tion that exists comes from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
for 937:
In this year King Aethelstan, Lord of warriors,
ring-giver to men, and his brother also,
Prince Eadmund, won eternal glory
in battle with sword edges
around Brunanburh. They split the shield-wall,
they hewed battle shields with
the remnants of hammers.
The sons of Eadweard, it was only befitting
their noble descent
from their ancestors that they should often
defend their land in battle against
each hostile people,
horde and home. The enemy perished,
Scots men and seamen,
fated they fell. The field flowed
with blood of warriors, from sun up
in the morning, when the glorious star
glided over the earth, God’s bright candle,
eternal lord, till that noble creation
sank to its seat. There lay many a warrior
by spears destroyed;
Northern men
shot over shield, likewise Scottish as well,
weary, war sated.It remains unknown whether this “account” was writ-
ten by an observer or a mere writer wishing to catalog
this great battle. Few historians mention the casualties
inflicted at Brunanburh; historian George Bruce reports
that there was “great slaughter.” In any event, Æthelstan
prevailed.
Æthelstan lived for two years following his great vic-
tory at Brunanburh. He died on 27 October 939, was
buried at Malmesbury Abbey, just south of Wiltshire, and
was succeeded by his half brother Edmund. His reign had
lasted a short 15 years, but in that time he established
himself as a significant figure in English history. Æth-
elstan was the first English king to develop relations with
other European rulers, and his half sisters married into the
royal families of France and the Holy Roman Empire.
References: Hilliam, David, “Athelstan,” in Kings,
Queens, Bones and Bastards: Who’s Who in the English Mon-
archy from Egbert to Elizabeth II (Phoenix Mill, Thrupp,
Stroud, U.K.: Sutton Publishing Limited, 2000), 17; At-
tenborough, F. L., ed. and trans., The Laws of the Earli-
est English Kings. (New York: Russell & Russell, 1963);
Garnett, James Mercer, Elene; Judith; Æthelstan, or, The
Fight at Brunanburh; Byrthnoth, or, The Fight at Maldon;
and The Dream of the Rood: Anglo-Saxon Poems. Translated
by James Mercer Garnett (Boston: Ginn & Company,
1901); Philpotts, Robert, What Happened at Maldon?
The Story of the Battle of Maldon, August 991 (London:
Blackwater Books, 1991); Macrae-Gibson, O. D., “How
Historical Is the Battle of Maldon?,” Medium Ævum, 39,
no. 2 (1970): 89–107; Dumville, David N. “Between
Alfred the Great and Edgar the Peacemaker: Æthelstan,
First King of England,” in Wessex and England from Al-
fred to Edgar: Six Essays on Political, Cultural, and Ecclesi-
astical Revival (Woodbridge, U.K.: Boydell Press, 1992),
141–171.Aetius, Flavius (Aëtius) (ca. 390–454) Roman
general
Noted chiefly for having defeated attila and the
Huns in what was the last major military victory for the
Roman Empire before it fell, Flavius Aetius was born
at Dorostolus, in the province of Moesia (now near the
Black Sea in the Balkans). He was the son of Gauden-
tius, who is identified simply as a master-general in the
Roman army cavalry, later to become master of the horse
and count of Africa. Moesia was a Roman stronghold in
the Balkan area when Aetius was born. At some point in
his youth, he was kidnapped by barbarians and raised as
one of them, first by the Goths and later by the Huns;
he was raised personally by Rhuas, the king of the Huns.
Aetius acquired the knowledge of barbarian tactics, and
in 424 he commanded a force of some 60,000 barbar-
ians into what is now Italy.
Following the death of the Roman emperor Hono-
rius on 15 August 423, there was a fierce struggle to suc-
ceed him. Although Honorius’s relative Valentinian had
positioned himself to become emperor, the throne was
seized by Ioannes (also called Johannes), the primicerius
notatiorum (chief notary), who was backed by ambassa-
dors Aetius and the Huns. The Eastern Roman emperor
Theodosius II sent ambassadors to Rome, and they per-
suaded some of Ioannes’s aides to betray him; he was
arrested, taken to a small village, and executed. When
word of Ioannes’s arrest (but not his execution) arrived
at the Huns’ camp, Aetius set out with a force to rescue
him. Valentinian, taking control of Rome, offered Aetius AetiuS, FlAviuS