The Romans Leave Britain
It wasn’t called Britain in 400, but let’s use that name for simplicity’s sake. At that time, Romans ruled in the south and Picts and the Scotti in the north. At left is a very...
Category: Early Middle Ages [400 to 1066 AD]
Vortigern: Myth and Legend
Who knows whether Vortigern really existed. Sources of information on what happened in Britain during the fifth century provide tales that have lived on through the ages but may be a little suspect in their authenticity....
Aurelianus and Arthur: Warrior Legends
Ambrosius Aurelianus is one of the few people that Gildas identifies by name in his sermon De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, and the only one named from the 5th century. De Excidio is considered the...
Localized Leadership
After the Romans no longer governed or financially supported Britannia, a patchwork of small kingdom or states cropped up, some governed by Celtic Romans who made Britannia their home; some governed by Celtic Britons, who...
Maps of Britannia from 500 to 700 AD
When we speak of the period between 400-700 AD, we will define “Britons” as the Indigenous Celtic population of Britain, Romanized to some degree. “Anglo-Saxons” will refer to Germanic tribes from Northern Europe who migrated...
Sutton Hoo Discoveries
In 1938, Mrs. Edith Pretty, a widow and daughter of a wealthy industrialist, contacted the Ipswich Museum to ask if there were anyone available to investigate a gigantic mound of earth on her Sutton Hoo,...
Oswiu and Offa: Early Bretwalda
Let’s take a closer look at two of the bretwalda or ‘over-kings’ not yet described in our narrative. They are Oswiu of Northumbria and Offa of Mercia. Both exemplify the way in which warriors expanded...
Egbert: Wessex Rises to Power
Egbert, also spelled Ecgberht, or Ecgbryht, birth 771/crowned King of Wessex, 802 at age 29; also crowned King of Kent, 825 at age 54/death approximately 839 at age 68/spouse, name unknownHouse: Historians do not agree...
Æthelwulf: Fighter Against the Vikings
Æthelwulf, birth c. 795/crowned King of Wessex, 839 at age 44/death 858 at age 63/spouse, Osburh married in 830 and Judith of Flanders married in 856House: Wessex/Father, Egbert, King of Wessex/Mother, name unknownChildren: Æthelstan, King...
Æthelbald: Wessex Continues to Rule
Æthelbald, birth c. 834/crowned King of Wessex, 855 at age c. 21/death 860 at age c. 26/spouse, Judith of Flanders, married in 858House: Wessex/Father, Æthelwulf, King of Wessex/Mother, OsburhChildren: none recordedReign: 855-860 Æthelbald’s main claim...
