Emma Sysum 💙 🇺🇦🌻 #StandWithUkraine

You have a birthday. So does England. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 And it’s today. The 12th of July. Almost 1,100 years ago, on this exact day, England became a country. Almost no one knows it. The island was old long before it had a name. Farmers. Romans. Saxons. Then out of the sea came the Danes. ⚔️ They came to raid. They stayed to farm. And one hard question hung over the whole land. Two peoples, Saxon and Dane, one small island. Whose country was it now? Alfred of Wessex held the last corner and turned the tide. But he wanted more than a truce. One country. For both peoples. One England. He died before he could build it. 🔥 So his family finished it. His son took back town after town. His daughter Æthelflæd led the armies herself. A woman commanding armies more than 1,000 years ago. But it was Alfred’s grandson who ended the work. Æthelstan. In 927 he rode north and took York, the last Viking crown in England. One man now held every English kingdom. Then he did something stranger. He called the other kings of Britain to a bridge in the north. A quiet place called Eamont. 📜 Scots. Welsh. The kings of the north. There, by the river, they bent the knee. And that morning he took a new title. Not king of Wessex. Not king of the Saxons. King of the English. All of them. That bridge, on this day in 927, is the closest thing we have to the morning a country began. ⚖️ He made it real. One law, coast to coast. One coin, struck the same everywhere. On it he wears a crown, not a war helmet. Then in 937 they came to destroy it. Vikings, Scots, the men of the north. The largest army the island had ever seen. They met him at Brunanburh. Dawn to dark. Five kings fell. And when the sun went down, Æthelstan was still standing. 🏛️ England had been tested. And England had held. He left no son. He died in 939 and chose a quiet abbey at Malmesbury. Alone, in the country he had made. But it never came apart. Every king and queen of England since has sat on the throne he built. More than 1,000 years. Unbroken. You were taught 1066. The Tudors. The wars. But not this. Not the king who made the country. Not the bridge. Not the 12th of July. Æthelstan. The first king of England. And the one we forgot. Next year it turns 1,100. England has a birthday. And now you know when it is. 🇬🇧 You did not choose to be born here. But you inherited a country with a beginning. A name won on a bridge, 1,100 years ago. That is yours. No one can take it from you. Help us remember the king who made us. Help us remember who we are. 👇🙏 👉 proudofus.co.uk/support 👈 Be part of us. ☝️🇬🇧 Be Proud Of Us. 🙏🇬🇧

Slavery existed for over 5,000 years. Every major civilisation accepted it. For most of history, nobody seriously tried to stop it at scale. Then Britain did something different. It didn’t just pass a law. 👇 In 1807, Britain abolished the slave trade. Then it enforced it. For 60 years, the Royal Navy hunted slave ships. 1,600 ships captured. Around 150,000 people freed. And it cost lives. Around 2,000 British sailors died doing it. Then in 1833: Britain abolished slavery across its empire. 800,000 people set free. It paid £20 million to do it. Around 40 percent of government spending. This wasn’t quick. This wasn’t easy. And it didn’t start with politicians. It started with ordinary people. Women boycotted sugar. Hundreds of thousands of them. Thomas Clarkson rode 35,000 miles to gather evidence. A movement that took decades. This is part of British history. Not perfect. But not what most people are told either. Almost no one explains it like this. Proud Of Us is funded entirely by our community. No sponsors. No advertisers. If you believe this history deserves to be told properly:👇 Be part of us. 👉 proudofus.co.uk/support 🙏 Be proud of us 🇬🇧

They STOPPED teaching the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ANGLO-SAXON 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 STORY. Here’s a brief introduction to it. 🧵 Fifteen hundred years ago, England didn’t exist. Angles. Saxons. Jutes. Open boats across the North Sea. They carved the island into seven warring kingdoms. ⚔️ But they built. Churches. Laws written in English, not Latin. Shires, your county was drawn by their hands over a thousand years ago. Then the Vikings came. And nearly ended everything. By 878, every kingdom had fallen. Every king had fled or died. Except one. A 28-year-old hiding in a marsh called Alfred. He fought back. Built fortified towns. Retook London. Wrote a legal code. Translated books into English. He wanted a nation that could think, not just fight. His daughter commanded armies. His grandson became the first King of all England. 927 AD. 👑🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 In 1066, the Normans destroyed them. For 200 years, the English were ruled by people who didn’t speak English. But the Normans couldn’t kill what the Anglo-Saxons built. The language survived. The shires survived. The common law survived. The idea that a king answers to his people. That survived. It became Magna Carta. Parliament. The jury. Us. Every word you’re reading right now is rooted in Anglo-Saxon English. Next year, England turns 1,100. Most people don’t even know it has a birthday. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 We’re going deeper. Follow so you don’t miss it. 🇬🇧🙏 What were you taught about the Anglo-Saxons at school? Or were they just… skipped?