University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1974 Basileos Anglorum ;: a study of the life and reign of King Athelstan of England, 924-939. Philip Nathaniel Cronenwett University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Cronenwett, Philip Nathaniel, "Basileos Anglorum ;: a study of the life and reign of King Athelstan of England, 924-939." (1974). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 1344. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/1344 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BASILEOS ANGLORUM : A STUDY OF THE LIFE AND REIGN OF KING ATHELSTAN OF ENGLAND, 92^-939 A Dissertation Presented by PHILIP NATHANIEL CRONENWETT Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY November 197^ History 0 1974 PHILIP NATHANIEL CRONENWETT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BASILEOS ANGLORUM ; A STUDY OF THE LIFE AND REIGN OF KING ATHELSTAN OF ENGLAND, 924-939 A Dissertation By PHILIP NATHANIEL CRONENWETT Approved as to style and content by: R. Dean Ware, Chairman of Committee Archibald R. Lewis, Member Robert H. McNeal, Chairman Department of History November 197^ of of the Life and Reign Basileos riorum : A Study 92^-939 (November 1974) King Athelstan of England, Philip Nathaniel Cronenwett B.A., Capital University University M.A., Bowling Green State Ware Directed by. Dr. R. Dean England is of central The reign of Athelstan of unexpected sig- Anglo-Saxon history and has importance to continental history. Buildxng nificance for contemporary Alfred and laid by his predecessors on the foundation and suzerainty over all Britain, Edward, Athelstan claimed disparate peoples establish authority over his efforts to came to triumphant borders of his Kingdom and to secure the Mercia was weided of Brunanburh. culmination in the battle the Danes were ab- the Welsh paid tribute, tc the Kingdom, England's were forced to accept sorb ed. and the Scots Athelstan several smaller states, overlordship. Out of a f.gure of European diplomacy he was m0 lded England. In marriage alliances and a , nrBstiee Throughe> great power and prestige. Italy, extended from Norway to trading network that pre power, something no England a European Athelstan made to accomplishments were not , and his vi0us King had done Anglo-Saxon ruler. matched by another of the church in Athelstan was a benefactor and wise relics and manuscripts England. Gifts of V materially enriched the church ecclesiastical preferments concessions and Mere important, his ana spiritually. which the church provided a fiscal hase on grants of land church Without Athelstan, the was able to flourish. have heen tenth century would not reforms cf the later possible. and prosperity 4. ^ +o restorerp^tore oiuorder Athelstan attempted to the His law codes reflect i culturalnatural nxe.life. and to develop growth • j Economic attempted to+ n solve.oolve. problems he faced and power of the nobility by the King. The was stimulated Athelstan's reign, a increase during apparently be gan to • a.- „ ~\ ln + pr in the century, become critical later problem that would educa- ^ i a npnter of Palace School, a Athelstan supported the • princes.^; nn pq The language nobles and foreign tion fcr English a renewed • + • poetrynoetrv indicate the writing,ofof of charters and affairs. interest in cultural warrior-king, an o successiucurressful Athelstan, then, was a benefactor of-p the+v, 0 arts, a administrator, a patron efficient peers. by his EuroP ean a ruler respected e church, and in the genera of Bng land and in the evolution His role appreoat >n century, insufficiently of the tenth Ltory described . w,r \* here past historiography, current as well as and evaluated. PREFACE Miss Dorothy Whitelock, in her inaugural lecture Anglo-Saxon in the as Elrington and Bosworth Professor of apprehen- University of Cambridge, confessed to an early by the time sion that "there would he nothing left to do" in Old English she was prepared to undertake research 1 evident, of studies. That this concern was needless is significant contribu- course, from her own abundant and career as well as tions during a long and distinguished studies in primary by the impressive volume of original 2 As Frank Sten- sources recently published in her honor. address to the Royal ton observed in his presidential content of early Historical Society some years ago, "the and interest with English history has increased in range The end of this each successive decade of research. 3 now. That no one enlargement is not yet." Nor is it Anflo-Saxon Studies, an 1 Changing Currents in Cambridge University inaugural iSHca^idii: 2 - Press, 1958) » P- Before the Conquest, Studies in 2 England ed. by to Dorothy Wh^ck, Primary Souflfeiffl ridge Cam p^FClemoes and Kathleen Huihe^TCamb . bridge University Press, 197D- History, 1895-1920 « 3 "Early English Zffi^j from TRHS, Ser. 4, XXVIII U?W, tory, p. 356 Reprinted 7-19]' • 1 VI exhaustion of research oppor- today contemplates an early the establishment in tunities is obvious if only from publication Anglo-Saxon England- 1972 of the major serial then, in view of It is all the more remarkable, activity in every branch of Old the continuing scholarly epigraphy, numisma- English learning-art, architecture, the and vernacular literature, tics, diplomatic. Latin government and administra- Church, military institutions, one of agriculture, toponymy-that not tion, land tenure, kings has attracted a the three great tenth-century ongoing "English Monarch-" biographer. Even the excellent between to ignore all the rulers series apparently intends those "Confessor", that is to say, Alfred and Edward the there is any century and more. Yet if of the entire tenth medieval history, perhaps in all century in Anglo-Saxon coherent requires reassessment and history, that urgently The time has clearly presentation, it is the tenth. a information exists to make arrived when sufficient Ihl. worthwhile but essential. synthetic effort not only biography of attempt. It is a dissertation is such an overlord of surrounding Athelstan, king of England, personally outstanding Western European peoples, and the in his age. ta of Athelstan cast M. The existing treatments collector and advocate an avida relic collec two chief roles, as viii in the battle of ecclesiastical reform, and as the victor contemporary at Brunanburh, celebrated in the famous affairs, vernacular poem. His accomplishments in economic arts are rarely diplomacy, education, and patronage of the biography acknowledged and then only cursorily. This Athelstan's provides the first comprehensive account of on the civiliza- reign and attempts to assess its impact century and its tion of Western Europe in the tenth history. significance in the whole of Anglo-Saxon been completed This dissertation could not have My committee, and without the support of many people. Dean Ware, gave particularly my advisor Professor R. provided me with a valuable criticism. My department research in Great Britain. History Service Fund Grant for aid was given by the staffs In Great Britain, considerable the Students' Room, Department of the Reading Room and of of British Museum, and the staff of Manuscripts, of the Senior Oxford. Mr. Eric John, the Bodleian Library, University, gave valu- Lecturer in History at Manchester well as gracious hospitality. able advice and counsel as Library, University The staff of the University particularly Mr. John D. Kendall, of Massachusetts, and and Mrs. Ute Bargmann Assistant Chief Bibliographer, every Inter-Library Loan, gave me Mrs. Judith Schaefer of Robert E Hudson III, consideration. My colleagues . ix Shippee allowed me to William E. Kapelle, and Lindsay with them in many late- test ideas on and argue points night sessions. editor, typist-is owed Finally, *y wife-critic, be repaid. - a debt that can not , e are mine that all translations It should be noted English, In transcribing Old unless otherwise specified. and eth as -th" and rendered as »ae» . th^n . th. Hfi is wyn as w - • ahukkviation;; ASC Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel Edited by Charles Plummer. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892-1899- Citations are to year and recension. Edited ASPH The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records by George P. Krapp and Elliot Van Kirk Dobbie. 6 vols. New Yorkt Columbia University Press, 1931-1953- Birch, Walter deGray, editor. Cartu- of larium Saxonicum i A Collection Charters relating to Anglo-Saxon History. 3 vols. London: Whiting and Co., 1885-1893- of Historical IH1IK Bulletin of the Institute Research . Bulletin of the John Ry lands Library . Journal BNJ British Numismatic Anglo-Saxon Dic- BT Bosworth, Joseph. An tionary. Edited by T. N. Toller. London: Oxford University Press, 1890. Northcote. Supplement (to BT ) BTi Supp Toller, T. London: Oxford University Press, 1921. Alistair. Enlarged Addenda BTi Add. Campbell, and Corrigenda (to BT. Supp.). Oxfordi Clarendon Press, 1972. Notes and .Queries. DCNQ Devon and Cornwall Society. EETS Early English Text Review . EHR English Historical Society. EP-NS English Place-Name . xi Land Tenure in Early, En£land. John, LT John, Eric. in Early English History, I. Studies Lei- Corrected Impression. Leicester: cester University Press, 1964. Other Eric. Orb is BrUarmiae and John, OB John, English Studies. Studies in Early Leicester History, IV. Leicester: University Press, 1966. Germaniae Historica. MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica, MGH, Ss. Monumenta Scriotores . Numismatic Chronicle NC of the British Academy. PBA Proceedings Plummer 'a II of ASC, containing Plummer, II Volume notes ge of the Modern Langua PMLA p^^j^a^ Association . Publications The Placj^Names of .