What is "battle of brunanburh"

n. a battle in 937 when Athelstan defeated the Scots [syn: Brunanburh]

The Battle of Brunanburh was fought in 937 between Æthelstan, King of England, and an alliance of Olaf Guthfrithson, King of Dublin; Constantine, King of Scotland; and Owen, King of Strathclyde.

Following an unchallenged large-scale invasion of Scotland by Æthelstan in 934, possibly launched because of a peace treaty violation by Constantine, it became apparent that Æthelstan could only be defeated by an allied force of his enemies. Olaf led Constantine and Owen in the alliance.

In August 937, Olaf and his army crossed the Irish Sea to join forces with Constantine and Owen, and the invaders were routed in the subsequent battle against Æthelstan. The poem Battle of Brunanburh in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recounted that there were "never yet as many people killed before this with sword's edge ... since from the east Angles and Saxons came up over the broad sea".

Æthelstan's victory prevented the dissolution of England's unity. The historian Æthelweard, perhaps writing sometime around 975, said that "[t]he fields of Britain were consolidated into one, there was peace everywhere, and abundance of all things". The battle has been called "the greatest single battle in Anglo-Saxon history before Hastings". The site of the battle is unknown, but scholars have proposed many possible locations.

The Battle of Brunanburh is an Old English poem. It is preserved in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record of events in Anglo-Saxon England which was kept from the late ninth to the mid-twelfth century. The poem records the Battle of Brunanburh, a battle fought in 937 between an English army and a combined army of Scots, Vikings, and Britons. The battle resulted in an English victory, celebrated by the poem in style and language like that of traditional Old English battle poetry. The poem is notable because of those traditional elements and has been praised for its authentic tone, but it is also remarkable for its fiercely nationalistic tone, which documents the development of a unified England ruled by the House of Wessex.