BATTLE FOR THE ISLAND KINGDOM

Shortlisted for Military History Matters Book of the Year 2024. Weaving together period sources and a fast-paced narrative, this is a rich history of the years leading up to 1066 when Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans vied for the English crown. Includes all the key individuals that inspired the final season of Netflix's Vikings: Valhalla and the BBC drama King and Conqueror. Bloody battles, political intrigues and dynastic marriages all played a part in shaping a nascent England. The book covers the six violent decades when Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and ultimately Normans vied for the English crown before the seismic Battle of Hastings determined the fate of England for centuries. Discover the defining personalities of the age, from the English king Aethelred the Unready and his nemesis Viking Svein Forkbeard, dragging the realm into their personal vendetta of betrayal, vengeance and butchery; Cnut the Great who forged three kingdoms into a North Sea empire across England and Scandinavia only for his Norman queen Emma and Saxon consort Aelfifu to pit his sons against each other. King Edward the Confessor, a tool of his quarrelling lords, his very bed a battleground. We discover how the power-hungry Earl Harold Godwin plays all sides until his own son Harold eventually seizes the crown and why Harold's brother Tostig chose to betray both him and his people for the Norman William the Bastard, fighting to secure his own Norman Dukedom, who would become William the Conqueror. Illus, 432 pages.