Product Description
Athelstan (Penguin Monarchs)
Author: Tom Holland
Format: Paperback
The Making of England
The acclaimed Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England's rulers - now in paperback
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.
Tom Holland recounts this extraordinarily exciting story with relish and drama. We meet the great figures of the age, including Alfred and his daughter Æthelflæd, 'Lady of the Mercians', who brought Æthelstan up at the Mercian court. At the end of the book we understand the often confusing history of the Anglo-Saxon kings better than ever before.
About the Author
Tom Holland is an award-winning historian, biographer, and broadcaster. His books include Rubicon (winner of the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History, shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize); Persian Fire (winner of the Anglo-Hellenic League’s Runciman Award), In the Shadow of the Sword, and Dynasty. His most recent book, Pax, covers the heyday of the Roman Empire, from the death of Nero to Hadrian.
Holland has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides and Virgil for the BBC, and his translation of Herodotus was published in 2013 by Penguin Classics. He is co-presenter of the world’s most downloaded history podcast, The Rest is History.
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