The kingdom of the East Saxons was one of the mid-sized early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the last in our survey of the construct made by later historians called the ‘Heptarchy’. A kingdom repeatedly wracked by pagan reaction, Essex's early history is one filled with religious upheaval and intrigue making it an explosive send-off to the Heptarchy. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C...
Mar 20, 2024•19 min
Following Cædwalla’s death in 688 Sussex seemingly did not regain its independence. As with the early history of Sussex, the kingdom’s history post-688 is again one of long stretches of obscurity occasionally broken by flashes of insight. 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....
Mar 01, 2024•16 min
Last time I discussed the origin myth of Sussex and how this compares to the archaeological record for early Saxon presence in the southeast of England. According to legend, the final notable date of early South Saxon history was 491 with Ælle’s and Cissa’s victory over the Britons of Andredes cester. We saw how these later legends do not line up with the archaeological record which indicates that Saxons only occupied all of what became Sussex by the 470s. This time, we jump ahead two hundred ye...
Feb 10, 2024•12 min
Let us turn south from East Anglia and head back towards the English Channel. Down here, to the southwest of Kent, lies the region of Sussex. Among the oldest Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Sussex nevertheless has a storied history. This episode we will begin with the legend of its founder and the archaeological evidence which casts light on the shadows cast by myth. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8...
Jan 24, 2024•14 min
In 869, when the Norse killed Edmund, East Anglia was left prostrate before them. Later legend tells us that they had demanded Edmund yield half of his kingdom to them, a demand the king obviously refused, for which he paid with his life. Precisely what the Norse did in East Anglia after killing Edmund is shrouded in mystery, as it is in all of what would become known as the Danelaw. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&inde...
Dec 27, 2023•16 min
(Apologies that this episode is a bit late. I recently started a new job and have been forced to rework my recording schedule. Going forward the episodes will be back to their usual schedule.) Following the major shifts in international power that occurred in the late 820s following the fall of Beornwulf and the ascendency of Ecgberht of Wessex, East Anglia entered its final period of independence. It did so under the leadership of a new king who seemingly had little connection to the realm’s hi...
Dec 15, 2023•15 min
Following the execution of Æthelberht II, Offa did in East Anglia what he had already done to the Hwicce: he assumed direct control. Thus began a period of Merican control in East Anglia. This is a period that is poorly served by primary evidence but it is nevertheless possible to reconstruct a loose history of this turbulent period. 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 ...
Nov 29, 2023•9 min
Following the fall of the Wuffingas dynasty in 749, East Anglia entered a period of political uncertainty. Such uncertainty often breeds instability, but in the case of East Anglia it became significantly more perilous with the ascendency of Offa of Mercia, a king who if you will recall sought to establish a Mercian empire through seizing unprecedented levels of control over his subject kingdoms. Dynastic instability could not have come at a worse time for the East Anglians. Credits – Music: 'Wæ...
Nov 16, 2023•13 min
The rule of the Wuffingas dynasty in East Anglia came to an end in 749. Despite this, though, the end of the Wuffingas’ monopoly on power was not characterized by disruption or upheaval. Instead, the final two kings of the Wuffingas line, Ealdwulf and Ælfwald, presided over an extended period of relative stability and prosperity, a fact marked by both kings reigns lasting for multiple decades. Besides this, copious archaeological evidence remains which demonstrates that during their time at the ...
Nov 01, 2023•14 min
Following Anna’s death at the hands of Mercian invaders in 653, East Anglia was left entirely at the mercy of King Penda and his forces. Having been put on the back foot by the dramatic events of the Mercian invasion, the East Anglians scrambled for any stability in the storm. They turned, hopeful for respite, to Æthelhere, brother of the slain king. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0m...
Oct 18, 2023•12 min
Following Penda’s attack in 635, East Anglia became a pawn in the emerging cold war between Mercia and Northumbria. Keen to check the growing power of the midland kingdom, Oswald of Northumbria was eager to support a new ruler in East Anglia who might manage to check Penda’s obvious ambitions to overlordship of southern England. His gaze soon settled on a nephew of Raedwald by the name of Anna. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=...
Oct 04, 2023•17 min
A common feature of early Anglo-Saxon history, at least as presented by Bede, is what is called ‘pagan reaction’. Since Bede was writing an ecclesiastical history, that is a history of the Church, reactions against the spread of Christianity of course greatly disturbed him. Usually, these reactions took the form of kings who aggressively reversed the policies of their Christian predecessors by ending royal patronage of the Church in favour of support for traditional practitioners of pagan religi...
Sep 20, 2023•15 min
The burial at Sutton Hoo is one of the enduring symbols of Anglo-Saxon England, but who is the man that is often said to be buried there? In this episode we take a look at the life of one King Raedwald and the famous burial that may be he enduring legacy. 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: http...
Aug 30, 2023•27 min
Of all the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, East Anglia has probably the richest legendary history. While the historicity of this history is of course questionable, I believe that it is important to discuss it since it serves to situate the East Anglians (as well as their heirs the Mercians) in a larger North Sea cultural zone, but also because it links some of the most famous works of Old English literature to the history of this small kingdom. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' by Hrōðmund Wōdening https:...
Aug 16, 2023•20 min
East Anglian history poses a particular problem for historians of Anglo-Saxon England. The Kingdom of East Anglia was one of just four kingdoms still in existence when the Great Heathen Army landed in England in 865, but hardly anything written records have survived from its time as an independent kingdom, most likely due to its having suffered the bulk of the Army’s initial onslaught which seemingly destroyed the kingdom’s major religious and administrative centres. Credits – Music: 'Wælheall' ...
Aug 02, 2023•13 min
With Kent wrapped up, and while I’m working on the next part of the podcast, I wanted to do another patron request episode. I have been asked to talk a bit about good books and resources for studying Anglo-Saxon history. This episode will be more free form than others, I just going to go through what for me are some of my go to resources. Some of these are academic books, so when they are likely to be expensive I will say so and I will try to suggest good alternatives where possible. Resources r...
Jul 19, 2023•19 min
The history of Kent as a kingdom ends in the year 825. In one sense it was the result of Mercia's destruction of its native dynasty, but in another it saw the return of a legitimate Kentish dynasty to Canterbury. 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-Po...
Jul 05, 2023•9 min
Following the death of Wihtred Kent entered a period of instability which left it open to the expanding ambitions of Mercia. What followed was almost 50 years of on and off Mercian overlordship which saw Kent invaded and restructured several times. In that time, the once great kingdom was brought to its knees. 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: ...
Jun 21, 2023•15 min
King Wihtred, the king who restored Kentish independence, had a long but largely mysterious reign. However from what survives we can tell that his rule marked a final restoration of Kent as a free power able to negotiate with other kingdoms on its own terms. Wihtred also left a law code which allows us to see how markedly Kentish society had changed within the space of one hundred years from that which Augustine and the missionaries encountered in 597. In this episode we will consider Wihtred's ...
Jun 07, 2023•18 min
The late 680s in Kent are another of those periods that have become quite familiar to us in our study so far: a period of upheaval following on the heels of war. In this case, the war was fought between Kent and the Gewisse between 686 and 688. It began, apparently, when Cædwalla invaded Kent in 686 and saw the subjection of Kent until his abdication in 688. After this date, though, Kent was further subjugated by its neighbors and did not truly regain independence until at least 692. No one aliv...
May 24, 2023•13 min
After the death of Ecgberth in 673, the throne of Kent passed to his younger brother Hlothhere. There is some debate as to whether Hlothhere succeeded Ecgberht immediately or after an interregnum. While this may suggest some instability in Kent in the 670s, when seen as part of the kingdom’s larger political history it is clear that the line of Eorcenberht had now fully established its grip on the Kentish throne. However, the uncertainty that greeted Hlothhere’s reign was an ominous foretaste of...
May 10, 2023•15 min
With the death of Eadbald, we find ourselves square in the middle of a complicate textual history regarding the foundation legend of the monastery of Minster-in-Thanet. The various narratives which make up this history are all collectively known as the ‘Kentish royal legend’ or sometimes as the ‘Mildreth legend’ after St Mildreth (sometimes Mildred), the great-granddaughter of King Æthelberht who was the first abbess of the royal monastery on the island of Thanet. Despite being mainly concerned ...
Apr 26, 2023•19 min
Despite Æthelberht’s official adoption of the new Christian creed, he seems to have been largely unsuccessful in promoting it among his courtiers. His own son, Eadbald, refused to adopt the faith. Upon his father’s death in 616 his pagan heir ascended to the throne of Kent. So began Kent's 'pagan reaction', a time in which the Church at Canterbury lost its influence over the rulers of the kingdom. It would bounce back, but only in a reduced form with its ability to achieve its ambitions curtaile...
Apr 12, 2023•16 min
Any list of the most consequential Anglo-Saxons would need to include King Æthelberht of Kent. As the king who welcomed the Augustinian Mission in 597 and gave them his protection Æthelberht was personally responsible foe the start of England’s official conversion to Christianity; an event which would have massive cultural and political implications for later generations. At least that’s the traditional narrative. To what extent is Æthelberht’s reputation deserved? As I will show in this episode...
Mar 29, 2023•22 min
Kent consists of a small spur sticking out of the south-eastern tip of England. To its north lies the mouth of the River Thames and to its south it the English Channel. As the closest point between Britain and mainland Europe, Kent has always been an entry point into the British Isles. This means that it has often been a hub of international trade and communication, but it also means that it has one of the most vulnerable parts of England to invasion. The Kingdom of Kent that emerged here would ...
Mar 15, 2023•15 min
As historians we thrive on the material culture of the past. You don’t need to be an historical materialist to recognize that without material culture our understanding of history is severely limited. Objects are the raw material from which we make history. What then do objects tell us about the early development of Anglo-Saxon history and society? When we look at this we can chart the material evolution of Anglo-Saxon England from a migrant society of farmers to a kingdom with towns and village...
Mar 01, 2023•21 min
The period of West Saxon consolidation under Ine had major implications not just for Wessex but for peoples elsewhere in Britain and even on the Continent. One man who embodies the international impact of Ine’s reign is Boniface, a West Saxon who devoted his life to missionary work in what is today Germany and Austria. A product of Wessex’s western expansion, Boniface’s eventful life brought him into contact with popes and kings and saw him leave an indelible mark on many of the peoples and coun...
Feb 15, 2023•19 min
Michael Lapidge called Aldhelm the first English ‘man of letters’ on account of his vast learning. Bede said of him that he was ‘most learned in every respect’ and that he was both a mast of style as well as possessing an unrivalled knowledge of both classical and patristic writings. Aldhelm’s writings set the standard for Anglo-Latin literature that would continue to be imitated up to the time of the Norman Conquest. Indeed each of his works inspired Latin and Old English imitators who through ...
Feb 01, 2023•20 min
It’s probably no exaggeration to say the Alfred the Great is one of the most, if not the most, famous Anglo-Saxon of them all. The only British monarch given the epithet ‘the Great’, the traditional account of his life is one of a scholar forced into the role of a war leader who defied the odds to save and unite not just his people, but all the English. Indeed, Alfred is usually cast as the man who saved England, without whom all of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms would have fallen to Scandinavian inva...
Jan 18, 2023•27 min
Æthelwulf’s will attests to his desire that upon his death Wessex would pass into the hands of his sons. This desire was fulfilled when his eldest surviving son Æthelbald became king following his father’s death in 858. The years that passed between this accession and the rise of the youngest son, Alfred, to the throne in 871 would see a complex detente form between the four brothers as Wessex rapidly passed from one to another. Histories of Wessex tend to overlook the years between Æthelwulf an...
Jan 04, 2023•26 min
