Over the course of the next century, life continued in pretty much the same with the kingdoms fighting among themselves with Kent suffering particularly extensive damage in the late seventh century. In 757, the most famous of all Anglo Saxon kings before Alfred the Great, Offa, became king of Mercia. Unsurprisingly, his route to the crown was not straightforward and he had to fight to win it but he reigned eventually for nearly 40 years. Offa's main rival was a Cynewulf, a king of Wessex, who he engaged in battle in 779. Offa's main legacy and one of Anglo Saxon's most famous legacies, is Offa's Dyke which was probably built in around the 780s. It is probable, though not absolutely certain, that is was his construction. It was during the last few years of Offa's reign that a sense of foreboding swept the land and ominous signs were being spotted. In 793, the monastery at Lindisfarne was sacked. This was the beginning of the Viking raids. England's relationship with the Norsemen would last up until 1066 when Harald Hardrada was killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. The Danes attacked again in 836 where they were victorious at the Battle of Carhampton from whereon the attacks became more sustained though they were not entirely invincible and were driven back in 838 although that was only temporary respite and they were to come again. They gained several victories although in 851 they suffered a couple of major setbacks as they sustained dramatic casualties in battles in the South West and then when they retreated towards Surrey, they were hammered in battle by King Aethelwulf. What we have seen here is that although the Vikings were indeed might warriors, the Anglo Saxons were very much capable of uniting against them and, not only just driving them back, but inflicting heavy damage upon. It's this evidence of military success for the Saxons that made Aethelred II failures in the late 10th and early 11th centuries all the more dismal. The aforementioned Aethelwulf is a key figure in Saxon England. Although he was assisted in victory by one of his sons Aethelbald, it was one of his other sons that would go on to become one of England's greatest kings. He was called Alfred who was born approximately 843 and would go on to be known as the great. Aethelwulf had also made a prestigious second marriage, after Alfred's mother had died, with daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor. Her name was Judith of Flanders. We are now set up nicely for the next part of this story. The Vikings had arrived on English soil and caused altogether a lot of damage. Much suffering was felt across the country as it was in other parts of Europe. However, the situation was not lost. The Saxons had shown they were capable of unifying and fighting back against a formidable enemy despite a long history that might have indicated otherwise. And under Aethelwulf's son, Alfred, the first steps towards a fully united England would be made.
The situation in England in the 850s was dire but not without hope. As mentioned in part 3, there had been some signs of attempted unification against the Viking threat which, after several centuries of fighting amongst the Saxon kingdoms, was no mean feat. Aethelwulf died in 855 and a new leader was needed. That was to come in the shape of his youngest son Alfred. In 865, the Vikings settled in England for the first time and not just their usual destructive raids. Violence and pillaging continued all the same and the famous story of King Edmund being tied to a tree and shot to death with a volley of arrows went down in history thought possibly not true. Edmund was later made a saint. In 871, Alfred, alongside his brother Aethelred i (not to be confused with Aethelred II 'The Unready) met the Vikings at the Battle of Ashdown where they were victorious after a fierce battle. Not long after the battle Aethelred died and Alfred became king of Wessex. One thing that does emerge from the Anglo Saxon Chronicle is how widespread the Vikings movement were. They did not leave one area of the country untouched. They moved swiftly from region to region only halting when the winter weather set in, In 878, the Vikings marched into Wessex and overran it. In response Alfred roused the men of Hampshire, Wiltshire and Somerset and together they forced the Vikings to retreat. After they were hunted down and besieged by Alfred's force, the Vikings left Wessex after their king had been baptised. The following years went in much the same vein. The Danes went from place to place with the Saxons scrambling to respond. In 882, Alfred engaged them in a sea battle where he wiped out the Danish force by sinking their ships and either capturing, wounding or killing the Danes.
His feats against the Danes were not the only reason Alfred became known as the Great. He was a huge believer in education and had books translated from Latin to English for the benefit of the general population. It was also thanks to him that the main source for our knowledge of the Anglo Saxon period, the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, was compiled. In 893, the Saxons and the Danes were again engaged in battle, this time at Farnham, and again Alfred's men put them to flight and stole their provisions. Time and again, Alfred forced the Vikings to retreat. He built defensive structures known as burhs, mimicking the Danes in that regard. He even built the first real English navy although his main successes remained on land. When he did in 899 at the age of about 56, he left behind a legacy of young, educated noblemen who had been schooled thanks to his patronage. He had put in place a network of defensive buildings to enable his son and successor to continue to defy the Vikings and unify the country. He had encouraged literacy throughout the general English population and thanks to him, we have the Chronicle which shines a light on his deeds and on an otherwise distant and murky time. On the death of his father Alfred, Edward, known as the Elder, succeeded him as king of Wessex. Although he was not as inclined towards reading and learning as Alfred had been, Edward would go on to become an extremely capable ruler and continue the work his father had started and added to it. Whilst Alfred's main successes had lain in driving the Viking invaders into retreat, Edward built up the size of his kingdom by reviving regions that had suffered terrible damage. Areas like East Anglia, Essex and Northumbria were brought back to life. Mercia was snatched back from Viking control. Under Edward, the forging of England as a unified kingdom had truly begun.
Defeats for the Vikings continued early into the early 10th century. The men of Kent were victorious against them in battle and at Stafford in 907 the English were once again victorious. Edward made a marriage for his daughter with the king of Northumbria in a further move to bring unity to the country. If and when the Northern king died, Edward could lay claim to that particular region. He added prestige to his slowly blossoming kingdom by marrying his daughter to Charles the Simple, king of France. One of his other daughterS went on to marry the future Holy Roman Emperor Otto I although that took place after his death. Although Mercia was not initially under his control, Edward's sister Aethelflaed ruled it and ruled it quite capably. She rebuilt Tamworth and laid siege to Brecknock castle which was in the hands of the Britons. She claimed possession of Derby and Leicester and when she died in 918, the Mercia which Edward became ruler of had been expanded through her both her will and her guile. Aethelflaed was a remarkable woman and her part in the forging of England should not be underestimated. Edward continued to move across the country and adding to his kingdom. Buckingham and Bedford were taken and fortified. Although the Vikings continued to be problematic attacking, what had been peaceful for a short period, places like Leicester and the new fortifications at Maldon, Edward steadfastly continued on his building programme. Nottingham was also further strengthened. Edward's legacy is possibly slightly overlooked by the fact he was successor to Alfred the Great. But without him, and Aethelflaed, the unification of England may have taken many centuries more and quite possibly made for a different and distinctly more Danish country. Between he and his sister, Edward, through a combination of will, force and diplomacy began to built a more distinctive England. While Alfred's biggest contribution to history was literacy and more specifically the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, Edward had changed the shape of the country geographically. Most of the country was under his possession by the time of his death and whilst he probably can't be called the first king of England, that opportunity would be left to his son Aethelstan. Whilst he maybe overshadowed, it is arguable that Edward had the greater impact on English history when compared with Alfred. On the death of his father in 924, Aethelstan became king of an expanding territory although still not the fully unified England as we know it today. One of his first actions as king was dealing with the Scots and their king, Constantine, who had reneged on a peace agreement. After seeking divine inspiration, Aethelstan marched into Scotland and brutally restored peace. Constantine's son was brought down to Wessex to ensure the Scottish didn't go back on their word. In 927, Aethelstan brought Northumbria into his possession and he was effect overlord of all the British kings, including Constantine. Evidently that fact didn't count for too much with the Scottish king and Aethelstan again was obliged to march into Scotland in 934 and lay waste to the countryside. It is evident from the ASC that Scotland was proving particularly troublesome at this time and that the relationship between England and the Scots has not always been defined by English oppression of the Scots. Constantine infringed upon English territory time and again through sheer opportunism. Perhaps he saw the expansion of the Wessex kingdom and thought he could claim further territory for himself. Aethelstan was a piou man and frequently made gifts to places of worship whenever he was on campaign. It's also said he had a piece of the cross Jesus was crucified on although how many people claimed to have such a fragment throughout the Middle Ages makes this seem quite dubious. Aethelstan seemed to have a good reputation around Europe and accordingly received gifts from other monarchs and people of stature.
The defining moment of not only Aethelstan's reign but one of the most important in Anglo Saxon History came toward the latter end of his reign, in 937. The security of his kingdom faced it's biggest threat at the Battle of Brunnanburh where a combined force of Danes, Irish and, unsurprisingly, Scots attacked the kingdom. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle tells of an emphatic victory for Aethelstan as the Wessex men took no pity on the enemy. The Scots fell, the Danes were forced to flee back to their ships and the Irish headed back to Ireland. Never was there seen to have been a bloodier battle on the Island and effectively established Aethelstan as king of all England although after his death, his successors would continue to have some trouble bringing Northumbria back into line. By the time of his death in 939, Aethelstan was what can be considered the first true king of England. He had subdued his enemies with the single greatest victory for the Anglo Saxons at Brunnanburgh, he had brought Northumbria into his kingdom and had established himself as overlord of rival kings although that didn't count for much as the Scots in particular rebelled time and again. Although it would be left to kings after to him to put out the last flames of resistance to a unified English kingdom, Aethelstan had finished the job started by his father and grandfather.
On the death of Aethelstan, his son Edmund succeeded as king. He was a young man, born in the 920s and not out of his teens when he became king. Edmund soon developed a good reputation and was as capable militarily as his predecessors. He took back control of Leicester, Lincoln, Derby and Nottingham which had been under Danish control before before besieging the Danish King Olaf after his raid on Tamworth where he eventually allied with the Dane and converted him to Christianity. In 945, after the trouble the Scots had caused Aethelstan during his reign, Edmund took a prudent step and gave lands to the Scottish king, Malcolm I, in order to stop further opportunistic raids from up north. Just a year later, Edmund I met a violent end when he was stabbed to death. It had only been a short reign but Edmund had shown great potential and the fact that the Scots swore loyalty to his brother who succeeded him showed his diplomatic skills in 945 had not gone unrewarded. Edmund was succeeded by his brother Eadred. His reign got off to a good start with oaths being sworn to him by the Scottish. In 948, the Northumbrians continued to be problematic and would not acknowledge Eadred as their king and instead supported a Dane, by the name of Eric. Eadred responded to this by marching North and laying waste to Northumbria. Believing he had subdued the rebellion and on his way home, Eadred's forces were attacked from behind by the Danes. Threatened with retaliation and perhaps realising Eadred would unleash a fearful attack upon them, the Northerners gave up and in 954 they drove out Eric who had evidently not given up hope of becoming king in that region. Eadred's reign seems to have followed a similar path to his brother's reign and showed himself to be extremely capable in dealing with uprisings. In 952, he had ruthlessly put down a rebellion in Thetford. Again, his reign was short and he died in 955, having ruled for less than a decade.
Eadred would be followed as king by his nephew Eadwig whose reign would be shorter than either his father's or his uncle's. His time as king was too short to be altogether too remarkable but is probably best known for the story surrounding his feud with Abbot Dunstan, later made a saint. It was alleged Eadwig was forced to go back to his coronation feast after Dunstan had discovered him with a noblewoman. Dunstan was sent over the channel into exile. Eadwig died in 959 at around the age of 19. He was succeeded by his brother Edgar who would leave a better legacy and earn himself the title of "the peaceful". Eadwig did not seem to have been a popular king with his administration being strongly criticised. Edgar was more successful and the Anglo Saxon Chronicle is lavish with it's praise of his kingship; It praises Edgar for his ability to bring peace and stability to a realm better than any regime that had gone before and that he ensured strong laws throughout the country. He took on board good counsel and he had good judgement. He is criticised by the ASC for his being influenced by Danish customs but that does not appear to have damaged in any way his reputation with the author. One of his first acts was to bring back the exiled Dunstan who he eventually made Archbishop of Canterbury. In 963, Edgar and Aethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, began a programme of monastery building and in the process, drove out corruption from the clergy. Such was Aethelwold's work to that he too was later made a saint. In 965, Edgar would marry Aelfthryth who would later be shown to be a woman of some ruthlessness. She is the chief suspect in the murder of Edgar's son from a previous marriage, Edward, in 978 in order for her and Edgar's son Aethelred to become king. Given the troubled reign of Aethelred, Aelfthryth's legacy to history is not a good one. Overall, Edgar's reign, through what the sources, is noticeably stable. There were, as with all kingdoms at that time, periods of unrest but Edgar appears to have dealt with them with the minimum of fuss. Given what was to happen over the course of the next hundred years after his death, his reign of nearly 16 years looks like almost bliss for Anglo Saxon England
On the death of Edgar the Peaceful in 975, he was succeeded by his son, Edward the Martyr who was barely a teenager when he came to the throne. He had a lot to live up to. But it wasn't meant to be for Edward. In 978, he earned his nickname as he was brutally murdered. The blame, as i touched upon in my last blog, has fallen on his stepmother Aelfthryth, more commonly known as Elfrida today. The young king was slain and dumped without ceremony and Elfrida's biological son Aethelred became king on his death. I am not going to go into too much detail about Aethelred's reign as I have done a piece on him in my Top 5 worst monarchs segment and I'll be going into much greater detail when i do a fuller history of England at some point in the near future. As a king, he seemed to have the right qualities to rule. A genial personality and a grace befitting someone of his stature. Unfortunately, as time would prove, these stood for very little. Utterly incapable of repressing the Viking raids, an inability to grasp his tactic of paying them off, Danegeld, was an utter failure and heeding the advice of counsellors who were no more intelligent then he, his reign proved a neigh on calamity. The St Brice's Day massacre in 1002 is one of the most pointless and brutal massacres in Anglo Saxon History and ultimately led to his deposition in 1013 by Sweyn Forkbeard and then from 1016, Danish rule over England for a little over a quarter of a century. Aethelred, only returned in 1014 on the death of Sweyn as the English nobles had no appetite for another Danish king but Sweyn's son Cnut claimed the throne in 1016 on the death of Aethelred.
Cnut was not initially the chosen successor however. That was Aethelred's oldest son Edmund, who would later become known as Ironside, a formidable warrior and quite unlike his hapless father. Edmund claimed early successes against Cnut, defeating the Danes in battle near Somerset. Cnut and the Danes were clearly well aware by now of Edmund's warrior reputation and at a site in Kent, they scattered before him which led to a brutal slaughter of many Vikings. However, push finally came to shove at the battle of Ashingdon towards the end of 1016, where the tide turned against Edmund and towards Cnut thanks to the treachery of an English noble by the name of Eadric who falsely told the English soldiers that Edmund had been killed which led to panic in the ranks. This led to a decisive victory for Cnut. An initial peace was brokered which saw the country split in two for Edmund and Cnut to rule but it's safe to say that he had no intention of sharing the kingdom and so not long after, Edmund died in mysterious circumstances, supposedly murdered whilst going to the toilet and dying in very horrible fashion, leading the whole kingdom to falling into the hands of the king of Denmark. Cnut had won the day through a combination of luck, ruthlessness and treacherous Eadric. Cnut clearly didn't think too much of Eadric's actions as he had him beheaded after he had served his purpose. Whilst this had ushered in a period of foreign rule in England, the story was not over yet for the Anglo Saxons. Aethelred's other sons, Alfred and the future Edward the confessor, were still in exile in Normandy and the infant son of Edmund Ironside, another Edward, who would become known as the exile, would also follow them into exile and would become extremely well travelled. Another person who had been abroad had been Emma, the widow of Aethelred who had been with her sons in her homeland of Normandy. She would return to marry Cnut and her son with him would become king before her son, Edward, with Aethelred would.
Even though Cnut now ruled England by himself, the prospects for him building a long Danish Dynasty in England were by no means guaranteed. As i mentioned in my last blog, the infant son of Edmund Ironside was sent to Sweden on the death of his father and the sons of Aethelred the Unready were still alive in Normandy. Cnut had one son from his first marriage, Harold who would become known as Harefoot, His first wife died so he now took as his wife, Emma. the widow of Aethelred and the mother of Edward and Alfred. With her, he produced another son who, like Harold, would become king. He was called Harthacnut. Perhaps in recognition of how difficult it had been in subduing the kingdom, Cnut delegated power to three nobles. Turkill would preside over East Anglia, Eadric would take Mercia and Eric in Northumbria. Cnut himself would concentrate on Wessex. Ultimately, Eadric was put to death and Eric forced to flee. Cnut had also been advised to dispose of the sons of Edmund Ironside, the little Edward, now known as the Exile and not to be confused with the Edward in Normandy who would become known as the Confessor, and his brother Edmund. Apparently, the Danish king didn't want to carry out the act himself, perhaps in order not to stain his reputation in England so brief into his reign and sent the boys back to Scandinavia were the deed would be carried out. The king of Sweden however refused to kill the boys and they eventually ended up in the court of the Hungarian king.
Meanwhile, Cnut continued to suppress rebellion by stamping out English nobles uprisings and using his army to extract huge sums of money from places where he was still being given a lot of trouble, including London. Around 1019 however, the English and Danes seemed to have come to an agreement of sorts and Cnut now seemed secure enough to go back to his homeland where he'd spend an entire Winter. Cnut's authority continued to grow stronger and Thurkil, who had been overseeing matters in East Anglia, was exiled from the country altogether, although a year or so later they were reconciled and Thurkil now looked after matters in Denmark. Cnut however would have to return to Denmark in 1026 with a combined force of English and Danes in order to repel an attack from two Swedes by the name of Eeglaf and Ulf. Cnut however would be defeated in battle and suffered significant losses. That setback aside, prospects for Cnut's English realm were good. He received an oath of loyalty from the Scottish king, Malcolm II also from the future king of Scots, Macbeth. In 1028, Cnut defeated the king of Norway, Olaf II, who, when he tried to return to Norway after being exiled, was killed by his own subjects. Cnut was now king of England, Denmark and Norway. On the death of Cnut in 1035, he was succeeded by his oldest son Harold in England and his son by his marriage to Emma, Harthacnut, in Denmark . As a ruler, Cnut was a strong king. He predictably favoured his fellow countrymen when he became king of England, handing over to them English lands and property. He was wise enough to delegate power to others as from 1028 onwards, he was king of 3 countries and ruling over them single handedly would have been no mean feat. However, his legacy in England is ultimately limited. There would be no long lasting Danish dynasty and in 1042, on the death of Harthacnut, there would be no more Scandinavians kings of England again although Hardrada would attempt to seize the throne in 1066.
On the death of his father, Harold, known as Harefoot, became king of England ahead of his brother Harthacnut who remained in Denmark. The name Harefoot isn't recorded until much later but likely refers to his fleetness of foot.The succession did not go altogether undisputed. The most powerful man in England at that time was a man by the name of Godwine who was the father of another Harold who would famously die at the Battle of Hastings. Godwine and other nobles attempted to resist the succession but to no avail. Emma, the mother of Harthacnut and step mother of Harold Harefoot, initially went to Winchester to hold Wessex on behalf of her son but was soon driven into exile by the king. Harold Harefoot now held control over all England. In 1036, Godwine carried out a particularly brutal act. The sons of Aethelred the Unready who had remained in exile for over 20 years returned to England in order to see their mother, Emma . who was still in Winchester at the time. Supposedly in an act of loyalty to the king, Godwine and his men attacked Edward and Alfred's retinue, blinding, mutilating and killing many of them. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle says that Alfred was blinded as soon as he step off the ship. So brutal was the act, that Alfred died of his injuries, being tended upon by a group of monks til his death. It is an act wholly unjustifiable and is worth remembering for later on. What Earl Godwine had demonstrated was a ruthlessness to protect the interests of not only the king of England but his own too. These young men were sons of a former king of England and a very real counter claimant to the throne. If they'd been united with their mother, a plot could have been formed to put one of them on the throne and Earl Godwine, most powerful noble in the country, would be in serious jeopardy as someone that'd not only been loyal to a previous regime but a completely foreign dynasty. Edward and Alfred were the sons of an English king, an albeit hapless one, which would have made them a distinctly preferable alternative to a Danish monarchy. These instincts for political survival would seem to have been passed on to Godwine's son.
This act of political savagery was the most significant event of a reign which would end when Harold Harefoot died in March 1040 in Oxford and his body being dumped in a bog by his half brother, Harthacnut. Harthacnut's reign was mostly memorable for how he died. At a feast, he was drinking heavily, in the Viking fashion, when he crashed down to the ground suddenly. I've seen a few different theories for the king's death but the most obvious answer is he simply drank himself to death. With that, ended the 27 year Danish rule over England. The crown was now to return to the hands of the Anglo Saxons and the new king was Edward, son of Aethelred II and brother of the unfortunate Alfred. Edward had escaped the brutality of 1036 by returning to exile. His reign would cast the last two Danish kings into basically complete obscurity and his death would alter the course of English history forever.
Edward The Confessor was a pious man, indicated by the fact he is known to history as The Confessor. It has been suggested that his piety is the chief cause of his marriage remaining childless although some historians have discounted that. Nonetheless, his marriage was a fateful one and no heirs from it made it all the more so. His wife was a woman by the name of Edith, daughter of Earl Godwine, a man mentioned in my previous blog on Harefoot and Harthacanute, and sister to the future king Harold II who'd use his status to pinch the throne ahead of William of Normandy on the death of Edward on the 6th January 1066. Edward;s reign was a notably long one for an 11th century monarch, over 23 years. His lack of heirs is an interest issue to ponder. He had plenty of time to sire more than enough. Even if his marriage to Edith, who ended up in a nunnery was barren, a king of his time could have been expected to try with another woman. It's possible Edward may not have wanted or believed in divorce. It's also possible Edward needed to remain on the good side of Godwine. Divorcing his daughter would have alienated the powerful Godwine family and giving the king a major problem and possibly one that may have led to his deposition. Edward and Godwine's relationship was not always an easy or amicable one. In the early 1050s, rumours that Godwine and Harold were plotting against the king reached Edward. They were both sent into exile but didn't remain there long and were soon back, plundering on the south coast. It is an indication of how formidable a power the Godwines that they were not out in the cold for long and were soon reconciled to Edward. Godwine died in 1053 and was succeeded by his son Harold.
Harold soon became Edward's main man, restoring peace after an uprising had broken out in 1055. Again, in the 1060s, Harold dealt with a rebellion, this time in Wales. Through a combination of military strength and diplomacy, Harold soon restored order. Although Harold remained loyal to the king, his brother Tostig was altogether a different proposition. He was not a popular man. He had been outlawed and then exiled from his own earldom and it was his through his treachery that England was invaded by Harald Hardrada, perhaps indirectly changing the course of history although that is purely guesswork. So, when Edward the Confessor died in 1066 without heirs, who was to succeed him. William of Normandy, whom i've not mentioned prior to this deliberately as he'll be the first subject of my next series of blogs, claimed he had been promised the crown by Edward when he visited England. But Harold Godewinsson looked altogether a better candidate. He had demonstrated first hand the kingly skills needed. A strong military leader, diplomatic when needed and, what would have been preferable to most nobles if not all, English. There was also a third claimant. A giant of a man from Norway, Harald III Hardrada. In my mind Edward's preferred candidate to throne, if it wasn't to be a son or blood relative, would have been Harold Godwinesson. I find it hard to believe , he would have made a promise to leave his kingdom to a foreign ruler without categorically reaffirming it. He also would have known it would have been a tremendously unpopular decision and would lead to anarchy. A pious would have wanted to leave behind a stable country. It's possible that he had a change of heart but Harold must have looked to him to be the most obvious successor.
.jpeg)
No comments:
Post a Comment