The King in the North
Who, then, was in charge; and of what? Had Britannia seceded from the empire or been abandoned by it? Were the emerging lords of the fifth century descendants of ancient tribal families, now styled as magistrates or provincial officials? Were they arriviste entrepreneurs and industrialists; retired army officers, perhaps? Some, possibly, were Chris
... See moreMax Adams • The First Kingdom
The sagas vividly follow these people’s lives and adventures, sometimes over decades, and in the process sketch a compellingly convincing picture of Iceland at the time: a unique political experiment, a republic of farmers in an age of kings. Feud and revenge are common themes, with neighbourly quarrels escalating to theft and murder, as competing
... See moreNeil Price • The Children of Ash and Elm
Birdoswald’s excavator, Tony Wilmott, suggests that the whole sequence takes the fort’s life into the sixth century and he explicitly makes the connection between the remodelled south granary and the architecture of the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ mead hall. Was the prototype of Heorot, that poetic stage for feasting, patronage, celebration and warrior-bonding,
... See moreMax Adams • The First Kingdom
No surviving English, Welsh or Scottish document describes such arrangements: the earliest Anglo-Saxon law codes speak of obligations between lords and their followers and dependants, not between kings. Even so, a set of rules can be reconstructed with some confidence through the careers of those who were able to wield imperium over others and by l
... See moreMax Adams • The First Kingdom
Whatever the complexities of Britannia’s terminal political history, the fragmentary remains that survive from these few manuscripts, remote in time and distance from events on the ground, are unsatisfactory grounds for telling the whole story. In themselves they paint a crude picture of conflict, insecurity, imperial impotence and internal dissens
... See moreMax Adams • The First Kingdom
Early Medieval kings were required to fight, to defend and expand their territories, and to display their successes appropriately. The Beowulf poem provides the model. As Hrothgar, king of the Danes, prospers, so the size of his warband increases: Then to Hrothgar was granted glory in battle, Mastery of the field; so friends and kinsmen gladly obey
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