Main articles: Athelstan and Edgar of England
Alfred of Wessex died in 899 and was succeeded by his son Edward the Elder. Edward, and his brother-in-law Æthelred
of (what was left of) Mercia, began a programme of expansion, building
forts and towns on an Alfredian model. On Æthelred's death his wife
(Edward's sister) Æthelflæd ruled as "Lady of the Mercians" and
continued expansion. It seems Edward had his son Æthelstan brought up in
the Mercian court, and on Edward's death Athelstan succeeded to the Mercian kingdom, and, after some uncertainty, Wessex.
Æthelstan continued the expansion of his father and aunt and was the
first king to achieve direct rulership of what we would now consider
England. The titles attributed to him in charters
and on coins suggest a still more widespread dominance. His expansion
aroused ill-feeling among the other kingdoms of Britain, and he defeated
a combined Scottish-Viking army at the Battle of Brunanburh. However, the unification of England was not a certainty. Under Æthelstan's successors Edmund and Eadred the English kings repeatedly lost and regained control of Northumbria. Nevertheless, Edgar, who ruled the same expanse as Athelstan, consolidated the kingdom, which remained united thereafter.
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