Æthelstan

Æthelstan (c. 894 – 27 October 939), son of Edward the Elder, became king of the Anglo-Saxons in 924 and was crowned in September 925. In 927 he conquered the Viking kingdom of York, becoming the first ruler of a united England, and in 934 he invaded Scotland and received Constantine II's submission.

When Scots and Vikings invaded together in 937 he crushed them at Brunanburh, a victory famed across Europe. A pious lawmaker who founded churches, he died childless in 939 and was succeeded by his half-brother Edmund.