Athelstan
\nby cricketjeff on July 1, 2010.\u00a0 \u00a9 Jeff Green, All rights reserved
\nHis grandad was our greatest King, his father wrote the law,
\nHis sisters married kings from far and wide.
\nA family of mighty men, they ruled with brain and awe,
\nA combination that won’t be denied.
\nWhen Athelstan made Englishman from Angle, Dane and Celt
\nNobody asked the Scots and Welsh about the way they felt<\/p>\n
Before these reigns lords took their strains in local petty states
\nThe Danes and other raiders took their pick
\nThey stripped the food and other wealth to give it to their mates
\nWhich left the Saxon kingdoms feeling sick
\nBut Athelstan made Englishman from Angle Celt and Dane
\nThe Welsh and Scots had centuries to moan about their pain<\/p>\n
King Alfred burnt a peasant’s cakes but turned the wars around
\nHe slaughtered those who killed his father’s sons
\nReconquered all the Southern lands including London’s ground
\nWithout the help of missiles tanks and guns
\nAnd Athelstan made Englishman from Saxon and the rest
\nThe Welsh and Scots acknowledged him but now think him a pest<\/p>\n
Then Edward, Alfred’s second son, continued with the fight
\nAnd almost all of England fell in line
\nDespite some early setbacks he put all his foes to flight
\nHis rival kings decided to resign
\nThen Athelstan made Englishman from all the country’s men
\nThe Welsh and Scots and foreigners could not split them again<\/p>\n
From Lands End to the Shetland Isles they knelt for Athelstan
\nAnd for a while these islands rang with peace
\nWith Welsh Kings’ aid he routed Scots, they crumbled to a man
\nRebellions and risings had to cease
\nSo Athelstan made Englishman and ruled his neighbours too
\nWithout the like of these great kings I couldn’t write for you!<\/p>\n
Author notes
\nWell it’s more or less true-ish!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Athelstan by cricketjeff on July 1, 2010.\u00a0 \u00a9 Jeff Green, All rights reserved His grandad was our greatest King, his father wrote the law, His sisters married kings from far and wide. A family of mighty men, they ruled with brain and awe, A combination that won’t be denied. When Athelstan made Englishman from Angle, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9692,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4650","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6859,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4650\/revisions\/6859"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}