Category: Chapter Seven

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When we left off, AEthelstan had recently died, Olaf had returned from Dublin and been crowned King of Jorvik (which meant that the Kingdom of Jorvik was back). The English Fyrd was still recovering from the bloodbath at Brunanburh. And the English Navy were currently sailing up and down the French Coast shouting “Liberte, Fraternite, Piracy”

And for the new 18 year old King Edmund, the political problems were only the tip of the iceberg. There were also the personal struggles. The preceding few years had resulted in all of his foster brothers leaving the Court. Which wouldn’t have been so bad were it not for the fact that AEthelstan had died, and now the young king was without a father figure and mentor… and all that now remained of his childhood Court was Edmund’s 16 year old brother Eadred. Which meant that, much like Alfred, Edmund was coming into his reign under a cloud of tragedy and abandonment.

Basically, 939 was a tough year.

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How we understand any event comes down to what angle we are able to view it from. And the story of AEthelstan is no exception.

On the one hand, it is easy to see AEthelstan as one of the greatest kings in English history, one to place on our shelf of real-life legends along with his grandfather.

And for good reason… much like Alfred, AEthelstan wasn’t content to just hold his throne and maintain the status quo. He strived to restructure the very foundations of his kingdom.

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When King Edward died, the plan was that his second son would take the throne. By all indications, neither Edward nor the power structures within Wessex, wanted AEthelstan. The young AEtheling had been discarded and sent to be raised in Mercia far from the halls of power. The throne of Wessex wasn’t for him.

It was for AEthelstan’s younger half brother, AElfweard. But he died soon after Edward (under questionable circumstances) and so the path opened up for AEthelstan.

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You can’t just go to war.

I mean… I guess you can. But it’s not a good idea.

War takes work. It takes planning. It takes preparation. War, to put it simply, is a pain in the ass. You really have to want it.

And the workload only increases with the number of people involved. You would think that bringing the biggest army would make the task easier… and I’m sure it does make certain things easier, like flanking, reinforcements, enveloping, and that sort of thing.

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I wonder if King Rudolph of France resented his crown.

I mean, seeking the crown probably seemed like a good idea at the time but the whole thing had been turning out to be an enormous headache. And it all started when Rudolph’s father in law (Robert) rebelled against King Charles and drove him into Lorraine. Pretty soon thereafter, Robert got himself crowned as King of the Franks. And that’s not too bad… a father in law who was King of the Franks? Sounds great.

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Last week, we ended with King AEthelstan’s aggression towards Kingdoms of Wales and Cornwall. We don’t know precisely what occurred, or why AEthelstan demanded crippling tributes from the Welsh and then violently expelled or executed the Cornish of Exeter.

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