太田述正コラム#15324(2025.11.20)
<Morris, Marc『The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England』を読む(その20)>(2026.2.14公開)
「・・・Nevertheless, ・・・Edward<(注36)>・・・’s advances in 917 and 918 had been spectacular.
(注36)エドワード長兄王(Edward the Elder。870年代~924年。アングロサクソン人の王:899~924年)。「アルフレッド大王・・・の長男として生まれた。大王の死後、王位を継承する際に彼の従兄弟(アルフレッド大王の兄:エゼルレッド1世の子)エゼルウォルドと王位を巡って争い、彼を破った上で王位に就いた。・・・
王位は彼の長男であるアゼルスタン<(前出)>が継承し、次男三男がその後を継いだ。」
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%89%E3%83%AF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E9%95%B7%E5%85%84%E7%8E%8B
At the start of that period, the area over which he exercised direct authority had been scarcely any greater than that ruled by his father. But by the end of 918 he was acknowledged, however grudgingly or tentatively, as master of all southern Britain beneath the Mersey and the Trent. The local leaders of Mercia, East Anglia, and all but one of the Five Boroughs had been compelled to recognize his superior lordship, as had the various rulers of Wales. ・・・
⇒ウェールズの(ブリトン人の)いくつかの王国がエドワードに臣従したというのですから、累次申し上げてきたように、直轄領域内のブリトン人住民達も含め、アングロサクソン人とブリトン人の交流は大いにあったと想像されるのであって、多かれ少なかれ、前者が後者の影響を受けたことは間違いないでしょう。(太田)
・・・when Æthelstan issued a charter early in 925, it had no West Saxon witnesses. Eventually, however, a deal was hammered out that satisfied the rival factions within the royal family. A key figure in whatever negotiations took place must have been Edward the Elder’s third wife, Eadgifu, who had given the old king two more sons in the final years of his life. Speculatively, the agreement reached with Æthelstan may have required him to recognize these young half-brothers as his heirs, and not to prejudice their rights by fathering any children of his own. Procreation was the expected duty of medieval rulers, but one that Æthelstan conspicuously failed to fulfil. Despite living into middle age, he never married and produced no known offspring. Plausibly this was the price he paid for being accepted as the king of Wessex. These kinds of delicate negotiations would also explain the long delay between the deaths of Edward and Ælfweard in July 924 and Æthelstan’s consecration, which did not take place until 4 September 925. The setting for the ceremony was Kingston, a royal estate on the Thames, about twelve miles upstream from London<(注37)>.
(注37)According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, two tenth-century kings were consecrated in Kingston: Æthelstan (925), and Æthelred the Unready (978). There are certain other kings who are said to have been crowned there, but for whom the evidence (including the writings of Florence of Worcester and Ralph de Diceto) is less substantial: Edward the Elder (902), Edmund I (939), Eadred (946), Eadwig (956), Edgar the Peaceful (c. 960) and Edward the Martyr (975). It was later thought that the coronations were conducted in the Chapel of St Mary, which collapsed in 1730.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_upon_Thames
⇒このキングストンに私の英国防大学「留学」の時の宿舎・・英陸軍官舎群のうちの一つ・・があった。(コラム#省略)(太田)
This may not have been entirely novel, for we do not know where earlier West Saxon kings had been consecrated, and at least one major royal council had previously been held there. But Kingston was certainly an appropriate location for an investiture in 925, lying right on the ancient border of Mercia and Wessex. A new order of service had apparently been drawn up by the officiating archbishop of Canterbury especially for the occasion, and its prayers repeatedly stressed that Æthelstan was being blessed as the ruler of two peoples. ・・・
Æthelstan’s military superiority meant he was able to demand renders from those who bowed before him. If the Welsh paid him tribute, then the same must have been true of the Cornish, the Scots, and the Britons of Strathclyde.・・・
⇒イギリス(イングランド)王のエゼルスタンは、ウェールズ人、コーンウォール人、スコットランド人、ストラスクライド人を臣従させ、全ブリタニア王(全大ブリテン島の王)になったというわけです。(太田)
(続く)
Brunanburh was long remembered as a great English victory<(注38)>.・・・」(258、261、265、272)
(注38)ブルナンブルフの戦い(937年)。「937年秋、イングランド王エセルスタン率いるイングランド軍がダブリン王国・アルバ(スコットランド)王国・ストラスクライド王国連合軍を撃破した戦い。エセルスタン王の全イングランド統一(927年)によって成立したばかりのイングランド王国を脅かす脅威が排除され、以後のイングランドにおける統一王国体制確立を決定づけた画期となった戦い。・・・
エセルスタン王によって征服されたノーサンブリア地方南部のデーン人王国ヨールヴィーク最後の王でアイルランドのダブリン王だったグスフリスの後を継いでダブリン王となったオーラフ・グスフリースソンがアルバ王コンスタンティン2世、ストラスクライド王オワインと同盟を結び、ノーサンブリア地方の旧領奪還を目指して船団を組織しダブリンを出航、同年秋、イングランドに上陸した<もの。>・・・
<ちなみに、ブルナンブルフは、リバプールのマージー川を挟んで対岸にある現在のブロムバラ(Bromborough)に比定されている。>」
https://call-of-history.com/battle_of_brunanburh/
⇒引用を省きましたが、Morrisによれば、これは、ブリトン人とヴァイキングの連合軍の襲来であったところ、その中に(ブリトン人の)ウェールズの諸王国が加わっていなかったのは、ブリトン人からすれば裏切りということになるでしょうね。(太田)
(続く)