Athelstan
by Tom Holland
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The formation of England occurred against the odds: an island divided into rival kingdoms, under savage assault from Viking hordes. But, after King Alfred ensured the survival of Wessex and his son Edward expanded it, his grandson, Athelstan, inherited the rule of both Mercia and Wessex, conquered Northumbria and was hailed as Rex totius Britanniae: 'King of the whole of Britain'. Tom Holland recounts this extraordinary story with relish and drama, transporting us back to a time of omens, raven harbingers and blood-red battlefields. As well as giving form to the figure of Athelstan -- devout, shrewd, all too aware of the precarious nature of his power, especially in the north -- he introduces the great figures of the age, including Alfred and his daughter, Aethelflaed, 'Lady of the Mercians', who brought Athelstan up at the Mercian court. Making sense of the family rivalries and fractious conflicts of the Anglo-Saxon rulers, Holland shows us how a royal dynasty rescued their kingdom from near-oblivion and fashioned a nation that endures to this day. - Jacket flap.
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| Edition | Availability |
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1
Athelstan, 924-939: The Making of England
2018, Penguin Books, Limited
in English
0141987332 9780141987330
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2
Athelstan
2018-06-28, Penguin Monarchs, Penguin
eAudiobook
in English
- Unabridged
0141988207 9780141988207
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3
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4
Athelstan: the making of England
2016, Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books, Allen Lane
Hardcover
in English
0241187818 9780241187814
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