northumbria in the north. So we have this situation with lots of different independent kingdoms, all of which had their own kings issuing laws, issuing diplomas, I.e. grants of land, issuing coins in their own names. And in fact, the situation is even more complicated in Northumbria, particularly in and around York, where we've had a significant amount of Viking settlement as well a number of different Viking kings, many of whom are recognised as king in York, and many of whom have links also with Dublin on the east coast of Ireland. So really difficult, I guess, geopolitical situation that Athelstan is coming into and trying to establish himself in 924.

[David Musgrove]

So those kingdoms that you mentioned, those are the sort of the traditional Anglo Saxon kingdoms, as we might call them. What about in Scotland? What about in Wales? What about in Ireland? What's going on in those areas?

[Professor David Woodman]

Yeah, very good question. And I should say that these are areas that Athelstan goes on to have a great interest in himself during his reign. They're very, very important for our understanding of everything that's happening. Early 10th century politics in Britain in general. In Wales, we have, again, it's a politically fragmented situation, a number of different kingdoms in operation, places like Gwynedd, Powes, de Hoibart, so on and so forth. Likewise in Scotland, we have a growing awareness of a place in the sort of northern central part of Scotland, as we would understand it today, known as the Kingdom of the Alba, ruled over by someone who's termed the King of the Scots. And Ireland, although it's a Sort of smaller place geographically, is actually made up of, we think, hundreds of different kingdoms at this moment in time in the early 10th century. So extraordinarily interesting political backdrop to Athelstan's rule.

[David Musgrove]

Okay, so we've got the general picture there. So in 924, as you said, Athelstan's father, Edward the Elder, who was himself, as you said, son of the great Alfred the Great, he dies. Does Athelstan immediately come to power?

[Professor David Woodman]

He does come to power, but the circumstances in which he comes to rule are a bit fraught. So there's good evidence from Winchester, which is the heart of the West Saxon kingdom of Edward the Elder and later of Athelstan, that his half brother, a man called Elfwiad, was recognised as king in Wessex, while Athelstan, we think, may have been recognised as king just in Mercia at this point. So we think there was a period of divided rule between these two half brothers in 924. Now, very quickly, Elfreyard dies, and that means that Athelstol Athelstein is able to take over as the sole king after the death of his half brother. But there is still evidence of various kinds that his position is resisted, particularly by people in Winchester. Again, William of Malmesbury, who's a very famous historian writing in the early 12th century, looking back at this period and recreating it for himself, he talks about a person called Alfred, about whom we don't know anything else, who hatched a plot to have Athelstan blinded and presumably, therefore, as an attempt to have him removed from political power at this early point in his reign. So I think we need to think about Athelstanis encountering a degree of resistance to his initial becoming king in 924.

[David Musgrove]

And as you said, Wessex and Mercia at this time, because of what had happened in the reigns beforehand, were politically united in some ways, but there was always an element of friction there. Right?

[Professor David Woodman]

Yes, certainly an element of friction and in fact, an element of internal complication as well. For example, in Mercia, where in the eastern part of Mercia, there has been significant Viking settlement, and we're not exactly sure who's in control of eastern Mercia at different points in time. So really a difficult position for Athelstan to get to grips with.

[David Musgrove]

What was it? And this is a difficult question. I think it is slightly contentious as well, but what was it that allowed somebody to be considered to be the heir to a king? Is it solely bloodline or was it, you know, might as much as.

[Professor David Woodman]

Right, yeah, it's a good question. I mean, there was no strict rule of primogeniture at this point in the early 10th century. There's some sense that you had to have royal blood, so to speak. So people who could be considered successors to the throne, to the kingdom were known as athelings in the Old English. That's literally throne worthy, somebody who is throne worthy. But I suspect ultimately it depended on the agreement of all the leading nobles in the kingdom, the agreement of what's known as the witan in Old English, the royal assembly, those people who were involved in the everyday governance of the kingdom. You really needed their support in order to gain the throne.

[David Musgrove]

Okay, now, just going back a bit, other than being part of the royal line, what's he done to merit this position? Do we know what he's done in his life up to this point? In fact, do we know when he was born?

[Professor David Woodman]

We don't have the precise date of when he was born. Sort of towards the early middle 890s is what we think. We think that he was brought up in Mercia, that he was sent to the court of his aunt Aethelflaad, who's the lady of the Mercians, and her husband Aethelred, who is the lord of the Mercians. And we think that he was brought up there away from the West Saxon court. One of the reasons that for that is probably that his father Edward had married, subsequently, taken a second wife, and then indeed he went on to take a third wife. So it was probably politically expedient for the West Saxon court that the eldest surviving son, which is Athelstan, he was removed from the scene at that moment. And Mercy would have been a very formative place for him to grow up. I mean, the example of his aunt is such an interesting figure in her own right. You know, she's depicted in one of the main contemporary texts, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, as leading military expeditions. She's very, very important in trying to shore up Mercian control of the Midlands, trying to wrest different parts away from the control of Vikings. So, for me, Aethelflaad is a powerful example of what it was to be a ruler for Athelstan. I think that Mercian backdrop to Athelstan's reign and the beginning of his reign is very important.

[David Musgrove]

I'm interested what the situation is with the Vikings. We've talked about sort of the Anglo Saxon polity, and the Vikings, of course, have been a massive problem for his grandfather, certainly, and before that as well. By the time that he's on the throne by the time Athelstan gets to the throne, are they still a significant problem? Where are they in the political situation?

[Professor David Woodman]

Yeah, very much a problem and very much something that would have been on Athelstan's mind. In fact, one of the things that we see him doing within a couple of years of first becoming king in 94 is trying to reach an agreement with the then incumbent king of York, who was a man called Sitrich. And he does this by arranging a marriage alliance with Sitrich in 926. So the Anglo Saxon Chronicle talks about this marriage alliance that took place between Aethelstan's full sister, whose name is not known to us, unfortunately, and Sitrich, who's the then king of York. So it was a way of shoring up, I guess, good relations between Aethelstan and that northern kingdom. And I guess another part of the Viking dimension, of course, is that because many of these Viking kings based at York had good contemporaneous links with Dublin, the whole west coast of the English kingdom, and of course of Wales and of Scotland, was a place that Athelstan really needed to be aware of in terms of Vikings arriving, finding route ways into the English kingdom and causing problems there as well. So that Irish Sea zone is very, very important to Athelstan, too.

[David Musgrove]

So would you describe Athelstan's sort of immediate foreign policy, if that's a good way of talking about it, in 95, 96, as diplomacy over military?

[Professor David Woodman]

Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, certainly. I mean, I guess the fact that he's engaging in a marriage alliance speaks both to his own position, but also to the power of Sitrich, that he was a very powerful person in York in his own right. And I guess that talks about the limits of, or at least the limits that Athelstan felt his authority held at that moment. I mean, it's very striking that as soon as Athelstan gets news of Sitrich's death a year later in 927, very, very quickly, Athelstan takes the decision to try and conquer Northumbria and York and bring it within his own dominion in his own right. So I GUESS it's by 927 that he's in a stronger position to expand his authority.

[David Musgrove]

Okay, so Athelstan has done this deal with Sitrich to try and create some sort of union, but then Sitrich promptly goes and dies and nullifies that deal, one imagines. So then take us to 927. And actually your book, from which the article in Bibbie's Sitrich magazine is drawn from. Your book doesn't start with the coronation in Kingston, it starts with another event. It starts with aymonk Bridge in 927. So what's going on there?

[Professor David Woodman]

Yeah, so 97, just as you say, Dave. So Citra just died. Athelstan marches quickly north. He takes over in York. Contemporary narrative accounts don't give us much detail about how he did that. But again, we have the detail from William of Malmesbury, who's writing in the early 12th century. He talks about the fact that Athelstan had to raze the Viking fortress at York to the ground, so he had to burn it in order to take control there. And then quickly afterwards, he moves on to Eamon Bridge today, a small place just south of Penrith in the northwest. And we have this remarkable occasion on which Athelstan receives the submission of various various kings. So King Constantine of the Scots, a Welsh king there, and the king of Strathclyde and Cumbria, a sort of northwestern kingdom as well. Owen. They submit to Athelstan in Eamont Bridge and they all seem to recognise his authority at this juncture. And Eamont Bridge is a really interesting place for Athelstan to have picked to have selected one. It's at the very limits of his north western territory. So he's right at the boundary of his extended kingdom at this moment. Logistically speaking, it was very interesting in the sense that we have Roman roads converging in the area, area from Scotland, but also from Wales and from York. So it was quite easy, I guess, in terms, if we think about travel the way that these kings had to get to the place, it was quite easy to access. And then also in Eamon Bridge we have these ancient. There's a Roman fort there, there's Mabra Henge and King Arthur's round Tablehenge. So in a way, the episode is borrowing from the landscape. There's a sort of landscape of authority, a landscape of kingly power here that Alsacean is using and harnessing to his own benefits. So it's an amazing occasion. At a Motemont Bridge in 920.

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[Professor David Woodman]

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[David Musgrove]

And that. That sort of builds on a longer tradition. The Anglo Saxons were always quite keen on sort of employing prehistoric monuments to their ends. I think I'm think of Wayland Smithy on the Ridgeway, an old Neolithic tomb which kind of gets the name of Wayland because they wanted to add their weight to it. So it's kind of that. There's a long tradition of that, right?

[Professor David Woodman]

Yeah, absolutely. A very long tradition, as you say. And thinking about the words that the Anglo Saxon chronicle uses when it talks about that event, it says that they all agreed with Athelstan that they would stop idolatry. That's the word. That's the modern translation, at least. And the Old English word is deofal gelt, which is a compound made up of. Of devil money. It literally means devil money. And it raises an interesting possibility that actually part of the agreement was that none of these kings would side with the Vikings, who were thought of as a kind of a plague sent by the devil against the English. So possibly part of this as well is to try to agree that these kings of surrounding territories. We talked about the importance of the Irish Sea zone and Scotland as places where the Vikings could land and create problems. It's possible that was involved in this day as well, that they agreed not to side with Vikings against Athelstan. I think that would have been a big fear of his.

[David Musgrove]

Yes. No. I was very struck by the description in your book of this devil's tribute. It's a fabulous word there, isn't it? It's a fabulous phrase, something to conjure with. Were all these people Christian at the time, do we know?

[Professor David Woodman]

Christianity in the English kingdom had long been established since the late 6th century. I imagine there was in reality a variety of beliefs and customs. It's an enormously difficult thing to grasp just how far the kingdom had been Christianised. Athelstimself was undoubtedly a deep, pious Christian king. And the extent to which that permeated throughout all levels of society is a good question. Particularly since from the late mid to late 9th century, there's been a degree of Scandinavian settlement in the north and the east as well, which would have complicated matters. Texts of the early 11th century talk about existing heathen practices, for example, which gives us a sense that things were lingering on in various ways. But, yes, I mean, if we're thinking about Athelstan specifically and his court, the retinue that surrounded him, very much they would have been Christian. And Athelstan, in fact, is revered as somebody who collects Christian artifacts. He's renowned across Europe for collecting relics. People send him letters talking about relics. They send relics themselves to his court to try and impress him. He commissioned copies of the Bible. He was giving copies of the Bible to different religious communities. And he himself took great pains to sort of support religious communities by giving them grants of land and making sure that they were thriving. So, yes, a very deeply Christian king.

[David Musgrove]

So what was it, do you suppose, that led all these other rulers to submit to his authority at Eamon Bridge and pay him this devil money? Was he bringing a huge army? Was it because he had a vast political and land base, or was there something else? Had he proved himself militarily to be particularly effective? What was going on, do you think?

[Professor David Woodman]

I think it must have been a question of military power at this point. Absolutely. They recognised that he was a superior, a king in military terms. If we think back to the reign of his father and his grandfather, one thing that we see is a very canny use of fortified settlements across. First of all, with Alfred, we get, in a text known as the Burgle Heidi, we get the creation of a network of burs across Wessex to shore up his control of Wessex when he was on the brink of defeat by the Vikings, and his father Edward, and his sister Aethelflaad, whom we mentioned earlier, they extended that network of burhs into the Midlands, into the northwest. And I think those bases would have allowed Aethelstad to push further and further north over a solid base from which he could expand his authority. So a mixture of the Birs, which created a real presence in the landscape of West Saxon power, and the realities of an army at Athelstan's beckoning, that he could wield against these neighbouring rulers for sure.

[David Musgrove]

So once this agreement had been signed at A and One Bridge, he's basically the premier ruler across Britain, by the sound of things. What was he actually calling himself at this point? What title did he hold?

[Professor David Woodman]

Yeah, well, absolutely wonderfully. I mean, it's rather amazing to think about it now, but as part of the retinue that went north with him, we think that there was a Poet present, for example, who wrote a poem to celebrate the occasion. In other words, 97, it represents the creation of England for the first time. It was not lost. The significance of this event was not lost in contemporaries. And this poet writes this wonderful poem which he sends back to the royal palace in Winchester, and he celebrates what he describes as Ista perfecta Saxonia in Latin. So that Saxon land literally made whole. And he says, athelstan lives glorious through his deeds. So it's a sort of wonderful flourish of recognition of the achievement of Athelstan as king at this moment. And this recognition, this creation of England, is mirrored in the royal titles. So just as you alluded to there, Dave, his royal style changes. So he goes from being King of the Anglo Saxons to now being King of the English. So the Rex Anglorum in Latin and his royal diplomas all begin to say that, and they take on a hugely new form at this moment in 1907. So just at the time that Athelstan creates England for the first time, his royal documents change hugely in form and character, employing this royal title and likewise his coins too. He becomes Rex Anglorum, even the Rex Totius Britanniae, the King of all Britain, a very extended claim on his coins as well. So it's a remarkable example, I guess, of the political spin, the propaganda that comes out from the centre of Athelstan's court once he's created England for the film first time.

[David Musgrove]

Sounds like that King of all Britain bit is a little bit overreach.

[Professor David Woodman]

Yeah, a little bit overreach. I think that's fair. So the diplomas that I mentioned, these royal documents, which are grants of land, one of the very interesting things about them is that they have what's known as witness lists at the end, so hierarchically laid out, lists of people who were present at the meetings of the royal assembly where these grants were made. And from those witness lists, for the first time in Athelstan's race, we see the presence of Welsh kings, of a Scottish king and of the King of Strathclyde and Cumbria. Owen, who I mentioned earlier, there is a degree of reality that he's able to command the presence of these people at meetings of royal assemblies in the heart of his kingdom in Wessex. But just how much he ruled, you know, he was able to extend his authority into these places, is debatable. There's a wonderful, or rather chilling, it's probably a better adjective Welsh poem that's produced at about this time, we think, called Armist Prydain Vawer, the great prophecy of Britain. And that calls, in the most bloodthirsty terms, for the rising up of the Britons to kill the English and remove them from the British kingdom. So that gives you a sense of one reaction to Athelstan's claims to power in Britain more widely.

[David Musgrove]

So just in terms of the direct boundaries of the land that he ruled, he already had Wessex, he already had Mercia, he's added Northumbria by dint of Sitrich's passing. And him taking York. East Anglia, yes.

[Professor David Woodman]

East Anglia, yes, absolutely, yes. Yeah. I guess one thing to think about is that, of course, when he creates England in 97, it's not overnight. One place, one homogenous kingdom. Of course, there have been generations of Scandinavian settlement in York, in East Anglia. You know exactly what somebody thought about Athelstan's claims to be kings of England in a place like York or in a place like Cornwall, in other words, at the far limits of his kingdom, is a good question. It would have been a different view of Athelstan and the kingdom of the English than the one at the centre in places like Winchester, for sure.

[David Musgrove]

But if we were looking for a date as the sort of the foundational date for the state of England, it's 927, right?

[Professor David Woodman]

It's 927, absolutely. It's the first time that England of a recognizable political and geographical form comes into view. And what we see Athelstan doing across the years, the remaining years of his reign, so he lives until 939, is extending that authority. He tries to impose governmental structures across the entirety of the English kingdom to bring it into line with what's going on in Wessex, in Winchester. So in terms of his diplomas, it's the first time that we get an English king granting land, as far as we can tell, across the entirety of his English kingdom. And likewise with laws, he's trying to implement one system of law and one system of coinage. Even if the success of that is a bit debatable at some points.

[David Musgrove]

One of the phrases that you talk about is that you say that his reign redefined the parameters of Anglo Saxon kingship. So that's quite a claim. What do you mean by that?

[Professor David Woodman]

It's certainly territorially, I guess one thing that for me is a bit of a bit of a revolution is the way in which he tried to enforce his kingship after 927. And that's really, really fascinating, the things that he changes, the innovations in governance that we see taking place. So we have a whole run of diplomas from 928 to 935, written by a royal scribe. Unfortunately, we don't know the name of this royal scribe, so he's known to modern scholarship by the anonymous title Athelstan A. And he completely transforms the way that these documents look. So they're much larger than previous examples. So we have two surviving early 10th century originals which are housed in the British Library. And they're so big. It's rather wonderful, actually, that if you go to the British Library today and order them to have a look at them, you're sent to a separate desk to read them because they're so large and they're quite hard to handle. So in terms of a visual statement, if we imagine that these documents, documents were brought out, possibly read, at least witnessed at the meetings of the Royal assembly, then there was a huge visual statement about the kind of king that he was. There's a revolution here in the documents that he's issuing and also the way in which they're written. They're written in this highly learned, very ornate, very decorative Latin, full of alliteration, rhyme, lots of literary techniques with allusions to literary authors. So early authors from the early Anglo Saxon period, people like Oldham of Malmesbury. So they're designed to make a statement. So I think in terms of the parameters of government, the way that he's been king, he's really putting across a new vision for the kind of king that he was and the new kind of levels of power that he had in the early 10th century.

[David Musgrove]

And I imagine everyone was quite delighted about that across Britain and the decade after, a Umbridge was very stable, no problems. Everyone absolutely in accord with his views.

[Professor David Woodman]

Absolutely the opposite, yeah. I mean, I think he would have been a constant struggle for Athelstan to maintain his position. There would have been internal battles of various kinds. We've already talked about the difficulties that he himself experienced personally in becoming king in the first place. He had a number of half brothers, many of whom would have aspired to be king in their own right. So in 933, his half brother Edwin is sent out to sea in a ship. He dies at sea, he drowns. Contemporary texts don't tell us the circumstances, exact circumstances, in which he drowned and why this all happened. But again, texts of the early 12th century begin to allude, to, allude to the fact that it could have been Aethelstan. You know, perhaps Athelstan himself was involved in the murder, or at least the expulsion of his own brother from the English kingdom. Why did that happen? Had he created a challenge to Athelstan's position, we don't know, but certainly there would have been internal threats to his rule in those years after 927. And of course, there was the ever present risk of British kings rising up against him, or indeed of Vikings trying to assert themselves in the face of Athelstan's power. Power. In fact, the way I like to think about it is he's so precociously powerful that in a way, he causes resentment from various people. And the classic example is that we have this major battle in 937 at a place called Brunnanburg, the location of which has been much debated by modern historians. But there we have this Viking coalition of Olaf Guthrithsson, who comes over from Dublin trying to defeat Athelstan. He's joined by Constantine of Scotland and we think also by Owen of Scotland, Strathclyde in Cumbria. They rise up and they try to overthrow Aethelstan. And it's clear that this was a pivotal moment in Athelstan's kingship and in fact, I guess in the early history of England. Early England, here, it's on the line that day in this battle at Brunanbur. And it was a major victory for him. So much so that contemporary chronicles from Ireland, from Scandinavia, from Wales and from Scotland, they all register the importance of this occasion and the major slaughter that took place place when Hathelstan won with his brother.

[David Musgrove]

So basically, by 937, he's defeated everyone, he's the man in charge. But then he dies quite soon after, you know, that's the end of his project, is it? Does everything fall apart after that?

[Professor David Woodman]

Yes, in 939 he dies. He's later buried in Malmesbury Abbey. And I highly recommend people go to visit Malmesbury Abbey. There's a wonderful, much later tomb in Athelstan's honour there. Very, very beautiful place. But yes, on his death, it does fragment. The English kingdom breaks into parts again. So we have have Olaf, the very same Olaf that had been defeated at Brunanburgh in 937. He becomes king in York in 939. And we have successive kings of the English people, like Edmund and Deadred, who try to win over York once more. And it's only by 954 that we get the last Viking king of York displaced. So Eric, a man called Eric at that point. And then from then onwards we get. Northumbria is brought more steadily within the control of English kings and very clearly solidified by the reign of King Edgar in the 960s and beyond.

[David Musgrove]

One interesting little sideline that I took from your book is the relationship with Brittany and whether there was any chance that sort of Brittany might have been included in this sort of wider imperial project from Athelstan. Can you talk a little bit about that?

[Professor David Woodman]

There are a number of interesting links with Britain at this point. So there are a number of Breton manuscripts that are brought to Athelstan's court. There's a big religious dimension, a big influence on the English church in. In Athelstan's reign. We know of a Breton pilgrim who came across and was supported by Athelstan in his journeys across England. The extent to which there was ever kind of a formal plan for Athelstan to include Brittany within the English kingdom, I'm not sure. I mean, one thing that we haven't talked about, which is very, very important for Athelstan's reign to understand, I guess the extent of his ambitions is the extent to which he's building up relations with lots of contemporary leaders in Europe, not just in Brittany as well. So people like the King of West Francia, the King of East Francia, the Royal House of Burgundy, many of the half sisters of Athelstan are married into these contemporary ruling houses, such that Athelstan is one of the first kings that we think had a concerted foreign policy with regard to Europe. He's really trying to exert himself there. And we see Europe reacting to this. We see again, in the pages of William of Malmsbury, he talks about European ambassadors coming to his court and trying to win his favourite favor in various ways. So he's clearly someone who's very important in those terms.

[David Musgrove]

Okay, to sum up, as we commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the events of 925 this year, and I suppose as we approach those of 927, in a couple of years time, what should we be thinking about? How should we be remembering Athelstan and his contribution to English and indeed to British history?

[Professor David Woodman]

Well, I mean, for me, he's a pivotal character. I mean, I was amazed in my own study of the period which really began as an undergraduate. I remember being set an essay about Athelstan in literally my fourth week as being an undergraduate student. And I knew so little about him. You know, you come through the school system in England and you don't learn about this early period of history. So for me, I would love Athelstan to receive the recognition that he deserves as England's architect. Basically, he's the founding father of England and the date of 97. It's really just as important as those other memorable medieval dates that we have. 1066, 1215, Magna Carta. It always astonishes me that 1066, the conquest of England by the Normans, is much better known than the formation of England in the first place itself in 927. So I really hope that Athelstan gets the push, that he deserves to be recognised as the founding father and also someone, I guess, who was a keen supporter of learning and of intellectual endeavour. There were lots of of examples of him sponsoring literature, the reading of literature, the supporting of scholars from across Europe at his court. It must have been an extraordinary place to be a member in the early 10th century. So he's a very, very interesting character.

[David Musgrove]

The problem for 927 versus 1066 is that it doesn't possess 68 metre long embroidery telling the story. If it had its own by a tapestry, then we'd probably be a lot more familiar of it.

[Professor David Woodman]

Yeah, and I think that's such a good point. I mean, I really think that Athelstan is a victim of historiography here, that he doesn't, as you say, a wonderful tapestry to remember him by. He doesn't have a contemporary biographer to sing his merits. So again, if we think about his grandfather, Alfred the Great, who's probably the best known of the early medieval English kings, one of the reasons why is that we have a biography written by the Welsh cleric Assa all about him. So, you know, we can only imagine that if Athelstan had had that, maybe he'd be better known today.

[David Musgrove]

It's a recurrent theme in this podcast. We discover if you want to make sure you are well remembered by history, make sure there's somebody there to write about it and that the documents are absolutely. Yeah.

[Podcast Host / Narrator]

That was Professor David Woodman. His book the First King of England, Athelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom is out now and you can read his feature [e-mail].

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[David Musgrove]

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[Professor David Woodman]

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[David Musgrove]

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[Professor David Woodman]

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