title: Ray Charles

text: During Aretha's childhood, her mother died. Her father could not keep her. Bailey, a man her father worked with, took her in. The Robinson family—Bailey, his wife Mary Jane, and his mother— informally adopted her and Aretha took the surname Robinson. A few years later 15-year-old Aretha became pregnant by Bailey. During the ensuing scandal, she left Greenville late in the summer of 1930 to be with family back in Albany. After the birth of the child, Ray Charles, she and the infant Charles returned to Greenville. Aretha and Bailey's wife, who had lost a son, then shared in Charles's upbringing. The father abandoned the family, left Greenville, and married another woman elsewhere. By his first birthday, Charles had a brother, George. Later, no one could remember who George's father was.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles was deeply devoted to his mother and later recalled, despite her poor health and adversity, her perseverance, self-sufficiency, and pride as guiding lights in his life.


title: Ray Charles

text: In his early years, Charles showed an interest in mechanical objects and would often watch his neighbors working on their cars and farm machinery. His musical curiosity was sparked at Wylie Pitman's Red Wing Cafe, at the age of three, when Pitman played boogie woogie on an old upright piano; Pitman subsequently taught Charles how to play the piano. Charles and his mother were always welcome at the Red Wing Cafe and even lived there when they were in financial distress. Pitman would also care for Ray's younger brother George, to take some of the burden off their mother. George accidentally drowned in his mother's laundry tub when he was four years old.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles started to lose his sight at the age of four or five, and was blind by the age of seven, likely as a result of glaucoma. Destitute, uneducated, and mourning the loss of her younger son, Aretha Robinson used her connections in the local community to find a school that would accept a blind African-American pupil. Despite his initial protest, Charles attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine from 1937 to 1945.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles further developed his musical talent at school and was taught to play the classical piano music of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. His teacher, Mrs. Lawrence, taught him how to use braille music, a difficult process that requires learning the left hand movements by reading braille with the right hand and learning the right hand movements by reading braille with the left hand, then combining the two parts.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles's mother died in the spring of 1945, when he was 14. Her death came as a shock to him; he later said the deaths of his brother and mother were "the two great tragedies" of his life. Charles decided not to return to school after the funeral.


title: Ray Charles

text: After leaving school, Charles moved to Jacksonville to live with Charles Wayne Powell, who had been friends with his late mother. He played the piano for bands at the Ritz Theatre in LaVilla for over a year, earning $4 a night (US$, in value). He joined Local 632 of the American Federation of Musicians, in the hope that it would help him get work, and was able to use the union hall's piano to practice, since he did not have one at home; he learned piano licks from copying the other players there. He started to build a reputation as a talented musician in Jacksonville, but the jobs did not come fast enough for him to construct a strong identity, so, at age 16, he moved to Orlando, where he lived in borderline poverty and went without food for days. It was difficult for musicians to find work; since World War II had ended, there were no "G.I. Joes" left to entertain. Charles eventually started to write arrangements for a pop music band, and in the summer of 1947, he unsuccessfully auditioned to play piano for Lucky Millinder and his sixteen-piece band.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1947, Charles moved to Tampa, where he held two jobs, including one as a pianist for Charles Brantley's Honey Dippers.


title: Ray Charles

text: In his early career, Charles modeled himself on Nat King Cole. His first four recordings—"Wondering and Wondering", "Walking and Talking", "Why Did You Go?" and "I Found My Baby There"—were allegedly done in Tampa, although some discographies claim he recorded them in Miami in 1951 or else Los Angeles in 1952.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles had always played piano for other people, but he was keen to have his own band. He decided to leave Florida for a large city, and, considering Chicago and New York City too big, followed his friend Gossie McKee to Seattle, Washington, in March 1948, knowing that the biggest radio hits came from northern cities. There he met and befriended, under the tutelage of Robert Blackwell, the 15-year-old Quincy Jones.


title: Ray Charles

text: With Charles on piano, McKee on guitar, and Milton Garred on bass, the McSon Trio (named for McKee and Robinson) started playing the 1–5 A.M. shift at the Rocking Chair. Publicity photos of this trio are some of the earliest known photographs of Charles. In April 1949, he and his band recorded "Confession Blues", which became his first national hit, soaring to the second spot on the Billboard R&B chart. While still working at the Rocking Chair, Charles also arranged songs for other artists, including Cole Porter's "Ghost of a Chance" and Dizzy Gillespie's "Emanon". After the success of his first two singles, Charles moved to Los Angeles in 1950 and spent the next few years touring with the blues musician Lowell Fulson as Fulson's musical director.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1950, Charles' performance in a Miami hotel impressed Henry Stone, who went on to record a Ray Charles Rockin' record, which did not achieve popularity. During his stay in Miami, Charles was required to stay in the segregated but thriving black community of Overtown. Stone later helped Jerry Wexler find Charles in St. Petersburg.


title: Ray Charles

text: After signing with Swing Time Records, Charles recorded two more R&B hits under the name Ray Charles: "Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand" (1951), which reached No. 5, and "Kissa Me Baby" (1952), which reached No. 8. Swing Time folded the following year, and Ahmet Ertegun signed Charles to Atlantic.


title: Ray Charles

text: In addition to being a musician, Charles was also a record producer, producing Guitar Slim's number 1 hit, "The Things That I Used to Do".


title: Ray Charles

text: In June 1952, Atlantic bought Charles's contract for $2,500 (US$ in dollars). His first recording session for Atlantic ("The Midnight Hour"/"Roll with My Baby") took place in September 1952, although his last Swing Time release ("Misery in My Heart"/"The Snow Is Falling") would not appear until February 1953.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1953, "Mess Around" became his first small hit for Atlantic; during the next year, he had hits with "It Should've Been Me" and "Don't You Know". He also recorded the songs "Midnight Hour" and "Sinner's Prayer" around this time.


title: Ray Charles

text: Late in 1954, Charles recorded "I've Got a Woman". The lyrics were written by bandleader Renald Richard. Charles claimed the composition. They later admitted that the song went back to the Southern Tones' "It Must Be Jesus" (1954). It became one of his most notable hits, reaching No. 2 on the R&B chart. "I've Got a Woman" combined gospel, jazz, and blues elements. In 1955, he had hits with "This Little Girl of Mine" and "A Fool for You". In upcoming years, hits included "Drown in My Own Tears" and "Hallelujah I Love Her So".


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles also recorded jazz, such as "The Great Ray Charles" (1957). He worked with vibraphonist Milt Jackson, releasing "Soul Brothers" in 1958 and "Soul Meeting" in 1961. By 1958, he was not only headlining major black venues such as the Apollo Theater in New York, but also larger venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival, where his first live album was recorded in 1958. He hired a female singing group, the Cookies, and renamed them the Raelettes. In 1958, Charles and the Raelettes performed for the famed Cavalcade of Jazz concert produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. held at the Shrine Auditorium on August 3. The other headliners were Little Willie John, Sam Cooke, Ernie Freeman, and Bo Rhambo. Sammy Davis Jr. was also there to crown the winner of the Miss Cavalcade of Jazz beauty contest. The event featured the top four prominent disc jockeys of Los Angeles.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles reached the pinnacle of his success at Atlantic with the release of "What'd I Say", which combined gospel, jazz, blues and Latin music. Charles said he wrote it spontaneously while he was performing in clubs with his band. Despite some radio stations banning the song because of its sexually suggestive lyrics, the song became Charles' first top-ten pop record.[35] It reached No. 6 on the "Billboard" Pop chart and No. 1 on the "Billboard" R&B chart in 1959. Later that year, he released his first country song (a cover of Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On") and recorded three more albums for the label: a jazz record (The Genius After Hours, 1961); a blues record (The Genius Sings the Blues, 1961); and a big band record (The Genius of Ray Charles, 1959) which was his first Top 40 album, peaking at No. 17.[36]


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles' contract with Atlantic expired in 1959, and several big labels offered him record deals. Choosing not to renegotiate his contract with Atlantic, he signed with ABC-Paramount in November 1959. He obtained a more liberal contract than other artists had at the time, with ABC offering him a $50,000 (US$ in dollars) annual advance, higher royalties than before, and eventual ownership of his master tapes—a very valuable and lucrative deal at the time. During his Atlantic years, Charles had been hailed for his inventive compositions, but by the time of the release of the largely instrumental jazz album "Genius + Soul = Jazz" (1960) for ABC's subsidiary label Impulse!, he had given up on writing in favor of becoming a cover artist, giving his own eclectic arrangements of existing songs.


title: Ray Charles

text: With "Georgia on My Mind", his first hit single for ABC-Paramount in 1960, Charles received national acclaim and four Grammy Awards, including two for "Georgia on My Mind" (Best Vocal Performance Single Record or Track, Male, and Best Performance by a Pop Single Artist). Written by Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael, the song was Charles' first work with Sid Feller, who produced, arranged and conducted the recording. Charles' rendition of the tune would help elevate it to the status of an American classic, and his version also became the state song of Georgia later on in 1979.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles earned another Grammy for the follow-up track "Hit the Road Jack", written by R&B singer Percy Mayfield.


title: Ray Charles

text: By late 1961, Charles had expanded his small road ensemble to a big band, partly as a response to increasing royalties and touring fees, becoming one of the few black artists to cross over into mainstream pop with such a level of creative control. This success, however, came to a momentary halt during a concert tour in November 1961, when a police search of Charles's hotel room in Indianapolis, Indiana, led to the discovery of heroin in the medicine cabinet. The case was eventually dropped, as the search lacked a proper warrant by the police, and Charles soon returned to music.


title: Ray Charles

text: In the early 1960s, on the way from Louisiana to Oklahoma City, Charles faced a near-death experience when the pilot of his plane lost visibility, as snow and his failure to use the defroster caused the windshield of the plane to become completely covered in ice. The pilot made a few circles in the air before he was finally able to see through a small part of the windshield and land the plane. Charles placed a spiritual interpretation on the experience, claiming that "something or someone which instruments cannot detect" was responsible for creating the small opening in the ice on the windshield which enabled the pilot to eventually land the plane safely.


title: Ray Charles

text: The 1962 album "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" and its sequel, "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vol. 2", helped to bring country music into the musical mainstream. Charles's version of the Don Gibson song "I Can't Stop Loving You" topped the Pop chart for five weeks, stayed at No. 1 on the R&B chart for ten weeks, and gave him his only number-one record in the UK. In 1962, he founded his record label, Tangerine, which ABC-Paramount promoted and distributed. He had major pop hits in 1963 with "Busted" (US No. 4) and "Take These Chains from My Heart" (US No. 8). In 1964, Margie Hendrix was kicked out of the Raelettes after a big argument.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1964, Charles's career was halted once more after he was arrested for a third time for possession of heroin. He agreed to go to a rehabilitative facility to avoid jail time and eventually kicked his habit at a clinic in Los Angeles. After spending a year on parole, Charles reappeared in the charts in 1966 with a series of hits composed with Ashford & Simpson and Jo Armstead, including the dance number "I Don't Need No Doctor" and "Let's Go Get Stoned", which became his first number-one R&B hit in several years. His cover version of "Crying Time", originally recorded by country singer Buck Owens, reached No. 6 on the pop chart and helped Charles win a Grammy Award the following March. In 1967, he had a top-twenty hit with another ballad, "Here We Go Again".


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles's renewed chart success, however, proved to be short lived, and by the 1970s his music was rarely played on radio stations. The rise of psychedelic rock and harder forms of rock and R&B music had reduced Charles's radio appeal, as did his choosing to record pop standards and covers of contemporary rock and soul hits, since his earnings from owning his master tapes had taken away the motivation to write new material. Charles nonetheless continued to have an active recording career. Most of his recordings between 1968 and 1973 evoked strong reactions: either adored or panned by fans and critics alike. His recordings during this period, especially 1972's "A Message from the People", moved toward the progressive soul sound popular at the time. "A Message from the People" included his unique gospel-influenced version of "America the Beautiful" and a number of protest songs about poverty and civil rights. Charles was often criticized for his version of "America the Beautiful" because it was very drastically changed from the song's original version. On July 14, 1973, Margie Hendrix, the mother of Ray's son Charles Wayne Hendrix, died at 38 years old, which led to Ray caring for the child. The official cause of her death is unknown.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1974, Charles left ABC Records and recorded several albums on his own label, Crossover Records. A 1975 recording of Stevie Wonder's hit "Living for the City" later helped Charles win another Grammy. In 1977, he reunited with Ahmet Ertegun and re-signed to Atlantic Records, for which he recorded the album "True to Life", remaining with his old label until 1980. However, the label had now begun to focus on rock acts, and some of their prominent soul artists, such as Aretha Franklin, were starting to be neglected. In November 1977 he appeared as the host of the NBC television show "Saturday Night Live".


title: Ray Charles

text: In April 1979, his version of "Georgia on My Mind" was proclaimed the state song of Georgia, and an emotional Charles performed the song on the floor of the state legislature. In 1980 Charles performed in the musical film "The Blues Brothers". Although he had notably supported the American Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s, Charles was criticized for performing at the Sun City resort in South Africa in 1981 during an international boycott protesting that country's apartheid policy. He later defended his choice of performing there, insisting that the audience of black and white fans would integrate while he was there.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1983, Charles signed a contract with Columbia. He recorded a string of country albums and had hit singles in duets with singers such as George Jones, Chet Atkins, B. J. Thomas, Mickey Gilley, Hank Williams Jr., Dee Dee Bridgewater ("Precious Thing") and his longtime friend Willie Nelson, with whom he recorded "Seven Spanish Angels".


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1985, Charles participated in the musical recording and video "We Are the World", a charity single recorded by the supergroup United Support of Artists (USA) for Africa.


title: Ray Charles

text: Before the release of his first album for Warner, "Would You Believe", Charles made a return to the R&B charts with a cover of the Brothers Johnson's "I'll Be Good to You", a duet with his lifelong friend Quincy Jones and the singer Chaka Khan, which hit number one on the R&B chart in 1990 and won Charles and Khan a Grammy for their duet. Prior to this, Charles returned to the pop charts with "Baby Grand", a duet with singer-songwriter Billy Joel. In 1989, he recorded a cover of the Southern All Stars' "Itoshi no Ellie" for a Japanese TV advertisement for the Suntory brand, releasing it in Japan as "Ellie My Love", where it reached No.3 on its Oricon chart. In the same year he was a special guest at the Arena di Verona during the tour promoting "Oro Incenso & Birra" of the Italian singer Zucchero Fornaciari.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 2001–02, Charles appeared in commercials for the New Jersey Lottery to promote its campaign "For every dream, there's a jackpot".


title: Ray Charles

text: In 2003, he headlined the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington, D.C., attended by President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.


title: Ray Charles

text: Also in 2003, Charles presented Van Morrison with Morrison's award upon being inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the two sang Morrison's song "Crazy Love" (the performance appears on Morrison's 2007 album "The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3"). In 2003, Charles performed "Georgia on My Mind" and "America the Beautiful" at a televised annual banquet of electronic media journalists held in Washington, D.C. His final public appearance was on April 30, 2004, at the dedication of his music studio as a historic landmark in Los Angeles.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles possessed one of the most recognizable voices in American music. In the words of musicologist Henry Pleasants:


title: Ray Charles

text: Pleasants continues, "Ray Charles is usually described as a baritone, and his speaking voice would suggest as much, as would the difficulty he experiences in reaching and sustaining the baritone's high E and F in a popular ballad. But the voice undergoes some sort of transfiguration under stress, and in music of gospel or blues character he can and does sing for measures on end in the high tenor range of A, B flat, B, C and even C sharp and D, sometimes in full voice, sometimes in an ecstatic head voice, sometimes in falsetto. In falsetto he continues up to E and F above high C. On one extraordinary record, 'I'm Going Down to the River'...he hits an incredible B flat...giving him an overall range, including the falsetto extension, of at least three octaves."


title: Ray Charles

text: His style and success in the genres of rhythm and blues and jazz had an influence on a number of highly successful artists, including, as Jon Pareles has noted, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, and Billy Joel. Other singers who have acknowledged Charles's influence on their own styles include James Booker, Steve Winwood, Richard Manuel, and Gregg Allman. According to Joe Levy, a music editor for "Rolling Stone", "The hit records he made for Atlantic in the mid-1950s mapped out everything that would happen to rock 'n' roll and soul music in the years that followed". Charles was also an inspiration to Pink Floyd member Roger Waters, who told the Turkish newspaper "Hürriyet": "I was about 15. In the middle of the night with friends, we were listening to jazz. It was "Georgia on My Mind", Ray Charles's version. Then I thought 'One day, if I make some people feel only one-twentieth of what I am feeling now, it will be quite enough for me.'"


title: Ray Charles

text: "Ray", a biopic portraying his life and career between the mid-1930s and 1979, was released in October 2004, starring Jamie Foxx as Charles. Foxx won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1975, Ray Charles was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement and presented with the Golden Plate Award and the Academy of Achievement gold medal.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1979, Charles was one of the first musicians born in the state to be inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. His version of "Georgia on My Mind" was also made the official state song of the state of Georgia.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1981, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was one of the first inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural ceremony, in 1986. He also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles won 17 Grammy Awards from his 37 nominations. In 1987, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1991, he was inducted to the Rhythm & Blues Foundation and was presented with the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement during the 1991 UCLA Spring Sing.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1993, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 1998 he was awarded the Polar Music Prize, together with Ravi Shankar, in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2004 he was inducted to the National Black Sports & Entertainment Hall of Fame. The Grammy Awards of 2005 were dedicated to Charles.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 2001, Morehouse College honored Charles with the Candle Award for Lifetime Achievement in Arts and Entertainment, and later that same year granted him an honorary doctor of humane letters. Charles donated $2 million to Morehouse "to fund, educate and inspire the next generation of musical pioneers."


title: Ray Charles

text: In 2003, Charles was awarded an honorary degree by Dillard University, and upon his death he endowed a professorship of African-American culinary history at the school, the first such chair in the nation.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 2010, a $20 million, facility named the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center and Music Academic Building, opened at Morehouse.


title: Ray Charles

text: The United States Postal Service issued a forever stamp honoring Charles, as part of its Musical Icons series, on September 23, 2013.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama said, "Ray Charles's version of "America the Beautiful" will always be in my view the most patriotic piece of music ever performed"


title: Ray Charles

text: In 2022, Charles was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the third African-American to be inducted after Charley Pride (2000) and Deford Bailey (2005). He was also the 13th person to be inducted into both the Country and Rock Halls of Fame.


title: Ray Charles

text: On March 15, 1961, shortly after the release of the hit song "Georgia on My Mind" (1960), the Albany, Georgia-born musician was scheduled to perform at a dance at Bell Auditorium in Augusta, but cancelled the show after learning from students of Paine College that the larger auditorium dance floor would be restricted to whites, while blacks would be obligated to sit in the Music Hall balcony. Charles left town immediately after letting the public know why he would not be performing, but the promoter went on to sue Charles for breach of contract, and Charles was fined $757 in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on June 14, 1962. The following year, Charles did perform at a desegregated Bell Auditorium concert together with his backup singers, the Raelettes, on October 23, 1963, as depicted in the 2004 film, "Ray". On December 7, 2007, Ray Charles Plaza was opened in Albany, Georgia, with a revolving, lighted bronze sculpture of Charles seated at a piano.


title: Ray Charles

text: Founded in 1986, the Ray Charles Foundation maintains the mission statement of financially supporting institutions and organizations in the research of hearing disorders. Originally known as The Robinson Foundation for Hearing Disorders, it was renamed in 2006 and has provided financial donations to numerous institutions involved in hearing loss research and education. The purpose of the foundation has been "to administer funds for scientific, educational and charitable purposes; to encourage, promote and educate, through grants to institutions and organizations, as to the causes and cures for diseases and disabilities of the hearing impaired and to assist organizations and institutions in their social educational and academic advancement of programs for the youth, and carry on other charitable and educational activities associated with these goals as allowed by law".


title: Ray Charles

text: Recipients of donations include Benedict College, Morehouse College, and other universities. The foundation has taken action against donation recipients who do not use funds in accordance with its mission statement, such as the Albany State University, which was made to return a $3 million donation after not using the funds for over a decade. The foundation houses its executive offices at the historic RPM International Building, originally the home of Ray Charles Enterprises and now also home to the Ray Charles Memorial Library on the first floor, which was founded on September 23, 2010 (what would have been his 80th birthday). The library was founded to "provide an avenue for young children to experience music and art in a way that will inspire their creativity and imagination", and is not open to the public without reservation, as the main goal is to educate mass groups of underprivileged youth and provide art and history to those without access to such documents.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles stated in his 1978 autobiography, "Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story", that he became hooked on women after losing his virginity at 12 years old to a woman about 20. "Cigarettes and smack [heroin] are the two truly addictive habits I've known. You might add women," he said. "My obsession centers on women—did then [when young] and does now. I can't leave them alone," he added.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles was married twice. His first marriage lasted less than a year, his second 22 years. Throughout his life Charles had many relationships with women with whom he fathered a dozen children.


title: Ray Charles

text: He met his second wife Della Beatrice Howard Robinson (called "Bea" by Charles) in Texas in 1954. They married the following year on April 5, 1955. Their first child together, Ray Charles Robinson Jr., was born in 1955. Charles was not in town for the birth because he was playing a show in Texas. The couple had two more sons, David and Robert. They raised their children in View Park, California. Charles felt that his heroin addiction took a toll on Della during their marriage. Due to his drug addiction, extramarital affairs on tours and volatile behavior, the marriage deteriorated and they divorced after 22 years of marriage in 1977.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles had a six-year-long affair with Margie Hendrix, one of the original Raelettes, and in 1959 they had a son, Charles Wayne. His affair with Mae Mosley Lyles resulted in a daughter, Renee, born in 1961. In 1963, Charles had another daughter, this one by Sandra Jean Betts, named Sheila Raye Charles. Sheila Raye, like her father, was a singer/songwriter who died of breast cancer on June 15, 2017. In 1977, Charles had a child with his Parisian lover Arlette Kotchounian whom he met in 1967. His long-term girlfriend and partner at the time of his death was Norma Pinella.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles held a family luncheon for his twelve children in 2002, ten of whom attended. He told them he was mortally ill and $500,000 had been placed in trusts for each of the children to be paid out over the next five years.


title: Ray Charles

text: At 18, Charles first tried marijuana when he played in McSon Trio and was eager to try it as he thought it helped musicians create music and tap into their creativity. He later became addicted to heroin for seventeen years. Charles was first arrested in 1955, when he and his bandmates were caught backstage with loose marijuana and drug paraphernalia, including a burnt spoon, syringe, and needle. The arrest did not deter his drug use, which only escalated as he became more successful and made more money.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 1958, Charles was arrested on a Harlem street corner for possession of narcotics and equipment for administering heroin.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles was arrested on a narcotics charge on November 14, 1961, while waiting in an Indiana hotel room before a performance. The detectives seized heroin, marijuana, and other items. Charles, then 31, said he had been a drug addict since the age of 16. The case was dismissed because of the manner in which the evidence was obtained, but Charles' situation did not improve until a few years later.


title: Ray Charles

text: On Halloween 1964, Charles was arrested for possession of heroin at Boston's Logan Airport. He decided to quit heroin and entered St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood, California, where he endured four days of cold turkey withdrawal. Following his self-imposed stay, he pleaded guilty to four narcotic charges. Prosecutors called for two years in prison and a hefty fine, but the judge listened to Charles' psychiatrist, Dr. Hacker's account of Charles' determination to get off drugs and he was sent to McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. The judge offered to postpone the verdict for a year if Charles agreed to undergo regular examinations by government-appointed physicians. When Charles returned to court, he received a five-year suspended sentence, four years of probation, and a fine of $10,000.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles responded to the saga of his drug use and reform with the songs "I Don't Need No Doctor" and "Let's Go Get Stoned" and the release of "Crying Time", his first album since kicking his heroin addiction in 1966.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles enjoyed playing chess. As part of his therapy when he quit heroin, he met with psychiatrist , who taught him how to play chess, three times a week. He used a special board with raised squares and holes for the pieces. When questioned if people try to cheat against a blind man, he joked in reply, "You can't cheat in Chess... I'm gonna see that!" In a 1991 concert, he referred to Willie Nelson as "my chess partner". In 2002, he played and lost to the American grandmaster and former U.S. champion Larry Evans.


title: Ray Charles

text: In 2003, Charles had successful hip replacement surgery and was planning to go back on tour, until he began having other ailments. He died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, of complications resulting from liver failure, on June 10, 2004, at the age of 73. His funeral took place on June 18, 2004, at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, with numerous musical figures in attendance. B.B. King, Glen Campbell, Stevie Wonder and Wynton Marsalis each played a tribute at the funeral. He was interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery.


title: Ray Charles

text: His final album, "Genius Loves Company", released two months after his death, consists of duets with admirers and contemporaries: B.B. King, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Gladys Knight, Michael McDonald, Natalie Cole, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Norah Jones and Johnny Mathis. The album won eight Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (for "Here We Go Again", with Norah Jones), and Best Gospel Performance (for "Heaven Help Us All", with Gladys Knight); he also received nods for his duets with Elton John and B.B. King. The album included a version of Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg's "Over the Rainbow", sung as a duet with Johnny Mathis, which was played at Charles' memorial service.


title: Ray Charles

text: Charles' discography is highly complex and extensive. AllMusic has listed approximately 60 original albums and more than 200 compilation albums, while music essayist Robert Christgau noted the existence of more. At least 20 record labels have released near-identical compilations of Charles' pre-Atlantic Records tracks, while many of the masters that Charles began to own after 1960 were not digitally reissued, leading the Atlantic sister label Rhino Entertainment to focus on rereleasing his mid-to-late 1950s music. Christgau has called Charles' discography a "monumental mess" and that "any map of his oeuvre must be personal and provisional".


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Airmiess Joseph Asghedom (August 15, 1985 – March 31, 2019), known professionally as Nipsey Hussle (often stylized as Nipsey Hu$$le), was an American rapper. Emerging from the West Coast hip hop scene in the mid-2000s, Hussle independently released his debut mixtape, "Slauson Boy Volume 1", to moderate local success, which led to him being signed to Cinematic Music Group and Epic Records.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle became known for his numerous mixtapes, including his "Bullets Ain't Got No Name" series, "The Marathon", "The Marathon Continues", and "Crenshaw", the last of which American rapper Jay-Z bought 100 copies for $100 each. After much delay, his debut studio album "Victory Lap" was released in 2018 to critical acclaim and commercial success, and was nominated for the Best Rap Album at the 61st Grammy Awards in 2019. At the 62nd Grammy Awards in 2020, two posthumous Grammy Awards for the songs "Racks in the Middle" and "Higher" were awarded to Hussle in the Best Rap Performance and Best Rap/Sung Performance categories respectively.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Outside of music, Hussle inaugurated the Marathon Clothing store, which he founded along with partners Carless, the head of the agency, Karen Civil, and his brother Samiel Asghedom in 2017, and started a co-working environment which he named "Vector 90". On March 31, 2019, Hussle was fatally shot outside his store in South Central Los Angeles. Eric Holder, a 29-year-old man who confronted Hussle earlier that day, was arrested and charged with murder two days later. Holder was found guilty of first-degree murder on July 6, 2022.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Airmiess Joseph Asghedom was born on August 15, 1985, and raised in the Crenshaw District of South Central Los Angeles by his mother Angelique Smith ( Boutte), an African-American woman, and Dawit Asghedom, an Eritrean war refugee who came to the United States after fleeing a then ongoing Eritrean War of Independence. He was raised with his brother Samiel a/k/a Blacc Sam and his sister Samantha. Asghedom attended Alexander Hamilton High School in the nearby Castle Heights neighborhood, and dropped out before graduating.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: At age 14, Asghedom left home and joined the local Rollin 60's Neighborhood Crips, a sub-group of the larger Crips gang primarily based in his home neighborhood of Crenshaw. In 2002, at the age of 17, Hussle would join Buttervision, a creative multimedia "Digital Guerrilla" movement led by Dexter Browne where he would be part of the "BV Boys Sampler", "Beats & Babes Vol. 1" DVD, and "Shades of Butter Vol. 1" DVD. He would also get his name "Nipsey Hussle" there and complete the recording for his debut mixtape "Slauson Boy Volume 1".


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: His stage name, a play on the name of comedian Nipsey Russell, originated as a nickname given to Asghedom by a childhood acquaintance who respected his work ethic. In 2004, when Asghedom was 19, his father took him and his brother Samiel on a three-month trip to Eritrea. Asghedom credited the trip with inspiring him to become a community activist with an "entrepreneurial spirit".


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: In December 2005, Hussle independently released his first mixtape, "Slauson Boy Volume 1", to moderate local success. His debut project helped to build a small regional fanbase on the west coast, and eventually led to Hussle being signed to Cinematic Music Group and Epic Records. In 2008, Hussle released the first two installments in his "Bullets Ain't Got No Name" series of mixtapes, which helped to bring Hussle's music to a larger audience.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Nipsey's profile continued to grow into 2009 when he collaborated with Drake on the song "Killer", and also appeared, along with Snoop Dogg and Problem, on the song "Upside Down", from Snoop Dogg's 2009 album "Malice n Wonderland". He released the third installment in "Bullets Ain't Got No Name", as well as his commercial debut single, "Hussle in the House". Despite the song, which samples Kris Kross' 1992 single Jump, being well received by critics, it failed to make any impact on the charts.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: After Epic experienced financial issues in 2010, Nipsey opted not to renew his contract and left the label. Not long after going independent, Hussle appeared on the song "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", and was featured by "XXL Magazine" as one of its "Annual Freshman Top Ten", a selection of ten up-and-coming hip-hop artists to watch. XXL labeled him "Most Determined" of his class, and "LA Weekly" called him the "next big L.A. MC".


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle was expected to release his debut album, "South Central State of Mind," in October 2010. Prior to release, the album was supported by the single "Feelin' Myself" featuring Lloyd. While the production was set to be handled from J.R. Rotem, Scott Storch, Mr. Lee, Play-N-Skillz, Terrace Martin, and 1500 or Nothin', the album was set to be featured with the guest appearances from Trey Songz, Jay Rock, and Sean Kingston. Concurrently, he announced that he planned on releasing a mixtape with fellow rapper Jay Rock, titled "Red and Blue Make Green". Following the release of a music video for "Feelin' Myself", the album was set for a December 21, 2010 release; however, both of these projects were eventually postponed indefinitely.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: After leaving Epic, Nipsey founded his own record label, All Money In Records On December 21, 2010, he released his first "All Money In Records" mixtape, titled "The Marathon", which featured guest appearances from Kokane and MGMT. On November 1, 2011, Hussle released a sequel titled "The Marathon Continues", which featured L.A. rappers YG and Dom Kennedy. On April 17, 2012, Hussle released a collaborative album with fellow rapper Blanco, "Raw". The album featured guest appearances from YG, Mistah FAB, Yukmouth, B-Legit, Kokane and Freeway.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: In May 2012, Nipsey released a single titled "Proud of That", marking his first collaboration with Florida rapper Rick Ross. Nipsey was subsequently featured on Ross' Maybach Music Group's song "Fountain of Youth", which appears on the label's second album "Self Made Vol. 2". The music video was released on October 1, 2012. Rumours began to circulate that Nipsey would sign with MMG, and in December 2012, Hussle himself hinted at signing, however, he also said that he was still looking for the right label.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle said that he would be releasing his third and final installment of "The Marathon" mixtape series with "TM3: Victory Lap" in 2013, after it was pushed back from its initial December 2012 release date. He also announced that he was planning on releasing a joint mixtape with fellow West Coast rapper and frequent collaborator YG. Hussle performed at the 2013 Paid Dues festival on March 30, 2013, in California. After deciding against signing to a major label, due to a lack of creative freedom, he choose to make "Victory Lap" his debut album.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Beginning in 2013, he released various songs from his upcoming mixtape "Crenshaw", including the 9th Wonder produced track "Face the World", and a Futuristics and 1500 or Nothin'–produced track "Blessings". On August 6, 2013, Hussle announced that "Victory Lap" would be released as an album, rather than a mixtape. Prior to the release of "Victory Lap", Hussle announced on September 16, 2013, that he would be releasing a new mixtape, "Crenshaw" (hosted by DJ Drama), on October 8, 2013.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: On September 24, 2013, he revealed the track list for "Crenshaw", which contained guest appearances from Rick Ross, Dom Kennedy, Slim Thug, James Fauntleroy II, Z-Ro, Skeme, and Sade, among others. The production on the mixtape was handled by the Futuristics, 1500 or Nothin', 9th Wonder, Mike Free, Ralo and Jiggy Hendrix, among others. He also released the "Crenshaw" documentary that day in promotion of the mixtape. On October 3, 2013, he released another trailer for the mixtape, and attracted attention when he revealed 1,000 hard copies of the mixtape would be sold for $100 each. Jay-Z personally bought 100 copies. He reportedly sold out all 1,000 copies in less than 24 hours, effectively making $100,000.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Upon the release of "Crenshaw", Hussle said that "Victory Lap" would be released in 2014. On November 20, 2013, Hussle confirmed that "Victory Lap" would feature production from Ralo, 1500 or Nothin', the Futuristiks and DJ Mustard. He later confirmed more producers, including Don Cannon and DJ Khalil on the album. After the year went by with no new releases, Hussle released a new mixtape, "Mailbox Money" on New Year's Eve 2014, again releasing 1000 hard copies for $100 each.<ref name="Guard 2015/jan/20"></ref>


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle made a number of guest appearances throughout 2015 and 2016, working with Jadakiss, Trae Tha Truth, and YG. In 2016, he released another mixtape, titled "Famous Lies and Unpopular Truth". He commented on the 2016 US presidential election by releasing the single "FDT" ("Fuck Donald Trump") with YG; the song was written about Hussle's positive experiences with Mexican immigrants in the United States, whom Trump had criticized.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: After numerous delays, Hussle's debut studio album, "Victory Lap", was released on February 16, 2018, debuting at number 4 on the "Billboard" 200, selling 53,000 album equivalent units in its first week. The album was met with universal acclaim from critics, and numerous songs entered the "Billboard" Hot 100, including "Double Up", "Last Time That I Checc'd" and "Dedication", marking Hussle's debut on the chart as a lead artist.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: "Victory Lap" was nominated for a Best Rap Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019, but lost to Cardi B's "Invasion of Privacy". Over 1 year after its release, the album reached a new peak of number 2 on the "Billboard" 200 in April 2019 after Hussle's murder on March 31. His single "Racks in the Middle" featuring Roddy Ricch and Hit-Boy debuted at number 44 on the Hot 100, following his death. The song later peaked at number 26.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle's nickname came from his entrepreneurial spirit. He shined shoes for $2.50 to pay for school clothes at age 11 with a goal of a hundred shoes a day. Hussle sold his mixtapes out of a car trunk at a neighborhood strip mall at the intersection of Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard. After leaving Epic Records, he founded his own record label. Hussle experimented with unorthodox sales strategies by selling expensive copies of certain mixtapes even while the songs were distributed for free.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle's Marathon branding inspired Steve Carless in 2013 when he founded Marathon Agency with business partners Karen Civil and Jorge Peniche. They designed the talent-based brand to attract a diverse set of clients in all stages of their careers. In October 2016, Carless, the head of the agency, told "Billboard" that Hussle had invested "like over six figures" in the Marathon Agency and described him as "kind of like our silent partner".


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle opened the Marathon Clothing store on June 17, 2017, which he founded along with partners Carless, Civil, and his brother Samiel Asghedom. Opening the store at this intersection in the Crenshaw commercial district was important to him because he wanted to invest and provide opportunities in his neighborhood of Hyde Park. The store is billed as a "smart store", which bridges the gap between culture and technology by giving customers access to exclusive music and other content created by rappers through an app created by software engineer Iddris Sandu. The year before his death, Hussle bought the small shopping center where his store was located, after partnering with the real estate investor David Gross.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle created the record label All Money In after leaving Epic Records. He released his first major project, "The Marathon", through the new label on December 21, 2010. He released subsequent projects under his label, including "The Marathon Continues" (2011), "Crenshaw" (2013), and "Mailbox Money" (2014). He also signed other artists, including J Stone, Pacman Da Gunman, BH, Cobby Supreme, Cuzzy Capone and Killa Twan.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: In 2007, Hussle played a small role in Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's semi-autobiographical film "I Tried", which was directed by Rich Newey. In 2010, he starred in the film "Caged Animal", alongside Ving Rhames, Gillie Da Kid and Robert Patrick. In 2015, Hussle was featured in a cameo "The Sexy Getting Ready Song" in the pilot episode of "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend", rapping two bars.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle wanted to focus on "giving solutions and inspiration" to young black men like him. He denounced gun violence through his music, influence, and community work. He spoke openly about his experiences with gang culture. Affiliated with the Rollin' 60s, he often performed and worked with rival Bloods-affiliated rappers to set an example.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: He funded improvements to neighborhood schools and spent time with students, also participating on panels about growing up in the area and the influence of gang culture. Hussle started a co-working environment which he named Vector 90. From his own experience, he believed that the Crenshaw area was being underserved and that young people would benefit from communal workspaces. He wanted youths to be able to take classes in science, technology, and mathematics at the center.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle was also intimately involved in the planning and advisory stages of the Destination Crenshaw project that will showcase the history and culture of blacks in his neighborhood. City Council member Marqueece Harris-Dawson said Hussle was in the earliest conversations on the project and was an integral part of the project's branding. In March 2019, Hussle had contacted officials from the LAPD to arrange a meeting with him and Roc Nation about what they could do to help prevent gang violence in South Los Angeles. The meeting had been scheduled to take place on April 1.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle was murdered on March 31. According to Los Angeles Police Commissioner Steve Soboroff, department officials will meet with Hussle's representatives at a future date on these issues to continue the activist's work in his honor.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle and actress Lauren London began dating in 2013. They had a son together in 2016. London has a child from a previous relationship with fellow rapper Lil Wayne, while Hussle had a daughter from a previous relationship. He remained very involved in South Los Angeles with his businesses, charitable activities, and the homes of family and friends. The locations for a magazine shoot were in the neighborhood.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: On March 31, 2019, Hussle was shot at least 10 times in the parking lot of his store, Marathon Clothing, in South Central Los Angeles at 3:18 p.m. The perpetrator also kicked Hussle in the head. Two others were wounded in the shooting.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: All three victims were transported to a hospital, where Hussle was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. He was 33 years old. Police identified then-29-year-old Eric Ronald Holder Jr. as the suspect. Investigators believed Holder was known to the rapper and that the shooting was possibly motivated by a personal matter. On April 2, 2019, Holder was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department and was being held in solitary confinement.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: On May 9, a grand jury indicted Holder on one count of murder, two counts each of attempted murder and assault with a firearm, and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon. After a couple of postponements, the trial got underway in mid-June, 2022. Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney John McKinney served as the case’s prosecutor, while Aaron Jansen served as head of the defense. Holder's attorneys argued that he did not intend to kill Hussle but had acted in the heat of the moment. McKinney argued, “He thought about it and he did it. That’s all premeditated means. It doesn’t mean he planned it for weeks.” Testimony at the trial established that, immediately before Holder shot Hussle, the two men argued over a rumor that Holder had cooperated with law enforcement in an unrelated matter. On July 6, 2022, Holder was found guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter relating to injuries he caused to bystanders.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Upon hearing the news of his death, numerous celebrities offered their condolences on social media. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti also offered his condolences to Hussle's family.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle's memorial service was held on April 11 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, with tickets provided free of charge.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Former president Barack Obama praised the rapper for his work in the community, writing in a tribute, "While most folks look at the Crenshaw neighborhood where he grew up and see only gangs, bullets, and despair, Nipsey saw potential".


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Former president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid homage to the late rapper on his official Twitter profile. The conservative politician quoted Hussle's lyrics in a tweet reading "How can one take someone's life so easily? 'Baby Don't Cry Gotta Keep Your Head Up Even when The Road is Hard Never Give Up'".


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: The funeral procession to Forest Lawn Memorial Park wound through the streets of South Central L.A. including Watts, where he spent some of his formative years. Mourners gathered at the Watts Towers along the route. The crowds lining the streets demonstrated the impact he had on this community.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Gang leaders saw how Hussle resonated with young gang members and used the opportunity to curtail violence in their own ranks. A cross-section of gangs marched together at a memorial for Hussle and later held summits between L.A. and Compton. Largely confined to black gangs, they agreed to stay away from each other's territory and stop shooting at people. The peacemaking, which was a cease fire and not a truce, included hundreds of gangs similar to the truces of 1992.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: A petition was started to rename the intersection of Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard near Hussle's store Marathon Clothing to "Nipsey Hussle Square". On the day of his funeral, the council announced it was set to be renamed Ermias "Nipsey Hussle" Asghedom Square to honor him and his contributions to the neighborhood. There has also been a push from the community to name the nearby Hyde Park station after him, according to Metro. A ceremony dedicating the at-grade light rail station on the K Line to him and the Crenshaw community was held August 6, 2022.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: There was a strong artistic response to Nipsey Hussle's death. Within a few months, over 50 murals dedicated to the rapper were painted in the City of Los Angeles. One mural is in an alley near the strip mall where he was killed. Hussle's store has remained closed since his death.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle was honored with a star in the recording category of the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of Amoeba Music on August 15, 2022, the 37th anniversary of his birth. Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson proclaimed the day Nipsey Hussle Day and handed the framed proclamation to Hussle’s grandmother, Margaret Smith, who stood with Hussle’s sister, Samantha, and his father, Dawit Asghedom.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Inspired by the books that Hussle mentioned in interviews, songs and motivational messages, local chapters of the Marathon Book Club have formed. The list includes self-help bestsellers, cult classics and little-known books by black authors. Michelle Obama included "Hussle and Motivate" on her 2020 workout playlist.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: On April 2, 2019, NBA player Russell Westbrook notched the second 20-20-20 game in NBA history in honor of Hussle.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: On March 6, 2020, metal band Body Count released their seventh studio album titled "Carnivore". The album features a song titled "When I'm Gone", which was written for Nipsey Hussle by the band's singer and rapper Ice-T. The song features a spoken introductory part in which Ice-T says of Hussle, "the outcry of love and support after his death was incredible, but it inspired me to write this song." The song also features guest vocalist Amy Lee from the band Evanescence who is also credited by Ice-T as having co-written the song.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Rapper Snoop Dogg released the tribute song "Nipsey Blue" which is dedicated to Nipsey Hussle in 2020.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Rapper Big Sean announced the song "Deep Reverence" in honor of Nipsey Hussle. The track was released in August 2020 and features Nipsey Hussle. The music video was released in March 2021.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Puma released the Marathon Clothing collection in September 2019 with 100% of net proceeds to the Neighborhood 'Nip' Foundation. The AMB store opened in September 2019 on Crenshaw Boulevard. This is another clothing company founded by Hussle with Cobby Supreme who was one of his best friends and an artist.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Hussle's longtime friend and collaborator YG dedicated his performance at the 2019 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival to the memory of Nipsey Hussle. At the 2020 Grammy Awards, DJ Khaled, Kirk Franklin, John Legend, Meek Mill, Roddy Ricch, and YG all gave tribute to Hussle in honor of his legacy.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: The season 2 premiere of The CW series "All American" included a candlelight vigil at Hyde Park with a eulogy by the character Flip Williams (played by Lahmard Tate). Tattoo artist Keenan Chapman painted a mural just for the episode. The series included "Grinding All My Life" in its pilot, and series star Daniel Ezra was a fan. Characters from the series wore clothes from the Marathon store. Hussle had planned to appear in the season 1 finale but had "scheduling conflicts". A documentary on Nipsey Hussle is in development at Netflix, and is set to be co-produced and directed by Ava DuVernay.


title: Nipsey Hussle

text: Rapper Kendrick Lamar paid tribute to Nipsey Hussle on the single "The Heart Part 5". The music video shows Hussle deepfaked on to Lamar's face as he rapped about his legacy following his death.


title: Æthelstan

text: Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ; ; ; – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern historians regard him as the first King of England and one of the "greatest Anglo-Saxon kings". He never married and had no children; he was succeeded by his half-brother, Edmund I.


title: Æthelstan

text: When Edward died in July 924, Æthelstan was accepted by the Mercians as king. His half-brother Ælfweard may have been recognised as king in Wessex, but died within three weeks of their father's death. Æthelstan encountered resistance in Wessex for several months, and was not crowned until September 925. In 927 he conquered the last remaining Viking kingdom, York, making him the first Anglo-Saxon ruler of the whole of England. In 934 he invaded Scotland and forced Constantine II to submit to him. Æthelstan's rule was resented by the Scots and Vikings, and in 937 they invaded England. Æthelstan defeated them at the Battle of Brunanburh, a victory that gave him great prestige both in the British Isles and on the Continent. After his death in 939, the Vikings seized back control of York, and it was not finally reconquered until 954.


title: Æthelstan

text: Æthelstan centralised government; he increased control over the production of charters and summoned leading figures from distant areas to his councils. These meetings were also attended by rulers from outside his territory, especially Welsh kings, who thus acknowledged his overlordship. More legal texts survive from his reign than from any other 10th-century English king. They show his concern about widespread robberies, and the threat they posed to social order. His legal reforms built on those of his grandfather, Alfred the Great. Æthelstan was one of the most pious West Saxon kings, and was known for collecting relics and founding churches. His household was the centre of English learning during his reign, and it laid the foundation for the Benedictine monastic reform later in the century. No other West Saxon king played as important a role in European politics as Æthelstan, and he arranged the marriages of several of his sisters to continental rulers.


title: Æthelstan

text: By the ninth century the many kingdoms of the early Anglo-Saxon period had been consolidated into four: Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia. In the eighth century, Mercia had been the most powerful kingdom in southern England, but in the early ninth, Wessex became dominant under Æthelstan's great-great-grandfather, Egbert. In the middle of the century, England came under increasing attack from Viking raids, culminating in invasion by the Great Heathen Army in 865. By 878, the Vikings had overrun East Anglia, Northumbria, and Mercia, and nearly conquered Wessex. The West Saxons fought back under Alfred the Great, and achieved a decisive victory at the Battle of Edington. Alfred and the Viking leader Guthrum agreed on a division that gave the Anglo-Saxons western Mercia, and eastern Mercia to the Vikings. In the 890s, renewed Viking attacks were successfully fought off by Alfred, assisted by his son (and Æthelstan's father) Edward and Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians. Æthelred ruled English Mercia under Alfred and was married to his daughter Æthelflæd. Alfred died in 899 and was succeeded by Edward. Æthelwold, the son of Æthelred, King Alfred's older brother and predecessor as king, made a bid for power, but was killed at the Battle of the Holme in 902.


title: Æthelstan

text: Little is known of warfare between the English and the Danes over the next few years, but in 909, Edward sent a West Saxon and Mercian army to ravage Northumbria. The following year the Northumbrian Danes attacked Mercia, but suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Tettenhall. Æthelred died in 911 and was succeeded as ruler of Mercia by his widow Æthelflæd. Over the next decade, Edward and Æthelflæd conquered Viking Mercia and East Anglia. Æthelflæd died in 918 and was briefly succeeded by her daughter Ælfwynn, but in the same year Edward deposed her and took direct control of Mercia.


title: Æthelstan

text: When Edward died in 924, he controlled all of England south of the Humber. The Viking king Sihtric ruled the Kingdom of York in southern Northumbria, but Ealdred maintained Anglo-Saxon rule in at least part of the former kingdom of Bernicia from his base in Bamburgh in northern Northumbria. Constantine II ruled Scotland, apart from the southwest, which was the British Kingdom of Strathclyde. Wales was divided into a number of small kingdoms, including Deheubarth in the southwest, Gwent in the southeast, Brycheiniog immediately north of Gwent, and Gwynedd in the north.


title: Æthelstan

text: According to the Anglo-Norman historian William of Malmesbury, Æthelstan was thirty years old when he came to the throne in 924, which would mean that he was born around 894. He was the oldest son of Edward the Elder. He was Edward's only son by his first consort, Ecgwynn. Very little is known about Ecgwynn, and she is not named in any contemporary source. Medieval chroniclers gave varying descriptions of her rank: one described her as an ignoble consort of inferior birth, while others described her birth as noble. Modern historians also disagree about her status. Simon Keynes and Richard Abels believe that leading figures in Wessex were unwilling to accept Æthelstan as king in 924 partly because his mother had been Edward the Elder's concubine. However, Barbara Yorke and Sarah Foot argue that allegations that Æthelstan was illegitimate were a product of the dispute over the succession, and that there is no reason to doubt that she was Edward's legitimate wife. She may have been related to St Dunstan.


title: Æthelstan

text: William of Malmesbury wrote that Alfred the Great honoured his young grandson with a ceremony in which he gave him a scarlet cloak, a belt set with gems, and a sword with a gilded scabbard. Medieval Latin scholar Michael Lapidge and historian Michael Wood see this as designating Æthelstan as a potential heir at a time when the claim of Alfred's nephew, Æthelwold, to the throne represented a threat to the succession of Alfred's direct line, but historian Janet Nelson suggests that it should be seen in the context of conflict between Alfred and Edward in the 890s, and might reflect an intention to divide the realm between his son and his grandson after his death. Historian Martin Ryan goes further, suggesting that at the end of his life Alfred may have favoured Æthelstan rather than Edward as his successor. An acrostic poem praising prince "Adalstan", and prophesying a great future for him, has been interpreted by Lapidge as referring to the young Æthelstan, punning on the Old English meaning of his name, "noble stone". Lapidge and Wood see the poem as a commemoration of Alfred's ceremony by one of his leading scholars, John the Old Saxon. In Michael Wood's view, the poem confirms the truth of William of Malmesbury's account of the ceremony. Wood also suggests that Æthelstan may have been the first English king to be groomed from childhood as an intellectual, and that John was probably his tutor. However, Sarah Foot argues that the acrostic poem makes better sense if it is dated to the beginning of Æthelstan's reign.


title: Æthelstan

text: Edward married his second wife, Ælfflæd, at about the time of his father's death, probably because Ecgwynn had died, although she may have been put aside. The new marriage weakened Æthelstan's position, as his step-mother naturally favoured the interests of her own sons, Ælfweard and Edwin. By 920 Edward had taken a third wife, Eadgifu, probably after putting Ælfflæd aside. Eadgifu also had two sons, the future kings Edmund and Eadred. Edward had several daughters, perhaps as many as nine.


title: Æthelstan

text: Æthelstan's later education was probably at the Mercian court of his aunt and uncle, Æthelflæd and Æthelred, and it is likely the young prince gained his military training in the Mercian campaigns to conquer the Danelaw. According to a transcript dating from 1304, in 925 Æthelstan gave a charter of privileges to St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester, where his aunt and uncle were buried, "according to a pact of paternal piety which he formerly pledged with Æthelred, ealdorman of the people of the Mercians". When Edward took direct control of Mercia after Æthelflæd's death in 918, Æthelstan may have represented his father's interests there.


title: Æthelstan

text: Edward died at Farndon in northern Mercia on 17 July 924, and the ensuing events are unclear. Ælfweard, Edward's eldest son by Ælfflæd, had ranked above Æthelstan in attesting a charter in 901, and Edward may have intended Ælfweard to be his successor as king, either of Wessex only or of the whole kingdom. If Edward had intended his realms to be divided after his death, his deposition of Ælfwynn in Mercia in 918 may have been intended to prepare the way for Æthelstan's succession as king of Mercia. When Edward died, Æthelstan was apparently with him in Mercia, while Ælfweard was in Wessex. Mercia acknowledged Æthelstan as king, and Wessex may have chosen Ælfweard. However, Ælfweard outlived his father by only sixteen days.


title: Æthelstan

text: Even after Ælfweard's death there seems to have been opposition to Æthelstan in Wessex, particularly in Winchester, where Ælfweard was buried. At first Æthelstan behaved as a Mercian king. A charter relating to land in Derbyshire, which appears to have been issued at a time in 925 when his authority had not yet been recognised outside Mercia, was witnessed only by Mercian bishops. In the view of historians David Dumville and Janet Nelson he may have agreed not to marry or have heirs in order to gain acceptance. However, Sarah Foot ascribes his decision to remain unmarried to "a religiously motivated determination on chastity as a way of life".


title: Æthelstan

text: The coronation of Æthelstan took place on 4 September 925 at Kingston upon Thames, perhaps due to its symbolic location on the border between Wessex and Mercia. He was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Athelm, who probably designed or organised a new "ordo" (religious order of service) in which the king wore a crown for the first time instead of a helmet. The new "ordo" was influenced by West Frankish liturgy and in turn became one of the sources of the medieval French "ordo".


title: Æthelstan

text: Opposition seems to have continued even after the coronation. According to William of Malmesbury, an otherwise unknown nobleman called Alfred plotted to blind Æthelstan on account of his supposed illegitimacy, although it is unknown whether he aimed to make himself king or was acting on behalf of Edwin, Ælfweard's younger brother. Blinding would have been a sufficient disability to render Æthelstan ineligible for kingship without incurring the odium attached to murder. Tensions between Æthelstan and Winchester seem to have continued for some years. The Bishop of Winchester, Frithestan, did not attend the coronation or witness any of Æthelstan's known charters until 928. After that he witnessed fairly regularly until his resignation in 931, but was listed in a lower position than he was entitled to by his seniority.


title: Æthelstan

text: In 933 Edwin was drowned in a shipwreck in the North Sea. His cousin, Adelolf, Count of Boulogne, took his body for burial at the Abbey of Saint Bertin in Saint-Omer. According to the abbey's annalist, Folcuin, who wrongly believed that Edwin had been king, he had fled England "driven by some disturbance in his kingdom". Folcuin stated that Æthelstan sent alms to the abbey for his dead brother and received monks from the abbey graciously when they came to England, although Folcuin did not realise that Æthelstan died before the monks made the journey in 944. The twelfth-century chronicler Symeon of Durham said that Æthelstan ordered Edwin to be drowned, but this is dismissed by most historians. Edwin might have fled England after an unsuccessful rebellion against his brother's rule, and his death may have put an end to Winchester's opposition.


title: Æthelstan

text: Edward the Elder had conquered the Danish territories in east Mercia and East Anglia with the assistance of Æthelflæd and her husband Æthelred, but when Edward died the Danish king Sihtric still ruled the Viking Kingdom of York (formerly the southern Northumbrian kingdom of Deira). In January 926, Æthelstan arranged for his only full sister to marry Sihtric. The two kings agreed not to invade each other's territories or to support each other's enemies. The following year Sihtric died, and Æthelstan seized the chance to invade. Guthfrith, a cousin of Sihtric, led a fleet from Dublin to try to take the throne, but Æthelstan easily prevailed. He captured York and received the submission of the Danish people. According to a southern chronicler, he "succeeded to the kingdom of the Northumbrians", and it is uncertain whether he had to fight Guthfrith. Southern kings had never ruled the north, and his usurpation was met with outrage by the Northumbrians, who had always resisted southern control. However, at Eamont, near Penrith, on 12 July 927, King Constantine II of Alba, King Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Ealdred of Bamburgh, and King Owain of Strathclyde (or Morgan ap Owain of Gwent) accepted Æthelstan's overlordship. His triumph led to seven years of peace in the north.


title: Æthelstan

text: Whereas Æthelstan was the first English king to achieve lordship over northern Britain, he inherited his authority over the Welsh kings from his father and aunt. In the 910s Gwent acknowledged the lordship of Wessex, and Deheubarth and Gwynedd accepted that of Æthelflæd; following Edward's takeover of Mercia, they transferred their allegiance to him. According to William of Malmesbury, after the meeting at Eamont Æthelstan summoned the Welsh kings to Hereford, where he imposed a heavy annual tribute and fixed the border between England and Wales in the Hereford area at the River Wye. The dominant figure in Wales was Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, described by the historian of early medieval Wales Thomas Charles-Edwards as "the firmest ally of the 'emperors of Britain' among all the kings of his day". Welsh kings attended Æthelstan's court between 928 and 935 and witnessed charters at the head of the list of laity (apart from the kings of Scotland and Strathclyde), showing that their position was regarded as superior to that of the other great men present. The alliance produced peace between Wales and England, and within Wales, lasting throughout Æthelstan's reign, though some Welsh resented the status of their rulers as under-kings, as well as the high level of tribute imposed upon them. In "Armes Prydein Vawr" (The Great Prophecy of Britain), a Welsh poet foresaw the day when the British would rise up against their Saxon oppressors and drive them into the sea.


title: Æthelstan

text: According to William of Malmesbury, after the Hereford meeting Æthelstan went on to expel the Cornish from Exeter, fortify its walls, and fix the Cornish boundary at the River Tamar. This account is regarded sceptically by historians, however, as Cornwall had been under English rule since the mid-ninth century. Thomas Charles-Edwards describes it as "an improbable story", while historian John Reuben Davies sees it as the suppression of a British revolt and the confinement of the Cornish beyond the Tamar. Æthelstan emphasised his control by establishing a new Cornish see and appointing its first bishop, but Cornwall kept its own culture and language.


title: Æthelstan

text: Æthelstan became the first king of all the Anglo-Saxon peoples, and in effect overlord of Britain. His successes inaugurated what John Maddicott, in his history of the origins of the English Parliament, calls the "imperial phase" of English kingship between about 925 and 975, when rulers from Wales and Scotland attended the assemblies of English kings and witnessed their charters. Æthelstan tried to reconcile the aristocracy in his new territory of Northumbria to his rule. He lavished gifts on the minsters of Beverley, Chester-le-Street, and York, emphasising his Christianity. He also purchased the vast territory of Amounderness in Lancashire, and gave it to the Archbishop of York, his most important lieutenant in the region. But he remained a resented outsider, and the northern British kingdoms preferred to ally with the pagan Norse of Dublin. In contrast to his strong control over southern Britain, his position in the north was far more tenuous.


title: Æthelstan

text: In 934 Æthelstan invaded Scotland. His reasons are unclear, and historians give alternative explanations. The death of his half-brother Edwin in 933 might have finally removed factions in Wessex opposed to his rule. Guthfrith, the Norse king of Dublin who had briefly ruled Northumbria, died in 934; any resulting insecurity among the Danes would have given Æthelstan an opportunity to stamp his authority on the north. An entry in the "Annals of Clonmacnoise", recording the death in 934 of a ruler who was possibly Ealdred of Bamburgh, suggests another possible explanation. This points to a dispute between Æthelstan and Constantine over control of his territory. The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" briefly recorded the expedition without explanation, but the twelfth-century chronicler John of Worcester stated that Constantine had broken his treaty with Æthelstan.


title: Æthelstan

text: Æthelstan set out on his campaign in May 934, accompanied by four Welsh kings: Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Idwal Foel of Gwynedd, Morgan ap Owain of Gwent, and Tewdwr ap Griffri of Brycheiniog. His retinue also included eighteen bishops and thirteen earls, six of whom were Danes from eastern England. By late June or early July he had reached Chester-le-Street, where he made generous gifts to the tomb of St Cuthbert, including a stole and maniple (ecclesiastical garments) originally commissioned by his step-mother Ælfflæd as a gift to Bishop Frithestan of Winchester. The invasion was launched by land and sea. According to Symeon of Durham, his land forces ravaged as far as Dunnottar in north-east Scotland, the furthest north that any English army had reached since Ecgfrith's disastrous invasion in 685, while the fleet raided Caithness, then probably part of the Norse kingdom of Orkney.


title: Æthelstan

text: No battles are recorded during the campaign, and chronicles do not record its outcome. By September, however, he was back in the south of England at Buckingham, where Constantine witnessed a charter as "subregulus", thus acknowledging Æthelstan's overlordship. In 935 a charter was attested by Constantine, Owain of Strathclyde, Hywel Dda, Idwal Foel, and Morgan ap Owain. At Christmas of the same year Owain of Strathclyde was once more at Æthelstan's court along with the Welsh kings, but Constantine was not. His return to England less than two years later would be in very different circumstances.


title: Æthelstan

text: In 934 Olaf Guthfrithson succeeded his father Guthfrith as the Norse King of Dublin. The alliance between the Norse and the Scots was cemented by the marriage of Olaf to Constantine's daughter. By August 937 Olaf had defeated his rivals for control of the Viking part of Ireland, and he promptly launched a bid for the former Norse kingdom of York. Individually Olaf and Constantine were too weak to oppose Æthelstan, but together they could hope to challenge the dominance of Wessex. In the autumn they joined with the Strathclyde Britons under Owain to invade England. Medieval campaigning was normally conducted in the summer, and Æthelstan could hardly have expected an invasion on such a large scale so late in the year. He seems to have been slow to react, and an old Latin poem preserved by William of Malmesbury accused him of having "languished in sluggish leisure". The allies plundered English territory while Æthelstan took his time gathering a West Saxon and Mercian army. However, Michael Wood praises his caution, arguing that unlike Harold in 1066, he did not allow himself to be provoked into precipitate action. When he marched north, the Welsh did not join him, and they did not fight on either side.


title: Æthelstan

text: The two sides met at the Battle of Brunanburh, resulting in an overwhelming victory for Æthelstan, supported by his young half-brother, the future King Edmund. Olaf escaped back to Dublin with the remnant of his forces, while Constantine lost a son. The English also suffered heavy losses, including two of Æthelstan's cousins, sons of Edward the Elder's younger brother, Æthelweard.


title: Æthelstan

text: A great, lamentable and horrible battle was cruelly fought between the Saxons and the Northmen, in which several thousands of Northmen, who are uncounted, fell, but their king Amlaib [Olaf], escaped with a few followers. A large number of Saxons fell on the other side, but Æthelstan, king of the Saxons, enjoyed a great victory.


title: Æthelstan

text: A generation later, the chronicler Æthelweard reported that it was popularly remembered as "the great battle", and it sealed Æthelstan's posthumous reputation as "victorious because of God" (in the words of the homilist Ælfric of Eynsham). The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" abandoned its usual terse style in favour of a heroic poem vaunting the great victory, employing imperial language to present Æthelstan as ruler of an empire of Britain. The site of the battle is uncertain, however, and over thirty sites have been suggested, with Bromborough on the Wirral the most favoured among historians.


title: Æthelstan

text: Historians disagree over the significance of the battle. Alex Woolf describes it as a "pyrrhic victory" for Æthelstan: the campaign seems to have ended in a stalemate, his power appears to have declined, and after he died Olaf acceded to the kingdom of Northumbria without resistance. Alfred Smyth describes it as "the greatest battle in Anglo-Saxon history", but he also states that its consequences beyond Æthelstan's reign have been overstated. In the view of Sarah Foot, on the other hand, it would be difficult to exaggerate the battle's importance: if the Anglo-Saxons had been defeated, their hegemony over the whole mainland of Britain would have disintegrated.


title: Æthelstan

text: Anglo-Saxon kings ruled through ealdormen, who had the highest lay status under the king. In ninth-century Wessex they each ruled a single shire, but by the middle of the tenth they had authority over a much wider area, a change probably introduced by Æthelstan to deal with the problems of governing his extended realm. One of the ealdormen, who was also called Æthelstan, governed the eastern Danelaw territory of East Anglia, the largest and wealthiest province of England. He became so powerful that he was later known as Æthelstan Half King. Several of the ealdormen who witnessed charters had Scandinavian names, and while the localities they came from cannot be identified, they were almost certainly the successors of the earls who led Danish armies in the time of Edward the Elder, and who were retained by Æthelstan as his representatives in local government.


title: Æthelstan

text: Beneath the ealdormen, reeves—royal officials who were noble local landowners—were in charge of a town or royal estate. The authority of church and state was not separated in early medieval societies, and the lay officials worked closely with their diocesan bishop and local abbots, who also attended the king's royal councils.


title: Æthelstan

text: As the first king of all the Anglo-Saxon peoples, Æthelstan needed effective means to govern his extended realm. Building on the foundations of his predecessors, he created the most centralised government that England had yet seen. Previously, some charters had been produced by royal priests and others by members of religious houses, but between 928 and 935 they were produced exclusively by a scribe known to historians as "Æthelstan A", showing an unprecedented degree of royal control over an important activity. Unlike earlier and later charters, "Æthelstan A" provides full details of the date and place of adoption and an unusually long witness list, providing crucial information for historians. After "Æthelstan A" retired or died, charters reverted to a simpler form, suggesting that they had been the work of an individual, rather than the development of a formal writing office.


title: Æthelstan

text: A key mechanism of government was the king's council ("witan" in Old English). Anglo-Saxon kings did not have a fixed capital city. Their courts were peripatetic, and their councils were held at varying locations around their realms. Æthelstan stayed mainly in Wessex, however, and controlled outlying areas by summoning leading figures to his councils. The small and intimate meetings that had been adequate until the enlargement of the kingdom under Edward the Elder gave way to large bodies attended by bishops, ealdormen, thegns, magnates from distant areas, and independent rulers who had submitted to his authority. Frank Stenton sees Æthelstan's councils as "national assemblies", which did much to break down the provincialism that was a barrier to the unification of England. John Maddicott goes further, seeing them as the start of centralised assemblies that had a defined role in English government, and Æthelstan as "the true if unwitting founder of the English parliament".


title: Æthelstan

text: The Anglo-Saxons were the first people in northern Europe to write administrative documents in the vernacular, and law codes in Old English go back to Æthelberht of Kent at the beginning of the seventh century. The law code of Alfred the Great, from the end of the ninth century, was also written in the vernacular, and he expected his ealdormen to learn it. His code was strongly influenced by Carolingian law going back to Charlemagne in such areas as treason, peace-keeping, organisation of the hundreds and judicial ordeal. It remained in force throughout the tenth century, and Æthelstan's codes were built on this foundation. Legal codes required the approval of the king, but they were treated as guidelines which could be adapted and added to at the local level, rather than a fixed canon of regulations, and customary oral law was also important in the Anglo-Saxon period.


title: Æthelstan

text: More legal texts survive from Æthelstan's reign than from any other tenth-century English king. The earliest appear to be his tithe edict and the "Ordinance on Charities". Four legal codes were adopted at Royal Councils in the early 930s at Grately in Hampshire, Exeter, Faversham in Kent, and Thunderfield in Surrey. Local legal texts survive from London and Kent, and one concerning the 'Dunsæte' on the Welsh border probably also dates to Æthelstan's reign. In the view of the historian of English law Patrick Wormald, the laws must have been written by Wulfhelm, who succeeded Athelm as Archbishop of Canterbury in 926. Other historians see Wulfhelm's role as less important, giving the main credit to Æthelstan himself, although the significance placed on the ordeal as an ecclesiastical ritual shows the increased influence of the church. Nicholas Brooks sees the role of the bishops as marking an important stage in the increasing involvement of the church in the making and enforcement of law.


title: Æthelstan

text: The two earliest codes were concerned with clerical matters, and Æthelstan stated that he acted on the advice of Wulfhelm and his bishops. The first asserts the importance of paying tithes to the church. The second enforces the duty of charity on Æthelstan's reeves, specifying the amount to be given to the poor and requiring reeves to free one penal slave annually. His religious outlook is shown in a wider sacralization of the law in his reign.


title: Æthelstan

text: The later codes show his concern with threats to social order, especially robbery, which he regarded as the most important manifestation of social breakdown. The first of these later codes, issued at Grately, prescribed harsh penalties, including the death penalty for anyone over twelve years old caught in the act of stealing goods worth more than eight pence. This apparently had little effect, as Æthelstan admitted in the Exeter code: "I King Æthelstan, declare that I have learned that the public peace has not been kept to the extent, either of my wishes, or of the provisions laid down at Grately, and my councillors say that I have suffered this too long." In desperation the Council tried a different strategy, offering an amnesty to thieves if they paid compensation to their victims. The problem of powerful families protecting criminal relatives was to be solved by expelling them to other parts of the realm. This strategy did not last long, and at Thunderfield Æthelstan returned to the hard line, softened by raising the minimum age for the death penalty to fifteen "because he thought it too cruel to kill so many young people and for such small crimes as he understood to be the case everywhere". His reign saw the first introduction of the system of tithing, sworn groups of ten or more men who were jointly responsible for peacekeeping (later known as frankpledge). Sarah Foot commented that tithing and oath-taking to deal with the problem of theft had its origin in Frankia: "But the equation of theft with disloyalty to Æthelstan's person appears peculiar to him. His preoccupation with theft—tough on theft, tough on the causes of theft—finds no direct parallel in other kings' codes."


title: Æthelstan

text: Historians differ widely regarding Æthelstan's legislation. Patrick Wormald's verdict was harsh: "The hallmark of Æthelstan's law-making is the gulf dividing its exalted aspirations from his spasmodic impact." In his view, "The legislative activity of Æthelstan's reign has rightly been dubbed 'feverish'... But the extant results are, frankly, a mess. In the view of Simon Keynes, however, "Without any doubt the most impressive aspect of King Æthelstan's government is the vitality of his law-making", which shows him driving his officials to do their duties and insisting on respect for the law, but also demonstrates the difficulty he had in controlling a troublesome people. Keynes sees the Grately code as "an impressive piece of legislation" showing the king's determination to maintain social order.


title: Æthelstan

text: In the 970s, Æthelstan's nephew, King Edgar, reformed the monetary system to give Anglo-Saxon England the most advanced currency in Europe, with a good quality silver coinage, which was uniform and abundant. In Æthelstan's time, however, it was far less developed, and minting was still organised regionally long after Æthelstan unified the country. The Grately code included a provision that there was to be only one coinage across the king's dominion. However, this is in a section that appears to be copied from a code of his father, and the list of towns with mints is confined to the south, including London and Kent, but not northern Wessex or other regions. Early in Æthelstan's reign, different styles of coin were issued in each region, but after he conquered York and received the submission of the other British kings, he issued a new coinage, known as the "circumscription cross" type. This advertised his newly exalted status with the inscription, "Rex Totius Britanniae". Examples were minted in Wessex, York, and English Mercia (in Mercia bearing the title "Rex Saxorum"), but not in East Anglia or the Danelaw.


title: Æthelstan

text: In the early 930s a new coinage was issued, the "crowned bust" type, with the king shown for the first time wearing a crown with three stalks. This was eventually issued in all regions apart from Mercia, which issued coins without a ruler portrait, suggesting, in Sarah Foot's view, that any Mercian affection for a West Saxon king brought up among them quickly declined.


title: Æthelstan

text: Church and state maintained close relations in the Anglo-Saxon period, both socially and politically. Churchmen attended royal feasts as well as meetings of the Royal Council. During Æthelstan's reign these relations became even closer, especially as the archbishopric of Canterbury had come under West Saxon jurisdiction since Edward the Elder annexed Mercia, and Æthelstan's conquests brought the northern church under the control of a southern king for the first time.


title: Æthelstan

text: Æthelstan appointed members of his own circle to bishoprics in Wessex, possibly to counter the influence of the Bishop of Winchester, Frithestan. One of the king's mass-priests (priests employed to say Mass in his household), Ælfheah, became Bishop of Wells, while another, Beornstan, succeeded Frithestan as Bishop of Winchester. Beornstan was succeeded by another member of the royal household, also called Ælfheah. Two of the leading figures in the later tenth-century Benedictine monastic reform in Edgar's reign, Dunstan and Æthelwold, served in early life at Æthelstan's court and were ordained as priests by Ælfheah of Winchester at the king's request. According to Æthelwold's biographer, Wulfstan, "Æthelwold spent a long period in the royal palace in the king's inseparable companionship and learned much from the king's wise men that was useful and profitable to him". Oda, a future Archbishop of Canterbury, was also close to Æthelstan, who appointed him Bishop of Ramsbury. Oda may have been present at the battle of Brunanburh.


title: Æthelstan

text: Æthelstan was a noted collector of relics, and while this was a common practice at the time, he was marked out by the scale of his collection and the refinement of its contents. The abbot of Saint Samson in Dol sent him some as a gift, and in his covering letter he wrote: "we know you value relics more than earthly treasure". Æthelstan was also a generous donor of manuscripts and relics to churches and monasteries. His reputation was so great that some monastic scribes later falsely claimed that their institutions had been beneficiaries of his largesse. He was especially devoted to the cult of St. Cuthbert in Chester-le-Street, and his gifts to the community there included Bede's Lives of Cuthbert. He commissioned it especially to present to Chester-le Street, and out of all manuscripts he gave to a religious foundation which survive, it is the only one which was wholly written in England during his reign. It has a portrait of Æthelstan presenting the book to Cuthbert, the earliest surviving manuscript portrait of an English king. In the view of Janet Nelson, his "rituals of largesse and devotion at sites of supernatural power ... enhanced royal authority and underpinned a newly united imperial realm".


title: Æthelstan

text: Æthelstan had a reputation for founding churches, although it is unclear how justified this is. According to late and dubious sources, these churches included minsters at Milton Abbas in Dorset and Muchelney in Somerset. In the view of historian John Blair, the reputation is probably well-founded, but "these waters are muddied by Æthelstan's almost folkloric reputation as a founder, which made him a favourite hero of later origin-myths". However, while he was a generous donor to monasteries, he did not give land for new ones or attempt to revive the ones in the north and east destroyed by Viking attacks.


title: Æthelstan

text: He also sought to build ties with continental churches. Cenwald was a royal priest before his appointment as Bishop of Worcester, and in 929 he accompanied two of Æthelstan's half-sisters to the Saxon court so that the future Holy Roman Emperor, Otto, could choose one of them as his wife. Cenwald went on to make a tour of German monasteries, giving lavish gifts on Æthelstan's behalf and receiving in return promises that the monks would pray for the king and others close to him in perpetuity. England and Saxony became closer after the marriage alliance, and German names start to appear in English documents, while Cenwald kept up the contacts he had made by subsequent correspondence, helping the transmission of continental ideas about reformed monasticism to England.


title: Æthelstan

text: Æthelstan built on his grandfather's efforts to revive ecclesiastical scholarship, which had fallen to a low state in the second half of the ninth century. John Blair described Æthelstan's achievement as "a determined reconstruction, visible to us especially through the circulation and production of books, of the shattered ecclesiastical culture". He was renowned in his own day for his piety and promotion of sacred learning. His interest in education, and his reputation as a collector of books and relics, attracted a cosmopolitan group of ecclesiastical scholars to his court, particularly Bretons and Irish. Æthelstan gave extensive aid to Breton clergy who had fled Brittany following its conquest by the Vikings in 919. He made a confraternity agreement with the clergy of Dol Cathedral in Brittany, who were then in exile in central France, and they sent him the relics of Breton saints, apparently hoping for his patronage. The contacts resulted in a surge in interest in England for commemorating Breton saints. One of the most notable scholars at Æthelstan's court was Israel the Grammarian, who may have been a Breton. Israel and "a certain Frank" drew a board game called "Gospel Dice" for an Irish bishop, Dub Innse, who took it home to Bangor. Æthelstan's court played a crucial role in the origins of the English monastic reform movement.


title: Æthelstan

text: Few prose narrative sources survive from Æthelstan's reign, but it produced an abundance of poetry, much of it Norse-influenced praise of the King in grandiose terms, such as the Brunanburh poem. Sarah Foot even makes a case that "Beowulf" may have been composed in Æthelstan's circle.


title: Æthelstan

text: Æthelstan's court was the centre of a revival of the elaborate hermeneutic style of later Latin writers, influenced by the West Saxon scholar Aldhelm (c.639–709), and by early tenth-century French monasticism. Foreign scholars at Æthelstan's court such as Israel the Grammarian were practitioners. The style was characterised by long, convoluted sentences and a predilection for rare words and neologisms. The "Æthelstan A" charters were written in "hermeneutic" Latin. In the view of Simon Keynes it is no coincidence that they first appear immediately after the king had for the first time united England under his rule, and they show a high level of intellectual attainment and a monarchy invigorated by success and adopting the trappings of a new political order. The style influenced architects of the late tenth-century monastic reformers educated at Æthelstan's court such as Æthelwold and Dunstan, and became a hallmark of the movement. After "Æthelstan A", charters became more simple, but the "hermeneutic" style returned in the charters of Eadwig and Edgar.


title: Æthelstan

text: The object of the compilers of these charters was to express their meaning by the use of the greatest possible number of words and by the choice of the most grandiloquent, bombastic words they could find. Every sentence is so overloaded by the heaping up of unnecessary words that the meaning is almost buried out of sight. The invocation with its appended clauses, opening with pompous and partly alliterative words, will proceed amongst a blaze of verbal fireworks throughout twenty lines of smallish type, and the pyrotechnic display will be maintained with equal magnificence throughout the whole charter, leaving the reader, dazzled by the glaze and blinded by the smoke, in a state of uncertainty as to the meaning of these frequently untranslatable and usually interminable sentences.


title: Æthelstan

text: However, Michael Lapidge argues that however unpalatable the "hermeneutic" style seems to modern taste, it was an important part of late Anglo-Saxon culture, and deserves more sympathetic attention than it has received from modern historians. In the view of historian David Woodman, "Æthelstan A" should "be accorded recognition as an individual author of no little genius, a man who not only overhauled the legal form of the diploma but also had the ability to write Latin that is as enduringly fascinating as it is complex ... In many ways the diplomas of "Æthelstan A" represent the stylistic peak of the Anglo-Saxon diplomatic tradition, a fitting complement to Æthelstan's own momentous political feats and to the forging of what would become England."


title: Æthelstan

text: Historians frequently comment on Æthelstan's grand and extravagant titles. On his coins and charters he is described as "Rex totius Britanniae", or "King of the whole of Britain". A gospel book he donated to Christ Church, Canterbury is inscribed "Æthelstan, king of the English and ruler of the whole of Britain with a devout mind gave this book to the primatial see of Canterbury, to the church dedicated to Christ". In charters from 931 he is "king of the English, elevated by the right hand of the almighty to the throne of the whole kingdom of Britain", and in one manuscript dedication he is even styled "basileus et curagulus", the titles of Byzantine emperors. Some historians are not impressed. "Clearly", comments Alex Woolf, "King Æthelstan was a man who had pretensions," while in the view of Simon Keynes, "Æthelstan A" proclaimed his master king of Britain "by wishful extension". But according to George Molyneaux "this is to apply an anachronistic standard: tenth-century kings had a loose but real hegemony throughout the island, and their titles only appear inflated if one assumes that kingship ought to involve domination of an intensity like that seen within the English kingdom of the eleventh and later centuries."


title: Æthelstan

text: The West Saxon court had connections with the Carolingians going back to the marriage between Æthelstan's great-grandfather Æthelwulf and Judith, daughter of the king of West Francia (and future Holy Roman Emperor) Charles the Bald, as well as the marriage of Alfred the Great's daughter Ælfthryth to Judith's son by a later marriage, Baldwin II, Count of Flanders. One of Æthelstan's half-sisters, Eadgifu, married Charles the Simple, king of the West Franks, in the late 910s. He was deposed in 922, and Eadgifu sent their son Louis to safety in England. By Æthelstan's time the connection was well established, and his coronation was performed with the Carolingian ceremony of anointment, probably to draw a deliberate parallel between his rule and Carolingian tradition. His "crowned bust" coinage of 933–938 was the first Anglo-Saxon coinage to show the king crowned, following Carolingian iconography.