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The Golden Age of the Saxons
The Golden Age of the Saxons; Part 2

The Golden Age of the Saxons; Part 2

That the submission was merely nominal became clear enough in the reign of Edward's son, Athelstan. Athelstan first married his sister to Sigtric, Danish King of Northumbria, but on the death of that king did not hesitate to drive out his kinsman's sons and seize the kingdom for himself. Conduct of this kind made the other northerners uneasy. Constantine gave help to Sigtric's sons, and got together a vast league against Athelstan. Danes of Northumbria, and Welsh of Strathclyde, joined him. All who had taken Edward to "father and lord" were now ready to war against Athelstan. Even Danes from Ireland under King Anlaf came over to help their kinsmen. Athelstan, however, was a match for them all. He met the allies at Brunanburgh (Perhaps at Bourne in Lincolnshire), and, in the greatest battle yet seen in England, utterly defeated them. The fight lasted all day, a series of desperate assaults by the Saxons on the "burh" or earthwork in which the invaders had fortified themselves. The old triumph song tells us: Here gat King Athelstan And eke his brother Eadmund Atheling Life long glory At swords edge Round Brunanburh Board-wall they cleft War-lindens hewed Sithen sun up Till the bright being Sank to his settle.

Anlaf fled back to Ireland with but a handful of men. Constantine "the hoary war-man" left his eldest son dead on the field. Athelstan's triumph was complete.

His brother Edmund, who succeeded him in 940, had, however, again to fight for his power in the north. It was, in fact, the regular thing that the Danes should revolt with each new ruler and try his mettle. Edmund was no less sturdy than Athelstan. He reduced the rebels, and to punish the King of Strathclyde, who had helped them, he conquered that kingdom and granted it to Malcolm, King of Scots. This "grant" is another historical molehill which a later age came to regard as a mountain. Together with Constantine's submission to Edward the Elder, this forms one ground of the claim to the overlordship of Scotland which Edward I put forward.

Edmund had reigned but six years when he was murdered by an outlaw whom he was endeavouring to drag from his banqueting-hall. His younger brother, Edred, had also a short, but not an inglorious reign. Three things about him deserve note. First, as was always the case when a brother succeeded in place of the late king's young son, the crown was given to him by a decision of the Witan: but in this particular Witan sat, not only Englishmen, but Danes and Welshmen. The complete union of England was apparently not far off, when men of three races could meet in one assembly to choose their ruler. Secondly, after suppressing the usual rebellion in Northumbria, Edred divided it, not into shires, which would have been ruled by aldermen, but into two huge earldoms.

Chronology

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