Angelcynn Ascendant ~ A House of Wessex Timeline

It has been a while since I attempted a fully fledged timeline and my last one being in the late empire was one which was perhaps doomed to fail due to a lack of available sources. My storyline shall begin with the arrival of Edward the Exile in England and shall continue onwards as long as their is interest. Expect the first post up within a day :D
 
It has been a while since I attempted a fully fledged timeline and my last one being in the late empire was one which was perhaps doomed to fail due to a lack of available sources. My storyline shall begin with the arrival of Edward the Exile in England and shall continue onwards as long as their is interest. Expect the first post up within a day :D
I am interested..
 
So the obvious first question is: What kind of guy is Edward?

That's going to be interesting to see explored.
 
It has been a while since I attempted a fully fledged timeline and my last one being in the late empire was one which was perhaps doomed to fail due to a lack of available sources. My storyline shall begin with the arrival of Edward the Exile in England and shall continue onwards as long as their is interest. Expect the first post up within a day :D
Any news on this Aaron?
 
Chapter 1 - On the exile of the Atheling and his accession of Northumbria:



“it would be a foul disgrace to him if the princes were murdered in England and he sent them, after a short time, to the King of Sweden to be put to death there; but although they were allies, that king was by no means disposed to execute his wishes”


It is with the above words that Florence of Worcester, writing in the 11th century describes the decision made by Canute in regards to the disposal of the sons of the Ironside. This attempted practise of the sending of rivals away from where their deaths might cause a political scandal while bearing a ‘letter of death’ is one which crops up within Northern Europe on occasion before this period and no doubt many, including Canute himself were of the opinion that this had ended in the early demise of the brothers Atheling. A majority of the twenty-nine Anglo-Saxon chroniclers of the period agree that while the Swedish King was an ally of Canute he was not willing to act as executioner to iron-clad Canute’s rule over England.

So it began that under the care of the Dane who had been sent with the brothers to Sweden to oversee their disposal the brothers Edward and Edmund would begin their exile in Eastern Europe. The details of their immediate travels and their home during their formative years is not made clear though a 12th-century Norman scholar attributes them as having left Sweden in 1028 when the brothers would have been youths of 13 and 12 respectively. Confusion arises however when their location during the intervening years is pinpointed with reports being vague until their attachment to Andrew, Prince of Hungary in his quest to gain the crown of St. Stephen.

With the maternal links to the wife of Yaroslav of Kiev and the definite locating of Andrew in exile in his court it seems highly likely that the brothers spent their formative years in this court where they fell into the acquaintance of the aforementioned prince. If this assumption is made the marriage of Edward to a relation of the Holy Roman Empire becomes more clearly explained and motivated as the conclusion of such would fall in line with what we know of Yaroslav’s west orientated political agenda. Following the accession of the Confessor to the English throne in 1043 it is likely that any possible triumphant return by the brothers Atheling had become even more remote as the continental Europeans already had the anti-Danish monarch they needed in England.

It can be seen as no surprise then that when Andrew, Prince of Hungary was invited home from his exile to take the crown of St. Stephen the brothers might follow him under promise of his favour. Having helped him to secure his throne the brothers were granted some estates in the south of Hungary. However, sadly before the invitation arrived which would pave the way for Edward to make his return and take his place as heir to the crown of England his brother Edmund died while making court to a Hungarian princess. This embassy which reached Hungary in 1054 had been hailed by the Confessor and the current Witenagemot as the perfect solution to the dynastic crisis which had been gripping England. Standing as he did outside of the existing power dynamic and with no especial loyalties to the Normans or Godwins, alongside his undoubted pedigree, Edward was seen as the perfect candidate.

Due to this urgency it took less than six months for the newly reminted Atheling to be able to make his way to his paternal home of England, owing to the supportive attitude of his matrilineal kinsman the Holy Roman Emperor. As such his arrival in England was in the close of 1054 whereupon the Atheling and his entourage found themselves baffled by a continued difficulty in managing to achieve audience with his uncle. Indeed it was only with utmost difficulty that after two weeks of waiting (and one curious incident of a collapsing roof at an inn) that the Confessor was made aware of his nephew’s arrival. It is said that their first meeting was one in which true respect was found with the Confessor finding much to admire in the war toughened visage of the middle-aged but still younger Atheling. Indeed upon his first introduction to the Witenagemot it is said that they were impressed that the nature of his upbringing, among the Swedes and later the Rus had leant Edward a strong martial aspect truly missing in his uncle the Confessor.

With the Witenagemot confirming his position as named heir with something approaching unseemly haste the position of the Atheling seemed somewhat secure. His uncle however was not content with the Atheling’s position as landless in the face of so many of the English Earldoms having been passed to the sons of Godwin. Thus, when, with the death of Sigurd the Dane, the Seat of Northumbria stood absent Edward the Confessor moved quickly to ensconce his nephew and heir in this powerful seat. It is said that among the sons of Godwin there was much in the way of tearing of beards and gnashing of teeth with their aim having been to appoint Tostig as Ealdorman from among their number.

Thus was the influence of the descendants of Cerdic increased at the expense of the sons of Godwin. His success in this was said to have cheered the Confessor greatly with his joy said to be such that he briefly broke his vow to temperance by throwing an attending a feast for the Atheling ere he did travel north to his new role as Ealdorman.
 
Remember the Godwinsons are also descendents of Cerdic though of a pretty distant cadet branch. Otherwise great.
 
Ah yeah, I knew my feeling of disquiet when typing that was for a reason....I shall try and rectify that sentence before the next update.

I have discovered that it is actually somewhat hard to write in skaldic style verse to describe a battle.

Might anybody have a better description for a battle axe than 'foe-cleaver'?
 
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