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Favours and the threat of force: such, as they had ever been, were the essence of successful kingship.

— Tom Holland Athelstan: The Making of England (2016)

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More quotes by Tom Holland

Any attempt to extrapolate from the minimal evidence available a thesis as to Athelstan’s sexuality would be as anachronistic as it was nugatory.

Athelstan: The Making of England (2016)

Rare was the royal genealogy that had not born witness to the fecundity of Woden.

Athelstan: The Making of England (2016)

Estates brought Edward wealth, which enabled him to display generosity to those who support he needed; military commands had given him experience in war, without which no king could hope to maintain his rule.

Athelstan: The Making of England (2016)

That a union as long-lasting as that of Great Britain might fray can hardly help but serve as a reminder that the joining of different peoples in a shared sense of identity is not something easily achieved and maintained.

Athelstan: The Making of England (2016)

Nobody in the West really gives a shit. And the reason nobody gives a shit, as a Yazidi refugee I spoke to said, is that in the West you have Christians, you have Muslims, you have Jews who all speak up for their co-religionists, but who cares about the Yazidi? Who cares about them?

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Tom Holland (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.