The Legacy of the All-Father (Part 3): The Anglo-Saxon Kings of England

In this episode, Shawn sails west across the North Sea to follow Odin’s bloodline into the early kingdoms of England. Here the stories shift from distant myth to accounts recorded only a few generations after the events they describe, where royal genealogies boldly claim descent from Woden, the Anglo-Saxon name for the All-Father.

We begin with the saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, bridging the legendary vengeance of his sons with the historical Great Heathen Army in the peak of the Viking Age. From there the timeline rewinds several centuries to the arrival of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes in Britain, when shifting alliances, opportunistic conquests, and cultural upheavals reshaped the island’s future. Founders like Hengest and Horsa, Cerdic of Wessex, and the first kings of Mercia and Northumbria emerge as both historical figures and mythic symbols, their family trees winding back through Odin to the dawn of humankind.

By the end, the royal houses of Kent, Wessex, Mercia, and Northumbria stand alongside the monarchies of Scandinavia as part of the All-Father’s enduring legacy, a legacy that still threads through the British crown today.

Sources Used:

• The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics) - translations by Jesse Byock
• The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok (Hackett Classics)
• The Saga of Hervor and Heidrik (Hacket Publishing) - Translations by Jackson Craword
• The Saga of Ragnar and His Sons - (Translated be Chris Van Dyke)
• The Ecclesiastical History of the English People - Bede (Oxford University Press)
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Pantianos Classics) - Translated by Rev. James Ingram and Dr. J.A. Giles
• On the Ruin of Britain - Gildas (Classical Prints)
• Life of King Alfread - Asser (Translated by Alber Cook)

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