The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England, 400–1066

The Birth of England

When the Roman legions abandoned Britain at the start of the fifth century, England did not exist. Six hundred years later, on the eve of the Norman Conquest, it was the most sophisticated kingdom in Europe. Marc Morris's The Anglo-Saxons is the story of those six centuries: the migrations and warlords, the rival kingdoms of the heptarchy, the coming of Christianity, the Viking storm, and the slow, violent assembly of a single English realm.

Kings, Monks, and Gold

Morris builds the narrative from the primary record — Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, charters and law codes — and from the archaeology that has transformed the field: the ship burial at Sutton Hoo, the Staffordshire Hoard, the excavated halls of the early kings. The great figures get their full portraits: Offa and his dyke, Alfred in the marshes, Æthelstan, the first king of all England, the ruinous Æthelred, and Cnut, the Dane who wore the English crown.

Why Read It

This is the origin story of England told with the narrative momentum Morris is known for. He is the national bestselling author of The Norman Conquest and A Great and Terrible King, and this book stands as the single best one-volume account of the age in print.

About This Edition

Author: Marc Morris
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 528
ISBN: 9781639362110