September 4th 925: Æthelstan was crowned king of the Anglo-Saxons by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Kingston upon Thames.
Aethelstan was the monarch who has the best claim to be the first true king of England. Aethlestan's territorial conquests and shrewd statemanship united the peoples, languages and cultures that would come to be known as the "kingdom of the English".
David Woodman has just released a scholarly biography of this important monarch and I am delighted to purchase this newly published book The First King of England about the early medieval period. David Woodman has written an enthralling chronicle of Æthelstan, England’s founder king whose achievements of 927 rival the Norman Conquest of 1066 in shaping Britain as we know it today.
I'm really looking forward to reading about this often forgotten king and learn more about how he brought together the warring kingdoms and united them into the England we know today. I always find it difficult to imagine an England divided into seven kingdoms - the Heptarchy.
When I first started studying Old English I had no idea that there was a time when "England" as we know it today, didn't exist before the Tenth century. I remember being so surprised that there were seven main kingdoms, although there were also lots of other minor kingdoms, including one with my name: Lindsey!
