It’s late summer of the year 937. Three northern kingdoms forge an alliance in the hope to destroy the rising power of the united English realm, threatening their independence. King Aethelstan gathers an army and marches north to face the invaders. One of the most monumental battles of Anglo-Saxon England is about to happen. This video is sponsored by Vikings: War of Clans! Glory awaits in the game that promotes cunning, strategy and leadership. How you rule the clans is entirely up to you. Build vast cities, raise mighty armies and broker enduring alliances. In a game played by millions, a wise chieftain knows to use every advantage to become number one. Sign up today by clicking the link in the description below and not only will you be supporting our channel, but you’ll start you path to triumph with an additional 200 gold and a protection shield to help you write your own history. It’s the first half of the tenth century. Edward the Elder, king of the Anglo-Saxons dies while residing in northern Mercia. His reign, though largely forgotten and eclipsed by the exploits of Alfred the Great, his famous father, was a prosperous time for the Wessex monarchy. Edward cleverly built on the foundations laid down by Alfred and by the time of his own death, he essentially united all the English lands south of the Humber at the expense of the Danish Viking invaders from the continent. Despite his thriving rule, Edward seemingly didn’t declare his plans for succession clearly enough, which potentially could have been a source of internal friction between his five sons. In fact, three of them were still infants in the year 924, so the succession struggle was predominantly between his two oldest sons: Aethelstan and Aelfweard, both separately being hailed as the new king by Mercians and West Saxons respectively. All of their father’s work to keep the Anglo-Saxons unified under a single ruler was now at risk, with civil war looming on the horizon. Clouds gathered over the future of the kingdom, but then, just a few weeks after the death of the old king, his son Aelfweard perished, leaving Aethelstan the only adult heir to Edward the Elder. It was indeed a stroke of luck for Aethelstan, but even after the death of his younger half-brother, the opposition in Wessex, particularly Winchester, continued for several years, but Aethelstan did much to maintain unity within the kingdom. Even his coronation in 925 took place at a symbolic location on the border between Mercia and Wessex. From the beginning of his reign Aethelstan appeared to have the necessary traits of a good leader. He not only extended his grandfather’s legal reforms, being aware of the threat that lawlessness and robberies posed to the social order, but also founded churches, thus supporting the spread of the Christian religion throughout his kingdom. On top of that, he seemed to show far more interest in European politics than his predecessors, marrying his sisters to prominent continental rulers. In 926, in order to secure his northern border, Aethelstan arranged the marriage of one of his sisters to a Viking leader Sitric, king of Northumbria, the last remaining part of the Danelaw in England still under Danish control. Luckily, Sitric died the following year and Aethelstan was quick to seize an unexpected opportunity. In a matter of weeks, he was in York with his troops. The acquisition of Northumbria wasn’t as smooth as one would imagine, as Sitric’s kinsman, Guthfrith of Dublin also claimed the vacant throne, but in the end, Aethelstan emerged victorious, capturing York and receiving the submission of the Danish people, though the sources don’t reveal whether he actually had to fight Guthfrith. Aethelstan’s position seemed to be firm enough, as the same year he accepted the submission of two northern monarchs: Constantine of Alba and Owain of Strathclyde. Thus, if we add to this his authority over the Welsh kings which he inherited from his father and aunt, it becomes clear that Aethelstan not only exercised direct rule over all of England, but his formal overlordship spread throughout the vast majority of the island of Great Britain. Thanks to these efforts, he became the very first Rex Anglorum, the King of the English and also emphasized his control over the entire island. Such state of affairs prevailed for the next seven years, during which Aethelstan tightened his grip on Wales by imposing heavy annual tribute and also squashed the Cornish revolt in Cornwall before they were able to gather a more serious force to oppose the Saxon king. During this time, the Welsh and Scottish rulers attended assemblies of the English king and witnessed his charter . Aethelstan created an effective centralized government and thanks to his regional deputies he ensured obedience of his laws. It should come as no surprise, that his direct style of ruling soon became a thorn in the side of his northern vassals, who gradually over-time neglected to attend Anglo-Saxon assemblies. Possibly as a reaction to this loosening grip, in 934 Aethelstan prepared an invasion of Constantine’s domain. To keep facts straight – sources don’t indicate any specific reasoning behind Aethelstan’s campaign to the north but it is plausible to assume that his goal was to bring Constantine back to English heel. Details of this operation unfortunately also remain unclear, yet at the end, Constantine was forced to acknowledge Aethelstan’s supremacy. Surely, the King of Alba wasn’t appeased by such treatment and soon began plotting to shake off the English yoke. In the course of next two years he forged an alliance with Olaf, son of Guthfrith, the new Norse King of Dublin, who also was at odds with Aethelstan, as he claimed his right to the Kingdom of Northumbria, lost by his kin ten years earlier. The duo was soon joined by King Owain of Strathclyde, whose lands possibly suffered during Aethelstan’s campaign against the Scots. Individually, each northern ruler was not strong enough to face the Anglo-Saxons, but with their forces combined they posed a serious threat able to curb the rising power of the English King. Eventually, in August of 937 the allied force of Alba and Strathclyde entered English territory and began plundering. A few days later King Olaf landed on the English shore with the hiberno-norse contingent and marched to rendezvous with the main army. But Aethelstan wasn’t really prepared for this sudden challenge, as late summer wasn’t the most common time to start a military campaign. Anyway, the English king marshalled his household guard and levied all available fyrds across East Anglia, Mercia and Wessex to supplement the king’s army. Pressured by time, Aethelstan commanded the march out even before all of his troops were able to assemble, hoping to contain the enemy ravaging the countryside as soon as possible. The camp was set in the vicinity of Mersey estuary, among the moors, and battle preparations began. Aethelstan sent multiple envoys to his enemies, attempting to delay the battle as long as possible in order to buy some time for the rest of his troops to arrive. Hoping to discourage the allies from an early attack, he commanded to pitch more tents to inflate his camp, and thus hide the fact that many of his units were still on the way to the battlefield. Aethelstan managed to buy himself three days of truce, allowing the rest of his troops to join the king’s army. Eventually, early in the morning the opposing forces began deployment on the broad heath. While exact numbers remain unknown, a good, though still rough estimate is, that King Aethelstan, ruling over the entirety of England was able to muster north of 10,000 men, and the combined forces of Olaf, Constantine and Owain was about the same size. With the sun already high over the horizon, both sides charged forward yelling at the enemy. The battle was joined, as two arrays of shieldwalls clashed, and tight melee combat ensued across the field. Many of Aethelstan’s retinue were experienced warriors who fought the Danes in Eastern Mercia years earlier under the command of his aunt and father, and he also made use of an unspecified number of fierce Norse mercenaries filling up his ranks. But his Briton, Scottish and Hiberno-Norse enemies were no inferior warriors and as casualties rose, neither side was able to gain an upper hand. Long gone was the time when Viking invaders prevailed in clashes with inhabitants of the British Isles. During the time of Aethelstan the Norsemen fought on all sides, but by no means could a Saxon, Welsh, Scottish or Irish warrior be deemed inferior to his Scandinavian counterpart. It was already past noon, but the battle still raged with no sign of final resolution. The death toll rose disastrously high, when somewhere in the centre, Aethelstan’s men managed to cut through the Briton shieldwall and split the allied battleline. This was a turning point, as many men from the north realised that the tide of the battle was turning to the English, lost heart and began to retreat. In a matter of minutes, the allied force thinned out and all those who were able to flee withdrew from the site of the battle. Soon, the bloody clash was over and Aethelstan’s exhausted forces were left victorious on the battlefield. It was a costly victory for the King, as casualties on both sides were considerable, probably reaching several thousands dead on each side. It is said, that five kings and seven earls, along with many lesser nobles across the opposing forces lost their lives in the carnage. His primary enemies, albeit considerably weakened, managed to find safety from the battle. Although the English King lost much of his military potential in the course of the battle, this victory secured his holdings in Northumbria, for had Aethelstan’s opponents won, his hegemony over England would have most likely disintegrated. The Battle of Brunanburh, dubbed by future generations simply as the „great battle” became an important element unifying the English kingdoms from a string of disparate states into one nation even though, as was much of Anglo-Saxon history, the deeds of King Aethelstan would eventually be overshadowed by the bastard from Normandy.
