Athelstan by Tom Holland

Hello and welcome to my review of Athelstan by Tom Holland. Yep that's right, Spiderman: Homecoming star Tom Holland wrote this one and boy was that a weird- Oh, wait. No, sorry, this is a completely different Tom Holland. Okay, well, he may not be a Spiderman but he is a damn good historian.

But it seems that the cover artist was not. It clearly says in the book that his hair was blond not brown. But I suppose I can let that slide as it was a throwaway line and from a questionable source. Also the: "The Making of England" subtitle isn't really accurate as he is supposed to be the "rex totius Brittaniae" the king of the whole of Britain and not just England. So really it should say: The Making of The U.K. or Britain but maybe that didn't sound as good. In any way, I digress. Let's talk book! (Warning: SPOILERS (for history))

This book is mainly about the rule of Athelstan from 924 - 39 AD. Obviously. But despite this, half of the book itself is devoted to his predecessors: dos father Edward and his grandfather Alfred The Great. We see him being raised in Alfred's court as a young child and how he would spend most of his young life in exile from Wessex (the south kingdom of England) as his father goes through different political marriages as he makes conquest through Mercia (the central kingdom) He names Athelstan as his heir, which receives a lot of negativity from the people of Wessex, just as he dies in the heart of Mercia. Athelstan, after securing his power, finishes his father's conquest of the Mercian borders and fully establishes his rule when he goes for gold and finishes conquering the whole island. Throughout the proceedings of his reign he marries of his sisters to kingdoms across the northern continent to Brittany, West Francia and even Scandinavia. He feels fully safe in his immense power but realises he's neglected the rebellious in his own country and rides north to quell the Scottish revolts. He succeeds and fully settles into his power before dying somewhat prematurely in his mid-forties - leaving his family in the court to continue his legacy.

Athelstan's story is really very interesting. It's fascinating to see the world that Europe was and more specifically England was before William The Conqueror. The events of 1066 really did completely change everything about England so it's nice to take a look through the lens of this simpler time. It kind of takes some away when you know that this will all, eventually be inconsequential but there is still this intense political atmosphere and you feel that every passing day is important. Whether it's just waiting out a foe or hurrying up across to the other side of the country to quell a rebellion. Any and every delay could make a difference between winning and losing. For example, Athelstan has just begun to take Northumbria (the northernmost English kingdom) and his is just gearing up to take York, the capital and most strongly fortified. The king there dies and they send off a message to his successor in Ireland but Athelstan gets the news first so manages to get the jump on it so by the time the successor has raised an army and marched to claim it Athelstan's forces are already quite settled in. You see? those few days made the difference between an easy win or a very possible loss on Athelstan's part. Maybe it's just me who gets really this invested in conflict that took place over 1000 years ago but hey, what can you do? I was rarely finding myself seeing how many pages I had left or checking my page numbers. The historical drama going on was more than enough to keep me engaged. It seems like such an alien world to us now the whole system. Where things like selling off your sisters and daughters for political gain and paying a tax of military service and swearing allegiances etc. were the norm and not just for RPGs and re-enactors. Another element that was intriguing to me was the emerging battle between the pagans and Christians. Not physical battles, although that did happen with the vikings, but the political battles. Athelstan and the kings before him always find themselves going back to those pagan traditions that are only just being wiped off since the Church was brought to England in the last century or so. They're always finding a balance. They've all converted to Christianity but there are still some parts not only of their kingdom but the surrounding kingdoms that still have these strong pagan ties that the Church are still trying to shake. I thought it added a nice, and subtle, layer of conflict that these monarchs have to adhere to.

Speaking of which this is the first, chronologically that is, of the Penguin Monarchs series. This is a series dedicated to showcasing each of the most important monarchs in English history. It is series of 45 titles being printed out of order that go through all the different houses and families that forged our history. This one was only just printed at the end of last year but they've been going since 2015 and will keep going until the end of next year. For the houses of Wessex and Denmark (a.k.a. pre William the Conqueror) there were so many they decided to just choose four of what they deemed to be the most important including Athelstan, Ethelred The Unready, Cnut and Edward The Confessor. And no to if you thought I am going to do Ethelred The Unready next as that doesn't come out until next year but I will try t keep updated with what comes out as best as I can. But anyway, this being who they've elected to be their "first monarch" they probably didn't include his reign until the second half to address the debate on this topic. "What debate?" you may ask. Well that would be the debate on who the definitive "first monarch" is. Some say it was indeed Athelstan as he was the first monarch to unify all of Great Britain under one king. Others would say Alfred The Great as he laid the foundation for a united Britain with Wessex which would be the predominant seat of power even to today. And it goes on there are other entries swell but I'm glad they didn't go with someone like William The Conqueror so we can see how are country has evolved since that original hierarchical and bureaucratic system that would be the defining thing we remember of the Middle Ages.

I am actually really glad that I did this after my last Les Mis review (and, no, I don't intend to mention Les Mis in every single on of these inbetweeners but it'll probably happen anyway) because I feel that this is good chance to better explain myself. There are a lot of references in here that you'll have to flick back to the notes if you want to understand and you'll also need a pre-disposed knowledge of the system of hierarchy and politics in this time period or it will become very confusing very quickly. But putting that aside, you may have gathered that this book is a lot of historical jibber-jabber. Now what you may be thinking is: What makes this historical jibber-jabber any better than Hugo's historical jibber-jabber? Well partly because that's what I'm reading the book for. But even if you ignore that, it gets to the point, it knows what it wants to talk about and moreover what point it wants to make. And then what does it do? It moves on to the next point. I know I made joke about this in the Les Mis review itself but I do seriously mean it. Holland manages to get across about fifty years of time concisely, uniquely and smartly while getting across his point. His point about what cultural and political impact this young king had on the history of Europe and England as a whole. I not only know more now than what I learnt from Hugo's ramblings but I've learnt it in under half the pages. Don't believe me? I managed to read this book and write the review for it within the same weekend. I've gained so much knowledge of this character that is Athelstan as a learner, as a teacher as a forgotten child and as a warrior. Tom Holland has what it takes to paint an in-depth and interesting history to teach you more about how the country that you know today came to be.

I cannot wait until the next one of these I read as I'm always looking for some historical input. And if that's what you're looking for than you won't be disappointed. As I said this is mainly for those history buffs who already have some good contextual knowledge because it drops you right in the deep end with talks of the Fyrd and the royal court and the lines of succession so on and so forth. If that sounds like you than definitely check this one out. It's not even 100 pages long, including the prologue and epilogue. So with that I say farewell and thanks for tuning in.