We look at the last of the Big Three reformers, Oswald, and set up a discussion of what exactly the reformers in England wanted to achieve. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
If you read about the English Benedictine Reforms today, the older narrative focused on Dunstan as the its spearhead will have been largely replaced by a view that positions his student Æthelwold as the driving force behind reform. It is Æthelwold who composed the main source texts of English reform and it was he who sought to guide the politics of England by cultivating close links with the family of King Edgar. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ...
The Benedictine reforms in England were, in the traditional narrative, spearheaded by three key ecclesiastics: Dunstan, Æthelwold, and Oswald. The exact relationship of these three has been subject to regular revaluation since the late tenth century and I will offer my own revaluation in due time. Starting in this episode, I will present the lives of each reformer in the traditional mould so that later we can look again at their stories when we consider the nature and impact of English Benedicti...
Although the Benedictine reform movements that found royal favor in England in the late-tenth century are usually associated with King Edgar, their origins predate him quite substantially with roots going all the way back to the reign of Æthelstan. The true origins of Benedictine reform, though, came not from England but from Francia. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watchv=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening ...
Since a major part of King Edgar’s legacy is based on his advocacy of church reform, it is reasonable to spend some time considering the state of the Church in the mid-tenth century and the role it played in society. It’s easy to fall into rhetoric which assumes that the Church is the same in all places and at all times. This obviously cannot be true, thus why we tend to talk about the Church in medieval England or the Church in the ancient world. But it can be easy to forget that even within an...
Edgar, son of Edmund, is not that well known today to those not already interested in Anglo-Saxon history, yet there can be no doubt that he, along with Alfred and Æthelstan, is one of the most important rulers in terms of their contribution to the formation of the English kingdom. Through his patronage of Benedictine monastic reforms Edgar oversaw the creation of an ideology which united Church and Crown in a manner that had not yet been seen in England. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund ...
Following Eadred’s early death the eldest son of Edmund, Eadwig, was finally of an age to become king. Through his uncle’s years of intensifying illness, the court had become adept at governing with minimal royal input. The young and healthy Eadwig was not content to let things proceed as they had under Eadred, however. In attempting to bend the system to his will, Eadwig would become one of the most scandalous kings of the Anglo-Saxon period and bring the kingdom literally to breaking point. Cr...
When Edmund was killed in 946 his two sons, Eadwig and Edgar, were still just infants. Thus, the witan chose to elevate Edmund’s brother, Eadred, to the throne so as to avoid the dangers of having a child king. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonengland Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podc...
Edmund was an important ruler in shaping the future course of English history whatever his personal failings. In the end he died too soon to know how he would have fared without his mother or when powerful nobles began to chafe under his authority. Perhaps that is for the best since as it stands he can easily be held in some, albeit qualified, esteem. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0...
Last time we looked at how Æthelstan ruled his kingdom but this is only half of the story of his reign. Much like his grandfather Æthelstan sought to forge close links with rulers and ecclesiastics throughout western Europe in an effort to solidify the intellectual, cultural, and political prestige of England on an international stage. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddenin...
Æthelstan is routinely regarded as one of Anglo-Saxon England’s greatest kings. This is a reputation ascribed to him not only for his military and political achievements, but also for the remarkable impression that his decades on the throne have left in the historical record. The abundance of material provides unparalleled insight into how the royal government of Æthelstan functioned and how the king’s policies shaped English culture for the next several generations. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' ...
We look at the second half of Æthelstan's reign from its peak to its complex end. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonengland Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053 Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnglandAnglo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglosaxonenglandpodcast/ YouT...
The story of Æthelstan from his debated birth to his becoming the first King of England. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonengland Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053 Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnglandAnglo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglosaxonenglandpodcas...
Æthelflæd, one of the most important women in Anglo-Saxon history, ruled Mercia during the reign of Edward the Elder. Through her military endeavours, she was instrumental in securing the reconquest of the southern Danelaw and securing the Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons from future attack. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/...
Edward the Elder (899-924) is often overlooked given the towering fame of his father and son. When we look at his career, though, we find a king whose actions earn him acclaim and criticism. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonengland Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053 ...
In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle we have not only an account of Anglo-Saxon history but also an attempt at identity creation which served part of the mission to forge a new united English identity from the disparate collection of tribes and kingdoms that was the base of Anglo-Saxon society. Even taken with a hefty spoonful of salt, it is nevertheless one of the single most important texts produced from the Anglo-Saxon period and continues to inform the narrative of English history up to the present ...
We look back on the achievements of King Alfred and ask: how do we define someone as 'great'? Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonengland Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053 Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnglandAnglo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglosaxonenglandp...
One day, when he was a boy, the future Alfred the Great, along with his brothers, was pulled aside by his mother, Osburh. She showed them a book filled with English poetry and promised that she would give it to whichever one of them could learn it by heart the fastest. The young Alfred, smaller than all his brothers, was enchanted by the decorated capital letter on the book’s first page. He immediately took the manuscript from his mother and took it to his tutor who helped him to swiftly memoriz...
In addition to his military and political achievements, King Alfred also undertook an ambitious plan for intellectual revival meant to restore learning and piety to his new kingdom. In this episode, we meet the men who helped him undertake this massive task. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonengland Facebook: h...
Although he had no way of knowing it, in 878 Alfred secured for Wessex over a decade of peace from Viking attack. In that time, Alfred would set about remaking his kingdom so that it could withstand any future invasions. This program would see innovations on many fronts which would provide greater security for the English people, a more reliable military force, and the emergence of a new polity which had at its core not the old ethnic kingdoms but a new conception of a single English kingdom. Be...
As discussed in the previous episode, the Viking invasion of England can be roughly divided into two phases, that which occurred prior to the arrival of the Great Summer Army in 871 and that which occurred after. In late 870, the Norse were at a crossroads. They had recently conquered East Anglia, but their leadership was crumbling. Ivar had departed, probably for Ireland, and it was not clear how they should continue their raiding. To the south were London and the Kingdom of Wessex which presen...
The Great Heathen Army that devastated England in the 860s and 870s was, tradition claims, spear-headed by three of the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok. As discussed last time, legend had it that they invaded to avenge their father’s execution at the hands of King Ælle of Northumbria. It is not clear how true this is. But it does serve to lead us into a consideration of three of the most prominent Vikings in Anglo-Saxon history. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/wa...
Viking activity in England evolved over time. What began as small-scale raids on vulnerable monasteries gradually evolved into attacks on key trading settlements and, ultimately, into full-blown invasion. It is incorrect to suggest that Viking activity was always the same. Rather it became larger and more ambitious as time passed. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Soc...
The Viking looms large over the early medieval period as a whole, despite only erupting onto the scene in the late eighth century, several centuries after the period is usually thought to have begun. They were such a disruptive force that inspired such profound spiritual and cultural shock among the states of Europe that they are even given their own sub-period – the Viking Age – within the larger period of the Early Middle Ages. But who were the Vikings? And what prompted their dramatic interve...
After just under 70 episodes, we come to a point that I have always imagined as the dividing line in this series: the Norse invasions. What is coming is a huge undertaking, so I wanted to take the opportunity to look back on where we have been; to highlight key themes and to clarify my stance on the term ‘Anglo-Saxon’. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - ...
Surrey, much like Hwicce and Lindsey, has a history that can only be told by looking askance at sources. What emerges, though, is a frontier kingdom that was often subject to the vicissitudes of fate. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonengland Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529...
Everything, Everywhere Daily talks about the Dark Ages and whether they really were all that dark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The great professor of Anglo-Saxon history, Simon Keynes, once called Lindsey a ‘kingdom without a history’. This is because there is no written evidence from the kingdom itself and only a tiny amount written about it from contemporaries. However, there is some evidence in the form of archaeology which has shed valuable light on aspects of Lindsey’s history. In today’s episode, we will ask how accurate it is to say that Lindsey is a kingdom without a history. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðm...
This episode we will be looking at one of the most elusive of the small kingdoms which proliferated in early Anglo-Saxon England. The Hwicce were located mainly in what is today Worcestershire, Warwickshire, and Gloucestershire. Their history is extremely patchy, but from what can be said they offer a unique view of the emergence and downfall of a tribal kingdom caught between the worlds of the Britons and the Anglians. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/wat...
With the death of Sighere in 688, Essex’s tendency for pagan reaction came to an end. This did not mean that the kingdom was left in peace, however. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening Social Media - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/anglosaxonengland Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Anglo-Saxon-England-Podcast-110529958048053 Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnglandAnglo ...
