King Æthelstan or Athelstan's half-brother, and thought by some to be his predecessor.
King Æthelstan's father, and thought by some to be his predecessor; Æthelstan was his oldest son, and the only son by his first wife.
King Æthelstan's mother.
Some believe that there was resistance to Æthelstan becoming king because his mother may have only been this.
893/895: House and site of birth of King Æthelstan, considered by some to be one of the greatest of the Anglo-Saxon Kings.
Meaning of the name of Æthelstan.
Religion of King Æthelstan
899: Æthelstan's father marries this, his second wife (assuming he had been married to Æthelstan's mother); his step-mother favors her sons, Ælfweard and Edwin.
920: This third wife of Æthelstan's father, bears him two more sons, Edmund and Eadred.
924: Upon the death of their father, some believe that his younger half-brother succeeded him for about two weeks before his death, or the two half-brothers had a divided reign, with his brother ruling in Wessex, and Æthelstan ruling here.
925: Due to some resistance in Wessex, even after the death of his half-brother, he was not crowned King of the Anglo-Saxons until over a year after his father's death; he was crowned here, possibly symbolic due to its location on the border of Wessex and Mercia.
He was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Athelm, who probably designed a new service in which the king wore a crown for the first time, instead of this.
This Bishop of the primary see of Wessex, did not attend coronation; he didn't witness any charters until 928, and when he did, he was listed in a lower position than entitled by his seniority.
925 - 975: Title for this period of English kingship in which rulers from Wales and Scotland would attend assemblies of English kings and witness their charters; though there was strong control in the south, resentment remained in the north where the kings would look to ally with the pagan Norse of Dublin.
926: Æthelstan marries off a sister to Sihtric, the ruler of this only Viking kingdom remaining in England; the two agree not to invade each other.
927: Upon the death of Sihtric, Æthelstan invades and easily defeats this cousin of Sihtric who had led a fleet from Dublin, and gained the submission of the Danish people.
927: Constantine of Scotland, Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Ealdred of Bamburgh, and Qwain of Strathclyde accept Æthelstan' overlordship here, leading to seven years of peace in the north; Æthelstan becomes the first English monarch to have overlordship in the north.
Æthelstan, who had inherited overlordship of Wales, summoned the Welsh kings to Hereford, where he imposed a heavy annual tribute and fixed the border at this river; the Welsh kings remained loyal allies, and were held in high honor in Æthelstan's court.
This inscription appeared on his coins and charters.
930s: These were issued, for the first time the king was shown wearing a crown with three stalks, following Carolingian iconography.
The Witan or Royal Council, which, like the Anglo-Saxon kings' courts, was peripatetic meeting throughout Britain, had the characteristics of a national assembly, and helped break down provincialism; it is seen as the forerunner of this institution.
Anglo-saxon kings ruled through these royal officials, many of them Danes, who had the highest lay status under the king; originally their authority was over a single shire, but Æthelstan, creating the most centralized government England had yet seen, expanded their authority to larger regions.
These royal officials were noble local landowners, in charge of a town or royal estate.
Four legal codes were adopted by the Witan, most likely written by Wulfhelm, who had succeeded Athelm in this ecclesiastical position; although some see a larger role by the king in crafting them.
Among other things, the legal code enforced the duty of charity on the reeves to free one penal slave annually, and another asserts the importance of this donation of one-tenth of one's income to the church.
The king showed a very strong concern for theft in the codes, which was equated with disloyalty, and punished by this, for those over twelve; a few years later the age was raised to fifteen.
King Æthelstan was an avid collector of these holy objects, collecting and then donating them to many churches and monasteries.
King Æthelstan promoted education; one of the greatest scholars of his court was Israel the Grammarian, one of the few of his day who knew Greek; Israel had been a disciple of this ninth-century Irish philosopher theologian.
Interested in developing European contacts, King Æthelstan married many of his female relatives off to foreigners, engaging in what has been described as a flurry on bridal activity not to be seen again until the reign of this monarch.
933: This younger half-brother of Æthelstan's drowns in a shipwreck in the North Sea; twelfth-century chronicler claims his drowning was ordered by the king, but that is unlikely; he may have fled after an unsuccessful rebellion.
934: King Æthelstan, with four Welsh kings, 18 bishops, 13 earls, six of whom were Danes, invaded this land of Constantine II, forcing his submission; reasons are unclear, though one 12th-century chronicler states Constantine had broken their treaty.
937: Constantine II and his allies invaded England and were defeated in this battle, called the greatest single battle in Anglo-Saxon history before the Battle of Hastings; the site is uncertain with over 30 candidates, Bromborough and Wirral being the most favoured among historians.
939: Æthelstan dies, and chose not to be buried at Winchester, which had opposed his rule, but was buried here, reflecting his devotion to its seventh-century abbot, Saint Aldhelm.
King Æthelstan is succeeded by this younger half-brother.
1526: This English scholar justified his translation of the Bible into English by stating that King Æthelstan had them translated into Anglo-Saxon.
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