Anglo-Saxon England

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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening

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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' by Hrōðmund Wōdening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQfdqIyqJ4g&list=LL&index=5&ab_channel=Hr%C5%8D%C3%B0mundW%C5%8Ddening

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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 recommended in this episode:

-       A Guide to Old English by B. Mitchell and F. C. Robinson

-       http://www.oldenglishaerobics.net/

-       https://www.memrise.com/

-       English Historical Documents: Volume 1: c.500–1042, edited by D. Whitelock

-       Councils and Synods: with other documents relating to the English Church, vol. I, part I: A.D. 871–1066, edited by D. Whitelock, M. Brett and C. N. L. Brooke.

-       The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles by M. Swanton

-       Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Oxford Medieval Texts), transl. and ed. B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors

-       The Complete Old English Poems (The Middle Ages Series), transl. C. Williamson

-       https://oldenglishpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/

-       The Anglo Saxon Literature Handbook by M. C Amodio

-       Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary by J. R. R. Tolkien

-       https://esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk/about/index.html

-       The Anglo-Saxons, ed. J. Campbell

-       The Anglo-Saxon World by N. J. Higham and M. Ryan

-       The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England by M. Morris

-       The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England, ed. M. Lapidge, J. Blair, S. Keynes, and D. Scragg

-       The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society by J. Blair

-       The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England by H. Mayr-Harting

-       Signals of Belief in Early England: Anglo-Saxon Paganism Revisited, ed. M. Carver, A. Sanmark, and S. Semple

-       Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England by R. Ables

-       Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources, transl. S. Keynes and M. Lapidge

-       Aethelstan: The First King of England by S. Foot

-       Aethelred the Unready by L. Roach

-       Edward the Confessor: Last of the Royal Blood by T. Licence

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

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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

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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

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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 reign as well as the evidence provided by his laws to build a picture of Kent at the close of the seventh century.

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

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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 alive at the time could have known, but the period 686 to 692 was just a foretaste of the dynamics which would shape the rest of Kentish history.

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

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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 troubles to come. 

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

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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 with the foundation of Minster-in-Thanet, the legend also contains a lot of details and family legends about the descendants of King Æthelberht, making it a potentially rich source for the history of Kent in the 7th C. However, as the title ‘legend’ should make clear, the story contains much that is supernatural and many of its components are difficult to corroborate as historical facts.

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

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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 curtailed. 

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

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