W. B. Bartlett

Harald Hardrada had a career that spanned much of the known world of the eleventh century. Here was a man who was born in Norway, was exiled to Russia, spent time as a mercenary leader in Constantinople, journeyed to Jerusalem and won military campaigns in Sicily. In later life he became king of Norway, but this was not enough for him. For years he fought a series of campaigns to try and add Denmark to his dominions before launching an attempt to conquer England.Harald ultimately died a Viking death at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, though in the process he might have sealed the fate of his opponent, King Harold Godwinson of England just a few weeks later at Hastings. This is a remarkable story, told in part through archaeology and in part through chronicles and Viking sagas. Harald might be considered the last Viking, but whether or not this is the case, what cannot be denied is that this is the story of a life that opens a window into a world that is long past, one characterised by epic deeds, chicanery and incredible adventure.

In 878, Alfred, king of Wessex was on the verge of oblivion. Trapped on a small island in the Somerset Levels, it seemed as if he and his kingdom were about to be destroyed. Yet within months he had defeated the Viking invaders and started to reverse the tide of conquest.While Alfred was driven by the prospect of a land called England that did not yet exist, he was not the one who finally created it. Two of his children, Edward – king of Wessex after him – and his remarkable daughter Athelflad, the Lady of the Mercians, expanded his kingdom into Mercia in the Midlands. His grandson Athelstan confirmed the conquest of the north at one of the great battles of the so-called Dark Ages at Brunanburh. The triumph of Alfred’s dynasty was cemented by the short but magnificent reign of Edgar ‘the Peaceable’, a man who could claim to be not just king of England but emperor of the whole of Britain.The ultimate collapse of Anglo-Saxon England, first of all in the face of Cnut of Denmark’s campaigns in 1015/16 and later in the Norman Conquest of 1066, has unjustly obscured their achievements. This book tells the story of the Anglo-Saxons and reasserts their right to be regarded as one of the greatest royal dynasties that Britain has ever seen.