32. KING ATHELSTAN AND THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH (937)
INTRODUCTION
The battle of Brunanburh was one of the great victories of King Athelstan and his brother Edmund Atheling over an alliance of Olaf Guthfrithson, King of Dublin and York, Owain of Strathclyde, and Constantine, king of the Scots. This victory consolidated Athelstan’s hold over all of England: the first time the region was actually united as a single kingdom, albeit with regional and localized differences in law and governance. The description of the battle in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is in the form of an alliterative heroic poem.
KEEP IN MIND AS YOU READ
If taken as a single event, the battle was not necessarily all that significant, as all the participants on the opposing side had earlier sworn oaths to King Athelstan and had attended his royal court several times, thus suggesting that they had accepted positions as subkings to Athelstan as “high” king. The battle, therefore, was more of a large skirmish in the ongoing territorial conflicts among rulers in the British Isles. In terms of national pride, however, the battle and Athelstan’s victory loomed large in the English psyche. The fact that the author of the entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle rendered it in heroic verse is a testament to the emotional power of the victory.
Document 1: The Battle of Brunanburh
In this year King Aethelstan, Lord of Earls,
ring-giver to men, and his brother also,
Prince Eadmund, won eternal glory
in battle with sword edges
around Brunanburh. They split the shield-wall,
they hewed battle shields with the remnants of hammers.
The sons of Eadweard, it was only befitting their noble descent
from their ancestors that they should often
defend their land in battle against each hostile people,
horde and home. The enemy perished,
Scots men and seamen,
fated they fell. The field flowed
with blood of warriors, from sun up
in the morning, when the glorious star
glided over the earth, God’s bright candle,
eternal lord, till that noble creation
sank to its seat. There lay many a warrior
by spears destroyed; Northern men
shot over shield, likewise Scottish as well,
weary, war sated.
The West-Saxons pushed onward
all day; in troops they pursued the hostile people.
They hewed the fugitive grievously from behind
with swords sharp from the grinding.
The Mercians did not refuse hard hand-play to any warrior
who came with Anlaf over the sea-surge
in the bosom of a ship, those who sought land,
fated to fight. Five lay dead
on the battle-field, young kings,
put to sleep by swords, likewise also seven
of Anlaf’s earls, countless of the army,
sailors and Scots. There the North-men’s chief was put
to flight, by need constrained
to the prow of a ship with little company:
he pressed the ship afloat, the king went out
on the dusky flood-tide, he saved his life.
Likewise, there also the old campaigner through flight came
to his own region in the north–Constantine–
hoary warrior. He had no reason to exult
the great meeting; he was of his kinsmen bereft,
friends fell on the battle-field,
killed at strife: even his son, young in battle, he left
in the place of slaughter, ground to pieces with wounds.
That grizzle-haired warrior had no
reason to boast of sword-slaughter,
old deceitful one, no more did Anlaf;
with their remnant of an army they had no reason to
laugh that they were better in deed of war
in battle-field—collision of banners,
encounter of spears, encounter of men,
trading of blows—when they played against
the sons of Eadweard on the battle field.
Departed then the Northmen in nailed ships.
The dejected survivors of the battle,
sought Dublin over the deep water,
to return to Ireland, ashamed in spirit.
Likewise the brothers, both together,
King and Prince, sought their home,
West-Saxon land, exultant from battle.
They left behind them, to enjoy the corpses,
the dark coated one, the dark horny-beaked raven
and the dusky-coated one,
the eagle white from behind, to partake of carrion,
greedy war-hawk, and that gray animal
the wolf in the forest.
Never was there more slaughter
on this island, never yet as many
people killed before this
with sword’s edge: never according to those who tell us
from books, old wisemen,
since from the east Angles and Saxons came up
over the broad sea. Britain they sought,
Proud war-smiths who overcame the Welsh,
glorious warriors they took hold of the land.
Source: “The Battle of Brunanburh 937 AD.” http://www.brunanburh.org.uk/asc-poems/asc-poem-english. Copyright © 2015 The Battle of Brunanburh 937 AD.
AFTERMATH
Athelstan’s victory and his annexation of the kingdom of York unified the territory of England for the first time since the Viking invasions. In addition, he was able to claim—although not necessarily enforce—overlordship as king of the English over HYWEL DDA, king of Deheubarth in south Wales, as well as over Constantine of Scotland and Owain of Strathclyde. Olaf, in the meantime, returned to Dublin. Nevertheless, historians consider Athelstan’s success to be ephemeral. When his brother Edward succeeded, he was unable to retain control over northern England, which was again ruled by Olaf, and the Viking kings ultimately achieved total success against the kings of Wessex during the reign of Ethelred II “the Redeless” (r. 978–1013, 1014–1016).
Anglo-Saxon poetry used adjectives known as “kennings” to describe nouns as a way of enhancing the alliterative and rhythmic aspects of the verse. A common kenning to describe a king was “ring-giver” even though by the reign of Aethelstan, it was rare for the king’s troops, or “war band, ” to be rewarded in this way. Can you locate other kennings in this poem?
ASK YOURSELF
Why would the author of this poem insert it into a historical chronicle?
How does the poet describe the battle?
Why was this battle so important for the Anglo-Saxons?
TOPICS TO CONSIDER
Compare the battle of Brunanburh to those described in the Alfred readings above.
Consider the political as well as emotional resonance of the battle in poetic form as written in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
Consider the ways in which the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes are presented in the poem: as heroic, as cowardly, as venal, and so on, and analyze these presentations as propaganda.
Further Information
Foote, Sarah. Athelstan: The First King of England. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.
Halloran, Kevin. “The Brunanburh Campaign: A Reappraisal.” The Scottish Historical Review 84, no. 218, pt. 2 (2005): 133–148.