Without Bede, a monk living in Jarrow at the end of the 7th and beginning of the 8th centuries, there would be a huge gap in the early history of the English peoples. Indeed, it was Bede who first spoke of the separate tribes and kingdoms as ‘English’. That’s why, as his biographer Edoardo Albert […]
Bede: the man who invented England by Edoardo Albert
What is England, and who are the English? The man who first posed and answered these questions lived 1,200 years ago in Northumberland. The Venerable Bede spent almost his whole life in two monasteries looking over the North Sea, far from the centres of civilisation. Yet he became the foremost scholar of the first millennium, […]
Bane of Bernicia by Matthew Harffy
Returning from a dangerous mission to Rome, warlord Beobrand looks forward to peace at home, but bloodshed remains his constant companion. While bringing criminals to justice Beobrand believes he has discovered a secret alliance between two of Bernicia’s enemies: the Picts and the Mercians. He hastens to warn his king, but finds Oswiu distracted, preparing […]
Woden’s Vengeance by Donovan Cook
Prince Vortimer has imprisoned his father, King Vortigern – the High King of Britain. With Woden’s spear, Vortimer believes God has chosen him to lead an army south to banish the Jutes once and for all from Britain’s shores. Triumphant after the first battle, Prince Vortimer lays siege to the Jutes, but the war is […]
Shield of Mercia by MJ Porter
Following a brutally cold winter, King Wiglaf of Mercia is in the ascendancy in 836. Even Wessex’s Archbishop of Canterbury ventures to Mercia to broker a religious accord. But can the hard-won peace prevail? Viking raiders threaten Wessex. These bloodthirsty warriors are fast, skilful and have no reticence about killing those who stand in their […]
Historical books for summer reading, 2025
We asked five well-loved authors to each suggest a couple of books they recommend for history lovers to enjoy reading over the summer. Their choices include novels about the eve of the Roman Conquest and the eve of the Norman one; non-fiction about the long history of Black people in Britain and the island’s first […]
Murder in Anglo-Saxon England: Justice, Wergild, Revenge by Annie Whitehead
Historian and author Annie Whitehead has collated around 100 cases in Anglo-Saxon England, from regicides to robberies gone wrong, and from personal feuds to state-sanctioned slaughter, examining their veracity and asking what, if anything, they can tell us about the motives of those who recorded them and about Anglo-Saxon governance and society. The records contain […]
Murder and the law in Anglo-Saxon England
Annie Whitehead, author of Murder in Anglo-Saxon England, describes how she went about researching her new book. Were there laws that dealt with murder, justice and compensation? She also looks at some of the more surprising cases she found. I found enough murder stories to fill a book, and made a few accusations of my […]