The Anglo-Saxon Age: A Very Short Introduction

Another good title in the OUP series 'A Very Short Introduction'. This is the second volume in the British History series.

I'd wager that many Brits know something about Roman Britain and about Medieval Britain through the udors and into the modern era, but few really know much at all about the Anglo-Saxon Age - the Dark Ages between the end of Roman rule in 409 AD and the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Well, this little book is the answer.

Some of the names are well-known and, I'd wager, that that is in part owing to these names being easy to remember - St Augustine, the Venerable Bede, Offa the King of Mercia, Alfred the Great, Edward the Confessor, King Cnut (Canute). Some of the other names are tricky, sometimes too similar, and they show more are not easy to recall or place in date order - Eadwine, Cynegils, Osulu, Caedwalla, Ecgberht, Aethelwald, Aethelflaed, Byrhtnoth, Harthacnut and so on! show less

A very good overview of the Anglo-Saxon period written in an easy-to-read style.

A good introduction to the Anglo-Saxon period of English history. Has reminded me that I enjoy history quite a lot and I'll be looking to read a few more of these short introductions before moving on to more serious works. It helps to give a brief overview of the subject. Although quite expensive they give a nice brief overview of the subject matter.

Useful overview/refresher. Pity the illustrations couldn't have been in colour.

A good, but extremely short introduction to English history 500-1066.

First published as part of the best-selling The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, John Blair's Very Short Introduction to the Anglo-Saxon Age covers the emergence of the earliest English settlements to the Norman victory in 1066. This book is a brief introduction to the political, social, religious, and cultural history of Anglo-Saxon England.