The A to Z of the Vikings 7. This book provides a comprehensive work of reference for people interested in the Vikings, including entries on the main historical figures involved in this dramatic period, important battles and treaties, significant archaeological finds, and key works and sources of information on the period. It also summarizes the impact the Vikings had on the areas where they traveled and settled. There is a chronological table, detailed and annotated bibliographies for different themes and geographical locations, and an introduction discussing the major events and developments of the Viking age | 38 ÁSYNJAR ÁSYNJAR. See SIR. ATH CLIATH. See DUBLIN. ATHELSTAN d. 939 . King of Anglo-Saxon England 924 5-39. Athelstan was the son of King Edward the Elder but only succeeded to his throne after his half brother lfward died just one month after ascending the throne in July 924. Athelstan was formally crowned in September 925 and it is unclear why there was such a long gap between the death of his half brother and his coronation. The Anglo-Norman historian William of Malmesbury suggests that there was opposition to Athelstan because he had been raised at the Mercian see Mercia rather than the West-Saxon see Wessex court certainly lfward also had a brother Eadwine who may have been preferred by the West-Saxon faction at court. Athelstan s reign was marked by the extension of southern power into Northumbria bringing him into conflict with the mixed Norse and Anglian population of Northumbria the Scottish under their king Constantine III the Welsh and the Strathclyde Britons. Athelstan first received the submission of these various opponents at Eamont near Penrith in the present-day northwestern county of Cumbria in July 927 after the death of his Norse ally Sigtrygg Cáech of York prompted an expedition north. Although this control of the north was challenged most famously in 937 at the Battle of Brunanburh Athelstan still retained his overlordship of the region at the time of his death in October 939. Both his charters and his coins claim that he was king of the whole of Britain. Athelstan s court was marked by a large number of foreign visitors which included some from Scandinavia Hákon the Good son of King Harald Fine-Hair of Norway was fostered at his court as was Alan II of Brittany who had fled his duchy as it was overrun by Vikings and the Icelandic poet Egill Skallagrimsson see Egil s Saga also spent some time there. AT-TURTUSHI. Ibrahim ibn Ya qub at-Turtushi was a Jewish merchant from Cordoba in southern Spain who visited the Danish town of Hedeby c. 950. He
