Editing Constantine II of Scotland (section)

== Brunanburh and after ==
Following his departure from Æthelstan's court after 935, there is no further report of Constantine until 937. In that year, together with Owain and [[Olaf Guthfrithson]] of [[Dublin]], Constantine invaded England. The resulting [[battle of Brunanburh]] — ''Dún Brunde'' — is reported in the ''Annals of Ulster'' as follows:
{{blockquote|a great battle, lamentable and terrible was cruelly fought... in which fell uncounted thousands of the Northmen. ... And on the other side, a multitude of Saxons fell; but Æthelstan, the king of the Saxons, obtained a great victory.<ref>Anderson, ''Early Sources'', pp. 428–429; ''Annals of Ulster'', s.a. 937.</ref>}} The battle was remembered in England a generation later as "the Great Battle". When reporting the battle, the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' abandons its usual terse style in favour of a heroic poem vaunting the great victory. In this, the "hoary" Constantine, by now around 60 years of age, is said to have lost a son in the battle, a claim which the ''Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'' confirms. The ''Annals of Clonmacnoise'' give his name as Cellach. For all its fame, the site of the battle is uncertain and several sites have been advanced, with [[Bromborough]] on the [[Wirral Peninsula|Wirral]] the most favoured location.<ref>Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', pp. 106–110, Ms. A, s.a. 937; Anderson, ''Scottish Annals'', pp. 69–73; Anderson, ''Early Sources'', p. 429; Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', 168–173; Smyth, ''Warlords and Holy Men'', pp. 203–204; Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 342–343; Scragg, "''Battle of Brunanburh''".</ref>

[[Brunanburh]], for all that it had been a famous and bloody battle, settled nothing. On 27 October 939 Æthelstan, the "pillar of the dignity of the western world" in the words of the ''Annals of Ulster'', died at [[Malmesbury]]. He was succeeded by his brother [[Edmund I|Edmund]], then aged 18. Æthelstan's realm, seemingly made safe by the victory of Brunanburh, collapsed in little more than a year from his death when Amlaíb returned from Ireland and seized Northumbria and the Mercian Danelaw. Edmund spent the remainder of Constantín's reign rebuilding his kingdom.<ref>Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', p. 174; Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 356–359; Higham, ''Kingdom of Northumbria'', p. 193; Blair, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 87–89.</ref>

For Constantine's last years as king, there is only the meagre record of the ''Chronicle of the Kings of Alba''. The death of Æthelstan is reported, as are two others. The first of these, in 938, is that of [[Dubacan of Angus|Dubacan]], [[mormaer of Angus]] or son of the mormaer. Unlike the report of 918, on this occasion, the title mormaer is attached to a geographical area, but it is unknown whether the Angus of 938 was in any way similar to the later mormaerdom or earldom.<ref>Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', pp. 175, 211–212.</ref> The second death entered with that of Æthelstan, is that of Eochaid mac Ailpín, who might, from his name, have been a kinsman of Constantín.<ref>Woolf, ''Pictland to Alba'', p. 175.</ref>