Æthelstan, King of the English

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Æthelstan presenting a book to St Cuthbert, the earliest surviving portrait of an English king, circa 930; Credit – Wikipedia

Modern historians regard Æthelstan as the first King of England although he used the style King of the English (Rex Anglorum in Latin). The Anglo-Saxon kings of England used numerous different styles, including King of the Anglo-Saxons, King of the English, and King of England. Æthelstan, born around 894, was the eldest son of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons and the only son of Ecgwynn, the first of Edward’s three wives. He was also a grandson of Alfred the Great.  Little is known about Æthelstan’s mother. Some medieval chroniclers describe Ecgywnn as a commoner while others describe her as from a noble family. Similarly, she is described as the wife and the concubine of Edward the Elder. Modern historians also disagree about Ecgwynn’s status.

Like his father Edward the Elder, Æthelstan was unwilling to marry his female relatives to his own subjects so they either became nuns or married foreign husbands. These marriages fostered close relationships with other European courts.

Æthelstan had one full sibling, a sister:

By his father’s second marriage to Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire, Æthelstan had eight half-siblings:

Æthelstan had three more half-siblings from his father’s third marriage to Eadgifu of Kent, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent:

Æthelstan was raised at the court of his paternal aunt Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians. His aunt’s husband Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians had ruled Mercia under the overlordship of his grandfather Alfred the Great, and under his father Edward the Elder. Because Æthelstan had been raised in Merica, he had a level of loyalty from the Mercians that others from his family never had.

Æthelstan in a 15h-century stained glass window in All Souls College Chapel, Oxford; Credit – Wikipedia

When Edward the Elder died on July 24, 924, the Mercians immediately proclaimed Æthelstan as their king but deliberations continued in Wessex. Perhaps Edward had suggested that Æthelstan would succeed him in Mercia but another son would succeed him in Wessex. It appears that Wessex picked Ælfweard, elder son of Edward’s second wife Ælfflæd, as their king but he died sixteen days after his father. Æthelstan was not recognized as king in Wessex until a year after his father’s death, suggesting there was considerable resistance to him.

Æthelstan’s coronation took place on September 4, 925 at Kingston-upon-Thames. He was crowned by Æthelhelm, Archbishop of Canterbury who wrote a new coronation service because Æthelstan was crowned with a crown instead of the traditional helmet. Opposition to Æthelstan continued after the coronation. There was a plot to blind Æthelstan because of his supposed illegitimacy and some nobility and churchmen resisted Æthelstan for some period of time.

The British Isles in the early tenth century; Credit – Wikipedia

Æthelstan’s father Edward the Elder had conquered the Danish territories in Mercia and East Anglia with the assistance of his sister Æthelflæd and her husband, but when Edward died the Danish king  Sitric Cáech still ruled the Viking Kingdom of York. In January 926, Æthelstan arranged for his sister to marry Sihtric Cáech. Æthelstan and Sihtric Cáech agreed not to invade each other’s territories or to support each other’s enemies. When Sihtric Cáech died the following year, Æthelstan saw his chance to invade. He easily captured the last Viking stronghold and received their submission. Later in 927, Welsh and Scots kings and princes accepted Æthelstan as their overlord. Æthelstan became the first king of all the Anglo-Saxon people and overlord of all Britain. He then was styled King of the English. In 937, Æthelstan’s position was further cemented after the Battle of Brunanburh in which he triumphed over an alliance of Olaf Guthfrithson, King of Dublin; Constantine II, King of Scots, and Owen, King of Strathclyde.

Æthelstan died in Gloucester on October 27, 939, around the age of 45. Instead of being buried in the traditional House of Wessex burial sites in Winchester, Æthelstan chose to be buried Malmesbury Abbey in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England, where he was buried under the high altar. According to the 12th-century chronicler William of Malmesbury, Æthelstan was devoted to the abbey and the memory of its seventh-century abbot Saint Aldhelm. William of Malmesbury also wrote that Æthelstan’s body was disinterred in the 11th century and reburied in the abbot’s garden (now Abbey House Gardens) to avoid desecration by the Normans. Æthelstan is commemorated by an empty 15th-century tomb in the north aisle of Malmesbury Abbey.  Because he was never married, Æthelstan was succeeded by his half-brother Edmund I, King of the English.

Empty fifteenth-century tomb of King Æthelstan at Malmesbury Abbey; Credit – Wikipedia

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Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
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  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.