Æthelstan was the son of Edward the Elder and the grandson of Alfred the Great. His ancestors had already carved large chunks from Viking lands as far north as the River Humber which led them to refer to themselves as ‘king of the Saxons’ or ‘king of the Anglo-Saxons’.
A succession crisis was sparked following the death of Edward the Confessor, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England.
Æthelwold ætheling, a claimant to the Anglo-Saxon throne was defeated at the Battle of the Holme.
The fierce fighting at the Battle of Fulford that initially saw the Norwegians being driven back gave way to a counter-attack that led to Hardrada’s victory.
Norse raiders attacked the holy island of Lindisfarne off the Northumbrian coast in an event that is generally accepted as the start of the ‘Viking’ period of British history.
When the Witenaġemot met after the death of Edward the Confessor, the elected Harold to be the new king and his coronation took place the same day.
On the 13th November 1002, the St Brice’s Day Massacre took place when king Æthelred the Unready “ordered slain all the Danish men who were in England”.
July 12th 927 is the closest we have to a foundation date for England, when all the kings of Britain met at Eamont Bridge, near Penrith in Cumbria, to swear an oath of peace under the overlordship of Æthelstan.
On the 21st September 1937, J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel The Hobbit was first published in the United Kingdom.
On the 6th January 1066, Harold Godwinson was crowned king of England.
28th June 2015
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