ÃÂthelstan Half-King (fl. 932âÂÂ956) was an Ealdorman of East Anglia who served five kings of England, including Edgar, who was brought up by ÃÂthelstan's wife ÃÂlfwynn, following the death of Edgar's mother. He was called the "half-king" because he was respected so highly that kings were said to depend on his advice. Many of ÃÂthelstan's close relatives were also involved in important affairs. Soon after the death of King Eadred in 955 he left his position and became a monk at Glastonbury Abbey.
ÃÂthelstan was the son of ÃÂthelfrith, an Ealdorman who held lands in Somerset, Berkshire, and Middlesex. His mother was ÃÂthelgyth, daughter of ÃÂthelwulf. His elder brother ÃÂlfstan and his younger brothers ÃÂthelwold and ÃÂdric were Ealdormen of south and east Mercia, Kent and central Wessex, respectively. ÃÂthelfrith was an ealdorman in Mercia in the late ninth and early tenth centuries.
ÃÂthelstan seems to have been appointed Ealdorman of East Anglia and other parts by King ÃÂthelstan in about 932. The lands King ÃÂthelstan gave him had mostly been part of the Danelaw which had only been forced out of the area after the Battle of Tempsford in Bedfordshire fifteen years earlier in 917. ÃÂthelstan's brother ÃÂlfstan inherited his father's ealdormandom but died in 934. ÃÂthelwold became an ealdorman in 940 and Eadric in 942.
ÃÂthelstan and his family were supporters of the monastic reforms of Saint Dunstan which introduced the Benedictine rule to Glastonbury. Both Glastonbury, and Abingdon Abbey, were endowed by ÃÂthelstan.
ÃÂthelstan's wife was named ÃÂlfwynn. Her family came from the East Midlands. She was foster-mother of King Edgar of England. ÃÂlfwynn's lands would later endow Ramsey Abbey, refounded by Bishop ÃÂthelwold of Winchester, Bishop Oswald of Worcester, and ÃÂthelstan's son ÃÂthelwine.
The epithet 'Half-King' is first recorded in Byrhtferth of Ramsey's Life of St Oswald, written between 997 and 1002. Byrhtferth referred to "Ealdorman ÃÂthelstan, whom the elders and all the populace called 'Half-King', since he was a man of such authority that he was said to maintain the kingdom and its rule with his advice to the king". Byrhtferth devoted considerable space to ÃÂthelstan's family, several of whom were buried at Ramsey.
The position of ÃÂthelstan and his brothers in the middle of the 10th century has been compared with the similar dominance of the family of Godwin, Earl of Wessex in the 11th century. It is possible that ÃÂthelstan's withdrawal to Glastonbury may not have been voluntary. However, the death of ÃÂthelwald in 962 resulted in the family's offices in Wessex passing to their chief rivals, the family of Ealdorman ÃÂlfhere. The result of this was that the two families were roughly equal in influence. ÃÂlfhere's death in the early 970s did not result in a return of the old dominance of ÃÂthelstan's family.
People associated with ÃÂthelstan's family include Ealdorman Byrhtnoth, whose defeat at the Battle of Maldon is commemorated in verse.
ÃÂthelstan's children included: