We asked 12 well-loved authors to each suggest a couple of historical books to give, receive, or treat yourself to for Christmas 2025. There are ideas for history-reading children and teens as well. Newly-published or classics, fiction and non-fiction, their choices range from Ancient Rome to a history of Black British culture, via the Crusades, […]
Review: King & Conqueror
King & Conqueror, the BBC’s new series telling “the epic story of 1066 and the brutal battle for a kingdom”, began on BBC One on Sunday, 24 August, 2025. The historian Annie Whitehead reviews the first episode and finds it “a wasted opportunity to tackle the subject”. For years, Anglo-Saxon history languished in the film […]
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 […]
Review: Henrietta Maria by Leanda de Lisle
Annie Whitehead, the historian and novelist, reviews Leanda de Lisle’s new biography of Henrietta Maria and finds it a “triumph”. Henrietta Maria, known to most with even a passing interest as the French, Catholic, wife of Charles I, has been perceived as, at best, a bad influence; at worst, “the most reviled consort to have […]
The Sins of the Father by Annie Whitehead
AD658. The sons of Penda of Mercia have come of age. Ethelred, the youngest, recalls little of past wars while Wulf is determined to emulate their father, whose quest to avenge his betrayed kinswomen drew him to battle three successive Northumbrian kings. Ecgfrith of Northumbria is more hostile towards the Mercians than his father was. […]
Women of Power in Anglo-Saxon England by Annie Whitehead
Many Anglo-Saxon kings are familiar. Æthelred the Unready is one; yet less is written of his wife, who was consort of two kings and championed one of her sons over the others, or of his mother, who was an anointed queen and powerful regent, but was also accused of witchcraft and regicide. A royal abbess […]
Books for history lovers: summer reading 2021
It’s a good year to plan your summer escape in the bookshop or library, since most of us will be taking our break at home or somewhere in these beautiful but rainy islands and may need books to journey any further. We asked historical writers, both fiction and non-fiction, for their suggestions for books for […]