Athelstan, The Making of England

Resumen del libro

The formation of England occurred against the odds: an island divided into rival kingdoms, under savage assault from Viking hordes. But, after King Alfred ensured the survival of Wessex and his son Edward expanded it, his grandson Athelstan inherited the rule of both Mercia and Wessex, conquered Northumbria and was hailed as Rex totius Britanniae: 'King of the whole of Britain'. Tom Holland recounts this extraordinary story with relish and drama, transporting us back to a time of omens, raven harbingers and blood-red battlefields.

As well as giving form to the figure of Athelstan - devout, shrewd, all too aware of the precarious nature of his power, especially in the north - he introduces the great figures of the age, including Alfred and his daughter Aethelflaed, 'Lady of the Mercians', who brought Athelstan up at the Mercian court. Making sense of the family rivalries and fractious conflicts of the Anglo-Saxon rulers, Holland shows us how a royal dynasty rescued their kingdom from near-oblivion and fashioned a nation that endures to this day.

Biografía del autor

x{0026}lt;p Tom Holland es doctor en Historia y quizá el más destacado de la nueva generación de historiadores británicos. Es autor de x{0026}lt;i Rubicónx{0026}lt;/i (Ático Historia, 2016), finalista del premio Samuel Johnson y ganador del premio Hessell-Tiltman de Historia; x{0026}lt;i Fuego Persax{0026}lt;/i (Ático Historia, 2017), ganador del premio Runciman de la Liga Anglohelénica; del aclamado x{0026}lt;i Milenio,x{0026}lt;/i así como de x{0026}lt;i Dinastía: la historia de los primeros emperadores de Romax{0026}lt;/i (Ático Historia, 2017), x{0026}lt;i Dominiox{0026}lt;/i y x{0026}lt;i La niña lobo, los griegos y los diosesx{0026}lt;i (Ático de los Libros, 2023). Ha publicado una traducción de Heródoto y ha adaptado a Homero, Heródoto y Tucídices para la radio de la BBC.x{0026}lt;/p