Æthelstan Ætheling (Old English: Æþelstan Æþeling; early or mid 980s – 25 June 1014) was the eldest son of King Æthelred the Unready by his first wife Ælfgifu and the heir apparent to the kingdom until his death.
Almost nothing is known of his life, although he seems to have formed a friendship with Sigeforth and Morcar, two of the leading thegns of the Five Boroughs of the East Midlands.
[2] Æthelstan was a "warrior prince" and by his death he had accumulated a large collection of swords, prized war horses and combat equipment.
[3] In his will, copies of which still survive, and which was made on the day of his death,[4] he left Edmund Ironside his most prized possession, a sword which had once belonged to Offa of Mercia, together with some of his estates and other pieces of his war gear.
To his other full brother, Eadwig, he gave another piece from his large weapon collection, a silver-hilted sword.