Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is Episode 291, Pandemonium.

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When King Edward died, the plan was that his second son would take the throne. By all

indications, neither Edward nor the power structures within Wessex wanted Atholstan. The young

Atholing had been discarded and was sent to be raised in Mercia, far from the halls

of power. The throne of Wessex wasn't for him. It was for Atholstan's younger brother,

Elf Weird. But he died soon after Edward under questionable circumstances. And so the

path opened up for Atholstan. But it was a hard one. The fact was that many in Wessex

didn't want him. And he was so unpopular in those circles that even a thousand years

later, we know of the rumors of his illegitimate birth and the low status of his mother. The

opposition to his rule was so significant in fact that even in charters, we read of conspiracies

that were organized against him. And in the chronicle, we see that it took him nearly

a year before he was able to secure the throne. Even getting anointed was difficult, with

him having to provide gifts to the Archbishopric of Canterbury to even make it happen, since

the Bishop of Winchester, apparently, refused. Atholstan was unwanted. Pretty much right

from the start. And I wonder what people thought of him now? If they were concerned that he

would destroy the kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons, they were kind of right. That kingdom was

gone, but it was replaced by England. Under his rule, the kingdom had nearly doubled

...