The First King of England

A$60 · Offered by Harry Hartog Rare Books · No longer available

From one of today's leading historians of the early medieval period, an enthralling chronicle of AEthelstan, England's founder king whose achievements of 927 rival the Norman Conquest of 1066 in shaping Britain as we know it. The First King of England is a foundational biography of AEthelstan (d. 939), the early medieval king whose territorial conquests and shrewd statesmanship united the peoples, languages, and cultures that would come to be known as the 'kingdom of the English'. In this panoramic work, David Woodman blends masterful storytelling with the latest scholarship to paint a multifaceted portrait of this immensely important but neglected figure, a man celebrated in his day as much for his benevolence, piety, and love of learning as he was for his ambitious reign. Set against the backdrop of warring powers in early medieval Europe, The First King of England sheds new light on AEthelstan's early life, his spectacular military victories and the innovative way he governed his kingdom, his fostering of the church, the deft political alliances he forged with Europe's royal houses, and his death and enduring legacy. It begins with the reigns of Alfred the Great and Edward the Elder, AEthelstan's grandfather and father, describing how they consolidated and expanded the 'kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons'. But it was AEthelstan who would declare himself the first king of all England when, in 927, he conquered the viking kingdom at York, required the submission of a Scottish king,

• Binding: Hardcover

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