From Unifier to Unknown: Why England's First King Was Sidelined by Later Royal Narratives

The "first King of England" is widely considered to be Æthelstan, the grandson of Alfred the Great, who successfully united the Anglo Saxon kingdoms and Norse dominated Northumbria in 927 AD to create a realm recognisably like modern England. Despite his immense achievements as a military leader and reformer, Æthelstan is arguably England's most 'misplaced' or forgotten monarch, his reputation having been overshadowed by his grandfather and his final resting place having been completely lost. The process of how he was misplaced involves both a historical overshadowing of his legacy and a physical disappearance of his remains.

Æthelstan's body was, by his own wishes, interred at Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire following his death in 939 AD, rather than with his father and grandfather at Winchester. Malmesbury was a site he greatly favored and patronized during his lifetime. This deliberate separation from the main royal burial site was the first step in his historical sidelining. After his death, his memory was not actively championed by chroniclers in the same way his grandfather Alfred's was. Subsequent tenth century rulers, notably King Edgar, were celebrated instead, leading to Æthelstan being often dismissed as a transitional figure rather than the founder of the kingdom. Over the centuries, particularly during the Elizabethan and Victorian eras, historians focused on other figures, further diminishing Æthelstan's prominence in the national story.

The physical disappearance of his body is linked to the fate of Malmesbury Abbey during the Tudor period. While a magnificent effigy and a fine tomb chest were later erected to mark his grave, the actual contents of the tomb were lost during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 under King Henry VIII. During this process, religious houses were suppressed, their wealth seized, and their structures often dismantled. It is believed that Æthelstan's bones were either scattered or removed from the abbey by local officials or looters, who may have been looking for valuable relics. Today, the tomb at Malmesbury is empty. Unlike the dramatic and successful discovery of the remains of Richard III in a car park, there are currently no definitive remains of Æthelstan, leaving the precise location of the final resting place of England's founding monarch a profound historical mystery.