There was no declaration of creation of England. 👑😉 What happened was that Athelstan 🤴 got the other Anglo-Saxon king, ruling in the non-Viking part of Northumbria, to give up their royal title 🙇♂️. And briefly, 957-59, there were again two Anglo-Saxon kings, Athelstan's nephews Eadwig and Edgar.
Well there goes the premise of this groundbreaking biography
"Who was the first king of England?" is one of those questions that will be revisited again & again; one day (soon) we will get the pendulum swinging & claim that Alfred the Great should be given that honour again, or Athelstan's brother Eadred(946-55) who saw end of Viking rule in Northumbria 954.
Henry II was called "FitzEmpress" because her mother Mathilda's(1102-67) first husband, Holy Roman emperor Henry V(1081/84-1125, r. 1105-25, right on the picture on right) was much more powerful man than Henry's father Geoffrey, Count of Anjou(1113-51). Here Geoffrey (left) is dropped altogether!
