| An overview of the life of Æthelstan and his role as England’s founder king. |
Biography
David Woodman is Professor of History at Robinson College,
Cambridge University. He is the author of multiple books, including
most recently a biography of Æthelstan for Princeton University Press,
entitled: The First King of England: Æthelstan and the Birth of a
Kingdom. He is now working on a biography of William the
Conqueror, due to be published in October 2027, in time for the millennium anniversary of William’s birth.
Talk in Summary
In 927, the West Saxon Æthelstan, the grandson of Alfred the Great (d.
899), conquered Northumbria and thus created ‘England’ for the first
time. At a July ceremony of that year, held at Eamont Bridge near
Penrith, Æthelstan received formal recognition of his premier status
from other British kings. So powerful did Æthelstan become that he
later laid claim to being the rex totius Britanniae (‘king of all Britain’),
while he was also able to exert his authority in Europe, too.
Æthelstan’s achievements in forming ‘England’ for the first time mean
that the year 927 should be as well known as 1066. In this talk, David
Woodman provides an overview of the life of England’s founder king,
and the momentous events of 927.
