BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS

The Beginnings of the English Nation, starting with the proposition by an eminent historian that "Late Anglo-Saxon England was a nation state", the author explores the beginnings of English identity seen in the epic poem Beowulf, the monumental Ecclesiastical History of Bede, and the ground-breaking Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from the reign of King Alfred. It was the era when English replaced Latin as the language of government, the church and social life. In 625 king Edwin of Northumbria married the Christian Kentish princess Aethelburgh, and the Synod of Whitby, under the redoubtable Abbess Hilda, consolidated Anglo-Saxon Christianity in the north. Although 8th century Northumbria was the era of great churches such as Hexham Abbey, it was on a political knife-edge, with murders, depositions, abdications and 16 kings in 100 years. By way of contrast, the Ruthwell Cross and the poem "The Dream of the Rood" are evidence of a flourishing cultural life. The Lindisfarne Gospels are the product of a sophisticated cosmopolitan inspiration, with their sinuous interlacing framework and images of fantasy birds, dogs and serpents. When the chieftain Offa came to power, the kingdom of the Hwicce was divided, but Offa unified it into Mercia with Wessex as a client state, creating Offa's Dyke as a barrier with the Welsh. York had already fallen to a Viking force and after Alfred's accession in 871 the Viking raids began in earnest. The era ended with the death of Edward the Confessor and his successor Harold's defeat by William the Conqueror. 404pp, paperback, photos, maps, genealogies.