He re-established Anglo-Saxon control over northern England, which had fallen back under Scandinavian rule following the death of Athelstan. Succeeded his half-bother Athelastan as king at the tender age of 18, having already fought alongside him at the Battle of Brunanburh two years earlier. Athelstan is buried in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. The battle saw for the first time individual Anglo-Saxon kingdoms being brought together to create a single and unified England.

In what is said to be one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on British soil, Athelstan defeated a combined army of Scots, Celts, Danes and Vikings, claiming the title of King of all Britain. Son of Edward the Elder, Athelstan extended the boundaries of his kingdom at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937. His body was returned to Winchester for burial. The following year, Edward was killed in a battle against the Welsh near Chester. In 923, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles recorded that the Scottish King Constantine II recognised Edward as “father and lord”. Following the death of his sister Aethelflaed of Mercia, Edward united the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia.

Edward retook southeast England and the Midlands from the Danes. To secure his place in history, he began the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. To secure his hard won boundaries Alfred founded a permanent army and an embryonic Royal Navy. With major victories at Edington, Rochester and London, Alfred established Saxon Christian rule over first Wessex, and then on to most of England. Alfred was forced to retreat to a small island in the Somerset Levels and it was from here that he masterminded his comeback, perhaps ‘ burning the cakes‘ as a consequence. He had proven himself to be a strong leader in many battles, and as a wise ruler managed to secure five uneasy years of peace with the Danes, before they attacked Wessex again in 877. Aethelred suffered serious injuries during the next major battle at Meretun in Hampshire he died of his wounds shortly after at Witchampton in Dorset, where he was buried.ĪLFRED THE GREAT 871 – 899 – son of AETHELWULFīorn at Wantage in Berkshire around 849, Alfred was well educated and is said to have visited Rome on two occasions. When the Danish Army moved south Wessex itself was threatened, and so together with his brother Alfred, they fought several battles with the Vikings at Reading, Ashdown and Basing. His reign was one long struggle with the Danes who had occupied York in 866, establishing the Viking kingdom of Yorvik. He is buried at Sherborne Abbey.Īethelred succeeded his brother Aethelbert. In 865 the Viking Great Heathen Armylanded in East Anglia and swept across England. Shortly after his succession a Danish army landed and sacked Winchester before being defeated by the Saxons. Like his brother and his father, Aethelbert (pictured above) was crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames. He is buried at Sherbourne Abbey in Dorset.īecame king following the death of his brother Æthelbald. Following his father’s death in 858, he married his widowed stepmother Judith, but under pressure from the church the marriage was annulled after only a year. He was crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames in southwest London, after forcing his father to abdicate upon his return from pilgrimage to Rome. The second son of Aethelwulf, Æthelbald was born around 834.

A highly religious man, Athelwulf travelled to Rome with his son Alfred to see the Pope in 855. In 851 Aethelwulf defeated a Danish army at the battle of Oakley while his eldest son Aethelstan fought and defeated a Viking fleet off the coast of Kent, in what is believed to be “the first naval battle in recorded English history”. King of Wessex, son of Egbert and father of Alfred the Great. A year before he died aged almost 70, he defeated a combined force of Danes and Cornish at Hingston Down in Cornwall. After further victories in Northumberland and North Wales, he is recognised by the title Bretwalda ( Anglo-Saxon, “ruler of the British”).

Following his conquest of Mercia in 827, he controlled all of England south of the Humber. After returning from exile at the court of Charlemagne in 802, he regained his kingdom of Wessex. There have been 63 monarchs of England and Britain spread over a period of approximately 1200 years.Įgbert (Ecgherht) was the first monarch to establish a stable and extensive rule over all of Anglo-Saxon England.

Family tree queen victoria george iii