Tea at Trianon: Never Greater Slaughter: Battle of Brunanburh, 937AD

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, October 15, 2021

Never Greater Slaughter: Battle of Brunanburh, 937AD

Those who read the final volume of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Series will be familiar with this battle. From Historic UK:

We do know however that the Celtic/Norse army dug themselves into the battle field with timber-fortified trenches, although these defences were quickly overrun. What is also interesting, albeit hotly debated, is that the Battle of Brunanbruh may well have been the first instance of a British Army ever using cavalry in battle, although this has yet to be indisputably proven. What is known is that Athelstan and the Anglo-Saxon armies had sealed victory, securing the northern borders of England and containing the Celts to the west. Perhaps even more importantly, Athelstan had united the two major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia, thus creating a single and unified England, a nation that has remained until this very day. (Read more.)

Who was Athelstan? From History Hit:

Athelstan was born in 894, whilst his grandfather Alfred the Great was still King. The 9th century had been a tumultuous one for the Saxon kingdoms of England, which had fallen one by one to invading Danes with the exception of Alfred’s kingdom: Wessex. Alfred had repelled many Danish invasions and earned his epithet, and by the time Athelstan was born he had left a legacy of good governance, well-fortified towns and military success.

The young prince was groomed for a bright future, and as a young boy the aged Alfred draped a scarlet cloak around him in an important coming-of-age ceremony. When Athelstan’s father Edward died in 924, however, his succession to the throne was not simple.

Edward had remarried after the death or possibly disgrace of Athelstan’s mother, and his eldest son was now no longer his sole or primary heir. Wessex was left to Elfweard, a son by his new wife – while Athelstan had to be content with the poorer northern Kingdom of Mercia, which had recently been re-conquered.

Luckily for the young prince, Elfweard chose a good moment to drop down dead, and Athelstan had a better claim than anyone else to the throne of Wessex. Eventually, after making deals and threatening movements from Mercia, Athelstan was crowned King of the free English in 925 in Kingston-upon-Thames, a town which marked the boundary between Mercia and Wessex. It took time for Athelstan to be accepted everywhere, and years into his reign there was a plot by a nobleman called Alfred to have him blinded and deposed. (Read more.)

A list of the Anglo-Saxon Kings, HERE.