Customer Reviews

The Age of Athelstan: Britain's Forgotten History (Revealing History)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In an age of evocative names like Eric Bloodaxe and Egil Skallagrimson, one name has been lost in the mists of time: that of Athelstan, ruler of all Britian. From the first raids of the Vikings on the shores of Britian and Ireland, the book traces the response to the threat across the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic worlds. The rise of the kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons, and later of the English, built from the debris of Viking destruction, is analysed in detail and compared to the struggle for independence in Northumbria.
Athelstan's achievement in establishing an empire for which he became famous is a key focus of the tale, along with the extradornary history of the hunt for the lost battle of Brunanburh (AD 937), a clash which defined a people. For hundreds of years, no king would rule as much of Britian as Athelstan. His reputation survived the medieval period in the form of histories, songs and poems only to be lost at a later date, and yet its essence can still be found today all over the country.
Paul Hill was formerly curator at Kingston Museum where Athelstan was crowned. He has appeared on Britian's Channel 5's Battlefield Detectives series in 'Bloodbath at Hastings" as an Anglo-Saxon military specalist.

Recommended!

This book is a clear and well-written overview of Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred the Great and son of Edward the Elder, who completed what Alfred started - the unification of England up to that point. The title of the book is very accurate: The Age of Athelstan: Britain's Forgotten History. About half the book is taken up by Athelstan's predecessors (Alfred, Edward the Elder) and successors (Edmund through Aethelred). As such it is a clear and concise overview of the age of the Anglo-Saxon kings with Athelstan as the focus. The author, Paul Hill, does an excellent job with limited sources telling the story of Athelstan's reign. He keeps the reader engaged and one does get some sense of who Athelstan was as a person, even possibly what he physically looked like ("average height, of slim build, with flaxen hair"). Hill does a nice job balancing the legends with the data and the overall impression is of a man who was an intelligent leader, who knew how to deal with enemies given the requirements of the situation, and whose laws attempted to deal with the increase in commerce, especially in Alfred's "burhs" and at the expanding ports. A great deal of space is devoted to the Battle of Brunanburh, the critical battle for the control of northern England. The details in the book about Brunanburh are relevant both because the battle was important in English history and because it was largely forgotten. Much space is devoted to simply trying to figure out where it occurred. It is a mystery in many ways but Hill reconstructs from the scant and exaggerated sources what apparently happened.

I recommend this book both for the lucid overview of Anglo-Saxon England and for the solid work the author does in reconstructing Athelstan's life. For anyone interested in English history, this book is definitely worth obtaining.