Athelstan - First King of All England

 

History was never my forte  at school despite securing an 'O' Level in the subject. Even today or perhaps especially today,  we seem to be told about the positive points of our history rather than being given details of all  significant aspects with the not so good as well as the bad points.   

Sarah Helm's A Life in Secret is a great exception which I am currently reading. She reports at length about Vera Atkins, not a woman I would have liked very much I suspect, and the lost agents of  the  British Special Operations Executive in WWII. Many of the agents were captured by the Germans who had details of when and where they were to be parachuted into France from their spy in London. Yet the SOE was disbanded quickly after the war and their exploits and disasters largely  kept hidden from the public eye.

Next year 2027, will be the 1100th anniversary of the founding of England. The Times newspaper today has an interesting article on King Athelstan  who founded the State and reports that:

"The King ... was a warrior a lawgiver and a statesman loved and admired by his people, feared and respected by his foes".

The article in The Times is a fascinating read and is largely geared to suggesting that in celebration of his anniversary next year, a statue commemorating him should be erected permanently onto the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square. I agree.

Of  particular  interest to me in the article, given that mrs maytrees is from Dublin, is the report that ten years after the establishment of the state of England a coalition including an Irish king invaded England to tame Athelstan,  The Times reports that that was one of the greatest battles of the age and the result was a crushing English victory.

My guess is that as with the scarcity of English reporting about the SOE mentioned above, little will be said in Irish history classes and books, about  the thwarted invasion of England by one of their kings.