The Battle of Brunanburh was a West Saxon victory in 937 by the army of king Athelstan and his brother Edmund over the combined armies of Olaf III Guthfrithson, Viking king of Dublin, Constantine, king of Scotland and King Owain of Strathclyde. Wessex was one of the seven major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (the Heptarchy) that preceded the kingdom of England. ... Events Athelstan wins the Battle of Brunanburh September 21 - Magdeburg is now the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, after a Diet held by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor Births Deaths July 14 - Arnulf I of Bavaria Categories: 937 ... Athelstan (c. ... Edmund I, or Edmund the Deed-Doer (921–May 26, 946) was King of England from 939 until his death. ... Olaf III Guthfrithson (died 941) ruled as Norse king of Dublin from 934 to 941. ... The name Viking is a loan from the native Scandinavian term for the Norse seafaring warriors who raided the coasts of Scandinavia, the British Isles, and other parts of Europe from the late 8th century to the 11th century, the period of European history referred to as the Viking Age. ... Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath1),is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Ireland, located2 near the midpoint of Irelands east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin region3. ... Constantine II (874?–952) was king of Scotland from 900 to 942 or 943. ... Scotland (Alba in Scottish Gaelic) is a country in northwest Europe and a constituent nation of the United Kingdom. ... Strathclyde was one of the kingdoms of ancient Scotland in the post-Roman period. ...

This poorly recalled battle is actually one of the most important in British history since Athelstan's crushing defeat of the combined Norse-Celtic force facing him irrevocably confirmed England as an Anglo-Saxon kingdom, forcing the Celtic kingdoms to consolidate in the fringe positions they occupy today. The battle, one of the bloodiest of the period, saw the death of five British kings and seven earls on the Celtic side and numerous Saxon casualties including two of Athelstan's cousins Alfric and Athelwin and a prominent Saxon bishop.

The location of Brunanburh has not yet been definitively identified though possible sites in Northumbria have been suggested as well as Bromborough in Merseyside. Section from Shepherds map of the British Isles about 802 AD showing the kingdom of Northumbria Northumbria is primarily the name of an Anglian kingdom which was formed in Great Britain at the beginning of the 7th century, and of the much smaller earldom which succeeded the kingdom. ... Bromborough is a village on Wirral, Merseyside,England It is one of several disputed candidates from the site of Battle of Brunanburh. ... Merseyside is a metropolitan county, created in the 1974 local government reform. ...

Our chief sources for the details of the battle come from the Anglo-Saxon poem of the same name, the writings of Anglo-Norman historian William of Malmesbury, the Annals of Tigernach, the Brut y Tywysogion and Icelandic sagas such as the Saga of Eigil Skallagrimson, who fought for Athelstan. Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... William of Malmesbury (c. ... Brut y Tywysogion (Chronicle of the Princes) is a monastic record of mainly Welsh events, started in 682. ... The Norse sagas or Viking sagas (Icelandic: Íslendingasögur), are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, about migration to Iceland, and of feuds between Icelandic families. ... Egill Skallagrímsson in a 17th century manuscript of Egils Saga Egils saga is an epic Icelandic saga attributed to Snorri Sturluson about Egill Skallagrímsson, an Icelandic viking and skald. ... Athelstan (c. ...

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the event as follows: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of (mainly) secondary source documents narrating the history of the Anglo-Saxons and their settlement in Britain. ...

937:
Here, King Athelstan, leader of warriors,
ring-giver of men, and also his brother,
the aetheling Edmund, struck life-long glory
in strife around 'Brunanburh'