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"King Æthelstan’s name now resonates in few places in contemporary Britain and finds little recognition beyond these shores." No shit! Even in England, few pe
by gerdesj 2y ago
"King Æthelstan’s name now resonates in few places in contemporary Britain and finds little recognition beyond these shores."
No shit! Even in England, few people actually understand or really care about what happened between Romans and that (55 and 54BC and then finally: 43AD until about 410AD) and 1066 and the Norman invasion.
Something, something Saxons and Vikings and a round table and some burned cakes or something.
Its all rather sad, really because if you talk to a historian, that period is absolutely fascinating. Across the entire world, although we are here focusing on 400 until 1066 in England. Post 1066 it's all change ... of course it isn't - English would simply be French otherwise.
That period is (or was) nominally described as the Dark Ages because there was not much written evidence found and proper modern archaeology was not a thing until recently.
If you fancy a decent read then "The King in the North" by Max Adams puts things into perspective. By the way, I also think King Oswald was the real geezer. A couple of famous Hollywood actors now own a Wrexam (Wrecsam) footie club off of Wales. Just up the road is Oswestry. That's: Oswald's Tree.
- julian55 2y agoLost Realms by Thomas Williams is another good book about this period. Rather than Wessex, Mercia etc. it focusses on some of the lesser known kingdoms of that era.
- qw 2y agoThe article is from 2011. Æthelstan is a central character in the TV show "Vikings" that came later, so perhaps his name is more recognized now
- physicsguy 2y agoThe series wasn't that popular in the UK to be honest. The Bernard Cornwell series of books and TV adaptation perhaps contributed more as they've been bestsellers here and the adaptation was shown on BBC.
- tracker1 2y agoAre you sure you don't mean "The Last Kingdom"?
- fl0ki 2y agoThe show Vikings does feature a character with the similar name Athelstan [1], but he's a monk captured by the vikings, not a king who conquered the vikings. [1] https://vikings.fandom.com/wiki/Athelstan https://vikings.fandom.com/wiki/Athelstan
- julian55 2y agoThere is some publicity about Æthelstan this year as it is 1100 years since he became king of England. https://www.athelstan1100.co.uk/ https://www.athelstan1100.co.uk/