Please subscribe to Hay Player for access to this content (more details)
Subscribe for £15.00 or log in if you already have a subscription
Tom Holland
Æthelstan: The Making of England
Hay Festival 2016,
The formation of England happened against the odds - the division of the country into rival kingdoms, the assaults of the Vikings, the precarious position of the island on the edge of the known world. But King Alfred ensured the survival of Wessex, his son Eadweard expanded it, and his grandson Æthelstan finally united Mercia and Wessex, conquered Northumbria and became Rex totius Britanniae.
