Summary
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the reign of King Athelstan.Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred the Great, came to the throne of Wessex in 925. A few years later he unified the kingdoms of England, and a decade after that defeated the Scots and styled himself King of all Britain. As well as being a brilliant military commander, Athelstan was a legal reformer whose new laws forever changed the way crime was dealt with in England. Unlike his predecessors, he pursued a foreign policy, seeking alliances with powerful rulers abroad. And unusually for an Anglo-Saxon king, we know what he looked like: he's the earliest English monarch whose portrait survives.With:Sarah FootRegius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Christ Church, OxfordJohn HinesProfessor of Archaeology at Cardiff UniversityRichard GamesonProfessor of the History of the Book at Durham UniversityProducer: Thomas Morris.
Transcript
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| 0:47.1 | Hello in his chronicle of the English king is written in the 12th century |
| 0:51.6 | the historian William of Mornsbury says a is governed the kingdom. This paragon of royal virtue is King |
| 1:03.3 | Athleston who reigned for 14 years during the first half of the 10th century. |
| 1:07.0 | Much less well known today than his grandfather, Alfred the Great, Athleston was |
| 1:11.6 | the first king to rule a united England. |
| 1:14.3 | He was also a successful and ruthless military commander, an international diplomat |
| 1:18.7 | and a legal reformer. |
| 1:20.0 | He collected books and holy relics and strengthened the institutions of church and state. |
| 1:25.0 | Athlstan made such an impact during his short reign |
| 1:28.0 | that one chronicler described him on his death as a pillar of the dignity of the Western world. |
| 1:34.0 | We'd me to discuss the life and achievements of King Athleston |
| 1:37.0 | are Sarah Foote, Regis Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Christ Church Oxford. |
| 1:42.0 | John Hines, Professor of Archaeology at Cardiff University, |
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