919 to 955
Unless otherwise stated, narrative source entries are from the ASC Parker ‘A’ text.
ABBREVIATIONS
AC – Annales Cambriae
AClon – Annals of Clonmacnoise
AFM – Annals of the Four Masters
ASC – Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
AU – Annals of Ulster
CKA – Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
EHD – English Historical Documents
GRA – Gest Regum Anglorum
HR – Historia Regum
HSC – Historia de Sancto Cuthberto
RoW – Roger of Wendover
919 Rögnvaldr captures York (HR).
— Eadweard gives his daughter Eadgifu in marriage to Charles the Simple, nephew of Ælfred’s stepmother Judith (GRA).
920 Eadweard recognized as overking of Anglo-Saxon and Welsh kingdoms and Northumbria: the so-called ‘Submission to Eadweard’.
— Sigtryggr moves to York and extends his control as far south as Lincoln (HR).
924 Chester rebels against Eadweard in alliance with ‘Britons’ (GRA); defeated.
— Eadweard dies at Farndon, on the east bank of the Dee; succeeded by his second son Ælfweard (in Wessex) for sixteen days; he dies at Oxford and is succeeded by Eadweard’s oldest son Æðelstan.
925 Æðelstan crowned King of Wessex and Mercia at Kingston in September; meets Sigtryggr at Tamworth (ASC ‘D’); gives him his half-sister in marriage.
927 Æðelstan expels the kings of York (ASC ‘D’). The Peace of Eamont is signed. Æðelstan’s overlordship is established over Hywel, Constantín mac Áeda and Owain of Gwent.
930 Possible date for composition of II Æðelstan: the Grately Code.
933 Possible date for death of Harald Fairhair (Haraldr Hárfagri) of Norway.
— Death of Eadwine atheling, half-brother of Aðelstan, by drowning at sea (ASC ‘E’, HR and EHD).
934 Death of Guðrøðr, king in Dublin (AU).
— Death of Adulf mcEtulf (AClon)—possibly Ældred son of Eadwulf of Bernicia.
— Amounderness land grant to the church of York (EHD).
— Æðelstan visits the shrine of St Cuthbert at Chester le Street (HSC).
— Æðelstan invades Alba in a raid as far as Dunottar; the fleet ravages as far as Caithness (HR; EHD).
937 Óláfr Guðrøðsson wins major victory on Lough Re and captures the king of Limerick (AFM); sails to England.
— Battle of Brunanburh: coalition under Óláfr Guðrøðsson including Owain of Strathclyde and Constantín mac Áeda of Alba fights against Æðelstan and allies at unidentified site, probably in the Wirral (ASC; GRA).
— Possible date of composition of the Armes Prydein Fawr.
939 Æðelstan sends fleet to support Louis IV in Francia (EHD).
— Death of Æðelstan at Gloucester; succeeded by his half-brother Eadmund.
940 Óláfr Guðrøðsson re-invades; Northumbrians choose him as their king (ASC ‘D’). He besieges Northampton; ravages regio of Tamworth (HR); meets the king’s army at Leicester and archbishops broker peace; Óláfr becomes king of England north of Watling Street.
— Óláfr Guðrøðsson’s York coins inscribed in Old Norse: ANLAF CVNVNC.
941 Destruction of Tyninghame and Lindisfarne by the army of Óláfr (HR).
— Death of Óláfr Guðrøðsson (RoW); succeeded by Óláfr Kváran in York.
942 Death of Idwal Foel and his son Elise at English hands (AC); Hywel expels his sons from Gwynedd and annexes it and Powys.
— King Eadmund reclaims the Five Boroughs (ASC: first documentary reference).
943 End of reign of Constantín mac Áeda (CKA). He abdicates in favour of Mael Coluim mac Domnall and retires to the Culdee monastery at St Andrews.
— Northumbrians ‘drive out their king’ Óláfr (HR).
944 King Eadmund ravages Northumbria and brings it under his sway: expels Kváran, who returns to Ireland, and Rögnvaldr Guðrøðsson, who is killed.
945 King Eadmund ravages Cumbria/Strathclyde (AC) and ‘gives’ it to Mael Coluim mac Domnall of Alba on condition of an alliance.
946 Louis IV d’Outremer is restored to the West Frankish throne.
— King Eadmund is assassinated by Liofa (ASC ‘D’). Succeeded by his brother, Eadred (to 955). Eadred subdues Northumbria and the Scots give him submission oaths.
947 Convention at Tanshelf (ASC ‘D’). Wulfstan and the Northumbrians submit to Eadred.
948 Eadred ravages Northumbria; Ripon church is burned (ASC ‘D’). After the campaign the Northumbrians destroy the rear of his army; the Northumbrians repudiate Eiríkr and submit to Eadred (HR).
949 Return of Óláfr Kváran as king at York.
950 Death of Hywel Dda (AU); succeeded by Owain ap Hywel (dies 988); Gwynedd is reclaimed by the sons of Idwal Foel.
952 The sons of Idwal ravage Gwent (AC).
— Eadred has Wulfstan imprisoned in the unidentified Iudanburh for alleged plotting (ASC ‘D’).
— Death of Constantín mac Áeda (CKA).
— Battle between ‘the Men of Alba and the Britons and the English’ against the foreigners (AU).
— Óláfr is driven out of York by the Northumbrians. Return of Eiríkr to York (ASC ‘E’).
954 The North submits to King Eadred; Eiríkr is expelled from York. Oswulf, reeve of Bamburgh, is given control of York by Eadred.
— Death of Mael Coluim mac Domnall, King of Alba (CKA); succeeded by Indulf (to 962).
955 Death of King Eadred; succeeded by Eadmund’s son Eadwig (to 959).