"It was a common saying of the Anglo-Saxons of Athelstan, that no one more legally or more learnedly conducted a government. It is not at all surprising, that he was a favourite both among his own people and in Europe. He was certainly a great and illustrious character. He appears to have been as amiable as great. To the clergy he was attentive and mild; to his people affable and pleasant. With the great he was dignified; with others he laid aside his state, and was condescending and decently familiar. His stature was almost the middle size; his hair yellowish, twisted with golden threads. His people loved him for his bravery and humility; but his enemies felt his wrath."
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Sources
Sharon Turner, The History of the Anglo-Saxons from the Earliest Period to the Norman Conquest, Vol. II (7th ed. 1852), p. 177
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C3%86thelstan
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Æthelstan
Æthelstan or Athelstan (c. 894 – 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".
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