Atheling
England and its neighbours, 1000 to 1110

The historical record.

Atheling is a game, but it is built on real people and real events. Here they are: 46 people and 43 events, each with its dates, how sure we are of them, and where they come from.

This is the same record the game runs on, published so it can be read, checked and corrected. Where a date is approximate it says so. Where no source is attached yet it says that too, and every page has a link to suggest one.

Why publish it

A game set in history is nothing without a reliable basis in it. In play, Harold can win at Hastings and Edgar can keep London, and that is the point of playing. The ground those stories start from has to be solid: the people, dates and relationships as the sources give them, with the uncertainty left showing.

The game is in early access and changes often. The record changes with it, and in the other direction too: corrections are reviewed against sources, and when one stands up the record is updated and the game follows.

People

House of Wessex

The English church

House of Normandy

The Norman church

House of Dunkeld

House Godwin

House of England

House of Mercia

House of Hardrada

House of Denmark

House of Ansgar

East Anglian landholders

Dunkeld

Lincolnshire thegns

House of Gael

House of Bamburgh

House of Boulogne

Dunkeld/Wessex

Uí Chennselaig

Events

  1. Edward returns to the English throne

    The old royal house returns after years of Danish rule.

    With Edward, Godwin
  2. Godwin is driven into exile

    A quarrel with the king sends England's strongest family across the sea.

    With Edward, Godwin, Harold
  3. The Godwins return

    The king yields, and the family comes back stronger than before.

    With Godwin, Harold, Edward
  4. Earl Godwin dies

    Harold inherits the weight of the most powerful family in England.

    With Godwin, Harold, Tostig
  5. Harold swears an oath in Normandy

    A disputed promise becomes part of William's claim.

    With Harold, William
  6. Northumbria rejects Tostig

    A northern revolt forces the crown to choose between a brother and a realm.

    With Tostig, Harold, Morcar
  7. Edward the Confessor dies

    The old king's death leaves the succession to the Witan.

    With Edward, Harold
  8. Harold is crowned

    Harold takes the crown with the support of the English nobility.

    With Harold, Eadwine, Morcar
  9. Tostig seeks a return

    Tostig's exile hardens into a political grievance.

    With Tostig, Harold, Morcar
  10. William gathers ships

    Norman preparations turn a claim into a credible threat.

    With William, Harold
  11. Harald lands in the north

    A second claimant opens a northern front.

    With Harald, Tostig, Morcar
  12. Stamford Bridge

    Harold defeats the Norwegian host.

    With Harold, Harald, Tostig
  13. William lands at Pevensey

    The Norman fleet crosses while Harold is in the north, and the army comes ashore unopposed.

    With William, Harold
  14. Hastings

    William defeats Harold's army on the ridge north of Hastings. Harold is killed.

    With William, Harold, Gyrth, Leofwine
  15. London chooses Edgar

    With Harold dead, Archbishop Ealdred and the citizens of London name the boy of the old house as king.

    With Edgar, Ealdred, Eadwine, Morcar, Stigand
  16. Edgar submits at Berkhamsted

    William crosses the Thames at Wallingford and the English leaders come out to meet him.

    With William, Edgar, Stigand, Ealdred, Eadwine, Morcar
  17. William is crowned at Westminster

    Ealdred of York crowns the Conqueror on Christmas Day while his guards set fire to the houses outside.

    With William, Stigand, Edgar
  18. William sails for Normandy

    The new king spends most of 1067 across the Channel, leaving Odo and fitzOsbern to govern.

    With William, Odo, FitzOsbern, Edgar
  19. Eustace of Boulogne attacks Dover

    A Norman ally turns on the king and the men of Kent rise with him.

    With Eustace, Odo
  20. Exeter submits after eighteen days

    Harold’s mother Gytha and the western shires test the new king’s patience.

    With William, Gytha
  21. Matilda is crowned queen

    The Whitsun coronation at Westminster gives the conquest a queen and, before the year is out, an English-born son.

    With Matilda, William, Henry
  22. Edwin and Morcar rise in the Midlands

    The brothers leave court after the promised marriage to William’s daughter fails to happen.

    With Eadwine, Morcar, William
  23. Edgar flees to Scotland

    The ætheling leaves court with his mother and sisters and finds shelter with Malcolm.

    With Edgar, Malcolm III, Margaret
  24. Robert de Comines is burned at Durham

    The new Norman earl of Northumbria dies with his men in a single night.

    With Edgar, Waltheof
  25. The Danes and the north take York

    Sweyn’s fleet in the Humber joins Edgar, Waltheof, and the Northumbrians against the Norman garrison.

    With Sweyn, Edgar, Waltheof, William
  26. The harrying of the north

    William winters in Yorkshire and destroys the means of life across the north.

    With William, Sweyn
  27. Malcolm III marries Margaret of Wessex

    The Scottish royal house became closely linked to the displaced Anglo-Saxon royal line.

    With Malcolm III, Margaret
  28. Papal legates depose Stigand

    The council at Winchester strips the old archbishop of Canterbury and Winchester.

    With Stigand, William
  29. Lanfranc becomes archbishop

    The abbot of Caen takes Canterbury and begins remaking the English church.

    With Lanfranc, William
  30. William fitzOsbern is killed at Cassel

    The king’s closest companion dies in a Flemish succession war.

    With FitzOsbern, Roger
  31. The Isle of Ely falls

    Hereward and Morcar are the last to hold out; Morcar surrenders and Hereward escapes.

    With Hereward, Morcar, Eadwine, William
  32. Malcolm submits at Abernethy

    William marches into Scotland by land and sea and the King of Scots does homage.

    With Malcolm III, William, Edgar
  33. Edgar makes his peace

    The last claimant of the old house comes to court and accepts a pension.

    With Edgar, William
  34. The bridal of Norwich

    Ralph de Gael marries fitzOsbern’s daughter and the earls plot at the feast.

    With Ralph, Roger, Waltheof
  35. The Revolt of the Earls

    Lanfranc and the English shires break the rising while the king is in Normandy.

    With Ralph, Roger, Waltheof, Lanfranc
  36. Queen Edith dies at Winchester

    Edward’s widow and Harold’s sister is buried beside the Confessor.

    With Edith, William
  37. Edgar leaves William's court

    The ætheling walks out on a king who gives him little honour and sails for Norman Italy.

    With Edgar, William
  38. William dies and Edgar joins Robert

    Normandy goes to Robert Curthose, England to William Rufus, and the ætheling picks Robert.

    With William, Robert, William, Edgar
  39. Robert and Rufus make peace over Edgar's head

    The brothers' treaty strips the ætheling of his Norman lands and sends him back to Scotland.

    With Robert, William, Edgar, Malcolm III
  40. Malcolm is killed at Alnwick

    The King of Scots and his heir Edward die raiding Northumbria. Margaret follows within days.

    With Malcolm III, Margaret, Edgar
  41. Edgar puts his nephew on the Scottish throne

    With Rufus's army behind him, the ætheling drives out Donald Bane and makes the younger Edgar king.

    With Edgar, William, Edgar
  42. Henry I marries Edgar's niece

    The new king weds Edith of Scotland, who takes the name Matilda, and the blood of Cerdic returns to the English crown.

    With Henry, Matilda of Scotland, Edgar
  43. Tinchebray

    Henry defeats Robert Curthose and takes Normandy. Edgar is captured with the duke.

    With Henry, Robert, Edgar

About this record

It is the record the game plays from, the same people, dates and events, and nothing is written for the website alone. A few things to know about it:

Only the history is published. What the game uses to play, its grievances, ambitions and aptitudes, is not history and is not here.

Know something the record does not? Every page has a link that opens an email with the record filled in. Corrections that stand up go into the record and the game.

The whole record is also available as JSON. The words it uses, Witan, ætheling, fyrd and the rest, are explained in the glossary.