- Æthelstan Rota
Æthelstan (
floruit 940–970) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman. He served as anEaldorman in southernMercia in the reigns of Kings Eadwig and Edgar. He is referred to as Æthelstan Rota in one charter, and is so known to distinguish him fromÆthelstan Half-King , and another Æthelstan (fl. 940–949), who were Ealdormen in the same period.Æthelstan rose to prominence in the reign of King Eadwig;
Æthelflæd of Damerham , second wife of Eadwig's father King Edmund, and thus Eadwig's stepmother, was probably married to this Æthelstan. Æthelflæd was a woman of considerable influence, and not merely as a relict of King Edmund; her father Ælfgar is described as a "dux" and Ealdorman of Essex.Æthelstan appears to have had lands in
Buckinghamshire andOxfordshire . He is a frequent witness to charters of Kings Eadwig and Edgar. The "Life of Saint Dunstan" records a vision by a nobleman named Æthelstan andDunstan 's interpretation of it as presaging the death of the king and ill-times to come. It is not known whether this Æthelstan or Æthelstan Half-King is the Æthelstan referred to.References
* Williams, Ann, Smyth, Alfred P., and D.P. Kirkby, "A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain." Seaby, 1991. ISBN 1-85264-047-2
External links
* [http://eagle.cch.kcl.ac.uk:8080/pase/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?personKey=10132 Æthelstan] at the
Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
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