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TBF AEthelstan may have had internal control, but his reign still waged continuous warfare against Danish invasion, a conflict that continued for almost another century, until Harold Godwinson finally repelled them permanently in 1066. Sadly Harold could only savour that success for a few weeks as three week later he fell at Hastings, where the current King’s ancestor William managed through luck to eke out a victory thanks to a lucky arrow strike.
They must all have been tough bastards: to repel the Danes in Yorkshire, then race south on foot 300 miles in heavy armour and almost defeat another marine invasion.
Had I been around then and clapped eyes on even one of them I would have done whatever I could to hide and try to escape the slightest attention.
The British History podcast as a fun listen and spends a lot of time on the time from end of Roman control up to the Norman invasion. Aethelstan gets as much coverage as possible.
"King Æthelstan’s name now resonates in few places in contemporary Britain and finds little recognition beyond these shores."
No shit! Even in England, few people actually understand or really care about what happened between Romans and that (55 and 54BC and then finally: 43AD until about 410AD) and 1066 and the Norman invasion.
Something, something Saxons and Vikings and a round table and some burned cakes or something.
Its all rather sad, really because if you talk to a historian, that period is absolutely fascinating. Across the entire world, although we are here focusing on 400 until 1066 in England. Post 1066 it's all change ... of course it isn't - English would simply be French otherwise.
That period is (or was) nominally described as the Dark Ages because there was not much written evidence found and proper modern archaeology was not a thing until recently.
If you fancy a decent read then "The King in the North" by Max Adams puts things into perspective. By the way, I also think King Oswald was the real geezer. A couple of famous Hollywood actors now own a Wrexam (Wrecsam) footie club off of Wales. Just up the road is Oswestry. That's: Oswald's Tree.
The article is from 2011.
Æthelstan is a central character in the TV show "Vikings" that came later, so perhaps his name is more recognized now
Are you sure you don't mean "The Last Kingdom"?
Recommended BTW if you're interested in the period and you don't mind another German(ic?) playing a major role in English history ;)
You are right. I got the two mixed up.
The series wasn't that popular in the UK to be honest. The Bernard Cornwell series of books and TV adaptation perhaps contributed more as they've been bestsellers here and the adaptation was shown on BBC.
The show Vikings does feature a character with the similar name Athelstan [1], but he's a monk captured by the vikings, not a king who conquered the vikings.
There is some publicity about Æthelstan this year as it is 1100 years since he became king of England.
Lost Realms by Thomas Williams is another good book about this period. Rather than Wessex, Mercia etc. it focusses on some of the lesser known kingdoms of that era.
For those interested in a high-level walk through of the Anglo-Saxon period, I highly recommend “The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England” by Marc Morris. It covers the period from a number of different perspectives, including a clerical/monastic one that is easy to underestimate and ignore with a modern secular bias.
There is also a very listen-able audiobook version available on Audible.
I so look forward to our monthly Anglo Saxon Kings and Queens of England article.
My fave podcast (The Rest is History) has a subscription tier for the Aethel-STANs:
https://therestishistory.supportingcast.fm/gifts