Author: Paul Barrett Publisher: Pen and Sword Military ISBN: 1036102602 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 258
Book Description
Since the Venerable Bede wrote his iconic Ecclesiastic History of England in the eighth century, King Penda has been relegated to the role of villain and treated as a barrier to advancement in a battle between new ideas and a new culture. Paul Barrett outlines the background to the Anglo-Saxon takeover in England and explores the broad concepts of the Angles’ traditional culture, before delving into the life of Penda (605 – 655). Penda’s life spanned the first half of the seventh century, the era which gave birth to national identities which still form the central components of modern Britain; Wales, Scotland, and England all take shape through this period. Penda’s seemingly impossible ascent to prominence starts on the very periphery of power and ends with the dominance of Britain. He is at the centre of Mercia’s birth, expansion and rise. Throughout his reign his kingdom becomes a bastion of stability in a period of endemic warfare, climate change challenges, cultural competition, and unstable nation-to nation relationships. Throughout his life Penda challenges the status quo and shows the value of cultural pluralism in a time when the growing power of a new faith, Christianity, was pushing all others into extinction. Guided by his loyalty to an ancient culture, service to his family, and his powerful Queen Cynewise, Penda launched Mercia towards eventual supremacy, which would last for over 200 years. He was the last of the great Anglo-Saxon heathen warlords.
Author: Pete Jennings Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN: 9781505299755 Category : Languages : en Pages : 128
Book Description
The first book to gather the fragmentary sources on this dynamic 7th century warrior king, who expanded his territory with war craft and politics in a time of great upheaval. The tale is told within the context of Anglo Saxon culture: food, costume, law, housing, finance, slavery and the competing Pagan & Christian religions.
Author: Chris Peers Publisher: Casemate Publishers ISBN: 1781599920 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 284
Book Description
In England in the eighth century, in the midst of the so-called Dark Ages, Offa ruled Mercia, one of the strongest Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. For over 30 years he was the dominant warlord in the territory south of the Humber and the driving force behind the expansion of Mercias power. During that turbulent period he commanded Mercian armies in their struggle against the neighboring kingdoms of Northumbria and Wessex and against the Welsh tribes. Yet the true story of Offas long reign and of the rise and fall of Mercia are little known although this is one of the most intriguing episodes in this little-recorded phase of Englands past. It is Chris Peerss task in this new study to uncover the facts about Offa and the other Mercian kings and to set them in the context of English history before the coming of the Danes.
Author: Peter Hunter Blair Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company ISBN: 9780393003611 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 324
Book Description
The special aim of this series is to provide serious and yet challenging books, not buried under a mountain of detail. Each volume is intended to provide a picture and an appreciation of its age, as well as a lucid outline, written by an expert who is keen to make available and alive the findings of modern research.
Author: Annie Whitehead Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited ISBN: 1445676532 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 459
Book Description
The extraordinary history of Mercia and its rulers from the seventh century to 1066. Once the supreme Anglo-Saxon kingdom, it was pivotal in the story of England.
Author: Martin Turner Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN: 9781973833765 Category : Languages : en Pages : 232
Book Description
"By hook or by bishop's crook, Ventianus will see him dead by nightfall." While Cuthbert and Eadmund pursue a thief through the deserted streets of an enemy city, others plot to turn their help into harm and their honour into shame. Outwitted and outnumbered, they stumble into a nest of conspiracies that may send Britain crashing back into the bloodshed and chaos from which it just emerged. But Eadmund has more in the game than Cuthbert knows, and deciding who to trust may become the most dangerous choice of all.Every treasure has a secret, every saint has a past.
Author: Paul Barrett
Author: Pete Jennings
Author: Chris Peers
Author: Peter Hunter Blair
Author: Annie Whitehead
Author: 
Author: Saint Bede (the Venerable)
Author: Sarah Zaluckyj
Author: Martin Turner
Author: Sir Francis Palgrave