The Anglo-Saxons

Name: The Anglo-Saxons
Rating: 4.6 (4014 reviews)

by Marc Morris

First published 2021

Amazon

4.6(4,014)

Marc Morris surveys the centuries between the end of Roman rule and the Norman Conquest, combining written sources, archaeology and material culture to explain how new kingdoms and identities emerged in Britain. He follows migration and settlement, the growth of Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex, conversion to Christianity, monastic learning and the networks that connected early England to Ireland and continental Europe.

The later narrative centres on Scandinavian invasion, Alfred the Great’s resistance, the formation of a single English kingdom under rulers such as Æthelstan, and the renewed Danish conquest associated with Æthelred and Cnut. Morris also examines law, lordship, slavery, women, warfare and religious reform before the succession crisis of 1066. The book presents Anglo-Saxon England not as a static prelude to later history but as a changing society that created many of the institutions inherited by Norman rulers.

Historical Periods

Formation of England899–1066 CE Danish Conquest of England1003–1016 Anglo-Saxon Settlement of Britain5th–6th centuries CE

Genres

Court & Political Fiction Dynastic & Royal Fiction Historical Sagas Social & Domestic Fiction War Fiction

Historical people

Harold Godwinson1022–1066 Edward the Confessordied 1066 Æthelstan895–939 Æthelred the Unready967–1016 Cnut the Great994–1035 Offa of Merciadied 796 Alfred the Great849–899