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THE BATTLE Of BRUNANBURGH. 
By Mr. THOS. BOOTH. 21st February, 1905. 
In an interesting paper the Lecturer reviewed and criticised 
many of the claims and speculations which had been put forward 
by antiquarians for the locale of the great battle of Brunanburgh, 
which had been described as the Waterloo of the Anglo-Saxons. 
The site of the battle had not yet been satisfactorily decided, 
though it was the belief of some antiquarians that the “ slopes of 
Saxifield ’ witnessed the crowning victory of the Battle of the 
Brun. It is impossible to over-rate the importance of this great 
Anglo-Danish conflict, for the victory gained at Brunanburgh 
settled the Saxon supremacy in this country for practically all 
time. At that time Athelstane, King of the Anglo-Saxons, had 
attained to great power. He was the son of Edward the Saxon, 
and grandson of the renowned Alfred the Great. Athelstane was 
thirty years of age when his father died, and he was immediately 
accepted by the Mercians (Mercia embracing all the mid-portion 
of England south of the Humber) as their King. The overlords 
of Wessex also accepted him, and he was crowned, with all regal 
pomp, at King’s Town, or Kingston-upon-Thames. As soon as 
Athelstane was established upon the throne of his kingdom he 
