Tag Archives: Battle

From my blog...

THE LIFE OF EDMUND IRONSIDE at The Road to Hastings Website

Novelist Paula Lofting very kindly asked me to write something recently for The Writers of Anglo-Saxon Literature series on her Road to Hastings Website, and I posted a brief bio there of Edmund Ironside. That’s Edmund up there on the … Read More

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THE LAST KINGDOM 3, Episode 10

Woe to thee, O land, when they king is a youth…Ecclesiastes 10:16 In Episode 10 of THE LAST KINGDOM Æthelwold’s argument against the naming of the ætheling Edward as the successor to King Alfred is that Edward is too young … Read More

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The Last Kingdom, Episode 8: The Battle of Edington

878 A.D. In the seventh week after Easter King Alfred rode to Ecbryht’s Stone…All those of Somerset came to meet him, and those of Wiltshire and Hampshire…they were glad of his coming. ..He went from that camp…to Edington, and there … Read More

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The Last Kingdom, Episode 3: The New King of Wessex

Despite the fact that the main character of Bernard Cornwell’s books is our hero Uhtred, it is Alfred who is the focal character of this episode. Everything and everyone revolves around him, and actor David Dawson does a spectacular job … Read More

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The Last Kingdom, Episode 1

BBC America’s new series THE LAST KINGDOM is based on The Saxon Tales a series of novels by the brilliant and prolific Bernard Cornwell. I have been a fan of Mr. Cornwell’s books for many years, so I was excited … Read More

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Those Brutal Middle Ages

I read a scholarly article recently which suggested that medieval warriors suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome, just as modern soldiers do. It also proposed that the fighting men of the middle ages were not the brutal savages that we … Read More

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Surviving Despite the Odds: The Bayeux Tapestry

The Bayeux Tapestry, as you probably know, is not a tapestry. It’s an embroidery that tells the story of the Battle of Hastings and of the events leading up to it. The Tapestry is 224 feet long and roughly 18 … Read More

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5 May 1010: The Battle of Ringmere

On 5 May in the year 1010, a great battle was fought between the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes at a place in East Anglia called Ringmere. In the fall of 2012, as part of the research for my novel The … Read More

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