{"id":433782,"date":"2025-09-18T14:10:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T14:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/433782\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T14:10:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T14:10:15","slug":"why-was-englands-true-first-king-erased-from-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/433782\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Was England\u2019s True First King Erased From History?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Wide<\/a>Wide shot of the 10th-century manuscript open at the portrait of \u00c6thelstan, in The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Credit: The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge<\/p>\n

\u00c6thelstan biographer says England\u2019s first king deserves to be remembered as anniversaries near.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A new biography of \u00c6thelstan, recently published to mark the 1,100th anniversary of his coronation in 925AD, reaffirms his claim as the first king of England and sheds light on why his achievements remain underappreciated. The book\u2019s author, Professor David Woodman, argues that \u00c6thelstan\u2019s unification of England in 927AD deserves far greater recognition.<\/p>\n

While events such as the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the signing of Magna Carta in 1215 are household knowledge, the pivotal years of 925 and 927AD are far less remembered. Woodman, a University of Cambridge<\/a> historian and author of The First King of England, is determined to change this. Together with other scholars, he is advocating for a lasting memorial to a ruler he considers unjustly forgotten.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we approach the anniversaries of \u00c6thelstan\u2019s coronation in 925 and the birth of England itself in 927, I would like his name to become much better known. He really deserves that,\u201d says Woodman, a Professor at Robinson College and Cambridge\u2019s Faculty of History.<\/p>\n

Woodman is collaborating with fellow historians to plan a memorial, which could take the form of a statue, plaque, or portrait in a significant location such as Westminster, Eamont Bridge (where \u00c6thelstan\u2019s authority was acknowledged by other rulers in 927), or Malmesbury (his burial place). He is also pressing for \u00c6thelstan\u2019s reign to be more prominently included in school curricula.<\/p>\n

\"Manuscript<\/a>10th-century manuscript open at its portrait of \u00c6thelstan, in The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Credit: The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been so much focus on 1066, the moment when England was conquered. It\u2019s about time we thought about its formation, and the person who brought it together in the first place,\u201d Professor Woodman says.<\/p>\n

Why his legacy faded<\/p>\n

Why is \u00c6thelstan not more widely remembered? According to Woodman\u2019s new book, released by Princeton University Press, the answer lies in the absence of effective publicity. \u201c\u00c6thelstan didn\u2019t have a biographer writing up his story,\u201d Woodman explains. \u201cHis grandfather, Alfred the Great, had the Welsh cleric Asser to praise his deeds. And within a few decades of \u00c6thelstan\u2019s death, propaganda campaigns elevated King Edgar\u2019s reputation for reforming the church. That completely eclipsed \u00c6thelstan\u2019s earlier efforts to revive learning and strengthen religious life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In more recent centuries, many historians have also downplayed \u00c6thelstan\u2019s claim to be England\u2019s first king, pointing to the kingdom\u2019s fragmentation after his death in 939AD. Instead, attention has often shifted toward Edgar. Woodman strongly disputes this view.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because things broke down after \u00c6thelstan\u2019s death doesn\u2019t mean that he didn\u2019t create England in the first place,\u201d Woodman says. \u201cHe was so ahead of his time in his political thinking, and his actions in bringing together the English kingdom were so hard-won, that it would have been more surprising if the kingdom had stayed together. We need to recognise that his legacy, his ways of governing and legislating, continued to shape kingship for generations afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woodman cites a wealth of evidence to resurrect \u00c6thelstan\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

Military success<\/p>\n

\u201cMilitarily, \u00c6thelstan was supremely strong,\u201d Woodman says. \u201cHe had to be very robust to expand the kingdom and then to defend it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00c6thelstan had to contend with major Viking settlement in the north and the east. In 927AD, he acquired authority over the Viking stronghold at York, and, in bringing Northumbria within his dominion, became the first to rule over an area recognisable as \u2018England\u2019.<\/p>\n

As \u00c6thelstan expanded his kingdom, he drew Welsh and Scottish kings into his royal assemblies. Large-scale surviving original diplomas, housed in the British Library, list the very many nobles he compelled to attend. The meetings of \u00c6thelstan\u2019s assemblies must have been incredibly grand affairs, involving hundreds of people in total.<\/p>\n

\"Prof<\/a>Professor David Woodman with the portrait of \u00c6thelstan at the The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Credit: The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge<\/p>\n

\u201cThese Welsh and Scottish kings must have bitterly resented being brought so far out of their territories,\u201d Woodman says. \u201cAn incredible tenth-century Welsh poem, The Great Prophecy of Britain, calls for the English to be slaughtered. It\u2019s difficult to date, but it may be a direct response to this expansion of \u00c6thelstan\u2019s power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, in 937AD, at the famous Battle of Brunanburh, \u00c6thelstan brutally crushed a formidable Viking coalition, supported by Scots and the Strathclyde Welsh, determined to overthrow him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrunanburh should be as well-known as the Battle of Hastings,\u201d Woodman says. \u201cEvery major chronicle, in England, Wales, Ireland and Scandinavia took note of this battle, its outcome, and how many people were slaughtered. It was a critically important episode in the history of the newly-formed English kingdom\u201d.<\/p>\n

Numerous locations have been proposed for the battle. Woodman is confident that it happened at what is now Bromborough on the Wirral. \u201cThat location makes sense strategically and the etymology of the name fits,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Revolution of government<\/p>\n

\u00c6thelstan\u2019s most powerful legacy rests in his \u201crevolution of government\u201d, Woodman suggests. Legal documents from \u00c6thelstan\u2019s reign survive in relative abundance and, Woodman argues, take us right to the heart of the type of king he was.<\/p>\n

\u201cKing Alfred must have been a role model for his grandson,\u201d Woodman says. \u201c\u00c6thelstan saw that a king should legislate and he really did. He took crime very seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once \u00c6thelstan had created the English kingdom, royal documents known as \u2018diplomas\u2019 (in essence a grant of land by the king to a beneficiary) were suddenly transformed. Formerly short and straightforward, they were transformed into grandiose statements of royal power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re written in a much more professional script and in amazingly learned Latin, full of literary devices like rhyme, alliteration, chiasmus,\u201d Woodman says. \u201cThey were designed to show off, he\u2019s trumpeting his success.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Close<\/a>Close up of the portrait of \u00c6thelstan in The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Credit: The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge<\/p>\n

But Woodman also argues that government became increasingly efficient during \u00c6thelstan\u2019s reign. \u201cWe can see him sending law codes out to different parts of the kingdom, and then reports coming back to him about what was working and what changes needed to be made.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is also some of the clearest evidence we have for centralised oversight of the production of royal documents, with one royal scribe put in charge of their production. No matter where the king and the royal assembly travelled, the royal scribe went too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woodman points out that \u00c6thelstan brought England together just as parts of continental Europe were fragmenting. \u201cNobles across Europe were rising up and taking territory for themselves,\u201d he says. \u201c\u00c6thelstan made sure that he was well placed to take advantage of the unfolding of European politics by marrying a number of his half-sisters into continental ruling houses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legacy of learning and religion<\/p>\n

Woodman argues that \u00c6thelstan reversed a decline in learning brought by the Vikings and their destruction of churches. \u201c\u00c6thelstan was intellectually curious and scholars from all over Europe came to his court,\u201d Woodman says. \u201cHe sponsored learning and was a keen supporter of the church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two of Woodman\u2019s favourite pieces of evidence relate to Saint Cuthbert. The first, the earliest surviving manuscript portrait of any English monarch, appears in a 10th-century manuscript now cared for by The Parker Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. \u00c6thelstan\u2019s head is bowed as he stands before the saint. \u201cEveryone should know about this portrait, it\u2019s one of the most important images in English history,\u201d says Woodman.<\/p>\n

The manuscript was originally designed as a gift for the Community of Saint Cuthbert. \u201c\u00c6thelstan had just expanded into Northumbria and this manuscript cleverly includes a life of Saint Cuthbert,\u201d Woodman says. \u201cHe was trying to win them over to his cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woodman felt even closer to \u00c6thelstan while studying the Durham Liber Vitae. Begun in the ninth century, this manuscript chronologically lists the people who had a special connection to the Community of Saint Cuthbert, in alternating gold and silver lettering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf \u00c6thelstan is going to appear, he should be many pages in, but in the tenth century someone visited Saint Cuthbert\u2019s Community and wrote \u2018\u00c6thelstan Rex\u2019 right at the top. Seeing that was breathtakingly exciting. It\u2019s feasible that someone in his entourage was responsible. We know they visited the Community in 934 and this manuscript may have been on prominent display there, perhaps on its high altar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cThe First King of England: \u00c6thelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom<\/a>\u201d by David Woodman, 2 September 2025.<\/p>\n

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