Æthelflæd England’s Forgotten Founder

by Tom Holland

Part of the new Ladybird Expert series, Æthelflæd is an accessible, authoritative, and enlightening introduction to the most influential woman that English history forgot .

Today, few remember Æthelflæd. The daughter, sister and aunt of great kings, she was a ruler as remarkable as any of them. She planted cities, she sponsored learning, and she defeated the enemies of her people. It was on the foundations laid by Æthelflæd that a new kingdom would come to be built: a kingdom that lasts to this day.

Written by historian Tom Holland, Æthelflæd puts a spotlight on this formidable leader, pulling her out of the shadowy history of the dark ages. England owes much to her founding mother.

Written by the leading lights and most outstanding communicators in their fields, the Ladybird Expert books provide clear, accessible and authoritative introductions to subjects drawn from science, history and culture.

For an adult readership, the Ladybird Expert series is produced in the same iconic small hardback format pioneered by the original Ladybirds. Each beautifully illustrated book features the first new illustrations produced in the original Ladybird style for nearly forty years.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography

56 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 7, 2019

About the author

Tom Holland is an English historian and author. He has written many books, both fiction and non-fiction, on many subjects from vampires to history.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Holland was born near Oxford and brought up in the village of Broadchalke near Salisbury, England. He obtained a double first in English and Latin at Queens' College, Cambridge, and afterwards studied shortly for a PhD at Oxford, taking Lord Byron as his subject, before interrupting the post graduate studies and moving to London.

He has adapted Herodotus, Homer, Thucydides and Virgil for BBC Radio 4. His novels, including Attis and Deliver Us From Evil, mostly have a supernatural and horror element as well as being set in the past. He is also the author of three highly praised works of history, Rubicon, Persian Fire and Millennium.

He is on the committee of the Society of Authors and the Classical Association.

Reviews

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of the Ladybird Expert books for adults, this is a brief biography of the Saxon woman dubbed the Lady of the Mercians. Daughter of Alfred the Great, she was one of the leaders who united the people to create England as we know it. This is a fantastic introduction to Aethelflaed's life and it has some fab illustrations.

[Emily M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This an engaging and concise introduction to the topic. 50 pages, but half of them are illustrations. You don't have time to get bogged down by too many minute details, as is my pet peeve in some biographies, but it's longer than a wikipedia article for background. The writing style is engaging. I'm looking for more depth than just this for our UK history year, but a series of these Ladybird books on some of the minor or forgotten figures (especially the women!) alongside a longer biography of Alfred might be useful for our study of this period.

[Emily]

Wow this probably rules

[Alys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again I love his melodramatic writing style. Makes anything exciting.

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely little book about a woman whose influence on England's history is far greater than most of her modern descendants realise.

[Andy Horton · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the new Ladybird for grown-ups series, taking the format of the much-loved children's books - slim hardbacks with engaging illustrations - and having experts in their field write more dense texts for a general adult readership.
A really nice read. Tom Holland takes perhaps a narrow pro-Saxon perspective that doesn't explore the shift from warring with viking and Danish invaders to their integration into Saxon-Danish England by the time of the Norman invasion. It does tell a good and satisfying story though, focused on a narrative of English national identity being born out of the wars and politics of the period and especially through Aethelflaed's leadership.
as well as the text, props are due to Colin Shearing for his illustrations. Sometimes more explicitly brutal than the children's books, they still keep the spirit of the Ladybird style and serve the same purpose of a well-chosen arresting image to accompany each page of text. I particularly liked the cove rimage, as striking as any in the series, and the illustrations of Aethelstan - early on as a small child in an oversized cloak, later at his coronation. And the picture of Aethelflaed at her lessons, her tutor using the Alfred Jewel as a pointer, was a nice Easter egg.
The author of the classic Ladybird histories, L Du Garde Peach, can feel proud of his legacy.

[Paul Pryce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice Ladybird narrative but the word “ravaged” literally is. However, a 2-star because loads of towns were mentioned except the place were Oswald was cut up and nailed to a tree after the battle of Maserfield; Oswestry. (Oswald’s tree)
Terrible omission!!
I’d want to give a 1-star for that BUT the great illustrations save the day.
Please read this book because you’d enjoy it, but as an Oswestrian I’m offended.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice book, felt very nostalgic having a ladybird book with the same style of pictures from when I was a nipper. A good revision of the major events and names around Æthelflæd at the time, what an amazing woman she was.

[Teoðic Smíþ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful

Lovely book, very informative, its full of information and written like a novel, also explores Alfred, Edward ,Athelstan,and Edmund, very well written.

[Gemma Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

These modern Ladybird books for adults are great :)

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first heard about Athelflad in the "History of England" podcast and was so pleased to find this book, with its summary of the background, recounting of her exploits and further reading list.

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new historical favourite. It's criminal she isn't more famous.

[Aranza (grumpy version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Æthelflæd is like… the person who would step on you and you thank her for it.

[Cherese James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book!

It is a great book if you would like to gain the information for an essay or even just in general. Five Stars!!!😍

[Frank Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tiny but fun history book written by Tom Holland.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Æthelflæd, good book to cover the basics of her life and rule.