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Documentary, King Alfred And The Anglo-Saxons S01E03 Athelstan The First King Of England
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00:00In around the year 980, a member of the English royal family wrote a history of England for his
00:15cousin in Germany, looking back on the great events of their times.
00:23My dearest Matilda, he wrote, here you'll find the story of our family.
00:30A tale of so many wars and the killings of men, the shipwreck of navies on the waves of the ocean.
00:39Now your uncle was King Athelstan.
00:43In his time, the barbarian forces were overcome on all sides, and England emerged as the victor.
00:53The fields of Britain became one.
00:56There was peace everywhere and abundance of all things.
01:00He was a mighty king, worthy of high honour.
01:05Among all the great rulers of British history, Athelstan today is the forgotten man.
01:20But in his time, a continental poet thought him an English Charlemagne.
01:25His nicknames in Scandinavia were the faith-strong and the victorious.
01:30To the Irish, he was the pillar of the West.
01:33To the Welsh, the king of kings.
01:36To the Scots, simply the bastard.
01:39But Athelstan will turn the dream of Alfred the Great into reality.
01:44A kingdom of all the English.
01:46A kingdom of all the English.
01:47A kingdom of all the English.
01:48A kingdom of all the English.
01:49A kingdom of all the English.
01:50A kingdom of all the English.
01:51A kingdom of all the English.
01:52A kingdom of all the English.
01:53A kingdom of all the English.
01:54A kingdom of all the English.
01:55A kingdom of all the English.
01:56A kingdom of all the English.
01:57A kingdom of all the English.
01:58A kingdom of all the English.
01:59A kingdom of all the English.
02:00A kingdom of all the English.
02:01A kingdom of all the English.
02:02A kingdom of all the English.
02:03A kingdom of all the English.
02:04A kingdom of all the English.
02:05A kingdom of all the English.
02:06A kingdom of all the English.
02:07A kingdom of all the English.
02:08A kingdom of all the English.
02:09A kingdom of all the English.
02:10This is the tale of how the Kingdom of England was created in the Viking Age
02:38by the most remarkable family in British history.
02:45And the third great figure in this story is Athelstan.
02:49But the most surprising thing about him is that when we look for contemporary accounts,
02:54there's almost nothing.
02:58We've come back to the source we followed through this tale, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
03:04The Chronicle tells how King Alfred resisted the Vikings
03:07and created a single kingdom of the old rivals Wessex and Mercia,
03:13a kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons.
03:16It tells how his son and daughter expanded the kingdom
03:20and conquered the Viking Midlands and East Anglia.
03:25But when it comes to Athelstan, there's a surprise.
03:29Athelstan's the most powerful ruler that Britain has seen since the Romans,
03:33and you would have expected the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to wax lyrical about these great deeds of the dynasty,
03:40the grandson, after all, of Alfred the Great.
03:42But something very strange happens in this manuscript.
03:47No account is written of the reign of Athelstan.
03:50Only 16 years after Athelstan's death was a new booklet inserted which gives us four facts.
04:00His accession, his death and his wars.
04:04Somebody in Winchester clearly didn't see Athelstan as being quite the legitimate successor
04:12to the throne of the West Saxons.
04:21To find out why, we need to go back to Winchester,
04:26the capital of Wessex, in the last days of Alfred's life.
04:35At that time, Athelstan was Alfred's only grandson,
04:38and just before he died, Alfred knighted him with the symbols of kingship.
04:46Seeing the boy's graceful manners and handsome looks,
04:49Alfred affectionately embraced him and gave him a Saxon sword,
04:55a jewelled scabbard, belt and cloak, in omen of a kingdom.
05:00A poem was presented to the little boy, punning on his name.
05:06Prince, you're called Athelstan, noble stone.
05:11Take this as a happy omen for your life.
05:16You will be a royal rock,
05:18fighting fearsome demons.
05:20But take the holy path of learning, too.
05:26And if peace comes,
05:28I pray that you may seek and God may grant
05:31the promise of your noble name.
05:34But in the Middle Ages, a year was a long time in politics.
05:51After Alfred's death, Athelstan's father, King Edward,
05:54married and had other sons by his queen.
05:58And Athelstan was sent to be brought up by his aunt,
06:01Athelflaed, in Mercia.
06:07Athelstan was brought up at that Mercian court,
06:11and his formative years must have been passed in her orbit.
06:19She would be telling him the stories about her father
06:22and about her education at his court.
06:27I think it's impossible to describe Athelstan's personality
06:31without looking at Athelflaed's input into it.
06:40So Athelstan grew up in Mercia.
06:43He was educated in Latin letters.
06:46He trained to fight and hunt with the Mercian thanes
06:50in the rolling hills of the Forest of Dean.
06:52As a young man, he must have fought in his aunt's campaigns
06:58in the Danelaw, where he earned a name for courage and nerve.
07:11But as he grew up in Mercia,
07:14did Athelstan still think,
07:15despite his father's remarriage,
07:18that he was the true heir to the kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons?
07:23Now, remember the care with which Alfred the Great
07:27had tried to ensure that the succession would pass down
07:31peacefully through his descendants.
07:34But look at this.
07:36There's Alfred's son, Edward.
07:37And Edward had at least 14 children
07:41by three different wives,
07:43two of whom were anointed queens.
07:47Here's the sons.
07:48His heir as king of Wessex,
07:51Elfwyrd, who's in his 20s.
07:53The next heir,
07:55Eadwyn, his brother, also in his 20s.
07:58And here in the middle,
08:01Athelstan.
08:03He's the oldest.
08:05He's the son of a lesser consort.
08:09It says here in French at the side
08:12that Athelstan was warlike and courageous
08:15and greatly feared
08:17and the most handsome man that ever lived.
08:22The stage was set
08:23for a typical medieval succession crisis.
08:29And that's exactly what happened.
08:33After Athelflid's death,
08:36King Edward marched into Mercia,
08:38but in 924,
08:39the Mercians revolted against him
08:41and on the campaign,
08:43Edward died near Chester.
08:46And then only days later,
08:49so did his chosen heir,
08:50Athelstan's half-brother, Elfwyrd.
08:53And now the Mercians chose Athelstan as their king.
09:03Here in Winchester,
09:05it must have seemed
09:05it was one piece of bad news after another.
09:09The Mercians are in revolt in the north-west.
09:12The king has died,
09:14suppressing the rebellion.
09:16His heir apparent in Wessex,
09:17King Alfwyrd doesn't even get back home.
09:20He dies mysteriously 16 days later.
09:24Rumours swirling of plots and intrigue.
09:28Murder, maybe.
09:31And then to cap it all,
09:32the Mercians have elected Athelstan
09:35not as their lord,
09:37but as their king.
09:38At that point in the story,
09:42it must have seemed
09:43that the joint kingdom of Wessex
09:45and Mercia created by Alfred the Great
09:47was about to be torn apart.
09:54But to save the family project,
09:56Athelstan now offered a deal.
09:59He wouldn't marry or have heirs.
10:01He'd be a kind of caretaker king.
10:04He's not known ever to have married.
10:06There was a certain way
10:09of avoiding tensions in royal dynasties
10:13in some adult men
10:17renouncing family and heirs
10:21in order to make way
10:23for younger brothers or nephews.
10:25The Franks occasionally tried this.
10:28Kings in Spain in this period
10:29also tried this.
10:31It was an option.
10:32But it still took a year of infighting
10:37before he was accepted in Wessex.
10:42And even then,
10:43there was a plot to blind him
10:45before he was crowned.
10:51No wonder then
10:52that he was strategic
10:54in his choice of coronation place.
10:56He was crowned not in Wessex
11:00or in Mercia
11:01but on the border
11:03between the two
11:04at Kingston-on-Thames.
11:11Kingston had the only bridge
11:13across the Thames
11:14other than London Bridge
11:15up until about 1750, I think.
11:17And so presumably,
11:18the king of Wessex
11:19comes to the edges
11:20of his kingdom
11:22so that he can then
11:24bring his lords over
11:24from Mercia
11:25and begin joining together
11:27all that national story.
11:30Yeah, yeah.
11:30If you're bidding
11:31to be king of all the English
11:33then a place on the boundary
11:34between the two key kingdoms,
11:36the West Saxons
11:37and the Mercians
11:38would be ideal.
11:40Yeah.
11:40Yeah.
11:42He was crowned here
11:43on the 4th of September 925.
11:47It was the first
11:48English coronation.
11:50Tradition said
11:51on a great wooden platform
11:53set up in the marketplace
11:54in front of Kingston Church.
11:59And if you'd been here that day
12:01what you would have seen
12:02was a series of
12:03carefully orchestrated
12:05ritual tableaus
12:07of dramatic scenes
12:08in which the archbishop
12:10and the bishops
12:11anointed him,
12:12gave him the sword,
12:14the sword of justice,
12:15the ring and the rod
12:16and the scepter
12:17and then on his head
12:19they put the crown.
12:20Nathelsand's the first
12:21British monarch in our history
12:23to be portrayed
12:24wearing a crown.
12:25and he was crowned
12:37in the name
12:37of the two peoples
12:39the West Saxons
12:40and the Mercians
12:42for if one kingdom
12:45of England
12:46was ever to emerge
12:47it couldn't happen
12:49without the two of them.
12:50when the ceremonies
12:56were over here
12:57at Kingston
12:57there was a great
12:58coronation banquet
12:59for all the court
13:00overflowing with fine
13:02food and wine
13:02but before the king
13:04left the church
13:05he performed
13:06one last
13:07intimate ritual
13:09in front of the altar
13:11he freed a slave.
13:12In Oroch
13:32I mean this is a book
13:34which Athelstan
13:34seems to have had
13:36with him
13:36at the time
13:37of his coronation.
13:39It's obviously
13:40a book
13:40of great importance to him, and he's used it to record this act of his. It's a good act for a king
13:51to perform at the time of his coronation. The highest and the lowest in the land associated
13:56in the same inscription. That's a nice way to put it, yes. He's keen to get his credit for this,
14:02and it's obviously an act which will benefit Athelstan as much as it will benefit
14:08the person he is freeing. So he'd won the crown. He was 30 years old, and as he believed,
14:17called by God. But he's also a politician, a man with nerve.
14:23But he still faced many threats. Beyond the Humber, Northumbria was ruled by a powerful Viking dynasty,
14:44whose empire stretched across the Irish Sea, to Dublin and the Western Isles.
14:55Wary of Athelstan's warlike reputation, they immediately sent ambassadors. And in New Year 926,
15:03he met them at the old Mercian royal centre of Tamworth. Here, in a great ceremony, he married his
15:12sister to Citrich, the pagan Viking king of Northumbria.
15:21Citrich accepted baptism as part of the deal with Athelstan as his sponsor, his godparent.
15:27Lots of later legends here in Tamworth about this tale. And those beautiful windows up there by
15:33William Morris give you the story. There's Athelstan on the left, giving away his sister.
15:39There she is, Edith in white, receiving a ring from her rather handsome Viking husband-to-be.
15:47Not the grizzled, one-eyed veteran of history. And next to them, the Bishop of Litchfield,
15:53Elna, a central figure in Athelstan's regime. It's a fascinating moment in the story of Viking Age
16:01England. The granddaughter of the most Christian king, Alfred the Great, is marrying the grandson
16:08of Ivor the Boneless, the bloodthirsty Viking who died on campaign in Repton 50 years before,
16:14and was buried with human sacrifice at the graveside. But Athelstan's accepting the facts on the ground.
16:23Scandinavian England is here to stay. And on this spot, Citrich is honoured as a descendant of the
16:31royal line of the race of the Danes.
16:39So Athelstan had begun his long-term plan, after 60 years of war, to bring peace to the Isles of Britain.
16:47Back in Winchester, like a new president, he surrounds himself with his own men, and a think tank from all over Europe.
17:00And it's the people around Athelstan at this moment that are really interesting.
17:04Werewolf the priest, famous Mercian scholar who was part of Alfred the Great's translation team.
17:12Walter Gundlach and Hildwin are German names. Dublitter is an Irish abbot and scholar.
17:20Petrus, a Frankish learned man and poet. This is Athelstan's courtly circle,
17:28his intellectual bodyguard around him in the potentially hostile atmosphere of Winchester.
17:36But looking over his shoulder at that moment is his father's next chosen heir, Prince Edwin.
17:43Edwin Cliton, Prince Atheling Edwin, his half-brother. If Athelstan had agreed not to marry and not to beget
17:55heirs in becoming king, then this is the heir apparent. And Edwin will play a very dramatic role in the story that follows.
18:06For the moment, Athelstan's rule was secure. But the next year, 927, the politics of Britain changed with dramatic speed.
18:20The first two, 3rd century, a heirs in the first six years, the white prince were born.
18:30Centrum in Anarches, a French tribes, in Northumbra.
18:36I believe in the first two, the first one was a German priest.
18:37But the first two, the last two, the father was the a German citizenship.
18:43And the終 of the wedding was the time of the Greek prince.
18:46The Terranians, his father and the three, the man, the king of the mother, the king of the king of the great prince.
18:48The whole country ended up in the other country.
18:49Athelstan, now armed for war across the whole of Britain,
18:54wrote his court poet Petrus, spearheaded by his armour-bearing thanes.
19:04Citrich of Northumbria had rejected the king's sister
19:08and renounced Christianity, but then died.
19:11And when his kinsmen came over from Dublin to claim their kingdom,
19:20Athelstan invaded Northumbria and drove them out.
19:28And now he sends ambassadors to the kings of the Scots
19:32and the Strathclyde Welsh,
19:35calling them to a peace conference in Cumbria.
19:37This is the Eamont Bridge.
19:41This is where Athelstan met Constantine, the king of the Scots,
19:45Owain, the king of the Strathclyde Welsh and the Cumbrians,
19:49and Eldred and Uchtred, the lords of Bamboura,
19:53the Anglo-Saxon rulers of northern Northumbria.
19:56The Anglo-Saxon chronicle mentions kings of Wales too,
19:59the king of Gwent and Howaldar of Diffid, the future lawgiver.
20:03Maybe they came here too.
20:07Here the northern kings acknowledged Athelstan
20:18as the supreme king of Britain.
20:22It was a turning point in British history.
20:25Guided by God-given dreams, as well as by realpolitik,
20:41Athelstan was determined that this would be a Christian empire.
20:45Before the kings parted, they went to a little village called Daca.
20:50So why did Athelstan bring the kings of Britain out to this lonely valley above Oswater?
20:59Well, the answer is that.
21:02Daca was an Anglo-Saxon monastery from the 7th century.
21:10It's mentioned by Bede.
21:12St. Cuthbert was supposed to have performed one of his miracles here.
21:16So they came here because it was a sacred place.
21:20And it was on this spot that they would have performed their solemn oaths against idolatry,
21:27Diffelgeld, and made their pact of peace.
21:30Writing back to the royal family in Winchester, his court poet was jubilant.
21:41Let her wing your way back to the palace.
21:45King Athelstan lives glorious through his deeds.
21:49This England is now complete.
21:52So Athelstan had power, but what he still wanted was legitimacy.
22:13That summer, 927, he sends an embassy to Rome with his archbishop Wolfhelm
22:18and the famous Welsh king, Howaldar.
22:25The new archbishop was to receive his spiritual authority from the pope himself.
22:36And the pope would give his blessing to Athelstan's Christian empire.
22:41The king is fired up now by his own sense of history,
22:47his awareness that he is guiding great events.
22:52The ancient Roman historians had spoken of a tripartite world,
22:57Europe, Africa, and Asia, with Britain beyond the edge.
23:01Now, Athelstan would claim to rule the world of Britain,
23:10a Christian empire with the authority of St Peter.
23:22Athelstan's pan-British embassy to Rome will have spent two or three months here
23:26and then begun the return journey in the new year of 928.
23:31And over the next six years,
23:33a revolution will take place in English government
23:36as far-reaching, if not more so, than the Angevins and the Tudors.
23:41This is the moment for Athelstan's visionary kingdom of all the English.
23:47When the embassy returned, Athelstan held a great Easter council in Exeter.
24:01The sacred flame, he said, has blown across the tripartite world.
24:06In this third year of my reign,
24:09which there is now no doubt is gifted by God.
24:12And so he began his project with laws on charity
24:19and a ferocious clampdown on crime.
24:26And he's already moving fast.
24:30It's as if he thought he didn't have much time
24:32and was desperate to turn his ideas into reality.
24:36No biography has survived for him, as it has for Alfred,
24:44so his story has to be pieced together from fragments,
24:48inscriptions, burned manuscripts.
24:52And one key aspect of his revolution in government
24:55is revealed in an unlikely source, the king's land grants.
24:59Although it's only a land document, I say only,
25:01but it gives us a vision of his kingdom at that moment, doesn't it?
25:05Yes, I think the point about these royal diplomas
25:08is that any one of these on its own is interesting up to a point.
25:14From a historian's point of view,
25:16the interest of these documents is completely transformed
25:19when you put them all together.
25:21Because these charters are dated, because they're localised,
25:27you can begin to see how the king moves
25:30from one part of the country to another.
25:33So, yes, these are the documents
25:35that represent the first flush of enthusiasm
25:38for this new kingdom of the English.
25:40And in this new kingdom,
25:45the king demanded control and wanted feedback,
25:49so he travelled constantly,
25:51holding regular gatherings of local and national leaders.
25:57One of these was held in November 931 at Lifton in Devon.
26:02One of these was held in November 931 at Lifton.
26:32There must be hundreds or so people named in this charter.
26:43One imagines certainly that there would have been
26:45two, three, four hundred people present at the meeting.
26:48Maybe thousands of supporters.
26:50Even more, yes, yes.
26:51And certainly the bishops
26:52are certainly not going to be travelling on their own.
26:57So many hundreds of people needed to be fed
27:00and temporarily housed.
27:02From support staff to the king himself.
27:06We can begin here with Ego Athelstanus.
27:09So you have I Athelstan, king of Britain, he's called there.
27:13Then you have Ego Wolfhelm.
27:16He's the archbishop of Canterbury.
27:19Here in the far west of Devon
27:21were Viking earls from the Danelaw feasting with the kings of Wales.
27:27And then, most interestingly,
27:29you have Ego Howell sub-regulus, Welsh sub-king.
27:35So the Welsh kings have come down to Lifton in Devon in November
27:38and are acknowledging Athelstan as the supreme king of Britain then, Simon.
27:42That is certainly the impression that this charter of Athelstan is creating, yes.
27:48As I say, whether the Welsh would have seen it quite their way is another matter.
27:53The world had changed.
28:03A whole new agenda was on offer,
28:06which was this notion of consensus, of collaboration,
28:09of assemblies as the place where you shape policy together.
28:13It had to be happening in assemblies beyond the court,
28:19in the shires, in the hundreds.
28:22And in these places, landowners and royal agents
28:26communed with each other
28:28and came to share an ideology
28:32which bound the king and his people together
28:35as divinely approved.
28:43So, in the mundane record of the king's journeys,
28:46you can glimpse the growth of English government
28:49and even the origins of parliament.
28:55Lawmaking is one of the most important aspects of assembly functions.
29:03Athelstan makes laws on a large scale.
29:06Chalice, that's fantastic.
29:10There's clearly also a good deal of give and take.
29:13A general discussion between the king and his great men.
29:18There's one instance in one of Athelstan's gore codes
29:21where he says there are complaints about disorder.
29:24And he says,
29:25my councillors have said that I have suffered this too long.
29:29And there's clearly a sense there of give and take.
29:32The councillor's putting up a point,
29:34making a complaint, and the king responding.
29:36He apologises for the state of the nation.
29:46My councillors say I've borne it too long.
29:49But then he sends a messenger,
29:52following on the latest lawmaking session.
29:54We all grew up with the idea that Simon de Montfort is the founder of the English parliament.
30:10But you're suggesting we should look much further back in time.
30:25Legislation, political discussion,
30:30consensual politics,
30:32the sort of thing that goes on in 13th century politics.
30:35And you can trace, I think, a clear line through,
30:38in terms of the history of large assemblies,
30:40straight through from Athelstan to the 13th century parliament.
30:43Of course, a lot changes.
30:45But there is a clear line of continuity.
30:54And to see how it all worked at grassroots,
30:57we've come to a borough built by Alfred the Great,
31:00and especially favoured by Athelstan.
31:04We're just outside the little town of Malmesbury in Wiltshire,
31:08on the northern edge of the West Saxon kingdom in Anglo-Saxon times.
31:13Just over the Avon into Gloucestershire, that's Mercia.
31:17And from at least as far back as the 14th century,
31:20the townsfolk here have believed
31:22that these fields were given to the town by King Athelstan.
31:29And believe it or not,
31:31even today, these fields, known as the King's Heath,
31:35are administered by King Athelstan's court.
31:43To help enforce his laws,
31:47all free men had to swear a solemn oath of loyalty to him.
31:52Oh, yay, oh, yay, oh, yay.
31:55All persons come forward and do your business in a peaceful manner.
31:59Thank you very much.
32:00Thank you very much.
32:02Warden and freemen of Malmesbury,
32:04King Athelstan's feast day court,
32:06was held in the old courthouse on Tuesday 12th June 2012,
32:12before M. Westmacott warden, O. Pike, N.O.J. Pike...
32:17To break your oath was treason to the King.
32:20The warden's oath.
32:24You shall swear that you will well and truly execute
32:27the office of warden of this corporation.
32:29You shall maintain, support and uphold all the rights,
32:33liberties, immunities, privileges and franchises of the corporation.
32:40So Athelstan's subjects were bound by the sworn oath
32:47in village tithings and the courts of Hundred and Shire.
32:51So it's wonderful seeing these ancient English traditions
32:55still in action, isn't it?
32:56Yeah, all of us.
32:57The warden and free burgesses of Malmesbury
32:59have a direct link to Athelstan via the 500 acres
33:03that he gave us in recognition of our assistants
33:07in his fight with the Danes.
33:09So there's the direct link.
33:11You can't get away from that.
33:13The King, in a nutshell, was creating an allegiance
33:17to his person, but most of all to his law,
33:21a key idea in English history.
33:24Athelstan also fixed England's physical frontiers.
33:42Across the Tamar, the Cornish too now became part of England
33:46for the first time.
33:47And 40 years on from Alfred's Viking wars,
33:51Athelstan overhauls his defensive network of boroughs.
33:55He closes some down and turns others
33:58into centres of trade and civic life.
34:03In Exeter, he restored the Roman walls,
34:07laid out streets and housing plots,
34:09encouraging merchants to settle.
34:11But markets need outlets.
34:29Athelstan granted to Exeter,
34:31the old Roman port on the River Ex,
34:34a place, as he put it,
34:35known to the locals as Topper's Hum.
34:40Morning!
34:42Salmon fishermen.
34:44Those boats are for salmon fisheries.
34:47Grant of Topsham to Exeter in the 10th century
34:50mentions these fisheries.
34:51They're still doing it.
34:56Topsham would grow rich on Exeter's trade.
34:59Wool from Devon.
35:01Tin and silver from Cornwall.
35:06So trade came with the revival of the English town.
35:13In Athelstan's time, it was said,
35:16the standard of living started to rise.
35:18There was plenty in the shops.
35:22But markets must have money.
35:25The only authority for the currency now
35:46was the king,
35:47who took a cut of the profits of each mint.
35:50By the end of the 10th century,
35:54nowhere in southern England
35:55was more than 15 miles from a mint.
35:58The English people were getting used to living
36:01in a money economy.
36:11We have here a very nice example from Chester.
36:15In this particular case,
36:17we have the name of the king
36:19surrounding a cross on one face.
36:23And we have him being called
36:24Athelstan Rex Tober.
36:29Athelstan, king of all Britain.
36:31The king of all Britain.
36:32Yes.
36:33And then on this other coin,
36:34which is from Winchester,
36:36we see again this same title.
36:39Athelstan Rex Tober,
36:42king of Totius Britanniae, all Britain.
36:44Completely the other side of the kingdom,
36:46but yet using the exact same title,
36:48and of course the same title
36:50that is used in his charters
36:51and in certain other documents.
36:53The fact that we see it coming through
36:54in both types of source
36:56really does indicate
36:58that someone at the top of the food chain
37:00is issuing a command
37:01that it's got to change,
37:03that we've all got to start singing
37:04from the same hymn sheet
37:05in terms of what we're calling the king.
37:07So Athelstan was a man in a hurry.
37:16His first six years
37:17saw great practical achievements,
37:20but culture and learning
37:21would also play a key role
37:23in nation building.
37:26His grandfather Alfred
37:28had begun the revival of education,
37:31and Athelstan took it
37:32to the next level.
37:36You can't put together
37:38a collection like this
37:39for any other
37:40Anglo-Saxon king.
37:42He obviously liked books,
37:45and he saw books
37:47as a useful tool
37:49for him to make his connections
37:52and to establish his networks
37:53and so on.
37:54And in his books,
37:58you can see too
37:59how learning
37:59was to be a tool of kingship.
38:03Well, here you have
38:05an extraordinary inscription
38:07indicating that
38:09this gospel book
38:10was given by King Athelstan
38:12to the church of Canterbury.
38:15Very fancy titles here.
38:17Athelstan, Anglorum,
38:19Basileus et Curaculus.
38:22This is all fancy words
38:24used in order
38:24to express kingship.
38:27Athelstan, king
38:28of the English
38:30and ruler
38:31of the whole of Britain.
38:34He's king not only
38:35of the English,
38:36but also of the whole
38:37of Britain,
38:38which is an extraordinary claim.
38:44When Athelstan was a boy,
38:46his grandfather
38:47had urged him
38:48to follow the path
38:49of learning.
38:51And his own book
38:52of Psalms hints
38:53at his personal interests
38:55with its added paintings,
38:58its religious calendar
39:00and its private prayers.
39:03The end, perhaps most surprisingly,
39:06series of texts in Greek,
39:08the Apostles' Creed,
39:10the Lord's Prayer,
39:11and so on.
39:14You can get a real sense
39:16of the king
39:17of the king
39:17as an intellectual,
39:18dare one say it.
39:22One writer
39:22he especially admired
39:24was the 7th century saint
39:25Aldhelm,
39:27to whom,
39:28it was said,
39:29Athelstan devoted himself
39:30body and soul.
39:33And this manuscript
39:35of Aldhelm
39:36was written
39:36by one of the king's
39:38scribes.
39:38What you're looking at
39:42is 10th century scholarship.
39:46Almost every word,
39:48every phrase
39:49is being glossed,
39:50i.e. explained
39:52and commented on.
39:54And through this manuscript,
39:56there are thousands of these.
40:00And perhaps the choice of text
40:02also tells us
40:04about the unmarried king himself.
40:06its message
40:08that self-control,
40:10purity of mind,
40:12chastity,
40:13is a victory for a man,
40:15as great
40:16as victory in battle.
40:20That even a warrior hero
40:22must fight
40:24his inner demons.
40:29The king spent Christmas 932
40:32at Amesbury
40:33in Wiltshire.
40:34And then,
40:37out of the blue,
40:38comes this.
40:45In this year,
40:46933,
40:47King Athelstan
40:48ordered his brother Edwin
40:50to be drowned at sea.
40:52Many later legends
41:00grew up
41:00about the drowning
41:01of Prince Edwin.
41:03It was said
41:04that Athelstan
41:06had been turned
41:06against his brother
41:08by a wicked cup-bearer,
41:10that the counsellors
41:11of England
41:12had tried Edwin
41:13in London
41:14and drowned him
41:14off London Bridge.
41:16And even better,
41:17that Athelstan
41:18had deliberately
41:19and cruelly
41:20had Edwin
41:21set afloat
41:22in the middle
41:23of the sea
41:24in a rotten boat
41:25with no oars.
41:30What we know
41:31is that Edwin
41:32was buried
41:32at Saint-Bartin
41:33in Flanders.
41:35And there,
41:35a chronicler
41:36told how
41:37King Edwin
41:38had drowned
41:39at sea,
41:40fleeing across
41:41the channel
41:41after upheavals
41:43in his kingdom.
41:51Later legends
41:53said that Edwin
41:54had been unjustly
41:55accused of rebellion,
41:57that afterwards,
41:58weighed down by guilt,
41:59Athelstan
42:00did public penance.
42:03Oh, that's magnificent,
42:05isn't it?
42:06This is beautiful.
42:07Oh.
42:08And that he founded
42:09a church
42:10where prayers
42:11would be offered
42:11for his brother's soul
42:13and his own sins.
42:15And the foundation
42:16of all of this
42:17obviously was
42:18the original church
42:19that burnt down,
42:20founded by Athelstan here.
42:22So King Athelstan
42:23in 934
42:24founded the church here,
42:26which was then
42:27called Middleton,
42:28as a penance
42:29for the death
42:30of his brother,
42:31who he believed
42:31was plotting against him.
42:33And he felt
42:34so guilty about it.
42:36The legend is
42:36that he actually
42:37built the church
42:38here on this site.
42:40And as we can see
42:42in the paintings
42:43very much
42:43that he is offering
42:44the church
42:45to the abbot.
42:47Possibly Athelstan
42:48had behaved
42:48in ways perhaps
42:50which he then regretted.
42:51Strangely enough,
42:53in the Irish law codes,
42:55there is a punishment
42:56of being set to sea
43:00in a boat
43:01with no oars
43:02is actually
43:03a legal punishment
43:04for homicide
43:05of brothers,
43:06amazingly.
43:07And it's
43:09obviously a way
43:11in which you don't
43:12want to have
43:12the blood on your hands
43:13of actually executing somebody.
43:15Yes, almost like
43:16the worst way.
43:17So you set them to sea
43:18and if God allows them
43:19to come back to land,
43:21then fine.
43:22If not,
43:23it's done with.
43:24So there's an eerie shadow
43:26behind the tale,
43:27isn't there really?
43:27Absolutely, yeah.
43:28So the succession crisis
43:35after his father's death
43:37had come back
43:38to haunt him.
43:41Athelstan's hard-won authority
43:43had been shaken.
43:50The next spring,
43:52Constantine,
43:53king of the Scots,
43:54renounced his allegiance.
43:56And Athelstan now
44:01raised a great army
44:03to punish Constantine
44:04and bring him
44:05back into the fold.
44:079.34,
44:10here for Athelstan
44:11Cooning
44:12in on Scotland.
44:15From Winchester
44:16on the 28th of May,
44:18they rode to Nottingham
44:19and then up
44:21into Northumbria.
44:22On the 1st of July,
44:39as the English fleet
44:40moved up the East Coast,
44:42the land army
44:43stopped at Chesterless Street
44:44on the River Weir,
44:46the shrine
44:47of St. Cuthbert.
44:48Athelstan came here
44:52with his
44:52grand army
44:54from all over Britain.
44:56He came into
44:57the little church
44:57on this spot
44:58and the priests
44:59opened St. Cuthbert's coffin
45:01so the king
45:03could actually
45:03touch the preserved body
45:05and wrap it
45:07in beautiful
45:08embroideries
45:09that he'd brought
45:10with him.
45:13Athelstan's grandfather,
45:14Alfred,
45:15had had a vision
45:16of St. Cuthbert
45:16in his moment
45:18of direst danger
45:19in the marshes
45:20of Somerset.
45:21Cuthbert had prophesied
45:23that Alfred's descendants
45:24would become kings
45:25of all England
45:26and rulers of Britain.
45:27That had now happened
45:28and Athelstan
45:30had come to this place
45:31to say thank you
45:33and to ask the saint
45:34for his help
45:36in the wars
45:37that lay ahead.
45:38And then he invaded
45:42Scotland
45:43plundering the lands
45:45of the Scots
45:46and the Picts.
45:48A Northumbrian chronicle
45:49says they attacked
45:50Dunfodder
45:51Dunotar Castle
45:54on the coast
45:55south of Aberdeen.
45:59In early August
46:00they reached the shores
46:02of the Moray Firth
46:03and the fleet
46:04went on to Caithness
46:05the northernmost point
46:07of the British mainland.
46:11There'd been nothing
46:12like it
46:12since the expedition
46:14of the Roman general
46:15Agricola.
46:24Faced by such a show
46:26of force
46:26Constantine
46:27submitted to Athelstan
46:29and came back
46:30with him
46:31into England.
46:37But across the British Isles
46:41voices of opposition
46:43were growing.
46:45In Wales
46:46a poet now called
46:48for the King of Kings
46:49to be overthrown
46:50and for the English
46:52to be driven
46:53out of Britain
46:54where they had come
46:56as landless wanderers
46:57400 years before.
46:59It is a prophetic poem
47:03in which it is hoped
47:05that it would be
47:06an alliance
47:07between the peoples
47:08of what I suppose
47:10we would term
47:10the fringes
47:12of the Isles of Britain
47:13to push the Alhmin,
47:15the English,
47:16out of England.
47:18The idea is that
47:19this alliance
47:20of Britons,
47:21Vikings
47:22and the Irish
47:23will push them
47:24out again
47:24and make them
47:25once more
47:26the Romers
47:27of the high seas.
47:28A chymod Cymru
47:40a gwir dilyn
47:41gweddil i werddon
47:43môn a phrydin
47:44a corniw
47:47a chludwys
47:48a chynnwys
47:49genin
47:49at porion
47:50fydbrothion
47:51pan di orfin.
47:55A muse foretells
47:56the men of Wessex
47:58will see England
47:59burn.
48:02When the great
48:03battle comes
48:04their dead
48:05will be packed
48:06too tight
48:07to fall.
48:12And in summer
48:13937
48:14the moment
48:15came.
48:18That August
48:19a huge Viking
48:20fleet left Dublin
48:21under King
48:22Anlaf Guthrison
48:23whose kinsmen
48:24Athelstan
48:25had driven
48:25from York
48:26ten years
48:27before.
48:29The Scots
48:30and Strathclyde
48:31Welsh
48:31came overland
48:32under King
48:33Constantine.
48:36Northumbrian
48:37sources say
48:38the Viking
48:38fleet
48:39of 615
48:40ships
48:41landed
48:42in the Humber.
48:44There
48:44in their chief
48:45city of York
48:46the Northumbrians
48:47joined the invaders.
48:50And suddenly
48:51Athelstan's
48:52northern empire
48:53had collapsed.
48:54The axis of the war
49:03was probably
49:04the Great North Road.
49:09The Allies
49:10now began to
49:11devastate the lands
49:12to the south
49:13to draw Athelstan
49:15to them.
49:15and that autumn
49:18you have to imagine
49:19columns of refugees
49:21fleeing away
49:22from the smoke
49:23as the Allies
49:25the Scots
49:25and the Norse-Irish
49:27devastated the land
49:28south of the Humber.
49:29They ravaged everything
49:36with incessant
49:37plundering raids
49:38driving out
49:40the peasants
49:41and setting fire
49:42to their fields.
49:44Such was
49:45the barbarians
49:46mounted strength.
49:51As autumn
49:52turned towards winter
49:53Athelstan
49:54still didn't move
49:55and now the moneyers
49:57in Nottingham
49:57and York
49:58stopped putting
49:59the king's name
50:00on their coins
50:00uncertain how events
50:02would turn out.
50:06And in England
50:07voices were raised
50:08against the king.
50:11In his youth
50:12he was fearless
50:13and bold
50:13it was said
50:14but he now let
50:15precious time
50:16slip by
50:17in inaction
50:18while they destroyed
50:21everything.
50:32But still
50:34Athelstan
50:35refused to be drawn.
50:39A later legend
50:40says that he came back
50:42to the little chapel
50:43of St Catherine
50:44at Milton
50:45to pray for God's help.
50:48And as for what
50:51Athelstan
50:52might have spoken
50:53on this spot
50:54at that moment
50:55well a prayer
50:56survives
50:57attributed to him
50:58a prayer before battle
50:59in which he asked God
51:01to let him
51:02fight well
51:03and act
51:05manfully
51:05and he begs
51:07that his enemies
51:07will be destroyed
51:08like Pharaoh's army
51:10before the people
51:12of Israel.
51:13And at the end
51:14of the prayer
51:14were a series
51:16of dreadful
51:17maledictions
51:18against the hostile
51:19king and his kingdom.
51:21Tear them apart
51:22O Lord
51:23smash them
51:25into dust.
51:27Aggression
51:28anger
51:29sense of betrayal
51:30whoever composed
51:32that prayer
51:33sounds as if
51:34he was contemplating
51:35a fight
51:35to the death.
51:42Alone in his
51:43private chapel
51:44he prayed
51:45on his most sacred
51:46relic
51:47a fragment
51:48of the true cross
51:50set in a rock crystal
51:52meditating on his past sins
51:57and the sins
51:58which would inevitably
51:59come with the slaughter
52:01of thousands
52:02in war.
52:06Such were the tensions
52:07between being an Anglo-Saxon
52:09warrior king
52:10and a pious
52:12Christian man.
52:15There's a later
52:16tradition that
52:17Athelstan wore
52:18his cross relic
52:19around his neck
52:20in his battles
52:20and literally
52:22arming his soul
52:24and protecting
52:25his body
52:26with one of the most
52:27potent relics
52:29in the whole
52:30of Christendom.
52:31Then with the armies
52:39of Wessex
52:39and Mercia
52:40Athelstan
52:41attacked.
52:44Athelstan
52:45König
52:45Erle
52:46Drichten
52:47Berna
52:48Berkjeva
52:49and his
52:49brother
52:50Erk
52:50Elder
52:52Langnetir
52:53Slogan
52:54at
52:54Satshe
52:54Swerda
52:55Edjum
52:56in
52:56Bebrunnan
52:57Burg.
53:01Nowherez
53:01Wal
53:02Mare
53:02on
53:03this
53:03Eklan
53:03Avre
53:04yet
53:05a
53:05folk
53:06gets
53:06your
53:06fillet
53:06beforran
53:07this
53:07um
53:08Swerda
53:09Edjum.
53:29But where
53:30Brunan
53:30Bo
53:31was
53:31is still
53:32a mystery.
53:35We'll never
53:36know for sure
53:37what happened
53:38in 937
53:39but my guess
53:42is that it
53:42was on this
53:43stretch
53:44of this road
53:45that the
53:46great war
53:47of the 10th
53:48century
53:48came to
53:49its climax.
53:50The news
54:06spread across
54:07the northern
54:08world.
54:10The battle
54:11was immense,
54:12lamentable and
54:13horrible,
54:14they said in
54:15Ulster.
54:15It was a
54:17black day
54:17for the
54:18Scots,
54:18they said,
54:19more savage
54:20than anything
54:21on record.
54:23He smashed
54:24those fears
54:24kings,
54:25wrote a
54:25Frankish
54:26poet,
54:27and by
54:27God's will
54:28trod on
54:29their proud
54:30necks.
54:30There were
54:34those who'd
54:35criticised his
54:36war leadership
54:37but as one of
54:38his courtiers
54:39wrote long
54:40afterwards,
54:41he was
54:42experienced
54:43and far
54:44sighted
54:44and very
54:46hard to
54:46overcome
54:46in any
54:47conflict
54:47and so
54:49it had
54:49proved.
54:54And even
54:5550 years
54:55on,
54:56the English
54:56still
54:57called it
54:57the Great
54:58War.
55:06Athelstan
55:07had saved
55:08his crown
55:08but in
55:09his books
55:10are perhaps
55:11hints of
55:11the troubling
55:12aftermath
55:12for him
55:13as a
55:13Christian.
55:16They contain
55:17inscriptions
55:18in which
55:18Athelstan
55:19A.
55:20records
55:21that he's
55:22the donor
55:22of the
55:22book
55:23but B.
55:23then,
55:24yes,
55:24asks
55:25anybody
55:26looking
55:26at the
55:27inscription
55:27to bear
55:28him
55:29in mind
55:30in their
55:30prayers.
55:34You who
55:35come after
55:36me,
55:37I ask
55:37you for
55:38a moment
55:38to pray
55:39for my
55:39soul.
55:41In
55:41future
55:41times,
55:43remember
55:43me
55:43and forgive
55:45me my
55:45sins.
55:55the
55:58war had
56:01united
56:01the
56:02West
56:02Saxons
56:02and
56:03Mercians
56:03in a
56:04great
56:04national
56:04achievement
56:05though
56:06it would
56:06be a
56:07while
56:07yet
56:07before
56:07the
56:07Northumbrians
56:08felt
56:09part of
56:09a new
56:10England.
56:11As for
56:11the Scots
56:12and the
56:12Welsh,
56:13they are
56:13still
56:14negotiating
56:14their
56:15relationship
56:15with
56:16Athelstan's
56:17successes.
56:17He'd
56:21started
56:22as a
56:22compromise
56:22candidate,
56:24a
56:24caretaker
56:24king,
56:25but he
56:26had carried
56:26through
56:27the
56:27family
56:27plan
56:28of
56:28his
56:28grandfather
56:29Alfred,
56:30the
56:30creation
56:30of an
56:31English
56:31kingdom
56:32with
56:33governance
56:33and
56:34justice,
56:35law
56:36and
56:36learning,
56:38shires,
56:39towns
56:39and workable
56:41institutions.
56:46He
56:47had done
56:47as his
56:48grandfather
56:48asked
56:49him.
56:50He'd
56:50followed
56:51the path
56:51of
56:51wisdom
56:52and yet
56:53like the
56:53old
56:53pagan
56:54heroes
56:54fought
56:55with
56:56all
56:56his
56:56might
56:56against
56:58the
56:58demons.
57:02As a
57:02man,
57:03it was
57:03said,
57:03he was
57:04affable
57:04and
57:04courteous
57:05and
57:06beloved
57:06by his
57:07people
57:07who
57:07admired
57:08his
57:08courage
57:08and
57:09humility.
57:11But
57:11he was
57:12like a
57:12thunderbolt
57:13to his
57:13enemies
57:14by his
57:14invincible
57:15steadfastness.
57:17Athelstan
57:27died in
57:27939,
57:29in his
57:29mid-40s,
57:30maybe worn
57:31out by
57:31the job.
57:33An Irish
57:33writer called
57:34him the
57:35roof tree
57:36of the
57:36honour
57:37of the
57:37western
57:38world.
57:40Athelstan's
57:41funeral took
57:42place
57:42very end
57:43of October
57:43or early
57:44November
57:44939,
57:46and he
57:46was buried
57:46here in
57:47Malmesbury,
57:49close to
57:50his personal
57:51saint,
57:52Aldhelm.
57:54He'd
57:54reigned for
57:5514 years
57:56only,
57:57but he'd
57:58set a path
57:59for the future,
58:00building on
58:01what his
58:01grandfather and
58:02his father and
58:03aunt had done.
58:04He'd
58:05made real
58:05the England
58:07that Alfred
58:08had dreamed.
58:08And for
58:09all the
58:10ups and
58:10downs of
58:11our
58:11history
58:11ever
58:11since,
58:12Athelstan's
58:13visionary
58:14kingdom of
58:15the
58:15English
58:16would
58:16endure.
58:18And of
58:18course,
58:18it still
58:19does.
58:19things.
Recommended
25:03
59:10