Person:Æthelstan of Wessex (1)

Æthelstan of Wessex
b.Bet 820 and 826 (about)
d.Bet 851 and 855
  1. Æthelstan of WessexBet 820 & 826 - Bet 851 & 855
  2. Æthelberht of WessexEst 830 - Abt 865
Facts and Events
Name Æthelstan of Wessex
Alt Name Athelstan _____, Kent, Essex and Sussex
Gender Male
Birth[3] Bet 820 and 826 (about) House of Wessex
Death[1][5] Bet 851 and 855
Ancestral File Number[1] Q3562315?


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Æthelstan (; died c. 852) was the King of Kent from 839 to 851. He served under the authority and overlordship of his father, King Æthelwulf of Wessex, who appointed him. The late D, E and F versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle describe Æthelstan as Æthelwulf's brother, but the A, B and C versions, and Æthelweard's Chronicon, state that he was Æthelwulf's son. Some historians have argued that it is more probable that he was a brother, including Eric John in 1966 and Ann Williams in 1978. However, in 1991 Ann Williams described him as Æthelwulf's son, and this is now generally accepted by historians, including Frank Stenton,[1] Barbara Yorke, and D. P. Kirby.

When Æthelwulf became King of the West Saxons in 839 on the death of his father, Egbert, he appointed Æthelstan to rule over Kent, Essex, Surrey and Sussex. He is styled king in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Æthelweard's chronicle calls him "King of the Dwellers in Kent, of the East Saxons, of the South Saxons and of Surrey". He attested a number of his father's charters as king in the 840s.

In 851, Æthelstan and Ealdorman Ealhhere defeated a Viking fleet and army off Sandwich, Kent, described by Frank Stenton as "the first naval battle in recorded English history". Æthelstan is not mentioned after 851 and presumably died before Æthelwulf went to Rome in 855 as he was not included in arrangements for government of the kingdom during his father's absence. In 653 Ealhhere died in a disastrous defeat of the men of Kent and Surrey by the Vikings, and as Æthelstan is not mentioned as present at the battle he was probably dead by then.

A mid-ninth century burial found during excavations in the Old Minster, Winchester contained the body of a young man of 25–35. His headdress and the prestigious location of the burial in the nave suggests royal status, and the "strongest putative candidate" is Æthelstan.

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References
  1. 1.0 1.1 Æthelstan of Wessex, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
  2.   Æthelstan, Sub-King in Kent, Essex, Sussex and Surrey, in Lundy, Darryl. The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.
  3. ÆTHELSTAN, in Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families.
  4.   Ecgbeorht, in Baldwin, Stewart, and Todd Farmerie. The Henry Project (King Henry II ): Ancestors of King Henry II.
  5. Æðelstan (?), in Lundy, Darryl. The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.
  6.   Æthelstan 3 (Male), in The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England.
  7.   Cawley and Baldwin discuss the disagreement in sources about whether Æthelstan was a son of Æthelwulf or Æthelwulf's father Ecgbeorht. The sources seem to better support that he was the son of Æthelwulf, and the chronology Ecgbeorht. Cawley and Baldwin suggest that if he was the son of Æthelwulf, then, due to chronology, he likely had a different mother from Ælfred.