The Birth of the Anglo-Saxons: Three Kings and a History of Britain at the Dawn of the Viking Age

A brilliant, profound, and authoritative history of the golden age of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Britain.

For too long, the eighth century has 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 politic...