Aethelstan II of East Anglia (died 874) was King of East Anglia from 869 to 874, succeeding Edmund the Martyr and preceding Oswald.
Biography[]
Aethelstan was born in Norwich, East Anglia. He was installed as King of East Engle by Halfdan Whiteshirt's steward Finnr on the death of King Edmund the Martyr in 869, but the Viking raider Rued and his clan sacked farmsteads and hamlets across the East Anglian countryside and harassed both Danes and Anglo-Saxons alike. The friendly Danish warlords Broder and Brothir lost 150 men while trying to support Aethelstan in his fight against Rued, and Aethelstan was ultimately slain in battle. He was buried in Norwich, and his epitaph read, "Here lies Aethelstan, pious son and rightful king of East Anglia. Here lies Aethelstan, warrior of God and slayer of pagans. Here lies Aethelstan, another corpse fed to the worms by the Norse. Here lies a man fool enough to wear East Anglia's crown."