The True Story of King Æthelstan | The Last Kingdom

a lot of you may know ethelstan from the tv show the last kingdom or vikings but i am going to tell you the real story of this legendary king historians hold him in high regard he has been described as the father of medieval modern england and one of the greatest anglo-saxon kings his ascent to greatness however would not be easy he had to keep up the work of his father who had provided him the blueprint of how to take control of the turbulent danelaw ethelstan would do exactly that and more being the one who united all the kingdoms in england under his sole rule this is his story first let's look at his ancestry and early life ethelstan came from a legendary lineage of kings with his grandfather being alfred the great one of england's greatest warrior kings who defeated the vikings against all the odds his father was edward the elder who began the expansion of wessex absorbing mercia and the southern danelaw into his own domain leaving his son ethelstan to finish what he started ethelstan was born in the year 894 and he was the eldest son of edward the elder and his first wife ekwin but virtually nothing is known of her life and dissent it is not known what became of ethelstan's mother but his father king edward would marry again and he would have two half-brothers elfweird and edwin ethelstan would grow up in murcia being raised by his warrior aunt ethelfled the lady of mercia he would have been trained in the art of the sword and combat by ethelfled's men it is said that a young ethelstan would have participated in mercian campaigns to conquer the danelaw conveying he was a warrior prince ethelstan's father edward the elder would die on the 17th of july 924 but ethel stands ascension to the throne wouldn't be straightforward as his half-brother also had ambitions to be king it's unclear who edward wanted to be king after his death but the events after his death are clear ethelstan was acknowledged as the king in mercia probably due to him growing up there and having fought alongside the men he also most likely got on well with the mercy and nobles making him the obvious choice to be the next king meanwhile in wessex they chose his half-brother elfweird as king once again dividing the kingdoms however elfweed would die just 16 days after his father edward his cause of death is unknown wessex would not proclaim ethelstan as their king for some time remaining defiant but he was ultimately crowned king of mercia and wessex in the year 925 schemes and plots would follow ethelstan even after his coronation an unknown nobleman planned to blind ethelstan on account of him being an illegitimate son of edward and thus was not the true king blinding would have made ethelstan unable to rule and lead men who would have made him step down as king it is unknown if this plot was arranged by his other half-brother edwin but one thing was apparent wessex still didn't stand with their king so this plot could very well have been edwin who was raised in wessex amongst his people edwin's fate however would have to wait ethelstan now looked to the north and to the work of his father edward and his aunt ethelfled who had conquered the danish territories in eastern mercia and east anglia ethelstan now knew that the conquest of the entire danelaw was possible and he just needed to wait for the right time to strike citric was the viking king in dublin and northumbria and was ruling york at the time of ethelstan's ascent to power in 927 he would die ethelstan would seize this golden opportunity to strike as when a king dies chaos emerges and chaos brings opportunity citrix cousin guthrief was quickly proclaimed the king of northumbria however ethelstan would march north and capture york whilst guthrief sailed with a fleet from dublin the events that followed are uncertain but ethelstan did prevail either by military might or negotiation and he then captured york the vikings in york would submit to him and proclaim him as king northumbria had just fallen to ethelstan and his conquest of the danelaw was now complete he was now not just the king of saxons but the king of the english a meeting would soon be held with all the earls and kings in the north and something truly legendary was about to take place king owen of strathclyde king constantine of alba ildred of bambra and king highwell of wales all submitted to ethelstan in 927 and accepted his supremacy this led to seven years of peace in the north edwin ethelstan's half brother who was allegedly behind certain plots would drown in a shipwreck in the north sea in the year 933 it is unknown if he was fleeing the wrath of his half-brother after his alleged treachery was discovered or for other reasons nevertheless he was dead and ethelstan would now be the obvious choice as king by 934 ethelstan looked north once again the kings of the north had sworn allegiance to him but they wanted their kingdoms and independence back they would plot in the shadows until their time to strike came king constantine of alba would break a peace treaty forcing ethelstan's hand ethelstan had united all of mainland england and had a monstrous army with men of all faiths and cultures saxon men stood with him as did the vikings and so did the welsh on ethel stan's march north four welsh kings accompanied him as did thirteen earls conveying his power and supremacy above all other kings ethelstan and his men would make their way to scotland by land and sea engulfing the scottish soil his army reached as far north as donator castle which is the furthest north any english army had ventured since the year 685 there are not many sources from medieval chroniclers on what happened during this campaign or its outcome but it is said the forces of ethelstan ravaged the lands up to danita making it known that no king could protect their lands from him he was showing all the northern and scottish kings that they were no match for him and they could stand and die or submit and live the flames of war were ever apparent and ethelstan had made the north and scotland bleed uniting them into his own kingdom would prove extremely difficult as their leaders were bent on independence in the year 934 olaf guthrinson succeeded his father guphrith as the norse king of dublin olaf would then marry king constantine's daughter cementing an alliance between the king of dublin and king of alba gothrif's forebears had sailed from scandinavia and had become the kings of northumbria and dublin but ethelstan had taken northumbria and olaf wanted it back it seems ethelstan's peace was dissolving in the year 937 king olaf and king constantine would also join forces with king owain of strathclyde in an alliance against ethelstan virtually all the kings who had sworn loyalty to him in 927 had now turned against him alone they couldn't even challenge him but together they thought they could crush him and take their lands and independence back the three allied kings with their scottish irish and northern army would plunder english territory in the summer of 937 with their aim being to dissolve england and break ethelstan's source of power this would culminate in the battle of brunenburger and the victor would have england's fate in their hands ethelstan's army consisted of the men of wessex the mercians the welsh and many vikings from the danelore the two armies would soon clash ethelstan's forces would make a shield wall and would hammer and drive their enemies back soon enough an all-out battle would take place and it was devastating according to a poem called the battle of brunem borough it says never has there been a greater slaughter since the angles and the saxons came here from the east the result of the battle was a victory for aethelstan and his warriors but thousands would lay dead on the battlefield many petty kings princes and english nobles died in the battle including two of ethelstan's cousins ethelstan and his nobles would be in the thick of the fighting leading their men to victory for generations this would be remembered as the great battle king olaf escaped back to dublin and king constantine lost a son olaf remained king of dublin but his ambitions to take back northumbria and york were lost ethelstan saved england from the wrath of the allied kings of the north but his lordship over them was lost and he no longer held the influence he did years earlier before he would rule most of scotland strathclyde and had united the danelaw and the viking city of york but after the great battle his influence in scotland and strathclyde dwindled and he only held control of england having lost his rule of britain but still ruling the land south of strathclyde and alba ethelstan would die in the year 939 he never married nor fathered children and the crown would pass to his younger brother edmund as soon as ethelstan died the men of york chose the viking king of dublin olaf as their king and the anglo-saxon control of the north collapsed while ethelstan was alive he was in control of nearly the whole of britain until the rebellion of the northern kings this conveys his brilliance as their combined forces could still not defeat him and he remained the king of england ethelstan has been regarded as a shadowy figure due to the lack of sourcing material regarding his life no doubt the details that have been lost to time were that of treachery and plots as he was the most powerful man in britain a man of ambition always lust for power which may have caused the events in his life to unfold ethel stands hold over britain wouldn't be seen again by any saxon king his level of power would not be attained by an english king until edward the first in 1272 this conveys that ethelstan was ahead of his time and his lordship of britain was a legendary feat in itself even if it didn't last so let me know what you think of ethelstan in the comment sections down below if you enjoyed the video make sure to like subscribe and share and i'll see you all soon for another history profile

Channel: History Profiles

Views: 307,417

Keywords: History Profiles, Lost History, Forgotten History, Interesting History, Æthelstan, The Last Kingdom, Aethelstan The Last Kingdom, Uhtred The Last Kingdom, Uhtred, Aethelflaed, Aethelflaed The Last Kingdom, Aethelwold, Alfred the great, Vikings Valhalla, Aethelweard, Danelaw, Guthfrith, King Constantine, The battle of Brunanburh, First King of England, Father Beocca, Brida, Ragnar Ragnasson, Ubba, Edward the Elder, Warrior King, Uhtred Ragnasson, England's greatest king

Id: ZAX5OD5AdXA

Length: 13min 2sec (782 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 07 2022