Athelstan

by Michael McComb
published on 31 July 2026

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Tom Holland’s "Athelstan: The Making of England" is a concise and brilliantly written biography of England’s first king. Newcomers to English history will find this book easily accessible, and informed readers will find an engaging and lively account of one of England’s most underrated rulers. 

“It was the most terrible conflict that anyone could remember. Entire kingdoms were mobilised for combat. Slaughter fit to stupefy poets was visited on the ranks of the rival combatants" (3). Tom Holland’s first lines of Athelstan: The Making of England (2016) take the reader ankle-deep into the blood and gore of the Battle of Brunanburh, where, in 937, England’s first king defeated an alliance of Scots, Britons, and Vikings.

Holland is amongst Britain’s most famous popular historians. He is best known for Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic (2003), Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind (2019), and being a co-host of the Rest is History podcast. Yet he is also a long-time admirer of England’s founding fathers: Alfred the Great, Edward the Elder, Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, and Aethelstan. To Holland, their collective reigns (871-939) - which saw three generations of military expansion at the expense of the Vikings and the creation of the English kingdom - is “the most remarkable and momentous [story] in British history" (94).

Following the opening at Brunanburh, readers are taken chronologically through Aethelstan’s life. Chapter One explores the early history of Wessex (Aethelstan’s homeland), the struggles against the Vikings under Alfred (his grandfather), and the circumstances surrounding Aethelstan’s birth in 894. Next, the book moves north to Mercia (the Midlands), where Aethelstan grew up, soldiering on the frontier against the Vikings. Then the book discusses Aethelstan’s early reign, his conquest of Viking York in 927, and his attempts to establish supremacy over northern Britain. Chapter Four explores broader elements of the king’s reign: his laws, love of saints, and the politics surrounding Brunanburh. Finally, an epilogue titled “Malmesbury,” where the king is buried, contemplates Aethelstan’s legacy and the fracturing of his empire upon his death in 939.

Holland is at his most skilful in explaining Aethelstan’s inspirations for his contemporary objectives. When presenting himself as a figure of English unity, readers see him paying homage to regional saints (Aldhelm in Wessex and Cuthbert and Oswald in Northumbria). Yet in moments when his ambitions stretched beyond England and became imperial, we find the king cosplaying as a Roman emperor. At his coronation, the royal helmet – the ancient symbol of Anglo-Saxon kingship – was substituted for a crown, like those worn by Emperors of Rome. When he hosted vassal kings from Scotland and Strathclyde, it is no surprise that he chose Cirencester, an ancient Roman town, as the venue for such a meeting. He would even style himself ‘basileus,’ a title used by contemporary Byzantine (or ‘Eastern Roman’) emperors.

Holland clearly admires his subject, styling him as the “greatest warrior of his age” and “as ready with legislation as he was with his sword" (71). We are presented with a ruler steeped in Christian mercy, who outlawed the death penalty for thieves under 15 and provided food for the hungry. Holland's Aethelstan is very much the perfect medieval king.

While it is correct to present Aethelstan as an exceptionally talented and able ruler, there is little in the book about his political and familial failings. Aethelstan's disastrous naval expedition to France in 939 to assist his nephew, Louis IV of France, is unmentioned. Also, his possible role in the death of his brother (and rival), Prince Edwin, is noted but without any consideration of what this says about the king as an exemplar Christian.

David Woodman’s recent The First King of England: Æthelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom (2025) certainly provides a longer, more detailed account of the king’s reign, with greater attention paid to his legal reforms, royal councils, church relations and foreign policy. Yet Holland’s book remains the most readable and exciting account of Aethelstan’s life. It is a great introduction to 10th-century England, and acknowledging its brevity at just 144 pages, it provides a helpful “Further Reading” guide for those interested in learning more about the period.

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