# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/thelstan
# Generated: 2026-09-02T00:24:32.471Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/thelstan"
name: "Æthelstan"
slug: "thelstan"
description: "He took a patchwork of rival kingdoms — Mercian, Viking, Saxon — and for the first time made one England out of it. Æthelstan ruled the whole island by conquest and council, then crushed an invasion at Brunanburh that made his name across Europe."
tagline: "King of Wessex and first king of England (r. 924-939)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/King.athelstan.tomb.arp.jpg"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Historical Figures"
  slug: "historical-figures"
profileType:
  name: "Historical Figure"
  slug: "historical-figure"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2798645"
birthDate: "895"
deathDate: "0939-10-27"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           60.35
  momentum:             0.3545931693241463
  historical:           25.66377466666667
  currentAttention:     2.821428571428572
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Politicians"
    slug: "politicians"
  - name: "Historical Figure"
    slug: "historical-figure"
  - name: "Royalty"
    slug: "royalty"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "Medieval Era"
    slug: "medieval-era"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q170017"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelstan"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/%C3%86thelstan"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A3%D8%AB%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86"
    title: "أثيلستان"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D8%AB%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86"
    title: "اثيلستان"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%86"
    title: "اتلستن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be_x_old.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%AD%D1%82%D1%8D%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD"
    title: "Этэльстан"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%AD%D1%82%D1%8D%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD"
    title: "Этэльстан"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%95%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD"
    title: "Етелстан"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%8F%E0%A6%A5%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B2%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%9F%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8"
    title: "এথেলস্ট্যান"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athelstan_(Bro-Saoz)"
    title: "Athelstan (Bro-Saoz)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethelstan_Slavni"
    title: "Ethelstan Slavni"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etelstan"
    title: "Etelstan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A6%DB%95%D8%AA%DB%8E%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86"
    title: "ئەتێلستان"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethelstan"
    title: "Ethelstan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athelstan"
    title: "Athelstan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adalstein_af_England"
    title: "Adalstein af England"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelstan_(England)"
    title: "Æthelstan (England)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%88%CE%B8%CE%B5%CE%BB%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%BD_%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82_%CE%91%CE%B3%CE%B3%CE%BB%CE%AF%CE%B1%CF%82"
    title: "Έθελσταν της Αγγλίας"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelstano"
    title: "Adelstano"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athelstan"
    title: "Athelstan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelstan"
    title: "Æthelstan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelstan"
    title: "Æthelstan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%86"
    title: "اتلستن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athelstan"
    title: "Athelstan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C3%86thelstan"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aethelstan_van_Engeland"
    title: "Aethelstan van Engeland"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ang.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86%C3%B0elst%C4%81n_Engla_Cyning"
    title: "Æðelstān Engla Cyning"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Æthelstan was the son of Edward the Elder and Ecgwynn. When Edward died in July 924, the Mercians accepted Æthelstan as king, but Wessex resisted for months; his half-brother Ælfweard may have been recognised there but died within three weeks. Æthelstan wasn't crowned until September 925. In 927 he conquered York, the last Viking kingdom, becoming the first Anglo-Saxon ruler of all England. He invaded Scotland in 934 and forced Constantine II to submit. The Scots and Vikings resented him, and in 937 they invaded; Æthelstan met them at Brunanburh and won a victory that brought him prestige across the British Isles and the Continent. He centralised government, tightened control over charters, summoned distant leaders and Welsh kings to his councils, and issued more legal texts than any other tenth-century English king — reforms aimed at curbing robbery and building on Alfred the Great's work. His household became the centre of English learning. He never married, had no children, and when he died in October 939 the Vikings took York back.