Forging a United England

Yesterday's post mentioned Saint Nectan appearing in a vision ages after his death to give advice about the Battle of Brunanburh. The title of today's post may take a couple days to understand, but the events we are about to discuss led perhaps to the first time that the inhabitants of Great Britain considered "England" to be a united country. We start with Æthelstan, whom I once wrote about as the "Forgotten King."

Æthelstan (c.894 - 27 October 939) became king of the Anglo-Saxons in 927, the same year in which he defeated Vikings in York. That battle convinced several other kings— King Constantine II of Scotland, King Hywel Dda of Deheubarth (south Wales), Ealdred I of Bamburgh (in Northumbria), and King Owen I of Strathclyde (southern Scotland and northern England)—to accept Æthelstan as their "high king" or overlord.

Æthelstan invaded Scotland in 934 (according to monk and chronicler John of Worcester writing decades later, Scotland had violated the 927 agreement), traveling unhindered through the land as a show of force. After this, King Constantine apparently decided that an alliance was necessary to put Æthelstan in his place. Constantine, King of Dublin Olaf Guthfrithson, and Owen King of Strathclyde had all been enemies in the recent past, but made an alliance to conquer and carve up the rest of Great Britain. Constantine had married his daughter to Olaf to help forge the alliance. Play also claimed part of Northumbria, but Æthelstan had expelled him from it, so Olaf had several reasons to join.

In August 937, Olaf left Dublin to meet up with Owen and Constantine. The first harrowing of their enemy's territory would have started in the north and the northwest. We know no details. We do not even know where the final encounter took place. (The illustration shows several suggested locations based on place names or other suppositions.)

Despite this last detail, it was one of the most significant battles in English history, and the subject of a famous Anglo-Saxon poem. I'll tell you about the battle and the poem tomorrow.