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After the death of Edward the Elder, one of
his sons, Æthelstan, also known as Athelstan which is what we will use in future, (and anyway not a normal name - told you so) became king and although it is
difficult to put an exact date on things, I have decided that by 937AD, Athelstan was King of all England. He came to the throne of Wessex in 924AD and he
continued where daddy had left off in conquering all the other kings and rulers in England. He was crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames in London, possibly because
apart from London Bridge, the only bridge over the Thames was at Kingston. Athelstan was also the first monarch (king or queen) shown wearing a crown.
In 927AD, Athelstan had sent an ambassador to Rome and the Pope gave his blessing to Athelstan's kingdom. During his reign he would hold large
meetings and assemblies which would discuss the laws of the land. You could say that this was a type of Parliament. He wasn't always a nice guy as, in 1833,
he ordered his brother Edwin to be drowned at sea.
However, back to my reason for choosing 937AD and this was because it was in that year that Athelstan defeated a mighty army at a battle at Brunanburh.
The army included Scots, under their king Constantine, Irish Vikings under Olaf Guthfrithson and Owen, the King of Strathclyde. It is possible this alliance
(an alliance is a group of people who get together as allies) was formed because in 934AD Athelstan had made a large scale invasion of Scotland because
Constantine had broken a peace treaty and these others wanted to help Constantine get his own back.
So, everyone decided to get together and teach the Anglo-Saxons a lesson. However, the Saxons under Athelstan completely destroyed the enemy
and this left Athelstan in total charge. Interestingly, no one is really sure where the battle took place. It was definitely in the north of England but
there is no record of a place called Brunanburh.
Sadly, two years later, there was no king called Athelstan either. He died. He never married so he was succeeded by one of his half-brothers.
He was known as Edmund the Elder and was only 18 when he was crowned.
Forward to 946AD
