By Sarah Foot
The robust and leading edge King ?thelstan reigned basically in short (924-939), but his achievements in the course of these eventful fifteen years replaced the process English historical past. He gained impressive army victories (most significantly at Brunanburh), solid extraordinary political connections throughout Europe, and succeeded in developing the 1st unified nation of the English. to say for him the identify of "first English monarch" isn't any exaggeration.In this nuanced portrait of ?thelstan, Sarah Foot deals the 1st complete account of the king ever written. She strains his existence throughout the a number of spheres within which he lived and labored, starting with the intimate context of his kin, then extending outward to his strange multiethnic royal courtroom, the Church and his country, the wars he carried out, and at last his loss of life and legacy. Foot describes a cosmopolitan guy who used to be not just an exceptional army chief but in addition a helpful king. He ruled brilliantly, built inventive how you can undertaking his photo as a ruler, and devised strategic marriage treaties and present exchanges to cement alliances with the major royal and ducal homes of Europe. ?thelstan's legacy, visible within the new mild of this masterful biography, is inextricably hooked up to the very forging of britain and early English id.
Read Online or Download Æthelstan: The First King of England PDF
Similar england books
Decision-Making in Medieval Agriculture
This interesting and critical e-book makes use of a wealth of latest assets to reconstruct the psychological global of medieval farmers and, via doing so, argues that there was a stereotypical interpretation of the center a while. David Stone overturns the conventional view of medieval countrymen as economically backward and as a substitute finds that agricultural decision-making used to be as rational within the fouteenth century as nowa days.
From the nice Glen option to the Coast to Coast direction, there's no larger approach to realize the miraculous range of northern Britain's panorama than strolling. even if you get pleasure from exploring eco-friendly and lightly rolling dales or tackling rugged mountain paths, there are walks right here to maintain you rambling all yr around.
Society and Cultural Forms in Nineteenth Century England
The transformation of British society through the nineteenth century is a standard of historic description. The transition from an commercial yet nonetheless predominantly agricultural society, with a lot of its conventional, vertically prepared different types of social association nonetheless intact, to a predominantly city, type divided and recognizably smooth society is still one of many amazing changes of social background, the prototype certainly for a lot of human heritage within the twentieth century.
1415 : Henry V’s year of glory
An epic account of King Henry V and the mythical conflict of Agincourt, from the writer of the bestselling Time Traveller's consultant to Medieval England.
Henry V is considered the good English hero. Lionised in his personal lifetime for his victory at Agincourt, his piety and his rigorous program of justice, he used to be increased by means of Shakespeare right into a champion of English nationalism. yet does he rather should be regarded as 'the maximum guy who ever governed England'?
In Ian Mortimer's groundbreaking publication, he portrays Henry within the pivotal yr of his reign; recording the dramatic occasion of 1415, he bargains the fullest, so much specified and least romanticised view we now have of Henry and of what he did. the result's not just a desirable reappraisal of Henry; it brings to the fore many unpalatable truths which biographies and army historians have mostly neglected. on the centre of the booklet is the crusade which culminated within the conflict of Agincourt: a slaughter floor designed to not enhance England's curiosity without delay yet to illustrate God's approval of Henry's royal authority on either side of the channel.
1415 was once a yr of spiritual persecution, own discomfort and one horrendous conflict. this is often the tale of that 12 months, as obvious over the shoulder of its so much cold-hearted, so much formidable and so much celebrated hero.
- The Wit & Wisdom of Winston Churchill
- Agriculture and politics in England, 1815-1939
- The English Bible and the Seventeenth Century Revolution
- The Norwegian Invasion of England in 1066 (Warfare in History)
Additional resources for Æthelstan: The First King of England
Sample text
Moving away from the king’s immediate court circle and looking out beyond cloistered doors we consider the whole kingdom in Chapter 5. Asking how Æthelstan performed his kingly role in governing the realm entrusted to his charge will inevitably take us away from the man and towards the public figure. Although the texts often portray the results of the deliberations of his councils in stereotypical language, couching the king’s words or drawing his image conventionally, we can still use this material to answer some questions about Æthelstan’s conceptions of rulership, the areas of responsibility he felt most keenly, the sorts of problems he chose to solve.
In the same year, while his court met at Abingdon, Æthelstan received an embassy from his cousin Adelolf of Flanders on behalf of the Robertian Hugh, duke of the Franks. 33 These would prove fortuitous alliances. When Sihtric died the following year, in 927, the presence of a widowed sister in now hostile territory gave Æthelstan a valuable excuse to invade his brother-in-law’s realm that summer. In fact, he responded to the northern power vacuum not a 30 Wormald, MEL, 447, n. 114; Janet Nelson, ‘The First Use of the Second Anglo-Saxon Ordo’, in Myth, Rulership, Church and Charters, ed.
10 In defeat, the Northumbrian Danes stayed north of the Humber leaving Edward with his sister Æthelflæd and brother-in-law Æthelred, ealdorman of the Mercians, assisted by their nephews Æthelstan and Edward’s second son Ælfweard, to confront the Scandinavian forces of the southern Danelaw. Over the next few years, the English used fortified burhs as centres from which to advance against the settled Danes. a. 903; the battle probably took place at the end of the calendar year 902, but the Chronicle’s year began in September, so events occurring in the autumn are recorded under the next AD date.