На престолу је, заједно са братом Елфеардом, наследио оца Едварда Старијег924. Краљевство је подељено тако да је Етелстан владао Мершом, а Елфеард Весексом. Пошто је Елфеард убрзо умро Етелстан је преузео власт и над Весексом и тако постао владар целе Енглеске.
Освојио је Јорк 927, напао Шкотску934, а 937. је у бици код Брунанбурха поразио удружену војску Шкота, Брита и Викинга из Ирске.
Entries on ninth century West Saxons kings describe them as kings of Wessex in Lapidge, et al., ed., Blackwell Encyclopaedia; Keynes, "Rulers of the English", pp.513–515; Higham and Ryan, Anglo-Saxon World, p. 8
Cooper, Tracy-Anne (март 2013). „Æthelstan: The First King of England by Sarah Foot (review)”. Journal of World History. 24 (1): 189—192. S2CID162023751. doi:10.1353/jwh.2013.0025.CS1 одржавање: Формат датума (веза)
Davies, John Reuben (2013). „Wales and West Britain”. Ур.: Stafford, Pauline. A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland c. 500–c. 1100. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN978-1-118-42513-8.
Foot, Sarah (2007). „Where English Becomes British: Rethinking Contexts for Brunanburh”. Ур.: Barrow, Julia; Wareham, Andrew. Myth, Rulership, Church and Charters. Ashgate. стр.127—144. ISBN978-0-7546-5120-8.
Foot, Sarah (2011). Æthelstan: The First King of England. Yale University Press. ISBN978-0-300-12535-1.
Gretsch, Mechtild (1999). The Intellectual Foundations of the English Benedictine Reform. Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-03052-6.
Halloran, Kevin (септембар 2013). „Anlaf Guthfrithson at York: A Non-existent Kingship?”. Northern History. University of Leeds. 50 (2): 180—185. S2CID154514458. doi:10.1179/0078172X13Z.00000000042.CS1 одржавање: Формат датума (веза)
Hunter Blair, Peter (2003). An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England (3rd изд.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-83085-0.
Insley, Charles (2013). „Southumbria”. Ур.: Stafford, Pauline. A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland c. 500-c. 1100. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN978-1-118-42513-8.
John, Eric (1982). „The Age of Edgar”. Ур.: Campbell, James. The Anglo-Saxons. Penguin Books. ISBN0-14-014395-5.
Karkov, Catherine E. (2004). The Ruler Portraits of Anglo-Saxon England. Boydell. ISBN1-84383-059-0.
Keynes, Simon (1990). „Royal government and the written word in late Anglo-Saxon England”. Ур.: McKitterick, Rosamund. The Uses of Literacy in Early Medieval Europe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-34409-3.
Keynes, Simon (1999). „England, c. 900–1016”. Ур.: Reuter, Timothy. The New Cambridge Medieval History. III. Cambridge University Press. стр.456—484. ISBN0-521-36447-7.
Keynes, Simon (2001). „Edward, King of the Anglo-Saxons”. Ур.: N. J. Higham; D. H. Hill. Edward the Elder 899–924. Routledge. ISBN0-415-21497-1.
Keynes, Simon (2001). „Rulers of the English, c. 450–1066”. Ур.: Michael Lapidge; John Blair; Simon Keynes; Donald Scragg. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN978-0-631-22492-1.
Keynes, Simon (2008). „Edgar rex admirabilis”. Ур.: Scragg, Donald. Edgar King of the English: New Interpretations. The Boydell Press. ISBN978-1-84383-399-4.
Livingston, Michael, ур. (2011). The Battle of Brunanburh: A Casebook. University of Exeter Press. ISBN978-0-85989-862-1.
Livingston, Michael (2011). „The Roads to Brunanburh”. Ур.: Livingston, Michael. The Battle of Brunanburh: A Casebook. University of Exeter Press. стр.1—26. ISBN978-0-85989-862-1.
Maclean, Simon (2013). „Britain, Ireland and Europe, c. 900–c. 1100”. Ур.: Stafford, Pauline. A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland c. 500-c. 1100. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN978-1-118-42513-8.
Maddicott, John (2010). The Origins of the English Parliament, 924–1327. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-958550-2.
Miller, Sean (2001). „Æthelstan”. Ур.: Michael Lapidge; John Blair; Simon Keynes; Donald Scragg. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN978-0-631-22492-1.
Molyneaux, George (2015). The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-871791-1.
Nelson, Janet (1999). Rulers and Ruling Families in Early Medieval Europe. Ashgate. ISBN0-86078-802-4.
Nelson, Janet L. (1999). „Rulers and government”. Ур.: Reuter, Timothy. The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III c. 900–c. 1024. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-36447-7.
Nelson, Janet (2008). „The First Use of the Second Anglo-Saxon Ordo”. Ур.: Julia Barrow; Andrew Wareham. Myth, Rulership, Church and Charters. Ashgate. ISBN978-0-7546-5120-8.
Ortenberg, Veronica (2010). „'The King from Overseas: Why did Æthelstan Matter in Tenth-Century Continental Affairs?”. Ур.: Rollason, David; Leyser, Conrad; Williams, Hannah. England and the Continent in the Tenth Century: Studies in Honour of Wilhelm Levison (1876–1947). Brepols. ISBN978-2-503-53208-0.
Pratt, David (2010). „Written Law and the Communication of Authority in Tenth-Century England”. Ур.: Rollason, David; Leyser, Conrad; Williams, Hannah. England and the Continent in the Tenth Century: Studies in Honour of Wilhelm Levison (1876–1947). Brepols. ISBN978-2-503-53208-0.
Roach, Levi (август 2013). „Law codes and legal norms in later Anglo-Saxon England”. Historical Research. Institute of Historical Research. 86 (233): 465—486. doi:10.1111/1468-2281.12001.CS1 одржавање: Формат датума (веза)
Ryan, Martin J. (2013). „Conquest, Reform and the Making of England”. Ур.: Higham, Nicholas J.; Ryan, Martin J. The Anglo-Saxon World. Yale University Press. ISBN978-0-300-12534-4.
Scragg, Donald (2001). „Battle of Brunanburh”. Ур.: Michael Lapidge; John Blair; Simon Keynes; Donald Scragg. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN978-0-631-22492-1.
Sharp, Sheila (јесен 1997). „England, Europe and the Celtic World: King Athelstan's Foreign Policy”. Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester. 79 (3): 197—219. doi:10.7227/BJRL.79.3.15.CS1 одржавање: Формат датума (веза)
Sharp, Sheila (2001). „The West Saxon Tradition of Dynastic Marriage”. Ур.: N. J. Higham; D. H. Hill. Edward the Elder 899–924. Routledge. ISBN0-415-21497-1.
Smyth, Alfred P. (1987). Scandinavian York and Dublin. Irish Academic Press. ISBN0-7165-2365-5.
Stafford, Pauline (2001). „Ealdorman”. Ур.: Michael Lapidge; John Blair; Simon Keynes; Donald Scragg. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN978-0-631-22492-1.
Williams, Ann (1991). „Ælfflæd queen d. after 920”. Ур.: Williams, Ann; Smyth, Alfred P.; Kirby, D. P. A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain. Seaby. ISBN1-85264-047-2.
Williams, Ann (1991). „Athelstan, king of Wessex 924-39”. Ур.: Ann Williams; Alfred P. Smyth; D. P. Kirby. A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain. Seaby. ISBN1-85264-047-2.
Williams, Ann (1991). „Ealdred of Bamburgh”. Ур.: Ann Williams; Alfred P. Smyth; D. P. Kirby. A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain. Seaby. ISBN1-85264-047-2.
Wood, Michael (2007). „'Stand strong against the monsters': kingship and learning in the empire of king Æthelstan”. Ур.: Wormald, Patrick; Nelson, Janet. Lay Intellectuals in the Carolingian World. Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-83453-7.
Wood, Michael (2010). „A Carolingian Scholar in the Court of King Æthelstan”. Ур.: Rollason, David; Leyser, Conrad; Williams, Hannah. England and the Continent in the Tenth Century: Studies in Honour of Wilhelm Levison (1876–1947). Brepols. ISBN978-2-503-53208-0.
Woodman, D. A. (децембар 2013). „'Æthelstan A' and the rhetoric of rule”. Anglo-Saxon England. Cambridge University Press. 42: 217—248. S2CID159948509. doi:10.1017/S0263675113000112.CS1 одржавање: Формат датума (веза)
Woolf, Alex (2013). „Scotland”. Ур.: Stafford, Pauline. A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: Britain and Ireland c. 500-c. 1100. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN978-1-118-42513-8.
Wormald, Patrick (1999). The Making of English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century. 1. Blackwell. ISBN0-631-13496-4.
Zacher, Samantha (2011). „Multilingualism at the Court of King Æthelstan: Latin Praise Poetry and The Battle of Brunanburh”. Ур.: Tyler, Elizabeth M. Conceptualizing Multilingualism in England, c. 800-C. 1250. Brepols. ISBN978-2-503-52856-4.
Foot, Sarah (11. 4. 2013). „Athelstan”. The Essay: Anglo-Saxon Portraits. BBC. Radio 3.CS1 одржавање: Формат датума (веза)
Sillito, David (27. 8. 2009). „Viking hoard reveals its story”. BBC Radio 4, Today Programme.CS1 одржавање: Формат датума (веза) (On The Vale of York Hoard)