The Birth of the Anglo-Saxons
eBook - ePub

The Birth of the Anglo-Saxons

Three Kings and a History of Britain at the Dawn of the Viking Age

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Birth of the Anglo-Saxons

Three Kings and a History of Britain at the Dawn of the Viking Age

About this book

A brilliant, authoritative narrative of the golden age of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Britain by an acclaimed historian of this period. The eighth century has for too long been a neglected era in British history: a shadow land between the death of Saint Bede and the triumphs of King Ælfred and the eventual unification of England.But before the victories of King Ælfred against the Viking invaders, the kingdom of Mercia—spread across a broad swathe of central England—was the reigning power that exercised central political authority for the first time since the Roman Empire. This authority was used to construct trading networks and markets; to develop strong economic, cultural, and political links with the Continent; and to lay the foundations for a system of defense that would be invigorated and reinvented by Ælfred at the end of the ninth century. Two kings, Æthelbald (716–757) and Offa (757–796), dominated the political landscape of the rising power of Mercia. During their reigns, monasteries became powerhouses of royal patronage, economic enterprise, and trade. Offa constructed his grandiose dyke along the borders of the warlike Welsh Kingdoms and, more subtly, spread his message of political superiority through coinage bearing his image. But Æthelbald and Offa between them built something with an even more substantial legacy—a geography of medieval England. And these two kings engineered a set of tensions between kingship, landholding, and the church that were to play out dramatically at the dawn of the Viking Age. In this illuminating history of Early Medieval Britain, Max Adams reconnects the worlds of the three kings—Æthelbald, Offa, and Ælfred—in an absorbing study of the landscape, society, and politics of a fascinating century of change.

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Yes, you can access The Birth of the Anglo-Saxons by Max Adams in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & British History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Pegasus Books
Year
2025
eBook ISBN
9781639368327
Edition
0

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Map of Southern Britain AD 650-850
  3. Title Page
  4. Dedication
  5. List of Maps
  6. Forespæc: The Birth of the Anglo-Saxons
  7. A Note on Maps
  8. Introduction: The Kalends of January
  9. Chronography I: 628–716
  10. Chronography II: 718–796
  11. Chronography III: 798–918
  12. Acknowledgements
  13. About the Author
  14. Endnotes
  15. Bibliography
  16. Index
  17. Image Credits
  18. Copyright