The broken realm: an medieval TL

[Marc Anthony]

Brittain in the 10th century was in one word: a mess. the island was divided between the Briton kingdom of Strathclyde, the Scottish kingdom of Alba the the kingdom of Wessex and various Norse and Welsh polities.

in 924 AD Eadward of Wessex died and was succeeded by his son Aethelstan who in 927 fulfilled his fathers and grandfathers ambition of uniting England into one kingdom when he conquered the Norse kingdom of Northumbria and driving away its king, Guthfrith who was also king of Dublin.
Guthfrith died in 934 and was succeeded king of by his son Olaf. Olaf dreamed of retaking Northumbria and to achieve that goal had allied with Owain ap Dyvnwal of Strathclota and Causantin mac Aeda of Alba.

the three had invaded England in 937 and faced Aethelstan's army at Brunanbruh near Chester.
it soon turned into a disaster for the English when Aethelstan and his half brother Eadmund fell and the army routed. (1)

both Aethelstan and Eadmund had not had known issue and last brother left was the sickly 14 year old Eadred who was in condition to defend against the country. the witan, assembled to elect a new king, some wanted Aethelstan the viceroy of East Anglia and a great grandson of Aethelred I of Wessex. (2) others wanted Eadred, eventually Aethelstan was elected.
England had a new king the only question was, could he defeat the invasion?

Footnotes:
(1) this is the POD
(2) i read that according to one theory Aethelweard the chronicler's decent from Aethelhem son of Aethelred I was through Ealdorman Eadric of Sussex who was the brother of Aethelstan the viceroy of East Anglia and their conections was through their father Aethelfryth who was supposedly the son of said Aethelhelm. so i decided to go with that.

 

[Marc Anthony]

hey folks i was about to post earlier but i fell ill (not corona) so here it is

the ripple​

the newly elected king Aethelstan II had to set his kingdom in order. for that end he filled estates that had become vacant with his own men(1), among them his brothers Aethelwold and Eadric who became Ealdormen of Cent(2) and Hamptonscire(3) respectively.

meanwhile the allies had moved to secure their spoils. Causantin had received overlordship of Bernicia(4) and forced Osulf, the lord of Bebbanburg(5) to become his vassal. Owain received Cumbraland all the way south to the River Ribble(6) and Olaf received the rest of Northumbria. in 938 King Olaf of Northumbria launched his invasion of the five Burhs. the five burhs is the name given to the collective of the five towns of Snotingaham(7), Deoraby(8), Lindcolne(9), Stamford and Ledecestre(10). originally part of the Kingdom of Mercia they were conquered by the Great Heathen Army in the 860's and 870's, and reconquered by king Eadward and his sister Aethelflaed lady of the Mercians in the years 914-917. but the burhs still had mostly a population of Scandinavian extraction and at least some such as Ledecestre retained their Scandinavian rulers.
the invasion was divided in to a two pronged attack: one army was led by king Olaf's cousin, Olaf Sigtryggson and invaded Lindesege(11) were it captured Lincoln. the other, larger army was led by king Olaf and invaded the rest of the five burhs. it captured first Snottingaham and then Deoraby. Jarl Orm, of Ledecestre had changed sides to the invaders and betrothed his daughter to Olaf(12). then Stamford was also captured.

king Aethelstan had marched against the invaders with a newly raised army that was composed of survivors of Brunanbruh and freshly raised men. he met the invaders at the river Nene where he was defeated and had to retreat. they clashed again at west of Huntandun(13) and the norse won again. and the with autum coming the saxon army disbanded to collect the harvest. the norse consolidated theire gains. in 939 Aethelstan tried to raise a new army but the a great number of ealdormen and thengs refused to collect men for another defeat. Aethelstan was forced to seek peace and began negotiations with Olaf and the two signed the treaty of Tameworthig(14) on 17 of august.
as follows:
1. Aethelstan recognises all the territorial gains of Olaf Cousantin and Owain in Nuthumbria and the five burhs.
2. Olaf garentise the freedom of his christian subjects to worship according to their faith.
3. Olaf will protect the church in his lands.
4.Olaf will allow missionary activaty in Northumbria and the five burhs.
5. both kings will not raid each others lands.

with the treaty signed both sides had turned to their own affairs. Aethelstan returned to Wintancestre(15) and began consolidating his power and defending Englaland from viking war bands. while Olaf turned his gaze to the west.
unknown to Aethelstan Olaf's younger brother Blacaire had himself king of Dublin in his absence and Olaf had to react quickly or his authority will collapse.
in september Olaf sailed to Dublin and fought in a grove north of the city and Blacaire was killed.

in the following year Idwal Foel king of Gwynedd who had for years feared the power of his cousin king Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, who was a loyal vassal of the hated says(16), used the weakened state of Englaland to attack Deheubarth. he and his army marched down the coast to the mouth of the Afon Teifi and upstream all the while pillaging, raping, killing and burning his way through. in the battle Lingybi he killed Hywel and his son Owain but lost his own brother Elissed, king of Powys(17). Hywel's remaining sons, Eadwin and Rhodri, had fought over the kingship of the kingship for the next few years(18). after the battle Idwal would annex Powys and adopt the title ''king of the Britons''. in truth the title was empty since he controled only the center and north of the country and there were plenty of independent rulers around such as king Morgan of gwent and Hwyel's sons.

a model of a welsh chieftain​

Footnotes:
(1) think of Brunanbruh as an Anglo-Saxon Agincourt with plenty of lords killed or captured.
(2) Kent
(3) Hampshire
(4) Northumberland
(5) Bambrough Castle
(6) Cumbria and Lancashire north of the River Ribble
(7) Nottingham
(8) Derby
(9) Lincoln
(10) Liecester
(11) Lindsey
(12) in OTL he invadad the five borouhs and Jarl Orm switched sides and married his daughter to him.
(13) Huntingdun
(14) Tamworth
(15)Winchester
(16) Saxons
(17) from my understanding the status of Powys at the time is unclear so i decided to make Elissed king of Powys in vassalage to Idwal
(18) i decided that without Owain they would fight over the thrown


so i hope you enjoyed it. next update will cover the 940' and perhaps the early 950' and will deal with the butterfly effects and a certain Norwegian refugee
i just needed to get this one over and if anyone has a good guide to old welsh and old gaelic spellings please send me.